Author Archives: Binkers

About Binkers

Jacqueline is a self-taught artist residing near Southampton, Hampshire England. She works with a variety of different mediums which include paint, mixed media, digital photography and willow The inspiration for her work stems from a fascination with pattern and texture and the world of nature combined with the desire to tell a story to leave the viewer wondering if there is something more to tell. She loves travelling and meeting new people and works at a studio at her home as well as a shared artist studio as part of the Keepers Artist Collective studio located in East Street Southampton along with other creative types

New art work December 14

Hi I just wanted to share my latest art work that I am in the the middle of . combining different styles and challenging myself to work with colors that I don’t normally work with it is has been a good experience allowing the work to take it its own identity as it emerges in its own time. I always find that it is good to take time out and to challenge myself in different ways.
new

Keeping motivated , getting together with other creatives

It is often easy to become isolated during the creative process and if your not careful this can lead to the old creative block.This is very much the case when much of your income is derived from your creative work.

Well I don’t know about you but I have definitely gone this one at different times… so how to overcome this….. always a difficult one as we all create in different ways …. I am someone who always has a different project on the go be it creating my own work or facilitating creativity in others . It is so easy to spend so much energy on projects that you just simply exhaust your self self preservation kicks in and well.

Ive tried many different ways to get the creative brain cells working again from starting a creative diary to taking a rest then spending some time as a arts tourist , visiting gallerys , reading a good book going to see some live bands etc …. do something totally different from paint balling to rock climbing and testing your comfort threshold …….

On the upside once this has happened and you have come out the other side you realise that the best thing to do is to factor in some relaxation time when your head is next immersed in a project and allow yourself to do something totally different every now and again.

My solution is not to fight it just except that we all need down times the other thought is that you are totally reliant in your artistic endeavor to earn a wage

Exploring my creations responding to a jungle theme

 Developing on a initial inspiration and developing a theme

I am often asked about how I create my work so I thought that I would share some of my creative  processes. The inspiration for this series started life with a photograph of the undergrowth in my garden.

photograph of my jungle dreams painting created in acrylics using predominatly greens yellows reds blues and whote

Jungle dreams acrylics on canvas

For the  initial image I drew inspiration from the shapes and colors wishing to develop and enhance these to create a work that  inspired a imaginary magical world revealing  hidden characters within.

photograph of painting leaves designs imaginary landscape - penwork multicoloured

Leaves design colored line work

For this second piece I was inspired to create a work inspiration. I started the process by placing a transparent paper on the top of the painting I then drew around the shapes that appealed to me, I then replicated the section as a mirror image joining the sections together to create a new starting point for my next design.

photograph of my wilderness painting painted in coloured sections created in acrylic paint in white canvas

Wilderness imagined

For the final piece I was then inspired to use color to  place  further emphasis on different sections thus creating my leaves design.

 

Creative craft

Over the last few years I have explored with and very much enjoyed working with willow and i always find mylef being drawn back to using it , it is such a great sculptural material and being organic  has its own memory ,  time and patience are needed and must be given to understand its intrinsic properties . Over the last few months much have my time has been taken up teaching others how to use it to create willow lanterns the one pleasure as well as frustration is that creating willow lanterns is  temporary medium to work in .

I have recently been thinking about creating structures that have a much longer life span and have been considering using other mediums to strengthen the paper, or to replace it with canvas or another material, as I will have some free time I have decided that the time will be well spent experimenting.

 

Networking meeting up with other creatives/ keeping motivated

It is often easy to become isolated during the creative process and if your not careful this can lead to the old creative block.This is very much the case when much of your income is derived from your creative work.

Well I don’t know about you but I have definitely gone this one at different times… so how to overcome this….. always a difficult one as we all create in different ways …. I am someone who always has a different project on the go be it creating my own work or facilitating creativity in others . It is so easy to spend so much energy on projects that you just simply exhaust your self self preservation kicks in and well.

Ive tried many different ways to get the creative brain cells working again from starting a creative diary to taking a rest then spending some time as a arts tourist , visiting gallerys , reading a good book going to see some live bands etc …. do something totally different from paint balling to rock climbing and testing your comfort threshold …….

On the upside once this has happened and you have come out the other side you realise that the best thing to do is to factor in some relaxation time when your head is next immersed in a project and allow yourself to do something totally different every now and again.

My solution is not to fight it just except that we all need down times the other thought is that you are totally reliant in your artistic endeavor to earn a wage

Freeing up your creativity- abstract freestyle experimentation 1.

For this approach I have found that it is better to work on several pieces  at a time with the theory that at least one will work out and that you can always creative new work from the ones that you are not so pleased with when you finish.

I decided to try out a similar method of working,  using a different pallet of colors for each piece and keeping a very loose theme in mind .

I decided to  use acrylic paints I  was prepared to use up quite a lot of paint  You could equally use this method with a much cheaper paint on board,or use colored sand and chalks and take a photograph, it really doesn’t matter

I also wanted to get away from being finicky and so chose to large brushes,and spoons, droppers and scrapers and a flat service – on this occasion I used the kitchen tops surface as it was near to running water  but a covered floor would do just as well.

Creative blocks and thoughts on overcoming them

Being creative by nature I have always been involved in lots of creative projects, so when the old creative block kicks it is often easy to put of dealing with this by immersing yourself in other creative activities instead.

Now I am not saying that this is always a bad thing that is of course unless you need to earn  a living totally from your art work, however one of the hardest things is to to get going again. So with that in mind I have decided to share some of the things that I have been doing to help me to get going again in the hope that it might help others who are facing the same problem .

Future posts Creating textural based art work

Abstract freestyle experimentation

For other blog entries linked to keeping diaries etc view

Freeing up your creativity diary s and on line courses

Freeing up your Creativity experimenting with abstract freestyle

Creating textural based artworks 1

Many of my art works are quite textual in a appearance I love to work in layers, changing and adapting as it is created.

I am often asked how I create my work  and although there is no one method I thought that I would start to share some of the methods I use with you.

The first approach links to building up a textual base.

Much of my  naturalistic work is based on one at least one photograph that I have taken. I always use my own photographs for this style of working unless I am provided with images by a a client.

To complete more to follow soon

 

 

 

Kickstarting the creative flow, taking part in Janis 3 week online course

Now Ive completed the 3 weeks  I thought that I would share how it went.

As the exercise for me was linked to freeing up the imagination and challenging  myself I decided to go with the flow.

Over the 3 weeks the tasks focused on doodling every day . Freeing up and recognizing the  things the get in the way and learning to overcome them. Challenging yourself and putting yourself into different situations by going of on a physical journey, in a way that you wouldn’t normally do and keeping a journal.

Over the first week I decided to carry a small drawing pad with me to doodle on where ever I was.This was great fun but I must say hard to keep up the impetus.

In week 2 we were set the task to go out on a physical journey . again an interesting one to take us out of our comfort zone . I rarely sketch outside , also I decided to use a pen and so having to commit to using very light lines and darker ones to reinforce.

In week 3 we were asked to keep a journal and this is where I had problems,  I am involved in so many creative practices that I found it difficult to find a way to record what I was doing. The thing to consider is whether or not to set up to different journals or try to manage with a folder with inserts or a mixture of both,  I am not sure which one i will go for .. Ive decided to sign up for Janis follow on course which is  a 30 day journaling exercise maybe by the end of it Ill have decided which I prefer.

 

Kickstarting the creative flow

As with all creative processes it is very easy to become fixed in a particular style of working, what with deadlines and limited time around other creatives this is always a potential problem.It is interesting how by spending lots of time helping others to be creative can effect your own ability to let loose and explore your own creativity.

I wanted to explore this topic by taking part in activity’s that would allow me the time to free up my own creative nature and  fortunately have been able to  enroll on  a free 3 week online course ,recently designed and created by a lovely fellow creative Jani Frank who has  been through the same thought process herself and wanted to share this with others.http://janijellybean.blogspot.co.uk/

One of the questions that Jani posed on her blog is how you go about getting around creative  blocks and creating anyway… one of the ways I find is to set myself a limited time period, I usually set aside  a minimum time of 2- 3 hours, then  try not to think about what I am going to do  and just get on with it,  the starting is often the hardest bit , don’t always expect to get going straight away just doing helps and before you know it will happen.

I have often started with a inspiration , a photograph that I have taken etc which has always been a good place for me and in the past I was often  able to draw inspiration from my imagination.

With time constraints I have found that the  my ability to create ideas from my imagination has been overtaken by this method of working and although useful I find myself  considering how to free up the more exploratory side of my nature, hence my reason for joining Jani s course.

I have decided to share this journey with you and will be setting up a page to share my explorations

Update re my art exhibition at Greyladies Art Centre

If you are reading this post because you  have attended this exhibition I just wanted to say thank you for all of your support and kind comments.

Now into our 4th day I am glad to say that I have have had much interest and have sold my sunset seascape mentioned recently, to a lovely gentleman who had actually been to the place in Montenegro that the painting was based on.

We have all been having a great time and received some great feedback , it is always great speaking to other people especially when as in my case my work can often be interpreted   in different ways.

Getting ready for our art exhibition launch this weekend

Well we are nearly there, Ive created several new pieces ready to show (Ive added them to the gallery if your curious). Ive never shown as many pictures in one go I usually show one or two pieces and a gallery or a exhibition. This time around I am showing 9 paintings , so I am both apprehensive and a little bit nervous as to what reaction I am going to get.

It will be  very different being there to hear visitors reactions , also Ive been asked if I can create a painting  while I am there which will again be a new experience. Ill let you know how it goes.

If your curious to attend I am exhibiting with Noel Barker, Peter Jarvis, Graeme Hodgson, and Kevin Longstaff as part of the Hampshire Open Arts studios. so wish me luck.

For more details http://www.gaf.org.uk/Events/events_hantsopen.html

Working on a new painting

I decided to start a new painting of a fish under water, recently water related paintings seem to be of interest to me.  This is the first version  once again I need to decide on which new colors to include as I want to make the image more fluid with more balance I will let you know how this goes