Meditations

End
Oil on Panel
12x24"

So I am reminded again that timing is indeed everything. It turns out that when I was painting this earlier this week, that my lovely artist friend Melissa Gregory died. Melissa was my first artist friend here in Tahoe, and she introduced me to almost all the artists I know here. I will remember her through my relationships with my women friends, my continued commitment to art, and through a critique group with other artists to share ideas and support each other.

I can think of no more fitting tribute to our friendship.

Melissa's sudden death has come as a wake up call to make more effort to not allow everyday busy-ness to interfere with the important contact you have with the people who love you.

I've been thinking about all the women I have been friends with over the years, and how geography, life, work and family has been allowed to divert our contact. I want to let any of you know that I haven't spoken to in years, that I still think about you, and that my paintings are embedded with memories of you and the fun that we had.

If Karen Rozier, Alex Franklin, and Sophie Hold are reading this, or you know them - please get in touch.

Timing is everything...

Jill Bolte Taylor gives a talk on TED about what her stroke taught her about how her brain hemispheres function.

The Price

The Price
Oil on Panel
12x24"

I'm not going to explain, or reveal the full title of this piece, I'd rather leave some room for imagination.

Lately, my poor old brain has been working overtime, even when I'm painting - which is sometimes a rare respite from the 'mind monkeys' throwing around ideas and dialogues. It's nice to have artist friends who I can talk to about this, who go through similar mental assault courses in the pursuit of art.

It's funny, I Googled 'busy brain' recently, and found that lots of people from all walks of life have an internal theatre going on, which they can't really control, but can result in lots of creative energy and ideas.

When I'm a bit calmer, doing Yoga, meditating, climbing, that sort of thing - I still tend to have an internal monologue giving me a running commentry on what I'm seeing, hearing and remembering. This is annoying when I'm meditating - something along the lines of "I'm concentrating on my breathing, oh yes I'm, I'm not thinking about anything, yay that's great, I'm not thinking about anything..." which defeats the object really.

Right now, it's less of a monologue and more of a forum. I wake up with a different song playing in my head every night. It's like someone left the TV/s on and I can't find the remote. My heart races and my neck aches.

However, I'm feeling artistically charged in a more consistant way than I've ever done. It's a common thing among artists, and I can take a stroll down the corridors of art history to confirm that I'm not alone. Lots of creative people have 'mind monkeys' of some kind, to greater and lesser extents, and this is what fuels the restless urge to make art. I know I should be grateful - when I'm too content and calm, my art goes down the pan. A quiet night's sleep would be nice though...

Three More Oils

Love
Oil on Panel
24x12"

Expectation
Oil on Panel
24x12"

The Future
Oil on Panel
24x12"

Charcoal Drawings 9 - 10

Joel
Charcoal on Paper
22x30"

First time drawing again for a while, feels good!

I didn't get to finish this one, unfortunately. I thought I'd post it anyway - it was a great pose, very challenging!

I'm looking for female models in the Tahoe area - either portrait or full body. No cash involved I'm afraid, but I'll exchange your time for a free portrait in charcoal. Email me at art@shelleyhocknell.com for more details.

Group Critique at The Rock

Mixed Media Artist Carol Sesko hosted a group critique last week at The Rock in Truckee, where she is currently exhibiting her paintings. It was my second critique with Carol, and I loved it. It's soooo helpful to be amongst creative people for a couple of hours, talking about your processes, hopes and fears, marketing, exhibitions, techniques...and so much more.


What's interesting is the diversity of our output doesn't make a spot of difference when we're discussing the emotional and practical aspects of making a career in art. We had a poet, a few painters of different styles, a couple of mixed media artists, and an illustrator.


The format went as follows: we each bring a piece of work to show the group, which we might need help or encouragement with. Each member introduces their work, and the group gives feedback. That's it. And it's great.

This blog actually helps me to organise my thoughts about my practice, more so than a private journal, because I have to consider my audience, as well as dig into my own soul to provide some sort of context to my work. I know a lot of artists don't agree with talking about the 'craft' of art, but I've found the internet to be immensely helpful in improving my technique and studio practice.

I've become especially fond of YouTube artists demos. The main thing I've learnt from that is that it's OK for a painting to go through a period of looking a bit crappy, because you work through that, and your 'ugly duckling' can become a swan if you stand back enough, evaluate your painting, correct the mistakes, be willing to wipe it down, and have faith in your ability to make it the best painting you've ever done.


Something which came up in the critique which was a relief to me (to know that others share my slightly schitzoid tendancies), was that looking at other people's work, often we go home and try out their style. If that happens often enough, it gets really confusing, and suddenly you don't know who you are any more. I wrote about that recently on this blog, illustrating it with my unmovable image of Derek Zoolander looking in the mirror going, "Who am I?"

The conclusion I've come to, is that if you're not disciplined enough to maintain your style in the face of all the other exciting styles out there, just incorperate a little tiny bit into your work, and see where that goes. You can't not have influences, we don't live in isolation from the world, history, other artists, etc., so I think if you're particularly chameleonic, (like me) the best you can do is try and stay true to yourself - having learnt from others, and absorbed the best and most relevant lessons to you, go back to the drawing board, and forget everything.

A Vienna influence

Echo
Oil on Panel
12x24"

I was really trying to capture the delicateness of this model - she's tiny. I've been lucky enough to have two models with this kind of girl-woman physique. I've also been reading a great book I scored from a hidden second-hand book store on the art of Vienna at the time of Klimt, Schiele and Kokashka - some of my favourite artists. I think some of the emotional weightinness of those artists came through, which I'm happy about. I'm intrigued by the somewhat abstract narrative which emerges when I let myself go in a painting. If I don't try too hard, and just focus on a strong image, allsorts of things come out.