Back on it

It's been many weeks since I got anything productive done in the studio with one thing or another, but today I went and although no new painting commenced I cleared out all my junk and moved my desks around to make a much more functional space. Over all I feel pretty positive and like I can now get on.
So it's coming to the time of year where I seem to get more productive, the studio is no longer an icebox, longer days are here and the increased enthusiasm all round means that hopefully more work will follow. So any requests for commissions or anything, let me know! ;)

I've won an award! Kind of...

Big thanks to my friend Lucy and her blog Littlelostsoul for awarding me this rather fabulous and glitzy stylish blogger award! it's nice to know there are people enjoying my little posts.
Apparently the idea behind it is that when you receive one of these you link back to the person who awarded it to you, share seven things about yourself and link to 15 other deserving blogs and let them know you have done so!
However, since I am fairly new to this malarky, I don't yet have 15 other blogs to link to so I'll put that part on hold until I do.
My seven things however, I will attempt for you!

1. I hate the summer! The sticky horrible british summer combined with very pasty skin that burns easily and supercharged hayfever makes me long for September every year.

2. You'd no more get me on a rollercoaster than fly to the moon. I've tried; I failed and cried a lot!

3. As I'm getting older I'm turning to tea rather than alcohol.

4. My favourite smells are lemons, bacon frying, fresh coffee, clean sheets, distilled turpentine, the garden when it's raining, pencil lead (odd?) warm chocolate brownies, Lush shops and oil paint.

5. My Studio is affectionaly referred to as 'The Cube of Pain' owing to it's difficulty in design, construction and cost to build!

6. I'm soon to be an auntie again, something I'm very excited about!

7. I like peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Hey, don't knock it til you try it!

Vic x

Good Day

Today has been pretty productive, made a start on 4 new panels and a lot of progress on the base painting of a canvas that has been calling my name for a while. The studio was warmer than it has been for a while and it doesn't half help!
I have some time off work coming up so am looking forward to getting all of these pieces finished very soon! Images to follow as and when, for now, here's my lovely sunny studio taken today.

OPEM Open East Midlands

Just a quick one to let you know that I have a piece of work showing at The Collection in Lincoln from Saturday the 5th, along with a collection of other artists as part of this new Open competiion which showcases artists from all over the east midlands region. I'm really looking forward to the Private view tomorrow and who knows, I could win a prize!

New images of work

Just a short one today, just had confirmation that my profile on the OKYA artists online collective has now gone live. You can find me by going to www.vickilawson.co.uk
Images are in the early stage, but hopefully will be improved soon. It's a stop gap until I can get my own website together, but there are some other good artists on there too. Check it out!

First blog of 2011!

Well Hello again, it's been a while!
I can't say I have been the most productive over the winter period, with a freezing studio which suffered from frozen pipes a fair bit, and a general desire to stay at home and eat Christmas cake, my painting has definitely slipped a bit. However, over the last few weeks I have ventured back in, and spent a few pleasant hours yesterday priming four new boards to work on in four rather vivid and garish colours. So general feelings of progress are starting to bubble again, and I am aiming to go to the opening of the new show at my studio tomorrow night which should be good too.
In other news, my work will be appearing in the OPEM (Open East Midlands) show at The Collection in Lincoln, opening on Friday the 4th of Feb, along with some other great artists, so things are on the up! Hopefully will have more to come soon. x

There are times when my brain goes into overdrive. Apart from the constant mulling over painting ideas, colour palettes, how to get more depth and mood into my compositions, how to incorporate direct imagery like people and buildings, whether I have overdone it with the glitter (again) or whether I should switch from canvas to board, all of which are constant recurring mental conversations I have with myself, I am often cursed/blessed with the mindstate where these mundane ponderings step up a notch and I end up scribbling away into sketchbooks or creating massive brainstorms on my studio walls that are intended to be mind maps, to simply get down on paper everything that is tumbling around in there before I forget something that could be worth remembering. (I have a tendency to do that)
The outcome of this is often a lot of wasted paper and some serious under eye bags thanks to the lateness of the hour. I'm one of those people who cannot switch off when going to bed, I lie there going round and round over ideas, churning and tumbling over the potentials. Annoyingly only about 5% of what I mull over during these periods actually comes to anything which at the moment is quite frustrating. What doesn't help is that when I'm not painting, I have other projects on hand, be it planning exhibitions, joint or solo, planning new enterprises like developing into sculpture and possibly installation, right down to making the odd bit of jewellery, or dabbling with the novel I have been trying to write for three years.... If it's not one thing, its another... It's a wonder I haven't gone a bit emo over the years with all this....
Tonight is turning into one of these nights... I've been trawling the internet all evening and fear that my sketchbook could be in for a battering until the wee hours. To make it worse, I have to be up for work at 6.30am tomorrow... I presume this is simply the creative tendency making itself known and I should be welcoming it, however, why is it never there when I'm in the studio on my day off? Staring at a blank canvas then giving up and coming home to grump about why nothing is happening is the usual course, whereas tonight, when I can do nothing about it, I have ideas coming out of my ears....