March 2022 Newsletter
MY DOG SIGHS AND OTHER THOUGHTS
Hello friends,
Thanks for joining me for my first newsletter of 2022.
What's On My Mind….
With all that’s happening in the world at the moment (war in Ukraine, Afghanistan refugees, rising costs of living in the UK and of course the ever present threat of Covid), it can be incredibly hard to focus on art. Apart from donating money and needed items, there’s not much I can do to help, and it’s incredibly frustrating to feel so powerless.
Some of you may have seen my political Boris cartoon on Instagram. It was a quick sketch done in sheer desperation and despair at the state of our government. Art has always been part of social commentary throughout history and can be used to unite and change us. It’s something I’m giving some thought to at the moment. One of the many artists who have managed this recently is My Dog Sighs - a street artist who painted an image on a wall in Cardiff that is so iconic it has gone viral and now has a life of its own, being shared and reproduced across the world.
Apart from uniting so many people who are using this image, My Dog Sighs is now producing prints of the painting and donating 100% of the profits to DEC (Disaster Emergency Committee) to help support the people of Ukraine. Art making a difference.
What's On My Easel....
My kintsugi series titled “Overcome” is coming to an end. I have completed ‘Jo’ and am making good progress on ‘Willow’, the final painting in the series. Here’s a look at Jo finished, and Willow in progress:
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Echoing the strong poses and direct gaze at the viewer that the previous paintings have, Jo is based on Wedgewood Jasperware, and Willow will be the iconic Willow pattern that I also used in the three painting for the Breakout exhibition in Haverfordwest last summer. I’m hoping Willow, with her pink/purple hair, undercut and nose piercing, will be a suitably strong ending to the series.
Quarterly Questions….
Many thanks to my friend Sarah for this question: “How do you know/decide what colour you want to use for something and how do you mix the exact colour you need?”
Colour is such a personal thing and has so many meanings. I often spend a long time deciding on colours and try different combinations in photoshop before painting. With my previous series of painting, The Urban Faeries, I deliberately chose a very limited palette of just 5 colours - fluorescent pink, cobalt blue, cadmium yellow, burnt umber and white. Before painting anything, I made a colour wheel to see just how far I could push these colours. The choice to limit colours was partly to challenge myself, and partly to unify the series so all the paintings looked part of a set.
When I painted my portraits of the Angel Aziraphael and Demon Crowley from Good Omens, I chose to use the Zorn palette. The Zorn palette is just 4 colours - Red, Black, White and Yellow Ochre. Here they are:
For the Overcome series, I wanted to use a larger palette of colours, and incorporate some soft, feminine/pastel/ice cream colours to contrast against the strength of the poses. I tried out various combinations in photoshop before settling on these as a guide while painting:As for mixing the colour I want, that’s a combination of studying a bit of colour theory, trial and error and some patience. As I work with acrylic, I also have to allow for the fact that acrylic paint dries darker!
Thanks for such a great question Sarah, and if you would like to ask me a question for my next newsletter, just hit reply, or email admin@gemmabeynon.com
And finally....
I’ve been asked to get involved with the Breakout exhibition again in Haverfordwest
this year. The theme for this year is ‘Connections’, so I’m currently sketching out
ideas for my paintings and will hopefully have more to share on this in my next
newsletter.
Until then, elbow bumps to you all,
Gemma