Do you have a Sketchbook ?

.... I have a confession. I am a sketchbook purchasing addict.  

I love buying sketchbooks, the new fresh clean pages, the potential and anticipation of filling them with pretty things. However, I am not that great at actually using them.  

At this point in time time I think I have four...maybe even five sketchbooks going at once. I usually have one in my bag, one in the car, one at my home and several at the studio. 

I use them sporadically to sketch composition ideas, jot down names for paintings or ideas to sketch later. I also use them to brush up on my general drawing skills and some poor souls just get random pages torn out of them when I need to write down a shopping list or phone message. I have some that were really expensive and others that were just impulse purchases from discount stores. 

I love the idea of starting with one sketchbook and filling in every single page with sketches and art but I just can’t seem to commit. I also love looking through older sketchbooks to see how my ideas have changed or developed. Sometimes I’ll come across old sketches that never made it to a full painting and I’m inspired to finally paint it.  

What about you? Are you a fellow sketchbook hoarder?  

Australian Natives

I have always loved Australian native flowers, the shapes and colors are so unique and strangely beautiful. I will always love painting landscapes but every now and then I get the urge to create floral paintings instead. I’ve been spending a lot of time working on a series of new landscapes for a solo show in September. I find that when I focus on one thing for too long I go a little crazy and I need to work with something totally different. 

Over the school holidays I started to play around with pen and Watercolour because I was at home and it’s all I had around. I created a collection of native inspired paintings which then spilled over onto canvas once I returned to the studio two weeks later. 

These florals on canvas are bursting with native goodness such as Proteas, paper Dasies, bottlebrush and flowering Tea Tree. They are all 76cmx76cm and you can view more details via my website here http://www.clairbremnerart.com/shop/

Faces

Feeling floral

I've spent the last few months working on lots of landscape inspired paintings for my exhibition. While I do love a good landscape, after a while doing the same thing gets a bit draining. So now that I've finished I've started playing around with some still life paintings instead. I wanted them to be quite loose and expressive and I wanted to work in some softer more pastel shades. 

Sometimes a slight subject change is all that's needed to inspire creativity again. I spent some time working out a limited colour scheme to begin with then I spent no more than 40min on each painting. The first was on a small canvas I had left over and the other two were on paper.  

These small studies will be added to my store in the original paintings section once I have a few more to add to the collection. I will be doing a few larger versions as well once I get through a few private commissions that I have lined up.  

Inspiration vs Painting

Here is a quick little peak into my process. The paintings for my upcoming exhibition were all directly inspired by the Yarra River. Some were sketched interpretations and others, such as this one below, were inspired by photographs.  

I never try to copy a landscape exactly, I always like to use my own interpretation which gives my paintings their imaginative and dreamlike quality. As you can see, although I was directly inspired by the photo, the finished painting has taken on a whole new feeling of its own. I tried to emphasis the feeling of the sun going down and the last warmth from the day hitting the riverbank to the right.   

Last Light (152cmx101cm Acrylic on Canvas) will be in display during my exhibition Yarra, which is being held at Cambridge Studio Gallery in Collingwood from the 8th to 26th of March. There will be opening drinks on the 12th of March from 2pm, it would be lovely to see you there. 

Store update | small original paintings

I have just updated my store with a series of five small original paintings on canvas. These pieces are only 45cmx45cm (18inx18in) and are the perfect size for a gift, as a feature in a gallery wall or to brighten up a corner of your home.  

They are all following a bit of a night time theme and feature abstract floral trees and a star filled sky. I painted several larger pieces like this a while ago and decided it would be fun to revisit the idea.  

You can find them all in the shop originals section of my website. The price includes express shipping within Australia and if you purchase before the 14th it should arrive well before Christmas. 

Still Water | art commission, Clair Bremner

I recently completed another large scale commission for a client in Melbourne. This piece was inspired by a combination of two previous paintings that the client really loved. I'm really happy with the finished piece and I love working on this scale. 

The canvas is 2mx1m and makes a fantastic feature up on the wall.  

Still Water, 2mx1m Acrylic on Canvas, Clair Bremner

This is the second last commission that I'll be working on this year. I have one more to squeeze in over the next few weeks then I'll be taking a break from commissions for a few weeks while I focus on creating a new collection for a show in March.  

If you would like to talk to me about commissioning and original artwork for your home or business next year then send me a message via my contact page.  

Does every painting need to have a story?

Many beginner artists start painting because they enjoy the process. They enjoy the feeling of mixing and adding colours to canvas, the challenge of representing something in paint, of creating something from scratch and saying “I did this”. It’s for the love of it.

If that desire to create goes further and they begin to feel as though this is how they want to make a career, a whole other world of problems are opened up. When moving from the world of amateur into professional suddenly there is a whole new set of expectations put upon you. Suddenly you can’t just create something just because you want to, because people will begin to ask that one elusive question…why?

Collectors, critics and fans will begin to want to know why you are doing something, what is the deeper meaning behind it. What message are you trying to get across? What point are you making?

To begin with I really struggled with this. Even way back when I was completing a Diploma of Visual art (back in 2002-2004) I would be asked by my tutors “what are you trying to say with this piece”…my answer would be a shrug of the shoulders followed by “I dunno”.

I was never interested in creating a political argument with my art. I never had religious views that I felt needed to be expressed or a statement that I was trying to make. As a result I always felt inferior and as though my work wasn’t worthy of anything important because I wasn’t trying to make a point or send out a message. Everyone around me was creating artistic statements and deep hidden messages within their art about the environment, racism, social issues, feminism…the list goes on. There is of course nothing wrong with that, but I personally really struggled with it…because I didn’t have any. Even back then, all I wanted to do was make pretty paintings, but that never seemed to be enough.

So does every painting need to have a story?

It has taken a very long time for me to realize that the answer to that is…no. It is ok to create purely for the love of creating. It is ok to not have a deeper meaning behind each stroke of the brush. There is nothing at all wrong with painting JUST because you want to paint. Does that make my art shallow? Not at all!

The purpose of my art is not to make a statement, first and foremost I want my paintings to be seen as beautiful. I want the viewer to look at it and say “wow…that’s so pretty!”. I want to create a reaction within them that sees the piece for exactly what it is….a pretty picture. I want the colours to be pleasing to the eye, calming and attractive. I want the shapes and composition to remind the viewer of nature and tranquility. I want the details and textures to be noticed once the view comes closer and becomes engaged in the piece. I want them to be able to look into the layers of colour and pattern to see the work and process involved. I want them to WANT to have this hanging on their wall in their home and not have to explain the deeper meaning of it all to everyone that comes over.

In my opinion, creating something that is beautiful, peaceful and calming to look at is just as important as creating something that is challenging, thought provoking and has a strong message to put across. There is a space for both within the art world.

Now all this being said, some of my paintings do have more of a story to them than others but that story usually has more to do with what inspired the piece than a particular subconscious message I’m trying to make. For example if someone approaches me to create a painting based on a mountain view near their home, and I am to include the flock of pigeons that the neighbor releases each afternoon into the skyline…then obviously this piece now has a story connected to it.

Or if as I am creating a painting, the images that are coming forward remind me of a particular time or place or event then I can happily match up that piece with such story and give the painting more meaning. But at the same time I no longer feel the need to do this with ALL my paintings. Sometimes it is just what it is and nothing more. The piece was created spontaneously with little to no thought and it is now just a pretty picture.

What do you think? Do you have trouble finding meaning in your work? Or do you totally disagree with me and believe that if there is no meaning behind it then there is no point creating it?

48hr Sale!

I will be moving out of my home studio into a space in town in a few weeks and i need to clear out some old stock. With this in mind, I have just reduced the price of the following two paintings for 48 hours only. This price includes shipping within Australia (international customers please contact me for a shipping quote).

(please note: these paintings are available to buy on other websites however this sale price is only available through me and by clicking on the links provided)

A Place of Secrets (SOLD) is the last piece available from my A Years Growth exhibition earlier in the year. It is 122cmx107cm, acrylic on stretched canvas and was originally $1700, now it has been reduced to $1200 for 48hrs only.

SOLD

I have also placed Shades of Summer on sale, this piece has been taking pride of place on my studio wall for long enough. It needs to find a new home. It is Acrylic on Stretched Canvas, 137cmx101cm. Original price was $1800, it is now reduced to $1200 for 48hrs only.

To purchase click on the buy now links or send me an email (please note: these paintings are available on other websites however this sale price is only available through me and by clicking on the links provided)