Big changes are afoot. The end of June has seen me no longer an employee, after three month’s back in the hot seat of conservation and land management. In the background it will recede, with a full focus on my art practice now in my sights. But this time there is no leave, there is no backup, I am throwing myself in without a safety strap. Like so many other creatives, and farmers and small businesses I’m in for the ride.
I have been looking at some figures in this sector and did you know that despite being one of the most highly educated groups in the workforce the average visual artist (spends 42 hours a week at work being an artist and possibly a labourer and a bar worker and an elephant trainer too …) and earns an average of about $35,000 a year from all their work sources … and here’s some other snippets of arty facts where this came from … http://artfacts.australiacouncil.gov.au/visual-arts/. And on the big picture the cultural sector contributes $50 billion to Australia’s GDP, with the Australian governments spending $7 billion. http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/workspace/uploads/files/overview-fact-sheet-1-54f678c22e763.pdf So I’ll be putting in at Tablelands Artists Cooperative Gallery (with our move in July to a larger premises in Bathurst Chase (opposite Coles) … watch this space), I’ll be back in my studio full time and also like the rest of this educated mob, I’ll be heading too, with my little red bag … back to Uni … to lap up some learning … I’ve just accepted an offer of post graduate studies at the Australian National University, School of Art and I am mightily excited! Thank you David Newman White http://david-newman-white.com.au/abc-interview-with-david-newman-white/ for your terrific portraiture workshop, taught this weekend in the beautiful village that is Carcoar. Here is an image of one of my works of the striking man that is Al. He was with us the whole weekend, sharing a little of his life through his engaging being and character filled face. A man with a brilliant smile – that’s Al. It was a treat to draw him. And draw him we did – with charcoal, with pastel pencils with chalk pastels and with watercolour washes all thrown in. So 6 portraits later from Al just in front of me, I know I have grown more as an artist – thank you Al and thank you David! I loved the way David shared through demonstrations and I certainly learnt exponentially about using pastels. Thanks too to the terrific bunch of fine artists sharing this experience and sharing some of their stories too – it was wonderful to meet you! And then last but certainly not least, thanks need to go to the wonderful people of Carcoar and the team at Shalom where the workshop ran. Talk about hospitality – it was authentic, wholesome and just outrageously good!
I felt honoured to be finalist in this year’s Calleen Art Award with one of my recent paintings of Sharon Riley. Thanks Sharon, and thanks too to Helen and Patsy for coming for the ride. The opening was really fun to reconnect with some gorgeous people whom I met at last year’s Calleen Art Award and connect with some new people, both artists and Cowra locals – so many interesting beings at every turn. I was won over by the thoughtful and joyful speech about imaginings by the judge John Cheeseman – what a talented professional to see, feel and share so eloquently linkages weaving their way through so many of the works. I was intrigued by the merging of the delicate precision with a little looseness that comes with watery chaos in Tania Mason’s winning work. I loved that she shared her award with the engaged little one by her side. Another work that spoke to me was of the studio space formed in Rachael Miln’s painting. This exhibition and Cowra for that matter is well worth it.
This terrific night came on the back of winning the Winmalee Artfest prize just the night before. I wish to thank all the givers who helped put on and support this exhibition from the dedication and hard work that is so clearly evident in the staff at this school, the P&C volunteers, the students and all the Artfest Angels. This is a terrific community and just one example of the many incredible public schools that we have. It was only one day after pulling down my Wild exhibition in Cowra Regional Art Gallery that five of my works (Where have they gone?, New futures, Eastern quoll (mabi), in the gully, O malleefowl (yunggaay) and Red bag) from this exhibition went on to be hung at the Artfest. I felt an enormous privilege to accept this award for my whole suite of works. Thank you to Tara Moss and Mathew Lynn for your warmth in awarding the prize and thank you to the judges: Tony Nesbitt, Dr Shirley Daborn, Katrina Sandbach and Marina (Grasso) Johnson. And on this weekend too was the opening of Nicole Foxall’s exhibition at The Corner Store Gallery in Orange. Congratulations Nicole! I look forward to A Country Drive … http://www.cornerstoregallery.com/exhibition-calendar/2016/4/28/nicole-foxall Tomorrow, Sunday 24 April 2016 is the last day of WILD at Cowra Regional Art Gallery. I then say goodbye to those works that have found new homes and bring back the others. Just today I heard that another work has sold, so thank you very much to whomever has purchased this latest one as well as thank you to everyone else who bought the other works. It is always a great surprise to sell a work. I wonder where it will be headed. To put something out into the world and to have people respond to it gives an amazing feeling. As many of my works are based partially on my domestic life with my children referenced, I have been asked ‘is it hard to part with these works’? I am attached to some and have kept a number of these works. I have given my children works that they want too. Once I finish a work which references them, I always ask them what they think and how they feel about the work potentially being shown and or sold. With their response I have either given them the work or put it out there. I feel that, to have a work out in the world that references my children is positive. I don’t think one necessarily has to keep or own something to retain feelings of it’s value. I think it is possible to carry that within you. And then I wonder about how these paintings will live on, after we are all gone. Could someone of a future generation value these works and the stories that they tell?
Thanks all for your support. If you missed seeing these works, you can view some of the images of them on my gallery website page: http://www.nicmasonartist.com/gallery.html I must admit I was quite partial to ‘Edna’ as a title chosen for one of beasties sculptured in one of the 5 recent air drying clay workshops focusing on native animals that I have run for. Another favourite was ‘Straight snake’. So I witnessed 7 year olds sculpt like there was no tomorrow and kids coming to workshops all prepped with what they wanted to make. There was certainly no shortage of kids with big ideas and kids being up for the challenge creating the likes of an eastern quoll or scorpion. It was also great just to hear the discussions of kids whilst they created – interesting topics were on the agenda. I loved the discussion stemming from one talking about pedicures to the group opening up about their thoughts on gender equality … ‘it’s ok if boys want pedicures … there’s no problem with that’. I was but a mere adult listening to some idealistic and empathetic minds of some gorgeous kids. I hope I was able to pass on some skills to them and encourage them with some enthusiasm for creating. I was lucky as a kid myself to go to pottery group and I feel that with a bit of encouragement and skill building, you can give a kid much confidence to continue on.
It was also good to pop into Cowra Regional Art Gallery, the location of the last couple of workshops, catch the good staff and see some visitors pass through my exhibition there. There’s still time to explore my exhibition and The Wilkins Collection, A Survey that showcases some figurative and landscape works acquired from year 12 ARTEXPRESS students also in Cowra Regional Art Gallery. This and Wild are on now and run for just over a week – closing on 24 April. Then the national Calleen Art Award is on at Cowra Regional Art Gallery and I am chuffed to say that one of my works, ‘Sharon Riley II’ has been chosen as a finalist. Thank you to Tracy Sorensen for taking the time to write the Wild Catalogue essay.
Here is a link to her website … http://squawkingalah.com.au/ And here is the Wild Catalogue essay … At first glance, there is a beguiling charm about Nic Mason's paintings. There's a little red bag and red shoes - full of expectancy, the delight of a journey - and the beautifully rendered faces of native animals. The numbat turns to look back at us as it sets off down the road; the bush stone curlew pauses with a friend for a moment in an iconic Australian forest. But there is an unease here, too. The open, innocent face of a human child is looking out under another gaze: the eyes of a fox worn as a headpiece. There is personality in those animal eyes but it's not quite clear whether they are alive. The heads of native animals - detailed, layered, expressive - sit atop the bodies of human children. It's a strange conjoining; a sense that something is not quite right. The beauty amidst the not-quite-right lies at the heart of Nic Mason's paintings. Her work is infused with a deep knowledge of the Australian bush, knowledge gained through a childhood of intent observation and drawing and an adult life working in the field of conservation management. Nic Mason's studio is an original, wonky, gold miner's cottage sitting amongst the trees at Napoleon Reef near Bathurst. For the first time in her life, for three precious months, she has given herself over to painting full time. Through her windows, she can see her children playing with their friends, her kelpie whizzing by, an old horse nibbling the grass. In another direction, there's the timeless presence of bark, leaf, rustling insects, glimpses of sky and earth. As she works, these things appear on the canvases on the walls and resting on easels, remixed through a searching imagination. It's clear Nic Mason has a love of oil paint. She is not afraid to combine different approaches to mark-making within a single canvas, using thin, suggestive brush strokes against areas of heavily layered, skillful realism. It's the sort of realism that almost walks off the canvas. "Sometimes someone will recognise a friend's child by their stance or little body shape," says Nic. The children's faces are often masked by the head of threatened native animal - a brush tailed rock wallaby perhaps, or a bilby. The animals in the paintings reflect Nic Mason years of work in threatened species recovery projects, including hands-on work saving the southern brown bandicoot. More recently, she has followed with professional interest moves to reintroduce the locally extinct numbat and bilby in the west of the state. And then there's that little red bag. It represents going somewhere; a moment at the crossroads, a question. Animals are on the move. Are they coming back, leaving forever? The bag, says Nic, also represents her multi-tasking self. "For me, the red bag is about my life as a mum, my job, my involvement with an artist-run gallery. On any given morning I have to think about it. Which bag am I taking with me? It's not just one story." Wild is on at Cowra Regional Art Gallery until Sunday 24 April 2016. You can also see images of many of the works on my website at http://www.nicmasonartist.com/gallery.html. It’s week 13 of my 3 month intensive residency in my studio which means life as I have become accustomed to is coming to an end. Or is it a new beginning? This week I head back into the world that is conservation management or did I not actually leave?
One thing I do know is that time is hurling me back into the world of straddling - straddling being an employee with being a mum, a director of an artist run initiative and of course being an artist too. I’ll be heading back into the realm of trying to figure out in first light of the day – my waking moment, who am I and ‘which bag do I take today’? Can I just walk up the slope to my studio? So what rings true and what have I learnt from this focused journey of the last 3 months. Well, my family is no. 1 and relationships are really important to me, one step in front of the other creates a path, Nim doesn’t cope with eating foil, quick loose lines work well for me as does warm deep shadows, one moment actually most moments making art is excruciatingly hard but then the next it’s breezily easy and a joy – you’ve just got to keep turning up and I feel driven to turn up, looking after our land, the land that supports us is at my core, snakes don’t freak me out but anxiety does (did I make the best decision in the context – what if I look at it from that other angle?), in working towards this exhibition for every day in the studio, there was half a day spent on research, administration and business management outside of the studio (revealed by the spreadsheet - it’s just what happened), an ethical and simple life is a good life but once again I managed to neglect the veggie patch (even with so many hours at home), and I feel so privileged by being well buoyed by an awesome, warm and supportive community (cheers you). So will I keep up with this weekly blog – don’t know? As with everything time will tell. But I have felt it has helped me stay the course and be accountable in the absence of those helpful beings that are managers (found in that other world). The other thing is, I think if you’re lucky enough to have a passion and you’ve got something to share, it’s worth giving it a good crack. If you haven’t already and want to check out my work, WILD is at Cowra Regional Art Gallery until 24 April 2016. There’s also some images of some of my work on my website http://www.nicmasonartist.com/gallery.html It’s week 12 of my 3 month intensive residency in my studio. My first solo art exhibition, Wild, is on right now in Cowra Regional Art Gallery until Sunday 24 April 2016. If you are thinking of heading there, please do. With more than 100 people present at the opening, the Director, Brian Langer, Gallery staff and volunteers did an absolutely awesome job. Many thanks also to Tracey Callinan, Executive Officer, Arts Outwest who opened Wild so well. If you made the trek there I hope it was worthwhile. This opening was a terrific experience for me for many reasons, I felt very grateful and very much in the moment. Here’s the gist of my speech …
‘I would like to say some thanks and tell a quick story too I am here with this exhibition (my first solo show) because of an amazing opportunity I have been afforded through winning the 2015 Central West Regional Art Award. Thank you to the Judge of last year’s award Andrew Frost, thank you to the patron of that award David Henley and Thank you to Brian Langer, Director of Cowra Regional Art Gallery for making this happen. It is a big moment in my life. I realise having, a first time solo exhibitor, a wild card to manage is no mean feat – thank you Brian for your patience, for looking after me and for answering all those many questions. Also thank you for your terrific curating of the Wilkins Collection, A Survey in the rest of the Gallery. Having my first solo show here at the same time as this Survey is meaningful for me – not just because Brian has curated a terrific exhibition focusing on landscape and figurative works that quite work with my work. It feels like one of life’s coincidences. Many many years ago as a 17 year old stepping out into life’s path, how I made my decision of whether to follow those romanticised thoughts in my head of becoming an artist (and to study fine arts at uni) or equally romantic - save the world through looking after national parks (and go to uni to study science) I made this decision based on whether I got into Art Express or not. Although I did well, I didn’t make the cut. So instead, I opted for Macquarie University. But that was lucky for me, as it was there that, that other romantised ideal I had of life – a life partner, came to fruition. Whilst still a teenager, I met my very own man of maths. Mark Robertson - thank you for all your support, for sharing your life with me and for coming along on this tangentful ride with me. But really at the time I think I wasn’t quite formed enough to handle putting myself out there – in the art world of all places, and so I have had many years to think about and practice and refine my art at my own pace without external pressure. So here – my work has arrived. To put on a show like this there are many who have put in. Thank you to everyone here at Cowra Regional Art Gallery, Jacque Perry, your warmth and spark is gold and to all the volunteers behind the scenes, I am so grateful. To John and Helen Daly who I spent a whole day with earlier in the week hanging the show. You really are the Dream Team. To Tracy Sorensen, who has given much much more than just writing the Wild catalogue essay. Thanks for being so full of life and generosity and realness. To Tracey Callinan, of the terrific body that is Arts Outwest – I feel an incredible privilege having you open this exhibition. To Kiata Mason, my cousin – for your critical eye, your encouragement and for just being here and helping – thank you and please go now and finish your masters. Of doing the work – you may notice that there are some people painted in this show. Of the two big ones - to Dave and Sharon my work colleagues who sat for me. Thank you Sharon for sharing your Wiradjuri language with me that day and many days, and then sharing your family with me – the other day and many days. I loved going through Stan Grants Wiradjuri Dictionary with you. To Dave, thank you for just sitting still and letting me study you so closely and also for sharing Jules with me. You were so good having us both check out all those colours and lines and bits that make your face you. I hope I have been able to capture just a little bit of you both, you Dave and you Sharon. I’m so glad that you could both come today and bring your mums along as well – and I’m chuffed that my mum is here too. To my children and their friends – my little wild ones. I paint you because I love you, I can’t really think of anything more interesting or beautiful to paint. To my friends, my work colleagues, my extended family, my manager, your support is awesome. To each of my exceptionally supportive artist buddies at the Artist Run Initiative –t.arts Gallery in Bathurst – what a great community you are. To everyone who jumped on the bus and those that made their own way here, I know all our lives are so busy so I am really grateful and acknowledge and say thank you to each and every one of you. And those wonderful people of Cowra who I am just meeting today – I am absolutely thrilled that you have come along too. So to finish off I just want to let you know why I have titled this exhibition Wild. What does it all mean? Well I’m happy for you to see and think whatever you want. And if along the way, you think about some Wiradjuri language then that’s great. If this exhibition has introduced you to the eastern quoll (Mabi) then that’s all good too. And of the little red bag you’re welcome to see anything in it too. For me it is symbolic, it is about my life – each day I think “which bag do I take today?” but more than that when painting the little red bag, I was thinking about the status of our rare and threatened animals, the signs that they leave in the bush and can they come back or are they lost from our landscape for good. I’ve been fortunate to have worked in the wild industry that is conservation management and have worked with not only rare and threatened species, but some awesome wild workers to. For me this show is also wild because it’s got my kids in it. I feel really fortunate to be part of their lives. But lastly it is wild because not only is it about my life, my kids, the people I work with, the work I have done, but it is wild because in this art world that I am edging on the periphery of, this show right now (my first solo show, without me having a fine art degree), is a wild card. Thanks so much for coming, thanks so much for supporting Cowra Regional Art Gallery, this Wild exhibition and me. I hope you get something out it.’ It’s week 11 of my 3 month intensive residency in my studio and there has been much movement at the station. My studio has been emptied and my exhibition has been hung thanks to the dream team at Cowra Regional Art Gallery. Today Saturday 19 March my first solo art exhibition, Wild, opens at 2pm in Cowra Regional Art Gallery.
It’s week 10 of my 3 month intensive residency in my studio and I have fallen deep into dark, rich, warm shadows made all the more enticing by light cool highlights. With the portraits that I have been painting, I asked my knowledgeable cousin Kiata about colour temperature and did she have any wisdom to impart. She said ‘have a look at some old masters work and start with Rembrant’. So I have been. Painting and in particular, working with colour is a bit of a break-through for me. One of the questions Tracy Sorensen asked me during the interview for the Wild catalogue essay was ‘had I always painted’. I haven’t, I’ve been painting for seven years and I started with oils some five years ago.
So here’s an abridged story. I don’t remember painting as a kid but I was always drawing and I have always had a love of looking and thinking about concepts, light, form, composition and art in general. My first real memory of painting is at high school when I had a big moment that re-enforced my thought at the time that I couldn’t paint and I didn’t understand colour. I thought best to just stick to drawing, colour was just not my thing. I was just 14 and I was in an art class where the project was to create an abstract painting. The first week went well when we were just given a tub of white paint to start on a Masonite board. But when week 2 arrived and colour hit the pallet, I took some feedback from the teacher as not so positive and so I just said to myself that I couldn’t paint and that I had no idea about colour – and that was it … a door almost closed … until 20 plus years later and post kids I thought, well that’s a stupid way to think, and no one ever gets anywhere thinking like that. I dumped that idea and some others too. I now think, I just want to give it a go and I love a learning curve. I think it is very common for children to sign off from learning. I’m trying to encourage an open mindset and learning for life with my kids and me too! And with this thought I’ve started this week planning some workshops that I will be running out at Cowra Regional Art Gallery in the next school holidays. The question is, how can one encourage a love of learning and being open to learning and how can one avoid triggering children to close off. Here’s an image of my youngest when she was just five painting in my previous studio. She’s was very engaged in the process and painted some 6 paintings with gusto that session. Ah the openness and creativity of little ones. Oh and by the way if I haven’t already got to you, my very first solo art exhibition opens next week. It’s a little of the outcome of opening my mind and giving colour a go. Do come along … http://www.nicmasonartist.com/news.html It’s week 9 of my 3 month intensive residency in my studio and my first solo show is looming. I’d love you to come to the opening. It’s on at 2pm Saturday 19 March at Cowra Regional Art Gallery. http://www.nicmasonartist.com/gallery.html . The list of works for the catalogue is in. But wait, a moment of anxiety. Will I be done in time? Am I ready for this show to go out into the world? Have I given it my all, done my best work? Does the work have value and does it make a contribution? Will anyone come. Will I be able to feed my babies and pay for the vet bills? It seems Nim thought the bin was way better than my art this week. With the delicacy of ever so tastey foil, she got her insides all blocked up. Luckily she is back from the vets and is on the mend. Back onto my art, I have been thinking about how I got to this point in the journey. There have been many helpers and pushers and teachers and influences and walkers with me along the way. Too many to list in one go, but right now I just want to say thanks to those painting and drawing TAFE teachers that I was fortunate enough to be in their company. Thanks to Dalia Moran who in my very first painting class introduced us all to the work of Margaret Woodward http://www.wagnerartgallery.com.au/artists.php?id=25. My whole being was present, intrigued – completely won over and I just wanted to learn. To Yaeli O’hana, https://au.linkedin.com/in/yaeli-ohana-1a76066 your lessons were gold. Composition, mark making, stepping back from your work, being critical, how to show your work, it was all there. To Catherine O’Donnell, http://www.catherineodonnell.com.au/news/ you set a fine example and you gave me such encouragement at the time and since, which I cannot thank you enough. To Cameron Ferguson http://gladesvilleartschool.com.au/?page_id=153 who started me with oil paints, loved your demo - ‘don’t worry’ just get stuck in, this really was a big moment on my path. To Paddy Robinson http://www.finglinna.com/ who gave me such big confidence. To Ruth Stone http://www.hillendart.com.au/ruthstone who directed me to direct my own work, to build up with my drawing, to lose and find focus, to push parts back and bring marks forward. It was a light bulb moment for me. To Bec Wilson http://rebeccawilsonart.com/ who opened my eyes to mixing it up on those still life sessions, using different brush strokes to pull you into a work and to search for balance and also to just do your very best. And then to watch your rich journey with Kate Kelly – thank you. Then there is Kiata Mason. She wasn’t one of my TAFE teachers, but she is a TAFE teacher, she is my cousin and she is a tremendously talented artist and beautiful person. She’s been on a life long journey with making art and she is currently doing her Masters at the National Art School. Congratulations on all your work and how awesome to feel the buzz at being a finalist with a special mention in the 2016 Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing https://www.plc.nsw.edu.au/microsites/adelaide-perry-gallery/adelaide-perry-prize-for-drawing/the-2016-perry-prize-/the-2016-perry-prize. She really has, opened my eyes, challenged me and given so much support. And lastly, thanks to Cath Barcan, http://www.cathbarcan.com/index.html Head Teacher at Nepean Arts and Design Centre http://nadc.wsi.tafensw.edu.au/, who set up a part time option which without, I doubt I would have been able to start at TAFE. This along with the old structure that was TAFE (before the major restructure) that enabled me to access a centre in proximity to where I lived and affordably leap in. I do feel some sense of loss for us all, for what was.
From then to now, there has been a focus. I have not ventured too far from the figure in the landscape and the portrait. Here is an image of my first oil painting (one of two works) that was shown in the Blackheath Art Prize in 2011. It won second prize and sold. Thanks too to whoever bought it, without you too, it would be a different story. It’s week 8 of my 3 month intensive residency in my studio. I have worked on many portraits from life. There have been sleeping babies, TV glued kids, my man on the couch, my cousin in studio, life drawing models, fellow students and me in the mirror (now that can be confronting) but I must say it hasn’t seemed to have made it any less easier to ask someone outside of my immediate art world or family to sit for a portrait and then invite them to have a look at the finished job.
I don’t know who feels more vulnerable the sitter or the artist. I’m hoping that by doing more I’ll become more of a natural at this portrait caper. But right now, boy do I feel a little exposed. I’d be happy for any words of wisdom from those who have pushed through on this matter. And I must say I’m so impressed with my willing sitters. Who knows what could come. They might end up with a beasty on their head or looking like, well not pretty, which is really ever so likely with my keenness to slap paint on - ‘is that really how you see me?’ I have had a friend say to me that she once had a portrait painted of her by an artist and she found the painting so confronting and hated it. Even though it wasn’t me that painted it, I felt a little ouch for her and the artist. Apart from the fact that they may just be really confronted by the work, I suspect, how a sitter takes their portrait can be coloured by their expectations. What helpful things can an artist do to prepare the sitter for a potentially confronting moment? I’ve continued this week on some large headed portraits of a couple of my co-workers. Since the initial sessions with these sitters, I have been working off my reference materials collected from those sessions including sketches, thoughts, painted colour notes and photos. Then today, a good moment, another bit of a sitting, a bit of revealing too, and a sigh of relief, it was a moment of connection, another day on the journey. So this week I just really want to say thank you to Sharon and Dave, my adventurous sitters. It’s week 7 of my 3 month intensive residency in my studio. So my little red bag has joined Nim and me for our daily walk. As its trace can be found in many of my works for this current Wild series, the time had come for some in-situ moments. Out in the bush some new ideas came in a flood. I was thinking about the little red bag as a sign left, like the signs left all the time in the bush by the animals that live there. We came across many of their tracks and scats, some spied by me but mostly by Nim. She’s a pretty fine tracker – predator that she is! However, the one neither of us could miss was the decomposing body of the large eastern grey kangaroo – boy was it a wafter. It was the second dead kangaroo we’ve come across this month walking in this here parts. The other carcass disappeared within a week, dragged off somewhere else, all but a tuft of fur. Then there was the weathered skulls we found which became still life studies this week. With the ease of Barbara Triggs Tracks scats and other traces a field guide, they were checked - another eastern grey kangaroo and a bit of the top skull part of a juvenile fox. It is an exceptional reference book. . http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2238186.Tracks_Scats_and_Other_Traces
If I ever do anything in my life as good as this book I will feel like I have contributed. It’s week 6 of my 3 month intensive residency in my studio. I have continued to play with and I have thought more about the idea of the unfinished work. I have included here an image of some of the detail from one of my works from this week. This work is still being contemplated, it’s just hanging out on my studio wall. Has enough been said – are you finished my little eastern quoll? So my thoughts generally are - is it that some unfinished works have a spontaneity and liveliness that can be lost in the finished work? Is it that some unfinished works show the underlying scaffolding and structure which can appeal? Is it that the parts of the work that are unsaid, help you enter the work, or give you licence to make up in your own mind about what is not explicitly shown.
I found this gem of a New York Times article by Roberta Smith, The fascination of the Unfinished http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/10/arts/design/the-fascination-of-the-unfinished.html?_r=0 “ the history of Western painting is to some extent about an ever-increasing unfinishedness and loosening of surface. Think of the progression from the startling exactitude of van Eyck and the velvety brushiness of Titian to the painterly roughness of the Impressionists. Additionally, unfinished paintings are mysterious, even eliciting a slight sense of voyeurism, since we are looking at things that were supposed to be covered over but in the end were not. What halted their progress besides death, some loss of interest or failure of ambition? Perhaps it was the feeling, conscious or not, that the work was actually finished and would be recognized as such by coming generations?” I have been thinking about this idea of the unfinished for a long time. I remember looking at one of my process drawings for my year 12 art work when I was just 17 and questioning at that time what was it that made this drawing more interesting to me than some of my others. Was it that part of the still life shoes were detailed and part only hinted at? Anyway I left the drawing as is at the time and held off from more detail. With this reminisce I searched back for my art diary to find this drawing and bingo. I’ve included an image of it here (with adjusted levels). And with this inclusion I’ve realised I’ve come along way with my art but also I haven’t ventured far. I’m still drawing shoes 20+ years later. I have also been thinking more about my year 12 major artworks because the other exhibition that will be on show in Cowra Regional Art Gallery at the same time as my ‘Wild’ exhibition will be a selection of NSW Department of Education Art Express acquisitions works – I think it could be wild too. It’s week 5 of my 3 month intensive residency in my studio and I’m starting to get the photographing of my work in order. I have always used natural light to record my works, apart from the time that I lost my camera and had the talented camera buff Steve Woodhall (many thanks) take some studio photos of my works. As my last attempts to take decent snaps of my works were thwarted by time and the heavens and nasty oil painting glare, I decided it was time to look into studio lighting set ups. So this is my first go after a bit of an internet search, a scrounge around the house for some improvising bits and bobs and a trip to Bunnings. I know I’ve got to refine how I’m diffusing the light (so as not to be party to further work health and safety worries – government employee stamped I am). Apart from that, I set up 4 lights (using daylight bulbs) spread from above, below and either side at a 45 degree angle (all diffused), blocked off the window light from behind and the side with some crafty cardboard inserts (handy but not quite as awesome as Canes Arcade http://cainesarcade.com/ Thanks to my gorgeous son for the share), camera set up on the tripod (street pick up by brother-in-law Jon – cheers for that) as far away as I could in the room and zoomed in, set on f8, raw, timer mode and ISO 100. Camera positioned nicely to the middle of the work and the work placed with the spirit level. I looked for glare on my oil paintings, playing with the light angles and diffusers and trialled using a polariser and two different lenses (an 18-55 and a macro). I know I’m on training wheels so if anyone wants to share any hints, go for it. Here in these snaps you can see some of this lighting action and one of the malleefowl headpieces from last week featured.
It’s week 4 of my 3 month intensive residency in my studio and this week art has shown itself to be useful. A not so welcome 2 metre brown snake found itself trapped in the nooks and crannies of my studio, from its panic in my fireplace to the safety of behind the bookshelf. Every now and then the snake would peek its little head out from behind the bookshelf and survey the scene. With the artist still wielding her painter’s pallet knife it was back to retreat for the snake – scaredy cat! As I am quite into self-preservation and I’m not much of a shovelist, I went the strategic planning route. So I called for backup with my friend (thanks Ian) down at the house and let my art be utilitarian for once … I set up my paintings as a barricade to funnel the beasty out the back door. Us in safety, it in the funnel with one way out, to join the other thousands out there. The snake made a hasty escape and those holes are now blocked up. Apart from the snake break, I have been working on some malleefowl masks, which snakes just happen to be natural predators of. The threats that have pushed this feathered friend to the brink, however, are habitat loss, changed fire and grazing regimes and introduced predators such as foxes. Not every day do malleefowl come on your radar so do check out: http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/animals/TheMalleefowl.htm. With my malleefowls, I’ve played with leaving some parts of my gessoed canvasses bare. I do dig many an unfinished work and my attempt is to fish for a bit of this unfinished quality. I find it a challenge and I think it can help the eye to enter a work.
It’s week 3 of my 3 months intensive residency in my studio. Some more paintings are up on the studio walls, some a work in progress on the easel and rough sketches have been made for more works to come. This week Writer Tracy Sorensen came to my studio. Currently working on her PhD she has taken a moment to the side to create the essay for the catalogue for my upcoming ‘Wild’ exhibition. So it was time to talk and think and re-think – what’s it all about? I’ll come back to that later. More art supplies were purchased – ouch again, and a planning meeting was had at Tablelands Artists Cooperative Gallery. They are a good bunch. I’ve said goodbye and missed instantly my family as they set off ahead of me on our annual camping trip with great friends. This week I’ve thought about artist’s locally – including the luscious application of paint and plein air work of Blue Mountains artist Robert Malherbe http://www.robertmalherbe.com/ and with this thought, I have been inspired to get out of the studio (just metres away really). So I didn’t just walk but I worked in the bushland surrounds, immersed in the long and speckled shadows from the afternoon sun highlighting the pealing reds, pinks, oranges, yellows, blues and greys of the Blakely’s red gums in these here parts. Nim the critic wasn’t too impressed with my take and left the scene. I’m not too sure I’m all that impressed either – I got messy and they got muddy, but here’s a pic of this in-situ action … Not every day is a winner. I think I’ll revisit these two in the studio. And I started this blog page (I never envisaged that I’d be a blogger) to my website www.nicmasonartist.com for these weekly happenings, it’s mostly just to keep me on track, but you’re welcome to drop by.
Introducing the studio dog. It's week 2 of my 3 month intensive residency in my studio ...1/15/2016
It’s week 2 of my 3 months intensive residency in my studio. So this week I’ve continued in my studio every day; sat at Tablelands Artists Cooperative Gallery and visited Bathurst Regional Art Gallery (http://www.bathurstart.com.au/exhibitions/current.html) where I laughed at Jess Bradfords video, of macabre death predictions in ‘fortune cookies never lie’ and stood for a long time in front of Guy Maestri’s still life dead birds – I dig how he builds form with stroke direction. I’ve shopped at Frank Smith shoe repair – local is lovely; taken the kids to the pool; looked into lighting set ups to be able to see in my studio and to photograph my works too (I’ve learnt ‘daylight’ bulbs are the way to go); and battled a tooth ache and spent time with the dentist – I’ve had the bugger (my tooth, not the dentist – he’s good) and the abscess below it excised out of my life – yowch. Back in Studio 62, my trusty pooch has been with me at every step - including those steps where she goes just ahead of me and stops so I almost fall over her – ‘can you not do that’. She has been a good reference for my foxy forms. And I’ve borrowed from the library a great little Australian gem of a book. Dogs in Australian Art by Steven Miller (http://www.wakefieldpress.com.au/product.php?productid=915). Inside, Terry Batt’s painting of Double Happiness: The Year of the Dog 2006 (http://niagaragalleries.com.au/…/exh…/2006-double-happiness…) has sent me off on a tangent about investigating composition within a square – primarily what I’ve limited myself for this exhibition. It’s clear, symmetry works well in a square and a studio is not right without a studio dog … so here’s introducing Nim …
It’s week 1 of my 3 months intensive residency in my studio. I’ve got space and I’ve got time – what a combination! I’m not quite AWOL from work and it’s not nearly a sabbatical. I’ve got 3 months leave without pay. I’m grabbing this moment to focus on my paintings for my up-coming first big exhibition – due for Cowra Regional Art Gallery … ‘Wild’ opens Saturday 2pm 19/3/16.. I’ve come in early and stayed late. I don’t miss the commute and I’ve welcomed my lovelies for ...snippets, but mostly it’s been just me. So far I’ve thought lots and I’ve pretty much created a painting a day. My plan is turn up every day to my studio, put in a good days work, live with my mistakes and learn as I go, walk the dog, love my family and just see what happens with my art. It feels right to be giving it a go. Here’s a sneak peek of a little from this week’s happenings. Some loose still life line work of red shoes on my Bilby friend. They caught me a little by surprise after some tight layering of more detailed oil painting.
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AuthorNic Mason Archives
April 2023
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