Taking a Break

After the solo show at Octavia View I felt the need to take a bit of a break. It's surprising how much admin you can fall behind with when working 60-70 hour weeks, and after producing so many paintings I was in need of time out and reflection from creating new artwork.

Not that I haven't been busy, my new job was and continues to be challenging and I've been busy working on my Sketchbook for the 2013 Sketchbook Project. This is almost finished and it might actually be the biggest artwork I've ever made. It's a bit different from the rest of my work and not very deep with concept but I was going for challenging scale rather than challenging concept. Of course the point of the Sketchbook project is to do something different from your usual work but more on that another day.

Unfortunately some things did fall by the wayside. 2012's photographic project on Flickr started to suffer from a lack of time invested into it and the results became so erratic and samey (really how many photographs of flowers and plant from ground level up could I do) that I let it die an early death. I still think it has possibilities, it just needed a bit more thought and time on a daily basis which I couldn't offer. Saying that I've not been stinting the photography, I just had to go back to basics a little, experimenting and getting accustomed to my new camera. Finally after years of saving I bought myself a DSLR and it's a revelation as to what can be done. The level of control over the image is so much greater than compact cameras.

I've also been away on a couple of trips, first to the Isle of Wight in August and then to Dublin in October which gave me lots of practice and inspiration for new paintings. Below is a selection of photos from both. Finally I'm planning on starting a weekly blog entry on a project you might have heard about a few blog entries ago.

Isle of Wight

Dublin

Beautiful Fenland

Beautiful Fenland, My solo exhibition opens this Friday at 7pm at Octavia View, Wisbech.

I spent 5 days in the fens taking photographs and exploring in preparation for this exhibition. 

While my work does not depend on a particular place, I do feel that it is important for people to connect with my work through seeing places they are familiar with.

Octavia View can be found just off Somers Road opposite the entrance to the public car park.

The exhibition is open from the 3rd August to 6th September.

A Catalogue can now be purchased via Blurb. Click the link below.

Beautiful Fenland by Gemma Cumming | Make Your Own Book

Exhibition update: Mis-InFormation

On Friday night I went to the Private View of this years Fringe Arts Bath the visual arts side of the Bath Fringe.

This year the Fringe has over 30 exhibitions, performances and open studios over 6-7 venues around the city.

I have 3 paintings in an exhibition in the Old Pet Shop at Pigeon Park called Mis-InFormation.
Curated by Diana Ali and featuring over 25 artists from around the globe. More information can be found here: http://www.fringeartsbath.co.uk/mis-information/

Taking the concept of hidden truths, misquotations, rumour and gossip, artists are now being selected to exhibit their work which investigates this avenue. Art works selected will give the audience the chance to be allured, intrigued, enticed and be flirtatious with its appearance and reality. Artworks will explore ideas of being out of the loop, lying, pseudoscience, factoids and conspiracy theories.

It was an interesting evening with many people enjoying the exhibition and other exhibitions within the building. The building itself was left much in the state it had been found in, which lent it an industrial and temporary air. A bold choice by the curator although a tricky space to take photographs. 

 The exhibition is on until the 10th June. 


I also saw a fabulous sunset on my way home.

Changes

It's been a month of changes for me, part time and freelance work has been replaced with an actual full time role. I've been working on a project and finding time to continue with my paintings for my upcoming solo show.

As well as that I have got into 2 new exhibitions and been busy getting paintings to places for them as well as those already booked in.

Currently I have work in Art at the Ark's Spring Open, Basingstoke
http://artintheark.wordpress.com/

and a month long exhibition at Woodley Library.

http://wokingham.gov.uk/libraries/libraries/art/

Which I am very pleased about.

Exhibition at Woodley Library

Next up I have three paintings in Mis-In-Formation an exhibition curated by Diana Ali as part of 2012 Fringe Arts Bath. Last time I was part of the Fringe Arts Bath was in 2008 where I showed a Bath location specific for the Locus exhibition. It's really nice to see the Bath Fringe Arts expand over the years and there is more going on this year than any previous year.

Taking the concept of hidden truths, misquotations, rumour and gossip, artists are now being selected to exhibit their work which investigates this avenue. Art works selected will give the audience the chance to be allured, intrigued, enticed and be flirtatious with its appearance and reality. Artworks will explore ideas of being out of the loop, lying, pseudoscience, factoids and conspiracy theories.

http://www.fringeartsbath.co.uk/mis-information/

Plus here's a sneak preview of one of the works going up in Wisbech in the summer.

I was also invited to show my painting “Welcome to Bracknell” at last weekend Bracknell Forest Mayors Civic Reception.

It was a nice event with many local organisations, including local arts groups, Bracknell Camera Club and Janet Curley Cannon (who has produced many works about Bracknell) from ReOrsa there. I was asked to be part of the South Hill Park stand as my work “Welcome to Bracknell” was recently exhibited at South Hill Park. 

Me and my painting at South Hill Park's stall at Mayors Civic reception

 

Finally I have grand plans for some online projects/versions of already completed work.

Oh and there is a book to be finished...............

Happy New Year!

Just in case I have loyal followers here that don't use Facebook or Twitter (or do and have never found me there) and also aren't on my mailing list, here is a link to whats coming up in the New Year for me.

http://www.gemmacumming.com/dec_newsletter.htm

I hope you all have a fabulous night tonight and that 2012 is your best year yet.

Happy New Year!

Balloon!

Exhibition Update: While Things Were Good

Another exhibition update!

I've been keeping this one a little quiet but now the brochure and other publications are out I am revealing all. Although sharp eyed readers might already know about it.

In February I will be showing a selection of my larger works at my local arts centre South Hill Park in Bracknell, in a solo exhibition entitled While Things Were Good. The exact selection of works is yet to be decided but I have been feverishly painting to try to complete 2 new, large scale, 80 x 120 cm paintings.

I am really excited as the works will be in the Atrium, the exhibition space/bar/restaurant, so should have a lot of people seeing them.

I have wanted to exhibit at South Hill Park since about 2003 when I was mired enough in the art world to realise that South Hill Park actually had exhibition spaces. Before then I'd only known its as a child seeing Shakespeare performances with my secondary school or as a place to get messy with clay one summer holiday when I was about 7. It was in fact while wandering around the Mirror Gallery, looking at the 2003 Wrexham Print International, on the verge of going away to University to study Fine Art and trying to explain contemporary art to my mother, that the thought that maybe one day I could exhibit there popped up. At that point it seemed an impossible dream, heck until about 3 months ago it still seemed improbable.

No photos of the new works, they are secret until the 10^th of February, but here is a little publicity.

By the way I'd love to see you on the 10^th 7 – 8:30 pm for the private view, as well as my own show there will be three other exhibitions opening that evening, including South Hill Park's Jeweller in Residence Bev Bartlett, winning photographs from the local councils annual amateur photography competition and some amazing prints and sculptural paper works by Jeannie Driver and Chris Lundie.

More info 

There might even be free wine. 

Extract from current South Hill Park Brochure

Extract from upcoming exhibitions leaflet

 

Southwold Reprise

It was almost 2 months between taking the photos in Southwold and starting to paint my new paintings. It doesn't usually take me that Long to photoshop a few photos, in fact now as I write this I have no idea why it took so long, I can only assume that paperwork and admin got in the way as it continues to try to do.

Oh well, no matter! When I started the new paintings I was working fairly obsessively on them. Granted the resurgence of the cold weather and the ever present distracting paperwork continued to sap my time and enthusiasm, yet I found myself looking forward to the point in the week when I could get on with them.

I finished them a few months back in early January I thought it time to update you all on their progress. Well actually I wanted to do that months ago but the finished paintings proved very had to photograph accurately and I wanted to show you them as they grew. While painting I was uploading occasional images to Twitpic and tweeting about them.

As it stands there is no particular place they are going to when I get done. And I will admit it seems really strange to be blogging about paintings that have no specific project behind them. As most of 2010's paintings were very much project led. However Southwold has kind of taken over my practice, with many drawings already completed, 2 more paintings on the go and prints being made based on the drawings.
Below first: Greetings from Southwold

and Walberswick Ferry

 

 

Many Things

It has been a long time since my last update. I hadn't realised how long it had been.

Well since that last update many things have happened and if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you may have heard something about them all.

Soon I will be jetting off to the exotic east coast. Southwold on the Suffolk coast of England to be exact. I visited once before but as I was a tiny tiny child I really don't remember it at all. All the evidence that remains is of me, a push chair and some brightly coloured beach huts in a faded photo.

I am really looking forward to it, it will be a massive change of scene with lots of photographic/artistic potential. I've been doing a little research to make the most of my week as I imagine getting hold of a computer and an internet connection might be a tricky undertaking. Places including the lighthouse, amber museum (the only one in the world!), Electric Picture Palace (with working electric organ that rises out of the floor) and Maize Maze all sound suitably intriguing and fun in a very stereotypical Britain in the 50's/60's way. I will be going with my parents and my sister and her boyfriend but I imagine I will be spending quite a lot of time on my lonesome. This I also don't mind as long as we get together in the evenings. I'm almost considering it some kind of residency, unofficial it might be and I can see myself continuing this current thing with sea related paintings.

I have been doing lots of sea related paintings recently. Since finishing the elephant (more on that later) I have completed the Cowes paintings for the ReOrsa project space installation. I have also completed another smaller work of Cowes. Additionally to that I also painted a work on Cardiff (surprisingly no sea in that one). There's also been a flurry of drawings and as always am continuing the photography. In fact things have been moving so fast that I'm no longer up to date with the website. I think it must be something to do with the themes of my work but the Summer continues to be my busiest time of year unlike, as I am given to understand, most artists.


I have recently been accepted to show my work at the Crocus Gallery in Nottingham and Atelier-East showing in the Wisbech and Fenland Museum, Wisbech.

The Crocus Gallery is a volunteer run community space. It runs using an empty shop and does a wonderful job brightening and livening up the local area. The exhibition “Summer” is running from 17^th July until the 7^th August. I'm also getting to show for the first time “London Landmarks” a four canvas work that was one of my most ambitious works in some time.

Atelier-East organises and supports local artists, putting on shows in local spaces including the Wisbech and Fenland Museum. This is also the location of the 5^th Annual Summer show (open, in my favour , to non local artists) in which my work “Greetings” is being shown from the 7^th August until the 18^th September.

As to the elephant, well he did really well. After the miniatures he is also in a book about the London Elephant parade along with all his chums and makes an appearance on t-shirts. Hopefully these links will continue to work for some time.

Book:http://shop.elephantparade.com/

T-shirts: http://elephantparadelondon.spreadshirt.co.uk/greetings-from-the-jungle-I11936293

I went to the herding when they were mostly all together in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. I say mostly because a select few were deemed too valuable or delicate to be left outside and needed to remain inside. They resided at Westfield, London for the duration. Unfortunately this meant I didn't quite get to meet all of them but I was more than happy with the ones I did.

In the end the elephant went for £12500 at auction, helping to raise money for the Elephant Family. The whole event was a huge success with the target of 2 million to be raised from the parade being absolutely smashed, in the end the parade made 4 million quid for Asian elephant conservation.

Whooooo!

London Large

For a large part of last year I have been working on one big painting. It was finished just before the New Year but I haven't had the chance to post anything or take any photos . The Elephant (mainly the excitement about the elephant) and having to mostly evacuate my studio for Christmas/New Year has delayed me. However while I knew I had taken the original photographs that became this work a while ago I was horrified to find out (after sorting out a few files on my computer and taking a quick look at the folder containing the preliminary photographs and photoshops) that it was possible I'd started the actual painting in May of last year, let alone that the photos had been taken 9 months ago.

Now, I have in that time produced a few other works. You can lose a month and a half to the Bracknell piece and at least up to June/July time I was working on the Windsor paintings and digital works. Plus a week here and there on other unrelated projects, trips and dull, ordinary, day to day stuff. Still 4-6 months on one painting feels like a lot.

It shouldn't really, granted I probably could have worked more, those long summer days etc. But I have to remind myself that this 'single' work is in fact 4 paintings. The fact they come together to form one large canvas, the like not being seen since 2006 and those halcyon University days, is unimportant. They are not the large canvas of those days. Those works were a single image scaled up and frequently I have proven to myself that the complex and intricate image I'd have done at University on a 120 x 180 cm canvas takes almost the same amount of time as the same image done on a quarter of that size.

As you can see some of these paintings are quite complex (Houses of Parliament!!!!) so it's no wonder they took a while. It's just a shame that to the uneducated eye it might look like I've done very little this year compared to previous years. But hey, It was an experiment to see if I could continue to push my work and make large scale paintings again, especially ones that remain user friendly to my current situation. I also wanted to see If I could make a multiview image that I was truly proud of, and while there are elements of the finished work I am not quite happy with, I believe I have managed to do this. In fact I believe that I have managed to do it twice in 2009 with 'Welcome to Bracknell' as well. Not too bad then really.

Oh and if the final image below looks a bit funky its only because I had to put the 4 paintings together in Photoshop rather than take a photo of them assembled.