Getting Creative at Create Longridge 2018
Now and then, real life and paid employment (which, fortunately, I love!) mean that I don't get chance to paint as much as I want to, but this year I decided to make a real effort to fit some artwork in, and somehow started looking for art events near my home town of Clitheroe.
A couple struck me as being interesting, but this year's Art at the Inn at Whitewell fell a bit too close to my summer holiday, but the one-day Create Longridge competition seemed like it was worth a go. A few weeks ago, I sent my form and entry off and exactly one week ago today I spent a very sunny Saturday seeking shade under the trees at the edge of St. Lawrence's Church in Longridge.
I hadn't appreciated until I started what a challenge it would be; normally I use photographs for inspiration and sketch the picture out using a pencil grid for guidance, and I generally work for a couple of hours at a time, but for Create Longridge 2018, I found myself working to totally different guidelines!
The canvas had to be stamped at the beginning to prove that it was blank, I had a bottle of tap water (and an empty bottle to decant the used water into every time I'd rinsed my brushes out so much that it was more murky liquid than water), pencils, an ice cream tub lid (I really should get a new palette . . .), about twenty assorted tubes of acrylic paint, other random colour detailers and brushes, and some cocktail sticks. For the first time since I did life drawing at college, I was also judging every measurement using my finger and thumb.
IMG_8086 IMG_8087 IMG_8089 IMG_8092 IMG_8096 IMG_8100
And, actually, it was a really good experience. When you normally paint indoors at home, it takes a bit of time to get used to people coming over to see how your work is progressing, but I actually enjoyed that as much as the painting. There were dog walkers and people out for a wander on a Saturday morning, and it was only later on that I found out that the ladies in the church had been directing visitors my way, too. (I definitely think having a blue helium balloon tied to the top of my easel helped!)
After about five hours, I'd done all that I wanted to with my piece, so I dropped it off at the Conservative Club and had chance to wander around Longridge for a bit, taking in some of the sights and spotting a few of the other entrants still hard at work. (Over 60 people took part, and it was quite exciting to see an easel and canvas here and there.)
Today, I've been to collect my piece from Longridge Gallery; apparently twenty paintings have been sold. Unfortunately mine wasn't one of them, but that did at least mean I could bring it home to show my parents and overall I really enjoyed taking part. In many ways, it seemed so much easier than having to find a venue, make arrangements and sort out advertising (as I've done with my solo exhibitions in the past) but on the other hand, it has definitely motivated me to think about organising a new exhibition of my own work . . . it's been about three years since my last one, so perhaps it's time for another?
Comments