New work in progress

Images from Swansea MA Group trip to Berlin - January 2010

I've had an invitation to submit work to an exhibition to be held in Colwyn Bay, North Wales opening on March 30th and finishing on Easter Sunday April 8th. 26 national and local artists from all sorts of diverse backgrounds have been invited to select extracts from biblical texts which illustrate the Easter story and we've been invited to make art pieces which give some meaning to faith in the 21st Century. The exhibition is organised by Engediarts and it will be held in the former Imperial Hotel in Colwyn Bay. The brief explicitly states that the art pieces should not promote any particular religion. So I'm busy thinking about that right now. I'm just in the process of getting my new studio at Elysium Artspaces up and running so it will be good to immediately get down to some new work in the studio.

World Wide Webbing

It's always interesting to know from where people access this site - although there is not always interaction, my stats package shows that people access from a diverse range of countries, and it is good to share things - images, text thoughts. I think 'Unknown' refers to the growing trend to use 3G (soon to be 4G) to access from devices like mobile phones. Recent evidence suggests that the internet, only 20 years old, has now replaced television as one of the main sources of information and recreation for young people of school age. Some with longer memories will recall that at one time only 3 TV channels existed in the UK - we've moved a long way from there...

United Kingdom	1676 (47.12%)
Unknown	866 (24.35%)
United States	665 (18.70%)
Canada	51 (1.43%)
Australia	50 (1.41%)
France	46 (1.29%)
Germany	44 (1.24%)
Sweden	27 (0.76%)
Estonia	27 (0.76%)
Spain	23 (0.65%)
Italy	20 (0.56%)
Ireland	17 (0.48%)
Japan	17 (0.48%)
Denmark	15 (0.42%)
Czech Republic	13 (0.37%)

Art and Technology

Two interesting articles in 'The Guardian' this week which discuss the use of modern technology in art. The first article discusses the demise of the compact camera and replacement by cameras found in Smart Phones - link here. Photographers like Cartier-Bresson used the Leica with a fast lens so they could move silently around and capture their subjects without drawing attention to themselves. A camera smartphone provides a similar ability and lens quality is certainly sufficient to produce an image of good enough quality for posting immediately on the internet. There are also basic tools which allow manipulation of images. I have recently acquired an IPhone 4 - for me the jury is still out - but I have been impressed by the quality and suitable for art photography and where speed is important to transfer an image from one place to another. I will not however be throwing away my Pro Cameras just yet!

The second article - link here - discusses the use of the iPad by the artist David Hockney. He says in the article "When we first talked about it I'd never even heard of an iPad, let alone worked with one......." ".....It's like an endless piece of paper that perfectly fitted the feeling I had that painting should be big." (The Guardian Friday 13 January 2012)

I don't have an iPad but I can see the benefits for an artist on the move who wants to create work and multi-task with email and other word-processing etc.

The answer for me is not to follow slavishly, check out technology for yourself, decide if you can afford it, and experiment with as many different options as possible.

Happy New Year 2012

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year 2012! We've started the year without heat as our system broke down last week and we can't get the part we need until builders merchants re-open on January 3rd! So I'm wrapped up warm and toasting you with a glass of Glenkinchie Single malt Whisky! Iechyd da!