Nundah Village Art Show at Honda Northside Nundah

The Nundah Village Art Show opens this Saturday. It will be held at Honda Northside, 1329 Sandgate Road, Nundah. The exhibition is accompanied by the annual Nundah Village Street Festival. This show includes a wide range of high quality artwork from local artists and I’m delighted to be exhibiting four paintings. All paintings are for sale.

There are two landscapes,and both are nostalgic in that they recapture my love for the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa, rekindled by my visit in December.

Afternoon Light, Drakensberg - oil on canvas 900 mm x 900 mm

Escarpment Shadows - oil on panel 610 mm x 455 mm

Still Life with Lilies is something of a departure from my usual style, being more detailed and representational. In the end I’m very happy with the result. 

Still Life with Lilies - oil on canvas 505 mm x 505 mm

The Reader is a mixed media work, including collage, charcoal as well as watercolour. When doing Sktchy portraits I experiment a lot with different media, finding it a good way to loosen up and try new tools. I like this portrait with a matt and frame - it looks complete and takes on a new gravitas. 

The Reader - mixed media on paper 435 mm x 335 mm

A new painting

During the winter holidays, while house sitting at my daughter’s home, I bought some white lilies, my favourite flowers. I did a few sketches and a quick watercolour, but I wanted to be able to use them as reference material in the future. I set up the flowers in a number of locations, to try different arrangements. My favourite place was the dresser in the main bedroom with the antique mirror and reflections of patterned wallpaper. Some pears in a bright green bowl in keeping with the foliage and a crystal candle holder completed the still life. 

The painting became a lot more detailed than was originally intended but I enjoyed the process immensely. At some stage, I would like to tackle a similar subject but in a much looser more abstract style. It will be interesting to see the two approaches side by side.

Still Life with Lilies - oil on canvas 605 mm x 605 mm 

Market Night at Prince of Peace Lutheran College, Brisbane

I will be showing some paintings at the  2012 Prince of Peace Market Night on Friday, 2 November at 20 Rogers Parade, Everton Hills from 7 to 9.30pm

A new work Nymphea 910mm x 610mm oil on canvas will also be on show - this is a piece celebrating colour which I started after I completing the Paris Cafe paintings.

There will be some of my Memory Block series. These are all 8” x 8” oil on canvas and are designed to hang in a group.

There is a new Sapphire Field series.The name “Sapphire” originates in a special Art Spectrum oil colour - called - you guessed it - “Sapphire” These photos really don't do justice to the colours - you need to see them!

Some of the other works include the Cups and Bottles series  as well as some Shell paintings.

as well as some Shell paintings.

Magnolias, Pink Roses with Mirrors and Cups and Bottles are more of the larger works.

 Pink Roses with Pascale's Mirrors- oil on canvas - 505mm x 1002mm © 2012 Carol Lee Beckx

Cups and Bottles - oil on canvas - 610mm x 760mm © 2012 Carol Lee Beckx

Magnolias- oil on canvas - 610mm x 910mm © 2012 Carol Lee Beckx

Portraits

I have added a portrait page to my website. Commissioned portraits now have a separate page. These paintings almost always have a story attached to them. Some I have done as a memorial for loved ones, such as the portraits of Margie and also Rajesh’s Mother.




Margie - oil on canvas 505mm x 405mm

©2009  Carol Lee Beckx

 

Another was painted to commemorate a 21^st birthday. Jordy Smith is a World Champion surfer from South Africa. Initially, I was commissioned  to do a conventional portrait.

Jordy Smith - detail - oil on canvas

©2009  Carol Lee Beckx

However, the client wanted to highlight the different stages of his career, so the painting eventually became a complex composition. In addition to the head and shoulders portrait, he is shown as a boy on a skateboard, when he won his first competition, and riding the waves.  An added challenge was that the painting was to be a surprise so I had to rely on family photographs to do the painting.

A favourite of mine is the one of my friend Zelda, a talented artist and always so elegant. I painted her seated in the studio where we painted every week.

There are more images on the Portrait page of my website.

The artist's problems

Recurring problems for many artists are restlessness and procrastination. As my departure date gets closer the more restless I become. I battle to focus on one thing at a time – inefficient multitasking has become a way of life. Interrupted tasks have become the norm.

I have packed up my studio and I think this is the crux of the problem – I am suffering “oil paint” withdrawal symptoms. Last week I put the finishing touches to the last two commission paintings and the work was delivered.

Now I need to decide just what I need to have with me for the next couple of months. Separating the essential from the “good to have” is almost impossible. I delay deciding. The pile of goods to take with me on the plane grows as does the need to send a box on its own. Such a dilemma…..

Then there is the question of what to do for these last two and a half weeks. Oops – actually it’s only two weeks before I leave for Brisbane. I keep promising myself that I will draw but this is where the eternal procrastination steps in and I find something else to do instead.

All too often as artists we keep looking for something important to paint or draw. Instead we need to heed the advice of Michael Nobbs. His blog Sustainably Creative offers encouragement in just getting down to doing things and doing small steps at a time.

Earlier this year Michael’s free e-book Start to draw your life  was one of the motivations I had to do some drawing – every day. The important act was the drawing, not necessarily what one was drawing. Then somehow life started to get in the way, (not to mention the fact that I had to pack up my house) and like many resolutions I stopped the daily drawing.

Some of the drawings from this period show rather a shaky start – but it’s fun to draw exactly what you see next to you as you veg on the couch watching TV.

No great intellectual concept – just simple drawings for the sake of drawing.

You should try it sometime – I plan to do that right away.

Different times, different media

Years ago Marshall Mc Luhan said: ‘The Medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium - that is, of any extension of ourselves - result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.’

The different periods of my life have influenced the choice of medium in my painting.
At Epworth School– it was watercolour. “Mizz” Owen taught us well. In addtion to the fundamentals of drawing and painting, she made us pay particular attention to the care of our precious brushes. During my recent de-cluttering I found my old metal paint box and some of the brushes as well.

My old Winsor & Newton watercolour box


At Art School it was oil paint of course, with here and there a splash of acrylics. Unconventional surfaces were a favourite, I recall incorporating a wooden window frame – sans glass - to accompany an abstract painting. I don’t have any photos, because we didn’t take ourselves seriously enough to warrant documenting any of the works - pity.

There was a hiatus of some years while my children were growing up, but I then went back to watercolour. I was very involved with the Watercolour Society of South Africa  and was able to combine painting with raising a family. The introduction of collage gave the paintings an added dimension.
It was also during this time that I became fascinated by miniature art and after a talk by the founder Charmian Keneally I joined the Miniature Art Society of South Africa.



Blue porcelain & Tomatoes Watercolour on paper 57mm x 70mm
©2000 Carol Lee Beckx

 

Arch series – Abdaye Brialmont Watercolour on paper 90mm x 60mm

©1998 Carol Lee Beckx
 



Arch series – Limbourgh Watercolour on paper 90mm x 60mm

©1998 Carol Lee Beckx
 

 The attention to detail and importance of every part of the composition can become addictive. It also calls for a very steady hand – no sneezing, please!


Arch series – Maastricht Watercolour on paper 90mm x 60mm

©1998 Carol Lee Beckx
 



Eventually the detail of miniatures became too confining. I began to struggle both with the watercolour medium as well as my subject matter. I just wasn’t able to express myself fully. Many paintings were abandoned, to later be recycled as collage elements or greeting cards.

A few years ago, with more life changes, I became restless and needed something different.

So, after a break of many years, I resumed painting in oils. At first it was really hard – it was as though I had never used a brush. Gradually the medium stopped fighting me and it grew a little easier.

I began to enjoy the freedom of exploring the paint as though it were completely new to me. I felt as though I had come home.



Blue bowl with Apples Oil on canvas 500mm x 500mm

©2004 Carol Lee Beckx