Late Change, Oil on Board, 29 x 29cm, $450
I am excited to tell you that I have recently posted a new gallery on my website of small plein air oil paintings. They are gestural, impressions of the changing forms, light and colour in the landscape. The immediacy of these works is quite distinct from my more considered handling of paint in the studio paintings. The directness of this method is enthralling, requiring focus and speed. Please let me know what you think...
Priming boards for more plein air work - stay tuned for some seascapes!
One of the questions I am often asked is "How does your work change?" This is interesting to address, because I admit that often I am so immersed in my work that I don't notice the subtle shifts that happen over time.
The kind of shifts I am referring to are changes in the predominate palette, the way I apply the paint and construct a composition. When you look at the gallery of images on my website, spanning the last ten years, you will notice that my earlier paintings were more 'empty' - drawing you in with a void-like space that was often indeterminate. The colours were also less naturalistic and the paint was applied in thinner washes and glazes. (See 'In the Wind IV')
The compositional devices I use now create a complex interplay of positive and negative space, with ambiguity still being present within a more structured whole. My mark-making and paint application has evolved too. I now use a combination of transparent washes and dry brushing to create vibration of colour and movement across the images. I apply opaque paint selectively, for areas of luminosity or density and the colours I use are largely determined by the key-note of feeling in the work.
The other major change in my work is the introduction of birds... I wonder what might be next?
2005: In the Wind IV, Oil on Canvas, 46 x 46cm, Sold
2014: Rising II, Oil on Canvas, 61 x 61cm, $2400
Following a conversation with a friend last night, I have been thinking about how my spiritual perspective is imbued in my work and whether this is obvious to you, my viewer? (Complex questions for a brief news article!)
Like many artists, I allow my spiritual practice to underpin the images I create and the feelings they evoke. It is not a simple, equation-like formula, but rather a set of subtle relationships that are held in delicate balance. Art that appears to serve a message, whatever the topic, does not interest me, therefore I don't make that kind of work. Instead I choose to make paintings that invite you to engage with my experiences of spirit as you also explore your own.
Nature plays a large role in the 'narratives' explored on my canvases. It is through connecting with nature that I experience spiritual and physical awareness and renewal. The processes and wisdom of nature teach me truths about life, spirit and the human condition. Mary Oliver's poem expresses in words what I cannot:
“There are things you can’t reach. But
You can reach out to them, and all day long.
The wind, the bird flying away. The idea of god.
And it can keep you busy as anything else, and happier.
I look; morning to night I am never done with looking.
Looking I mean not just standing around, but standing around
As though with your arms open.”
With this image of standing with arms open, I invite you into contemplation through my paintings. In them I express what I see when I am "looking" with attention and amazement at the world around me.
Works in Progress
I'd like to share a story with you about how I learned to live creatively. It begins with my Gran, Camilla, who passed away a few weeks ago. I loved her deeply and without judgement. Her death fills me with sadness and aching loss. This is the risk of loving - the pain of losing. Brene Brown puts it so eloquently: “To love someone fiercely, to believe in something with your whole heart, to celebrate a fleeting moment in time, to fully engage in a life that doesn’t come with guarantees – these are risks that involve vulnerability and often pain.”
It is with profound gratitude that I acknowledge that my Gran taught me to 'see' the natural world with the eyes of an artist. When I was a child we would tramp the clifftop paths of Hermanus together, in the Western Cape of South Africa, studying the minutae and the grandeur of the shorefront. She taught me to breathe deeply the fresh, salty air, to be still and to fill my senses with the sounds, textures, shapes and colours of all that surrounded us. Gran taught me that to live my life fully I need to connect deeply with nature and respond to my impulse to create. She showed me how to use my hands to make, to create things of beauty from the simplest materials - leaves and berries, shells, twine. I learned that beauty can emerge in unexpected places to transform us and the objects themselves.
I said goodbye to my beloved Gran with words of love and thankfulness and as I lean into the sadness and loss now, I experience grace, joy and a renewed commitment to create art that offers you stillness and hope.
Soaring, Oil on Canvas, 35 x 35cm, Sold
The work I make reflects my passions – nature, spirit, mindful presence, connection, exploration, freedom.... The landscapes explore transience and the aesthetic of ‘the drift’ and seek to evoke glimpses of a reality that is ‘beyond knowing’. The images are drawn from encounters with nature – experiences of ‘events’ in the natural world that ground me, but at the same time allow me to drift into unexpected spaces and imaginative possibilities. Photos like the one below provide the initial source material for the studio oil paintings. The finished paintings take on their own unique voice, reflecting the keynote of feeling evoked by the original experience in nature.
You will have the opportunity to see all my recent work and speak to me in person at to my forthcoming exhibition, 'Drifting' at Art2Muse Gallery in Double Bay, Sydney in June. The opening function is 6-8pm, 25 June. The exhibition continues 23 June - 5 July.
Blue Mountains Evening
The afternoons have been warm with storm fronts moving in from the south-west. Perfect cloud-painting weather - until the rain strikes of course! I am inspired to keep working directly from the landscape - it is all-consuming, invigorating and exhausting all at once. The immediacy of it leaves no space for anything but the present. Almost like a spiritual practice; it requires total mindful attention and absorption.
This work 'Autumnal Afternoon' will soon be available as a limited edition print.
With the milder weather, I have been venturing outside to make oil paintings directly from the landscape. My usual studio method is to work from photos and memories of experiences in nature, so doing this poses unique challenges. The painting above is an outlook over the Blue Mountains, where I have my studio. Unlike Cape Town, where I spent my youth looking upwards toward Table Mountain and Devil's Peak, here I look over the valleys and the ranges. The sky seems so expansive and I am reminded of John Constable's invention of the verb 'to sky' - meaning, "to lie on one's back and study the clouds".
Available soon - limited edition prints of 'plein air' paintings. 'Plein air' is the technique of painting outside, directly from the changing landscape. As a result the works have an immediacy of mark-making and a vital quality, as seen in the image above. A limited number of high quality reproductions of these beautiful works will be available soon - signed and mounted or framed in a classic white frame.
Full gallery of available images, prices and sizes to follow soon. Send me an email via my www.corinneloxton.com.au/contact if you are interested in knowing more.
Here I am doing the corners on a canvas, using canvas pliers, a staple gun, staple remover and the stretcher bars and canvas of course! Finishing the corners neatly is important to producing a professional, high-quality result for you. If you are interested in knowing more about my processes or techniques, you are welcome to contact me via my contact page.
Each painting holds a special place in my heart - it is conceived by me, then made by my hands, so I suppose this seems obvious, but still every time a painting sells and goes to live with its new owner, I feel as if I lose a part of myself.... On the other hand I am very conscious that I paint for you - my audience, not myself. The images I create offer you, the viewer the opportunity to be transported beyond your busy life, into a realm of stillness and possibilities.
'Hover' which just sold, is going to live with its new owner in a few days. I am deeply grateful that my work is appreciated and contributes meaningfully in this way.
Despite the ethereal quality of my landscapes and the sense of ease they evoke, I am a determined and hard-working artist. My studio is a space fertile with ideas, equipment, energy and aspirations. I use good quality materials and strive for excellence in my process as well as in the conceptualisation of my work.
Stretching canvases is one of the essential skills of a painter. If I see an exhibition of poorly prepared canvases - despite the images on the surface - I find it disappointing and distracting. It's as if the physical ground for the manifestation of the idea, hampers its success.
Here I am stretching a canvas, using canvas pliers, a staple gun, tape measure, staple remover, mallet, sand paper, scissors, pencil and the stretcher bars and canvas of course! If you need help with processes or techniques, you are welcome to contact me via my contact page.
People often ask how I know when a work is finished and the simplest answer is, when there is no part of the work that 'tells' me it needs changing. Initially I actively scan the painting for sections that still need revision, then I try to set the work to one side, but where it's still visible so that I can study it more passively. During that process of letting the work 'rest' I usually see other changes that need to be made. It's as if the painting has it's own voice and I need to tune into it and respond.
"Golden Cloud" is for sale $2650 (Studio Price), Oil on Canvas 101x101cm
I am now on Instagram - follow me on corinne_loxton to see up-to-the-minute images of my paintings and progress in the studio. Please share with friends, artists, family!
Box sets of 6 blank greeting cards, with images of Loxton's paintings on the front cover. Available for purchase for $15. Individual cards are $3. Place orders via website contact page or message on Facebook.
Many long hours in the studio in preparation for forthcoming show at Art2Muse Gallery in Double Bay, Sydney, 23 June - 6 July. Save the date for the launch - Thursday 25 June, 6-8pm.
A new year and a new body of work… following a compass into to the unknown