Giovanna Scott artist

Pastel un-Princess

As it happens, I’m sitting here with my new spectacles, brand new rolls of blue painter’s masking tape, new pastel paper (Italian, of course) and asking “How the hell did I get here?”

One day I was elbow deep into acrylics and all the delicious mediums, the next I’m SITTING down and working on paper, getting smudgy and finding little nuances in each shape and mapping out colour and light in a really loose loose LOOSE way

and
loving
it
IMG_20180120_180205_615
Sometimes it drives me nuts but I put it down to having always worked with acrylics and being used to how they work. I recall feeling the same way when I did a bit with watercolour and gouache a couple of years ago. The difference is how comfortable I feel with the layering and blending, something I didn’t feel with the watery media. Maybe I’m just in a smudgy mood, I dunno. I’m just embracing it and seeing where I can take it.

I felt great putting this one in the Royal Queensland Art Society’s “Brisbane: Landmarks, Landscapes and Personalities” exhibition (3-20 April), especially learning how to frame a pastel, which is SOOOO different to framing anything else. I’ve now created a monster who is looking at every old framed piece in the house and feeling an unnatural desire to re-frame EVERYTHING!

truly
unnatural

And the pastel path has been my little saviour this month. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster and the distraction of figuring out all this pastel bizzo has afforded me some quiet head-time and a little “ah-me” time. I don’t mind that much being interrupted with pastels, they don’t dry out, and in Brisbane, that’s a real selling point!

I’ve had some disasters that have gone in the bin and I think the big lesson I’ve learned is ABSTRACTION. The need to do plenty of prelim sketches and doing the whole reductive thing with each sketch, works for me. Painting one right off the cuff, not so much.

20180120_083946 I’m sure the whole Pastel Art community would just die laughing if they saw my process, but for me it’s a little more than the finished product at this moment. If I want to start with the foreground, I’ll damn well start there! (My training buddy Kim – who is also a kickarse pastel artist, laughed so damn hard when I told her that! She was polite enough not to laugh too loudly, but I know deep down, she was, and that’s okay, I laugh and me too)

Takeaway from this month: do what pleases, don’t follow ALL the rules, seek advice where you can, dispel negative thoughts by immersing yourself in your art practice (sounds weird, right), reach out and spend time with people who make you happy about yourself, and for the love of God – BACK YOURSELF!

Remember, all the daily stuff happens on Instagram which then feeds all that goodness to my Facebook Business Page (Giovanna Scott Artist) and Twitter (@gidget_scott).

For those who have asked, I will definitely spend some time in April putting up a GALLERY page and a COMMISSION/WORK-WITH-ME page, but in the meantime, you can always contact me at hello@giovannascott.com to ask any questions about any creative-related matter.

Go kindly….

February Reflections

When I thought of the February Quickie Project toward the end of January, it was really a way to kick-start my creative process, experiment with combining supplies, and get some work out there. Never, did I imagine it would go as well as it did – kicked a few creative goals there!

So, in keeping with the “experimentation” theme, I put the camera on ME today! Honestly, I have no problem getting up and addressing people but I tells ya, started this vid about 6 times before I was happy.

The available Quickies are located in my SHOP and as always, if you have questions, please contact me either in the comments section below or via email hello@giovannascott.com.

Happy weekend!

Giovanna

Feb Fast – Yes/No

Are you doing something for Feb Fast? I’m not one for denying myself much at all so I end up having a constant battle between both the pleasure-seeking and focused- discipline sides of my personality.

This year, however, I thought February would be my month of ACTION and DOING, hence the February Quickie Project: a month long project of quick, consistent, exploratory, smaller, art works. I decided to FAST ON READING, yep, reading. I think Julia Cameron has a chapter on that in her book “The Artist’s Way” and I’m sure people who have read it will understand its theory.

So I stopped reading

ART BOOKS, and

ART MAGAZINES,

unopened copy of Australian Artist magazine

but stopped short at newsletters and blog posts and video tutorials (maybe I’ll add these next year, pfft, we’ll see)

Funnily enough, it seems to be working. My output is better, clearer, and more “me”. I’ve been thinking more about my own work, reflecting on how the pieces are an expression of my history and connection with time and place. The articulation of processes and motivation, that I think most Artist struggle with, comes more easily with each piece. I’ve become more open and confident in the presentation of my art, with pleasing results in the #febquickieproject and at the Petite Pieces Exhibition.

Aspire Gallery Petite Pieces Exhibition Opening Night – LOVE THAT RED DOT!

I’ve stepped into myself as an Artist. To be honest, I thought it would take longer than 3 months. From that defining moment in November at the end of my teaching contract, to now, with the madness of school holidays (and no Vacation Care) amongst it, with the NDIS beginning to be rolled out in the Brisbane area, and yet, it’s all been calm monkeys in my head. Alcohol consumption has gone down (coffee consumption remains steady) and I have really carved out a good physical, mental and emotional space for creating.

Hand-carved stamps on tags to post artwork to customers

I even bought myself a new tripod (with my Christmas/Birthday money from the in-laws)! So no more dodgy pics of artwork and more process vids, perhaps.

So does DENYING yourself something actually work?

Yes and No.

I believe you can read and watch to the point of saturation, where you’re drowning so much in other people’s stuff that you lose sight of your own. I’m pretty sure that’s been well documented. However, there’s a place for “the others”: growing and stretching and learning new ways of doing and thinking.

Just from now on, I’ll be exercising more discernment.

Happy weekend!

xx Giovanna

Progress Shots – “All Things are Possible”

I thought I’d share some progress shots of my latest piece in the February Quickie Project “All Things are Possible”.

I post these to Instagram every day (or so, sometimes I just can’t due to family commitments) and a few are snapped up almost instantly. I love when something I do makes a connection that quickly.

All Quickies at 15x20cm and are not matted or framed so you can hang as you wish. They do get a nice spray of clear varnish and are signed front and back with the title and year.

If a Quickie hasn’t sold, they come to the Shop page HERE. Just a reminder, they are $24 which includes postage & handling within Australia only. If you’d like it shipped overseas (and let’s face it, everywhere is “overseas” from here haha), please message me at hello@giovannascott.com.

xx Giovanna

Aspire to Become

Another week into the “fulltime all the time” artist gig and the flow that comes with clarity is truly liberating. I’ve had the emotional and creative capacity to sit and create without the burden (yes, “burden”) and worry that usually accompanied my months of Job Sharing a teaching role.

Removing the financial and career safety-net, and needing to 100% back myself, has also actually improved my practice. I really thought I would waste a lot of time, but the reverse has happened. I’m spending more time creating, more time writing in my journal, more time exploring mediums and techniques, and incorporating them into my style. I’ve been more productive in the last 4 to 8 weeks than I was all those years when I thought I could only be an artist if I still had a teaching job.

For me, this has not been the case.

And it’s paid off already.

These 2 beauties will be in the Aspire Gallery’s Petite Pieces Competition from Wednesday 7 February to Saturday 24 February 2018!

Filomena

“Shhh…”

Last year I was happy to have 2 pieces in their Foot Square Competition. I didn’t sell either, but the experience of working with the Aspire community was very positive. To see how much my technique has improved in that short time is heartwarming and encouraging, as an artist. I’m more confident, less worried, less anxious and more courageous.

My art journal has been ignored a little these weeks. The more confident I am with my art, the less I needed to “warm up” with the art journal. Only a few done in that time, but fun all the same.

If you’re local, I hope you can come to Aspire Gallery and check it all out. Loads of hugely talented artists from our area so there’s always something that will appeal. Hubby always takes my wallet from me so I don’t end up buying something (I tend to crush on a piece, badly). Check their website for opening times and the Official Opening Night on the 10th, when the winners will be announced:

EXHIBITION DATES, OPENING NIGHT & AWARDS

‘Petite Pieces’ will run from 7 February – 24 February. Opening Hours are Wednesdays – Saturdays, 10:30am – 4:30pm.

The Opening Night will be held on Saturday 10 February, 4:30 – 6:30pm.

xx Giovanna

Begin with the End in Mind

Well that’s what a very clever person once told me when it came to disciplining my boys, so I’m using that wisdom to begin 2018 where I hope to finish it…. writing, sharing and making.
Yes, making
and more of it.

November last year was a turning point for me. I decided to move away from taking contract teaching positions and return to supply work. While the last 6 years at the same college has been amazing for me intellectually, the grind and demands of planning, reporting, marking, meetings, and that extreme variable “the adolescent temperament”, finally took its toll. I said goodbye to my job-share arrangement of the last 2 years and had a heart-to-heart conversation with myself (and maybe the husband) about what I really wanted to do and where I wanted to be in 5 years.

ARTIST

Doing it, sharing it, exhibiting it, BEING IT.

I essentially removed the safety net of a regular income to work exclusively on my art practice. I have savings and I will be very strict with the monthly stipend I put in my business account to work off, and I will also have the earnings from supply teaching, but the only constant “work” I will be doing is the ART.

Begin with the End in Mind
We went on a family holiday last week and I took a very limited supply case:

A6 ring-bound journal 60pages
glue stick
small scissors
Winsor & Newton 12 half-pan watercolour set
Pens – uniball Insight 0.7 black waterproof; Brush Pen No.22 black; Posca pen, white 0.7mm
Pencils – General’s charcoal white and Scribe-All black (neither performed well); Staedtler Mars Lumograph 6B in black and graphite; Stabilo All graphite
Refillable Waterbrushes – fine, medium and flat
Washi Tape x 2
sharpener

It all fit neatly in a regular pencil case (I made this one 6 years ago for teaching) and the waterbrushes made watercolouring super quick. I also brought along 2 magazines from my aging stash — Flow and Peppermint. The both have great pics and graphics that I could rip up and use in my collages.

Each day I squeezed out time from the beach to do a simple collage. It wasn’t as easy as I thought and I wanted to try new things with limited materials and limited time and see what happened. Some were good, and some…well, we call them “lessons”.

{For those who have followed me, I attempted this last year using a KikkiK 365 journal. It was going great until I hit those really flimsy pages with water media. I got frustrated and put it aside. Also, this time around, I’m NOT using a prompt list. I do find them more stressful than most people, so I’ll just be more random and playful.}

I hope you’ll enjoy reading my thoughts again this year, on a more regular basis, and with a little more purpose.

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Back to it as I have 2 group exhibitions to prepare for. Will post here if I am accepted into one or both with all the details (if you’re a Brisbane-and-surrounds local, these small group exhibitions are great).

Much love,

Giovanna