An Port is a favourite destination of mine and we visited it this year on the second day of our workshop. Port has a very special atmosphere. It is said that the whole village was abandoned at the time of the famine in the middle of the 19c leaving the houses to fall into ruin. It must have been a very hard existence – what appears picturesque to those visitors who make their way down and leave again, the reality was in fact a harsh existence.
On the first morning we spent an hour on Fintra Beach before moving on to St John’s Point. At Fintra our first exercise was to walk and make marks as we go, seaweed, stones, footmarks, pawmarks, feathers, waves – anything that took our eye. These sketches ended up as scribbles in most cases but served the purpose of honing hand-eye coordination.
St John’s Point
Ceramic Workshop
On the final morning we had a ceramic tutorial from the potter Alan Snape. At the start of the holiday he had asked everyone to think of five or six motives for a mini frieze. Always daunting at first the final results were awesome to the delight and surprise of all the novice ceramicists!
Muckross Head
Our final destination was at the stunning Muckross Head with wind and waves and foam – an inspiration for any artist of paint or words.
Thank you to all who took part – to the tutors, the companions, the helpers. Thank you for all your work – sketches , paintings, poems and most of all – thank you for the craic!
It’s been too long since I posted anything on my blog so here are a few sketches from today’s life drawing workshop. You can see more of my work on Instagram @rosiemcclellandart or on my website http://www.rosiemcclelland.co.uk
60 minute oil sketch 24 in x 18 in
2 minute gestural poses pen drawings
Charcoal on cartridge paper
Mixed Media – acrylic, charcoal, conté, oil pastel
Mixed Media – conté crayon and oil paint on canvas block
Through the media of paint, glass and photography Rosie McClelland and Pamela Greene each explore the complex issue of identity. Recognising that identity has may facets and is subject to reinvention, their work explores the relationships we form with certain people, landscapes or objects and why these draw us close on emotional, spiritual or physical levels that we do not always understand. Drawn to the imperfections in the human condition and in nature, McClelland’s and Greene’s work recognises that it is in connecting with these fault lines that we find our DNA
‘Little Blue’ oil on linen 50 x 40cm Rosie McClelland
The condition of self is transitory, never fixed. Our position within society, family and workplace can change radically throughout our lives. It is with this in mind that I approach my work which is first and foremost intimate and reflective, a personal response to my subject matter.
My chosen method of working is figurative, weaving underlying abstract forms into reality and, in the process, hopefully creating a sense of presence – a vibration. The study of the human body, an ongoing fascination throughout my life, returns time and again as does the art of still life which is about much more than the objects it portrays and more often than not represents human relationships. Another repeating motif is the tethered boat, so long a symbol of the spiritual, at times swaying on choppy seas, times on still waters portraying a reflection of the self.
Woven into this process is the acceptance of faults, fractures and imperfections as it is only through a holistic view of reality that the truth and the real self are revealed. Rosie McClelland
Iceland Series ‘Frozen Sea’ dia 30cm depth 18cm Pamela Greene
Through the media of kiln-formed glass, photography and poetry I explore my primary interest, identity. I am particularly drawn to the identity of landscape and why many of us make emotional or spiritual or physical connection with wild and inhospitable places whose beauty is often savage and transient.
My current work focuses on the landscapes of Iceland and Ireland, sustained sources of inspiration. For my ‘Iceland’ series I chose to work with glass for its versatility: its ability – like ice – to transmit and reflect light, its reaction to fire, and, like the landscape of Iceland, its strength and vulnerability. These properties make it the perfect medium to try to reflect the spirit of a landscape whose identity is shaped by ice and fire.
My glasswork is supported by photographs of Donegal, a landscape similar to that of Iceland. In these I have sought to capture the essence of a fractured and fragmented landscape where it sometimes seems that the identity and history of our ancestors can be read in the faces and fault lines of the rock formations.
Working with glass and photography has enabled me to explore how landscape, actual and remembered, shapes our sense of who we are and where we come from. Pamela Greene
Charcoal on watercolour paper Rosie McClelland
On Saturday 12 Nov 2016 10am – 4pm, I shall be tutoring a life drawing workshop in the Island Arts Centre, Lisburn. Please contact the Island for details
superimposed 2 minute charcoal sketches 0n cartridge paper – warming up time
35 minute charcoal sketch on cartridge paper – fun with mark-making!
2 hour oil sketch on Arches oil paper
This is the first time I’ve used Arches’ oil paper and I must say I rather liked it. Not what you would call a “fast” surface and the paint did tend to get absorbed by the paper quite a lot but much preferable to the usual oil paper block which I find slippery and difficult to build up layers in one sitting. The background colour is Attrament black from Schminke – a favourite of mine at the moment!
