Yesterday in the artist's studio

Some pictures from yesterday when I ventured into the artist's studio again......

This is very much a work in progress, a constantly evolving record of a space in a state of flux. It has no natural beginning nor end and I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do with the images. I'll probably make them into a book at some point in the future but I also think it would be a nice idea to show them together with some of the paintings that were created in the space. A possible future husband/wife collaboration?

All paintings copyright Mike Newton

Tools of the Trade

Another peek into the artist's studio - this time looking at the various tools of the trade: brushes and palette knives, paints and palettes, canvases and paper, books and magazines, plus a surprising number of feathers! Not sure if they're just for decoration or whether they actually get used. The brushes come in a wide range of sizes and shapes and each will have its own defined specialist use.

Having looked at quite a number of  pictures of artists' studios, they seem to fall into two camps - the super-tidy and the messy. This one is a very tidy one and reflects the owner's character. Each item has its place, brushes are meticulously cleaned after use, processes and experiments are all noted down. A feeling of order and calm pervades the space, even in the midst of the creative process.....

Extract the magic

A couple of months ago I bought a book called The Photographer's Playbook - a collection of 307 assignments and ideas from photography practitioners - artists, teachers, curators, commercial photographers - ranging from the practical and the inspirational right through to the enigmatic and the plain ridiculous. The overall idea behind the book is to encourage experimentation and play, to overcome the cliché and avoid the overfamilair, to find a fresh approach to photography. The assignments take the form of exercises and lessons, games and challenges, tips and musings. Some are short and pithy, others long and complicated. I glanced briefly through the book and promptly put it aside! 

I picked it up again the other day and started leafing through it (you can either work through each contribution in order or more fun would be to follow the recommended pages at the end of each individual page taking you on a journey through related content.) I disregarded some immediately eg. Philip-Lorca di Corcia's suggestion to 'make any kind of work just as long as it involves sex' or a rather impractical assignment involving the purchase of a drone! But I found several that piqued my interest straight away and decided to try out a few over the next few months. At the very least, it should challenge me a little and maybe get me to try something different...... 

         Extract the Magic

         by Elspeth Diederix

"Choose an object that you normally wouldn't give a second glance. Something that you see all the time, but don't find very special.

Study it carefully and discover a quality that you like about it. Maybe its shape or colour, or even the way it moves or feels. 

Think of a way to photograph it that will show the beauty in this commonplace object. Most often, if you just document the object as it is, its particular beauty remains invisible. You might need to alter something to make the viewer see what you see. Take the object out its normal surroundings, or change its colour, or make it look like something else. All it might need is some special lighting. You must provide the extra element that will extract the magic from the ordinary to make it visible."

On the chest of drawers my eye chanced on an old empty perfume bottle which I've been meaning to throw away for some time. It has a very distinctive shape which I like. Perhaps it's cheating a little as it's quite an attractive object in itself, but by placing it on the windowsill with the light streaming behind it, I think I've managed to extract a certain magical quality which wasn't apparent before....

Backs to the wall

Another peek inside the artist's studio.....

The works in today's post are all back views. Whether heads or figures, nude or clothed, the back view of a person hints at mystery, reverie and detachment. The viewer is unable to gauge the expression or can only partially do so if the face is in profile. The subject is usually portrayed as lost in thought, absorbed in some inner meditation, unaware of the viewer. We, the viewer, have to put our imaginations to work to fill in the gaps.

In painting, the Rückenfigur is the term used to describe a figure in the landscape, seen from behind, contemplating the view. The viewer is encouraged to place himself in the position of the Rückenfigur, so that he may experience the same sense of awe in the face of nature as felt by the figure in the painting. Associated with notions of the the sublime in nature, German romantic painters such as Caspar David Friedrich used this device to emphasise the spiritual and mystical aspects of the contemplation of nature.

The figures in the paintings featured below are not depicted in any communion with nature. In fact, we do not know what they are looking at. Nevertheless, their back views may lead us to suppose that their minds are on higher things, their thoughts turned in on themselves and the viewer is inspired to share their experience....

All paintings copyright Mike Newton
More of Mike's Rückenfigur work can be seen here and here

The Artist's Studio

"What would we not give to peer over the shoulder of Giorgione or Vermeer  - or Francis Bacon? In an age that has lost its natural sense of the numinous, we half believe that we could be the witness of a form of magic. And it is not only the enactment of that magic that so compels us; the place in which it is performed may be charged with a presence that compounds the spell. To enter the studio of Giacometti was to walk, like Alice, through the Looking-Glass, into a realm that seemed to change the scale of your own body; to find your way across the floor of Kitaj’s studio that is strewn with open books like paving stones in a Japanese garden is to step into the silent discourse of centuries between artist and artist; and to be invited into Brancusi’s lair at 11 Impasse Ronsin was to cross the threshold into a space that was itself a work of art in which sculptures of polished brass, white plaster and rough-hewn wood had been disposed in groups under the calm white light from high windows – a temple of trophies through which you moved as in a trance. In each case a way of working had moulded from within its own aura." 

          From The Artist at Work by Colin St John Wilson

These photographs are from a project about the artist's studio on which I've been working intermittently over the last year. I am lucky enough to have access to an artist's studio right here at home, where my husband works and produces his paintings and drawings. It is a fascinating place and offers different photographic opportunities virtually ever time I cross the threshold. The constant state of flux creates interesting and unusual juxtapositions of images as new work replaces work in progress or a finished piece. At times portraits seem to communicate with one another, at times willfully turning away, sometimes caught in a shaft of light, at other times expressions hidden in the shadows.   

I usually do my photographing there when the space is empty as I don't like to intrude. The studio is usually regarded as a place of sanctuary, a personal space which is not be invaded. In addition, I make it a rule never to disturb anything - I tend to prefer photographing what I come across rather than staging my pictures - and for me the serendipity of finding a ready-made still life is one of the great pleasures of photography. 

The images in this selection are all to do with the gaze - the painter's gaze of course, but also the gazes exchanged between the subjects of the paintings and their gaze as they look out at the viewer, as well as the viewer's gaze at both the paintings and the photographs. Gaze upon gaze upon gaze.....

To be continued........

All paintings copyright Mike Newton

Catching Up

It's been over 18 months since I posted anything on this blog. Much as I recoil from the general idea of a New Year being a new start, this year I feel differently somehow and am beginning to feel the stirrings of desire to get photographing again. The reasons for my recent disengagement with photography have been various. I've had other things on my mind - the deaths of both my best friend and my mother, together with my attempt and failure to sell up, move house and make a fresh start elsewhere, have all distracted me from pursuing much serious photography recently. Also the sheer volume of images we get exposed to - on the web, via social media, in exhibitions, books and magazines - has contributed to a kind of disenchantment and fatigue. But time to pull myself together - I will just have to make an effort to filter out the dross, concentrate on what really interests me and stay focused!

It hasn't been a total waste of a year though - I have managed to create one book which I'm happy with - An Accumulation of Days - a collection of photographs taken in and around the home over the course of a few years. The images range from almost abstract shadows and reflections to more intimate portrayals of small everyday moments as the seasons change and the days pass. A preview of the book can be seen here

Some of the work from this book also featured in an exhibition I took part in last November at Espacio Gallery in London's Shoreditch as part of Photomonth. The show The Bleached Bones of a Story was organised by London Independent Photography Central Group and featured work from 11 photographers detailing life's little events and ordinary things. It was a thoughtfully-curated show where disparate work seemed to connect very well. A great success.

Earlier in the year The Swanscombe Project was shown at Goldsmith's, University of London. This was the culmination of a year's work by sixteen photographers documenting life on the marsh. My work for the project can be seen in earlier posts on this blog. As plans to develop the marsh gain momentum, the project will get another outing in February this year at the Blake Gallery in Gravesend. Details to follow.

Over the past year I have also been helping out on the editorial team of fLIP - the thrice-yearly photography magazine produced by London Independent Photography. The magazine, free to members and on sale at selected bookshops and galleries, is an interesting mix of members' work and features, interviews, exhibition listings and reviews and is completely free of advertising. Each issue is centred around a theme - currently Conflict. Excellent value for money and a good read!

Finally I have spent some time revamping and updating my website. I think the result is a more professional, streamlined look with my work divided into relevant themes which are easily searchable. A well-designed website should be a showcase for your work. Despite the importance of social media and blogging, it's usually the first port of call when promoting yourself so it's important to get it right and make it stand out from all the millions of others out there! You can see the result here.

So - expect more photographs, ideas for project development, updates, some of my favourite book recommendations, exhibition news and anything else that takes my fancy.

Not Dark Yet

"Behind every beautiful thing there's been some kind of pain"

Not Dark Yet, from Time Out of Mind
Bob Dylan

Chasing Sunshine

Things have cheered up considerably since my last post - the sun has come out, the buds are on the trees and I saw my first butterfly today! We have been starved of sunshine for so long that I find myself wandering around the house observing patches of light as they dance around the walls and doors, casting strange shadows and dagger-like reflections.  It's like some strange, ghostly presence has taken possession of the house....