Art in Strange Times
I know for some people art is the very last thing they’re thinking about right now but for me it’s how I’m staying happy. What’s difficult with drawing or painting is knowing where to start, much like when writing an essay for example so here’s plenty of arty things I’ve been enjoying to give you some ideas.
At the minute I’ve been researching artists; looking at their style and trying it out for myself.
One was George Seurat known for his technique of pointillism where dots are used to create an image, and neo-impressionism where different unmixed colours are placed next to each other on the canvas creating an optical illusion of shading. I love his work because when you look closely the colours are so vivid. I tried my own version of his painting ‘The Seine seen from La Grande Jatte’; you can see it on my art Instagram if you like (@ourpaintplace). I really liked not blending the colours and having more freedom to place them down where I wanted. The way this method works is keeping colours together as families and using one group for shadows and one for light even if the colours themselves are not dark or light. For my shadows I used light blue, indigo, purple and pink which felt at the time like it wouldn’t work but it all came together; a lesson in trusting the process.
If you love this style of art another modern artist who creates a similar feeling to Suerat is Stephen Mangan; his work is amazing. Have a go at looking someone up; find out what movement they belonged to. What do you like about their art? I write it all down in a sketchbook and study their work. I think learning for your own interest should be done more. It’s loads of fun and gives your brain something to focus on.
For arty resources I’ve been loving Noel Fielding as he is running an art club on his social media giving prompts every week and sharing some of the cool things being made by others. One week’s theme was magic, and I loved seeing how different people interpreted it. There are no rules; you can make a sculpture out of bottle caps, draw using crayons, collage pictures together – you can really let your creativity take you anywhere.
There’s plenty of creative TV too; BBC Four is making a life drawing show, there’s Great Pottery Throw Down, Fantastical Factory of Curious Craft, Keep Crafting and Carry On, and Sewing Bee. Sky Arts has been made free too I believe; National Portrait Artist of the Year is my favourite show ever.
If you’ve got a little one at home getting creative is perfect. Research shows that art is important for children; it benefits their cognitive development, self-expression, and it gives them pride to show someone what they’ve made.
‘Learning and Exploring through Play’ on Facebook has some wonderful things to keep you busy.
One activity I loved doing at my Yipiyap placement in a primary school was hand painting; at our school’s art club one week we made peacock paintings by dipping our fingers in green and blue.
If that’s a bit messy for you worldofbooks.com has plenty of colouring books for under £5 and Twinkl has free sheets online to print off; colouring is a really good way to focus the mind.
Another great person you could look up is Cassie Stephens a teacher who shares what she’s been making in her classes on YouTube. I love her bold style and if you’ve ever tried to make something with kids before you’ll know it doesn’t always turn out as you expected so her ideas leave room for lots of imagination. To be honest anyone can enjoy these ideas no matter what your age.
Another idea is rock painting. It’s a lovely community of people painting, hiding, and finding rocks. Look up your local area’s page (mine’s called Notts Rocks) and you’ll find some beautiful stones people have painted. When you go on a walk you hide the ones you’ve decorated somewhere for others to find. I’ve found some great ones; some were a bit hard to let go of to hide again! When you go on a walk and find one it feels so exciting! I can’t believe I spent all this time walking past them and not noticing!
My last idea is making art from books or music. I used to read on the bus on the way to work and one of the blessings of now is that there’s more time to read. I’ve been getting lost in adventure books lately; it’s more exciting following characters to another country or another world when you haven’t left your house in weeks. If reading is your thing you could try drawing one of the characters or the setting of your book. Recently I painted an orange because of the poem The Orange by Wendy Cope. It is such a lovely poem and every time I see my little orange painting on the wall of my room it makes me happy. I hope you like it too and that you have a go at making some art.
At lunchtime I bought a huge orange
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave—
They got quarters and I had a half.
And that orange it made me so happy,
As ordinary things often do
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park
This is peace and contentment. It’s new.
The rest of the day was quite easy.
I did all my jobs on my list
And enjoyed them and had some time over.
I love you. I’m glad I exist.