Glenn Marshall - Yorkshire Artist
  • Home
  • Biography
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • GALLERY

A Walk into the Light.........

31/7/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
"A Walk into the Light" - original watercolour by Glenn Marshall
  "Develop an infallible technique and then you can throw yourself at the mercy of inspiration."
I came across this saying in a glossy magazine and was suitably motivated by it. I had just started painting and I knew I had so much to learn before I could produce the paintings on paper that were buzzing around in my head. So I began my journey exploring different ways of making watercolour work with me rather than against me. This entailed a lot of effort and a lot of paintings - most of which came nowhere near turning out right. However midst the disappointments came moments of pure joy when some success was achieved and safely stored away for future use. My friend Margaret Hockney (more of whom later in this blog) was very helpful at this time and I always took heed of her advice. After all she had been surrounded by art her whole life so it seemed sensible to listen when she spoke. "If you do something once it could be just a happy accident but if you can repeat it again and again you have developed a technique.", she advised. So I used to practise my successes over and over again until they became second nature. With this in mind it was a fortuitous occurrence when I discovered a cache of early paintings hidden away on my computer gathering dust -not really of course but you know what I mean. It's easy for files to get put in folders and then folders to get put in other folders and before you know it- 'out of sight is out of mind'. But now here they are right in front of me - the successes and lots of failures. One pitfall of becoming a more technically accomplished painter is that you lose the excitement you felt at the beginning of your art journey. In effect you forget to throw yourself at the mercy of inspiration and concentrate on your technical ability to make a painting 'right' by avoiding mistakes. But ultimately it is by taking chances, trying new things and yes - learning from your mistakes - that you become a better painter. So as I look at my early paintings I realise that 'failures' were never 'failures' at all - just part of the process of learning and developing my art. So for our 'Double Vision' exhibition at Bridlington Spa I have deliberately  come out of my comfort zone and tried new things. Sure they didn't all turn out well but I have got the enjoyment back into my work. I am excited and pleased with my recent paintings but you will have to wait until 'Double Vision' from 28th October until 28th November 2014 before you can see if I am right!
Let's invite Margaret back to the page. I got to know her through her friendship with Merice. They were walking together and she told Merice not to be afraid to try different things with her camera - "shoot into light", she said and see what you get. Merice did and was delighted with her photos. I was too and painted 'A Walk into the Light' from one. This was my attempt to capture that blinding moment when you look into the sun. The dazzle hurts your eyes and all surrounding detail fade into contrasting darkness. I hadn't seen this painting for nearly ten years until very recently on my lucky find but am definitely classing it as one of my early successes!
Click to see more paintings by Glenn Marshall
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Professional artist now semi retired and enjoying being eccentric!

    Archives

    September 2022
    June 2022
    February 2022
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.