I came across this quote by Bowie and it struck me as so true about my own art journey. As I go into my 70’s I am far happier in my own skin, and less concerned about what people think about my art. I feel a release.
I started painting what I termed Line Art (PopArt) when I first lived in Cape Town back in 2008. I honestly have no idea where the idea came from; just to paint a black outline around (usually) a female form, using only neutral colour with a touch of red to add ‘zing’. My partner came up with the suggestion ‘Line Art’ and that sounded good. I now realise this is PopArt, but hey, I was green in those days.
I would raid the local library for old fashion magazines to find some poses that drew my eye in, then adapt them for my own use and with the help of an ageing (aging?) large overhead projector, project my images onto large canvasses and off I went.
Living in Cape Town I could make really large pieces and eventually a couple of galleries took me on and sales occurred.
I write all the above just to say that on my return to the UK I lost my confidence and self-worth for various reasons and abandoned the Line Art completely and focussed on small oil paintings which did also sell well.
However I never lost my love of Line Art and finally last year I came across the work of Michael Craig-Martin completely by chance – see previous blogs. I became fired up again and decided once and for all to go full blown PopArt. Finally I have found my purpose art-wise and am loving every artwork I create. With my small oil paintings I was painting what I see, but with the Line Art, from the start of the idea to the finished piece, it is all me. My initial thoughts, the composition, use of colour, use of the black line to draw the piece together, and my genuine happiness with each one I complete.
Painting is in my DNA, I need to paint every day and I’m ok ageing (aging) now
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