I’ve been wanting to get outside for some landscape drawing lately, and we’ve been receiving much encouragement to do so from the instructors in the course I’m taking with Newlyn Art School, so I packed a few art supplies, and hopped on my bike to head down to the beautiful Haarrijnseplas with my pup, Toby.

One of the areas of learning that I’ve been delving deep into this year is colour theory.

As I’ve continued all of the new non-committal exploring and learning I’ve been pursuing this year, a little collection of sketches, experiments, and art-making “scales” is growing. Most of it is “incomplete” art  that isn’t ready for sale, but what I’ve been collecting up is the stuff I’ve produced that is feeling good – like, “this has something I love and want to incorporate” or “this is the direction I want to go”. I’m keeping it out on display so I can continue to soak it up, mull on it, and let it inspire me.

I did a little bit of walking and sketching outdoors in Maxima Park with Toby last week… affectionately called “labradoodling” from now on, lol!

I love it when a few simple lines or shapes capture the essence of a subject, so I really enjoyed this exercise from my studies with Newlyn School of Art, UK.

My recent explorations of line and shape have been such interesting experiences. I’ve really enjoyed the shift in perception from observing representational subjects to exploring abstract elements like line and shape. Guided by Jane Davies’ wonderful book, Abstract Painting: The Elements of Visual Language, I’ve continued this exploration by playing with patterns and collage work.

This was another exercise just to grow my creative “muscles”… 30mins to play with the question, “How many ways can I make a circle?”

Last week I started my morning in the studio with 30mins of practicing switching off my analytical mind, and working quickly and uncensored to make layers of lines using different kinds of tools, mediums, and marks.

One of the things I’ve always enjoyed in my art-making is methods and materials that involve working in layers. I love art that has a rich sense of a story that has evolved, with evidence of earlier parts of the story still peeking through to be enjoyed.

I’ve been taking a class and loving the stuff we’ve covering on colour theory. Mixing colours is so meditative, and I love seeing the new colours that emerge, especially when you add white to a dark colour and the underlying colours within the dark colour are revealed.

I’ve recently completed a series of collage artworks on paper and I’ve been thinking about how I’d like to frame them.

I’ve been feeling drawn to play with an old love of mine again… magazine collage art. In the past, my magazine collage art has been representational art of landscapes, skies, and botanical subjects. This time I wanted to explore working in this medium to create completely abstract compositions.

These mini mixed media abstract landscape sketches were created without any planning or stopping to analyse. Many artists refer to this unplanned way of working, making it up as you go, as “intuitive art-making”.

With all of the exploring and experimenting I’m doing in my art-making this year, one of my commitments I’ve made is to this sketchbook.

I recently wrote about all the ways that my art-making is inspired by movement. One of those kinds of movement is the movement I witness in nature.

These have become my uniforms for most weekdays… my painting clothes and shoes…

Since my art-making and my life in general are both so inspired and fed by my experiences of connecting with nature, one of the things I’m exploring is how I can bring the sensory experiences and textures of nature into my work process even more.

I’ve never painted with a pre-planned and pre-mixed palette before. I’ve always just created my colours as I worked, and I also often used some colours straight from the tube.

My recent abstract commission has left me hungry to experiment more, mess more, play more … so I’ve been playing with all kinds of toys in my studio these past few weeks.

As I’m setting off into the new year, I’ve been taking some time to look back on all the art I’ve made since I committed to my art career at the end of 2020, and seeing what I can glean from that as I feel, think, and dream about what I want to create in 2024.