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I hope you enjoy looking at my work as much as I enjoy creating it. I generally work in oils, on canvas stretchers (canvas stretched over a timber frame- hence no framing), filling the space with vivid colour and contemporary form. Printmaking is my new passion, an exciting creative direction which I am really enjoying while also broadening the content of Sara Paxton Artworks.
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Sara Paxton
I’m not a great one for surrealist paintings – until I came across the very talented Andrew Baines. Immediately I was captivated by his wonderful paintings of everyday things taken out of context – men in bowler hats and suits in the surf, hills hoists on the beach, chairs on a hillside and, much to my excitement, cows standing ankle deep in the sea! Anyone who reads my blog will know my love of cows (see my cow paintings), so a surfing cows! was unbelievable, I was pleased to find Mr Baines shares my interests!
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Baines also pursues the art of installations, one of which was ’Busselton Bovines‘. In an interview Baines explained that he had long wanted to make his ‘cows in the sea’ paintings a reality. When asked to participate in a Dairy Conference in Western Australia with his paintings, he broached the subject of putting a few cows on the beach for a photoshoot. Amazingly, local dairies took up the challenge and cows were introduced to the joys of the surf. The installation went global.
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Starting Friday and running until Easter Monday, is the Mansfield Easter Art Show. Curated by Without Pier Gallery, it has been running for many years but this year is the first time I have submitted a full quota of 6 paintings. Being a rural area, I tried to paint landscapes that might be appealing (although I believe a lot of Melbourne people also go). Miss Daisy is participating because I thought that a cow painting would be most appropriate for this exhibition. However, I have since been told that farmers never buy paintings of cows! Apparently an ear, or a nose, or a leg is never ‘quite right’. So we’ll hope for the best.
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I just scraped in to see the ‘Radiance: The Neo-Impressionists’ exhibition at the NGV in Melbourne before it closed. I wasn’t really sure what Neo-Impressionism was, but found out (a little history lesson here) that it was the movement in France and Belgium from the 1880s through to the outbreak of the First World War. It all began when Paul Signac and Georges Seurat first met in Paris in 1884. They were young, committed and anti-establishment, rejecting preceding painting methods in favour of an ordered scientific approach.
What amazed me was their style – in short, putting individual colours side by side (instead of blending them together) in little elongated marks. The result is stunning, the paintings glow with colour and light. As Signac said, ‘It is this love of beautiful colour which makes us paint’. And he was right.
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One of my favourite artists is Shirley Trevena. She is a British watercolourist of immense talent and I have long admired her use of strong colours which really push the medium to its limits.
I was therefore interested to read that she felt she had become bored and predictable with her painting. Her students were astounded with such an admission – they couldn’t understand why she would want to move away from such a perfected and admired style.
But I could see her point. If you keep on painting the same things in the same way, however good they may be, the challenge, and along with it the excitement, has gone.
1. Try a different medium to the one you habitually use.
2. Experiment with colours. Try ones that you think are odd together and be surprised.
3. Try using bigger paper/canvas and bigger brushes – lovely big, bold, loose brush strokes!
4. Use a failed painting as a base for a new one. Incorporate bits of the original one for interesting results.
5. If you always paint indoor, set up somewhere outside and experience a different environment.
6. Choose different and varied subject material. Maybe try something more abstract.
7. Do a creative course in something you know nothing about. It’s important to keep learning.
8. Don’t expect giant steps, little ones are OK.
9. Make choices that are out of your comfort zone.
10. Most importantly, CHALLENGE YOURSELF.
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I have long had a slight obsession with cows. I know it’s strange but they are such beautiful, gentle creatures and I do love to paint them.
So a recent visit to the very scenic southern coastal areas of Victoria was much anticipated. The reason? It’s a major cow country. Lovely big herds of cows everywhere, in all colours, wandering around the green (well, almost green), rolling fields. All just waiting to be photographed for future paintings.
I also met with Liza McCosh, Director of Scope Galleries in Warrnambool and am very happy to say that shortly my paintings will be on display in Liza’s lovely gallery. It’s an excellent space with several rooms, allowing the works there to be well displayed. Hopefully she agrees to hang some cow paintings.
Another worthwhile little side trip, if you are a cheese enthusiast, is to L’Artisan Cheese at Timboon. The cheeses are made there by a French cheesemaker and it is indeed a treat to do a cheese tasting and then buy indulgent amounts to take home. A little bit of France in rural Victoria.
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If you looked at a piece of work that had been produced from videos taken on an iPhone, would you consider it art?
It’s something I’ve been thinking about as an increasing amount of art is produced through social media using new digital technology. The current generation is the first of the digital age. They have no fear of technology and this is a powerful force. What it essentially means is that the world is opening up to new and exciting things.
What we now see are four principles for this new, open world – sharing, collaboration, transparency and empowerment. (watch Don Tapscott’s ‘Four Principles for the Open World’ to learn more – it’s a 15 minute youtube presentation which is not specifically about art but incredibly interesting. Worth it just for the video of starlings at the end!)
The same principles do apply to the art world though.
Emerging technologies allow distribution of knowledge and freedom of art expression. Art becomes available to a much wider range of people. There is no barrier to entry, you no longer need a talent for drawing or painting. Art is no longer perceived art as a painting or a sculpture. The term ‘artist’ becomes somewhat blurred when the art piece is a collaboration. There is no question that artists have long experimented with new concepts and mediums but what is becoming clearer is that anyone can be an artist.
Technology facilitates cheaper, faster creativity. All those who previously found paper, paint and clay too challenging, can now express themselves artistically.
And hence, the whole future of art is changing. Art that has previously, and perhaps always, been seen as expensive, exclusive and out of reach for most people, will become part of our everyday lives, accessible to all. Limitless infact. Does this devalue art? Is there still a place for the artist who may spend months painting his masterpiece? The way art is taught must also change – but that’s a whole different subject.
I don’t know the answers to many of these questions, but it’s something to think about. One thing is clear though – the future of art will certainly be different.
Is everyone an artist?
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I am sure all of you wonder how I paint some of my paintings? Well luckily I would love to share with you the process. This is a clip of me at work in my little studio on a painting called “Flaming Sunflowers”. I know the video editing could use some work and the camera quality isn’t up to the box office standard but this is my first attempt of many. So I hope you all enjoy this time-lapse and now have a brief idea of what a ‘painting day’ involves.
You can also see the video on my YouTube channel
With the start of a new year (2013) it’s always good to look at doing something different, new or experimental. With this in mind I thought that I would put together a series of informative articles with information that I hope will be helpful to readers. Subjects that cover things like:
In addition, I’m looking at producing a time lapse video of one of my paintings (a hugely sped up version of me painting!). Not a new concept I know, but whenever I watch other people’s, I’m totally fascinated by what they do and how they achieve it. So I thought maybe people would also like to watch how I produce a painting.
So keep watching this space!
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