My artist statement

Here is a copy of my artist statement so that those of you who read my blog can get more of an insight into the type of work I produce.

Sarah Bell Smith is inspired by identity, relationships, personal experiences and her love of nature.

Sarah's work takes an artistic approach with the use of bold colours and graphic images. Each piece of work begins with extensive research, drawings and the creation of samples, which are all based on her own photographs. She works in this manner, as she wants people to feel a personal connection to her work.

Art and textiles are Sarah’s whole life; her practice as an artist is constantly evolving.

Making a painted collage

When I teach new classes I often make a sample piece of work so that the students have a sort of guide to look at. I sometimes make the pieces along side the students, just one step ahead at a time. Other times I will make the whole artwork prior to starting teaching the lessons.

The artwork below relates to the student artwork in my previous post. The class started off by doing blind contour drawings and continuous line drawings of teapots and teacups. Realistic drawing was then taught next. A lesson on composition followed the drawing so that students could decide on an image for their final work.

I realised that I don't have the photos of all the steps for this work unfortunately. Below are the only photos I could find.

Above is the initial collage.

Above Image: As I didn't want to paint over the collage (so students could still view the first parts) I photocopied it before adding paint. Sorry about the reflection from the flash.

The image above has now had some black pen added to show shadows and the start of some detail. The shadows have come out darker in the photo than the actual work. If I wasn't so tired I would have gone to good old Photoshop. 

How I use my sketchbooks Part 2.

I posted some images from a couple of my sketchbooks in my last post. Today I'm going to show a few more of the specific uses I have set up for some of my sketchbooks.

The photos below are from a sketchbook that was dedicated to collecting images and drawing ideas for embellishment, eg. beads, etc.

The sketchbook below is dedicated purely to drawing images of trees.

The one below is used for collecting and drawing ideas for work.

I find it useful to also keep all the information I gather at workshops in the one place. I write notes, draw sketches, etc. all in the one sketchbook. See below.

How I work through an idea- Part 6

After pages and pages of planning I eventually make the final piece. Please note as I said earlier, I only show a portion of the pages here as the others still contain ideas I wish to explore further. I have only shown approximately 1/3 of the pages I actually completed.

Below is the finished work. I'm rather fond of this piece, you will notice it is the header on my blog and it also features on items such as my business card.

Please let me know if you have any questions regarding the process I have documented in these past few posts.

How I work through an idea- Part 5

When I have worked out the basics of my work (this was done through making test pieces), I then do some more in-depth planning into how the overall piece will come together. This includes working out how my piece will be mounted/displayed. I experiment with display ideas such as stretching on canvas, traditional quilt backing, traditional picture framing, etc.

The mounting/display of a work is extremely important. It can make a work successful or an utter failure. I make my pieces so that they are not tied down to one type of mounting/display, this way I can change my mind as I go.

Below are two sketchbook pages showing ideas for mounting/displaying my work.

Thinking about mounting/display options

Final work almost organised.

How I work through an idea- Part 4

Making samples is one of the biggest and most important parts of my work. It is at this point that all my planning starts to come together.

once again I write ideas to go with my samples so that I don't forget my thoughts

often when I start making samples I find things are not really working out how I planned. I will then stop and go back to drawing again and often do some more research.

How I work through an idea- Part 3

Once I have refined my concept via drawings it is time to start looking at fabrics.

some of the fabrics that interest me

samples that explore some of my ideas. I often write comments to go with them so I don't forget what I was thinking

How I work through an idea- Part 2

Once I have collected lots of research images and done my basic drawings/written comments, I then start to refine my ideas.

more in depth drawings trying to refine my  

  ideas

drawings that stem from the ideas I got during my research

looking at colours and more concept development

How I work through an idea- Part 1

When I am developing my ideas for a piece of work I am quite methodical and can sometimes fill almost a whole sketchbook. My sketchbooks often become a work of art in themselves. I do my work in a plain A4 sketchbook and then often cover it with fabric or paper to match the theme of the work.

The photos below are some of the first steps in the sequence I follow to create a final piece of work. I will post more or the steps I follow in future posts.

*Please note- I haven't shown all the steps and pages here, as some of them still contain ideas I want to work on in the future.

     

I start with brainstorming

 then more in depth brainstorming

 

                                                                                   I then start collecting images, drawing         

                                                                               ideas and writing related comments

 

                                                                        more images, drawings, comments, etc.