The Garden Exhibition – next week!

Just a little reminder blog post that my exhibition is just around the corner…yes, it begins Monday! I am open from Monday 27th – Sunday Dec 3rd from 10am to 4.30pm. I am also open for two evenings, the first being the private view on Monday from 7-9pm, and the second for the Stroud Goodwill evening on Friday 1st Dec 7-9pm. See my earlier post for more info, and I look forward to seeing you there!

Everything is nearly ready…too exciting for words! My greetings cards arrived the other day, in four different designs, and will be available to purchase at my show. Another surprise for the exhibition are my sculptures I have been creating over some time now, exploring woodland settings and creatures in shadow boxes.

As a sneak peek, here’s a detail shot from one of my large paintings on show, titled ‘View from my window.’

Aside from the exhibition, my commitment to the Stroud Valley Artspace life drawing evenings have been great for me to continue my practical drawing skills and observational techniques. Throughout the sessions I use conte crayons on toned paper to evoke a sense of light and depth to the nude model.

Both these drawings are on A3 sized paper, which gives me enough room to explore different marks made by the crayons and to focus on creating a life like drawing under the time constraints. Most of the poses are 15 mins, which puts me on the spot to think quick and to draw accurately. Hopefully after the exhibition I shall experiment with painting the figure, and work these drawings into expressive oil paints, so stay tuned!

Exhibition invitation

Today is the 1st of November, which means it’s 26 days until my opening of my solo show! Here is the leaflet I have been circulating, with all the details. The private view, which you are very welcome to, is on Monday the 27th November from 7-9pm. If you can’t make the private view, don’t worry as I will be there invigilating the show throughout the opening times shown above!

There will be a great range of my recent artworks at the show, all inspired by the garden throughout the seasons. I have long been inspired by artists that study and paint their own gardens, and inspiration is never too far away. Above is a sneak peek of works currently in progress, exploring the shapes and colours of the garden. I’m getting very excited (and a bit nervous!) for the show as the pressure of the show has really made me think about my work and be creative with the project.

Look forward to seeing you there! Until then, I will be madly dashing around my studio with my brushes and paints making sure it will be a beautiful show.

The Travelling Sketchbook

My studio has picked up some momentum throughout August. I’ve been on a few travels, had a few paintings sell online and have made more confident steps with my drawings too.

Just before the summer break I had a go at life drawing with the Stroud Valleys Artspace group. I met a friendly bunch of professional artists that were using the class without a tutor to quietly practice their drawing techniques, experiment with paint and just enjoying being creative. For me, I hadn’t been to a proper life class since University, but I felt encouraged about how quickly I remembered the rules of measuring and focussing on the nature of my medium to express the light and tones of the model. During my degree I found that toned papers were very effective to be used as a mid-tone to begin a drawing. I work by picking out the darkest tone, and the lightest tone and use that as the measured tonal range to express. As you can see in the portrait study, I was interested in how lines were often not needed to depict space, particularly around her right shoulder where it disappears into the background and the light on her nose.

Hands are always the greatest challenge in drawing. I like to keep drawing them as often as I can, getting through lots of bad drawings to train my brain to express what I see and not what I think a hand should look like. My drawing process becomes a way of depicting light and shade on an object, which eventually reveals the form.

I photographed a shot here of my typical pencil case. Before heading out plein air painting, I read a few articles to make the most concise ‘shopping list’ of art materials to take with me. Here is my recommended list of things to take drawing when travelling: A6 Seawhite travel sketchbook, Daler-Rowney Artists sketching tin (as pictured), Art Graf water soluble graphite block, Aquash pen, Range of grade B pencils, Electric eraser, Bulldog clips, Sharpener, Mechanical pencil and Stadtler rubber. I’ve fine tuned my pencil case to this list now, and is convenient for me as it includes a quite concise yet a variety of mediums to get excited by. The Daler-Rowney Set also includes a graphite stick, water soluble graphite, conte pencils, charcoal and chalk.

This was a shot of my sketchbook out and about in the Lake District. Derwent pencils were made from the graphite in these mountains, so it seemed rather fitting to draw my subject with the subject itself! I also drew this with my water soluble block, it handles and responds quite like charcoal, but being water soluble does not smudge or get messy in my book. I recommend this sketchbook too as the paper is quite thick, is does not warp or bubble if I decide to swap to watercolour.

Since I’ve starting doing more drawing work with my collections of natural forms, things found on walks and objects of interest I have a new section of artwork for sale in my Artfinder shop! I now have quite a collection to view and buy online (57 artworks!), you can search by subject and whether the painting is ready to hang. It’s a great gallery to sign up for their newsletters too, and as a featured artist I sometimes get a mention – see their curated collection of luscious landscape paintings! https://www.artfinder.com/editors-picks/dreamy-landscapes/#/ Artfinder also have a daily blog where they share ‘Art of the day’ and so far I’ve had a few mentions, which has led to a few sales..hurrah!

I mostly update my shop every week to fortnight, but if there is something you’ve seen on my website or on Instagram that you like please get in touch! To view my full Artfinder shop visit here: https://www.artfinder.com/georgina-bouzyk#/

I like to choose toned papers, and this is a beautiful one that I bought from an interior shop near Ross on Wye, where they sell handmade sketchbooks and loose sheets of toned paper. This is particularly inspired by the new arrivals of autumnal things I’m gathering in the studio! The willow charcoal I used for this drawing feels so delicate and natural, and it’s a pleasure to create such a drawing as it is to study the subject. For my November solo exhibition (save the date! 27th November exhibition opening, on until Dec 3rd) I am playing with certain words and titles to embody a lot of my interests that painting takes me through. A lot of the subject matter will be from the garden, the shapes of the flowers I have studied, but also the way I notice the variety of the colours and shapes of the garden transitioning through the seasons is a focus of my project. So I am thinking the title will relate to words like ‘transitions,’ ‘shifting light’ or ‘in the garden.’ All will be revealed when I start to distribute posters and create an event for my show, so stay tuned!

This is only a work in progress, on a small panel, but I’d like to mention it as my work is developing and becoming more refined. I’ve loved spending lots of time drawing lately, as I find something rather sensitive about some of the lines I have used, or the tonal contrasts (my sketchbook is peppered with thoughts on recent paintings or drawings, around the odd poem or two) so I’m focusing on my paintings to emulate that in some way. So far I’m working on pre-prepared painted grounds, then working in the lights and shadows. (Quite like the portrait pictured at the top). I’ve recently absorbed a lot of Van Gogh paintings through some old books on my shelf, and they are so inspiring for their use of emotion and observation. There is so much joy in beginning a painting and letting the paint be free!

Thank you for reading my blog, and I leave you with some poetic lines drawn in my sketchbook on the way up to Helvellyn in the Lake District. I could perch on that mountain and endlessly think about painting!

Pintar Rapido London

This weekend I went on an adventure to London to join in with the Pintar Rapido painting competition and exhibition. We had all day of Saturday to venture out into the beautiful area of Chelsea to produce a painting! I made the use of google street view beforehand to save time wandering around with heavy art materials, to choose my spot to paint, which was a good way to get my eye into my subject matter. I found Wellington square, which had elegant Georgian architecture and a central garden with a fountain. It felt important for me to squeeze in some green to represent London, as its such a green city (and a little nod to my love of landscape painting!)

It was a great day for me to focus on my subject, with the time pressure, the thought of a competition and an exhibition following was enough for me! It was so encouraging to hear positive comments on my work throughout the day. Unfortunately the heavens opened by late afternoon so my painting assistant was there with the umbrella for the final touches!

After an exhausting day of painting it was exciting to have the exhibition to look forward to! The works were judged by Adebanji Alade and the editors of Artists and Illustrators magazine, with prizes for both the amateur and professional artists. The winners works were absolutely superb and inspiring, and I felt thrilled to have been part of such a great event! Alade encouraged the importance of sketching and painting from life, particularly as he himself is an artist who has won the Pintar prize before and his work is inspired from life. At the beginning of the prize giving, he said that all the artists exhibiting must continue drawing, painting and ‘keeping that paintbrush wet,’ because art must be practised and exercised. I certainly agree with him, if I spend too much time away from my brushes or pencils, I quickly feel frustrated or out of practice!

I’m delighted to have sold my painting of Wellington square during the exhibition, it has given me great encouragement and I’m thrilled that it will be enjoyed and loved in its new home! My Sunday afternoon was throughly uplifted and I strolled through the Victoria and Albert museum soaking up some of John Constable’s oil sketches of clouds and landscapes.