About me, my art background and the process of how I got to this stage to create this blog. I studied a Fine Art degree from Durban University of Technology. During my first year we had one week drawing, two weeks sculpture and ceramics, two weeks of painting and two weeks of printmaking that repeated over the course of that first year. The second year was exactly the same. Third year we would choose to specialize in one study of 3D and 2D studies, (choice between ceramics and sculpture) and (painting and printmaking). Drawing was compulsory. In my forth year we had to specialize in only one study. My choice was printmaking for second, third and fourth year because I wanted to take the advantage of learning the skills whilst I was in a environment with all the printmaking equipment. I knew that later on I can go back to learning how to paint properly and perfect my skills by reading books and going for workshops. What I have realized is that I should of learnt Atelier methods of drawing before or during my Tertiary education. In first year they teach you by modules. Learning to draw is one of the key factors to perfecting any art form,such as painting, printmaking, ceramics and sculpture. One would think a three or four year degree would give you time to learn these skills. Ideally one needs to take extra courses if available to learn to draw or paint academically before breaking the rules and becoming conceptual. In our first year drawing modules we would have one module on perspective, figure drawing, pen and ink, charcoal, pastels, drawing from nature and buildings. I have been out of practice as an artist for 5 years. When I moved to the UK on 5 years ago on an ancestral visa, it was very difficult moving here and making a life fore myself all on my own. I grew up surrounded by African nature and lived half my life on a farm. Moving to London was a big shock as the environment was so different to what I was used too. I had to find a full time paying job to fulfill my visa requirements and ended up working almost 50 hours a week. This gave me no time to be creative and have time to even reflect. It's amazing how time passed and I realized that I'm not doing anything creative let alone fine art and not even my job is creative. I am glad I got a wake up call. Once you are an artist, you cannot ignore your creative urges otherwise you end up feeling a void inside. So I started to act on slowly becoming an artist again. It has not been easy, it is a process that can take quite awhile when you have been out of practice for so long. I was finally blessed with a bigger room in London, a room with a beautiful view of trees and nature. This inspired me more, environment is key to creative flow. In my forth year (2009), the concept for my work was "The juxtaposition of Beauty and Ugliness". I find this to be a continuous theme in the works I create. Below is my artist statement. Artist Statement: Conceptually my work is about human emotions, the beauty and ugliness surrounding us. It looks at at the opposites of life, death, love, hate, happiness, sadness, anger, comfort and abuse. Some of my work is inspired by a loved family member who contributed a lot in my life. The depiction of clean white spaces and medical images had to do with the fact that she (my Godmother) was a specialist dermatologist. Memento mori is a Latin phase meaning “remember that you are mortal” and the objects and albums depict that. It is the process of mourning and the emotions that go with it. Both can be seen as beautiful and ugly. The works also represent abuse, a taint, a stain of something pure that can never be removed. My works represent a strong sense of femininity, mainly the influence of my Godmother. I was influenced by artists such as Penny Siopis and Fiona Kinsella. Even though I specialized in Printmaking, I used mixed media in my works. One of the main mediums was that I created and made my own handmade paper. It was a medium I fell in love with the process of making. There is something very "Zen" with paper making. Perhaps it's in the water with the pure, cream, white paper pulp and running your hands thought the liquid and feeling the soft pulp. When creating sheets of paper, whilst the paper is still wet, one can manipulate the paper by in-layering other paper images in the paper block. One can also in-layer fabric or creating deliberate holes in the paper. My work was very conceptual involving a few silkscreen prints, paintings and drawings. A lot of my works was created from found feminine objects inherited from my Godmother mentioned in my artist statement. I will attach my works in this blog or create a link for you to see my works from 2009. How I got to the stage of discovering Traditional Atelier methods? Not many people mention this in tertiary art school. During or after second year we are encouraged to move towards conceptual Fine Art making. However I feel it's so important to perfect the traditional aspects of art before breaking the rules. I was too keen to break the rules when I was a student. In my quest to becoming an artist again I decided to get research all the artist I'm inspired too. I am very inspired by my past Fine Art lecturer Bronwen Vaughn-Evens. Her work is both conceptual and technically rich. I started printing out all the works of the artist that inspired me and used making tape to tape them all over my war in my bedroom. I set up an easel and created a reflective cognitive art journal to record my research, inspiration and to sketch in. The job and profession that has been supporting me in London for all these year has been Dental nursing. You probably asking or wondering 'why?' 'How?' 'That's so 'random.' As what most people in the creative industry react like when they hear my story. Firstly I fell 'randomly' in this profession. All the creative jobs I tried to apply for in London required a years internship with no pay. I needed an income to live and did not have any support from someone else. An artist friend that I met 4 years ago at a hippie cafe in London overheard me saying that I was looking for a job. As it turns out she is an artist working as a dental nurse trainee and studying dental nursing which is a 1 year course that you go to one a week for 3 hours in the evening. You train with a dentist in the meantime and you take a written and practical exam at the end of the year. It was not easy but I thought it was a win win situation as I needed a job and this job would teach you skills as well as it's a profession. It was great for my visa requirements. As a dental nurse trainee you earn more than waitress wages. So she basically gave me her job as she moved on to another practice. You will see in my fourth year works that I incorporated elements of surgery and medicine that was inspired by my Godmother who was a specialist dermatologist. Dental nursing taught me many practical skills and has elements of creativity as it's also based on aesthetics. In the use of teeth shade taking, crowns, veneers, molding dental materials, taking impressions and casting impressions. This job also has the flexibility if I wanted to work part-time temping and making art on the side. Which is what most artist have to do for their 'bread and butter'. I was working 6 days a week for more than 3 years and finally I was able to only work 5 days a week. This space of time enabled me to awake the artist in me. I decided to look at postgraduate art courses as I would like to study a masters in Fine Art. However I realized that I have been far too out of practice and lack the confidence as it's been so long. I was interested in medical art and creating drawings for the dental practice when I came across two postgraduate courses in Medical art. This was when I started to draw for the first time in years as I needed to create a new portfolio of drawings. This was when I realized, I have completely forgotten how to draw. I was so embarrassed! Where did it all go? I have a Fine Art degree and I can't draw? This shocked me and it was a little discouraging. So I researched and found that most people that haven't drawn in years wont be able to just pick up a pencil and create a masterpiece unless you are someone like Leonardo Di Vinci. Drawing is like a muscle, if you do not use it at all, what happens? Think of those people that travel to space without gravity for a year and come back to earth. They actually can't walk, they have to train their muscles again in order for them to function and become physically active again. Even if you are Michael Phelps and you went into space, you would have the same problem. That is my theory at least. I needed help and on where to start. My first drawing was on a bunch of portobello mushrooms to show, shape, form and texture. It's not the best but it was a start. Medical art requires academic drawing skills in which I have lost completely. I needed to regain and build these skills. I started researching places that run drawing and painting classes in London. Surprisingly I found it difficult to find one that would fit my weekly timetable. I was looking for drop in classes for evening and weekends but a lot of the schools only offered a set course for set times and if you cannot attend them then you lose money. A lot of these courses are very expensive, so one has to take time off work in order to attend. I needed a course that was tailored for people with a 9am to 6pm job. I found Sunny Art Centre in Grays Inn road London. Sunny art centre offers advanced art courses and workshops run by professional artists and drop-in classes for students of all ages and skill levels. I booked 4 lessons and I can go to any class and my package only expires in 60 days. Perfect! I attended my first drawing lesson on the Saturday. The lesson was taught by the head teacher and owner of Sunny Art Centre, Yinjie Sun. I learnt so much from Yinjie in my first lesson. All their drawing and painting lessons are based on traditional, academic, atelier methods. This is influenced by Yinjie's extensive art education in China and also from the art schools in Italy. The subjects that we would draw and paint are set out on a table with a fabric table cloth. There would be white casts of geometric shapes, organic human features (ears, mouth, hands), statues of male and female heads, fruits and plants. This is how I became interested in Learning classical drawing and painting Atelier methods. Now the process begins. I will start to record all my work in progress from these lessons and in my own time. I will also record all my research based on Classical Atelier methods. This is a learning blog to record my development. I hope you enjoy the process. Wish me luck. :)