Oh my gosh! Its been too long....

Pinhole Sunderland, Selfie, June 2014
By Jo Howell Photography

I have fallen way behind with my blogging duties in the past few months, but I have a fair excuse- I have been working my butt off!

So continuing with work for Arcadea Disability Arts in Newcastle twice a week, and also working for  The Art Studio Sunderland twice a week (check out their blog to see what I've been up to here).

Whilst also continuing with my commercial photography in the studio. I have had some fantastic artists in the studio in the last few months, and have had the great honour of capturing some gorgeous photographs of some really accomplished glass/ceramic pieces. You can see more on my website or Facebook page.

I have also started documenting a great project for The National Glass Centre. This will be finished in August, so hopefully then I will be able to knuckle down to create some of my own work.

However, it hasn't all been so quiet on the creative front- I have continued with my City by the Sea project, Pinhole Sunderland and Painted North projects that you can view on my pages in this blog.

Ta ta for now!

Christmas is nearly here!

Dave the Geordie Dinosaur- NEA Magazine Project
By Jo Howell

Work has started up again with National Energy Action, this is a really fun and creative project where NEA go into schools to give advice on fuel poverty. During the workshops the children are encouraged to design characters and cartoons that will be published as part of a magazine to be distributed back at the school.

I take the initial drawings and ideas from the kids and I then create illustrations like "Dave" (above), and work out the page layouts. The magazine is always colourful and informative in a fun way that encourages both the children and the parents to be more energy efficient. I have been working with NEA on this project for nearly 3 years now and I still love it!

Hand printed Baby grows
By Jo Howell

Since Christmas is just around the corner I decided that I should use my skills to create some craft items that I could sell at Christmas markets, (Del Boy of the Art World). The market is in Newcastle near the Monument metro station on 8th December 2012. Come down to see me and buy my wares! I will be selling hand engraved tea-light candle holders (below), hand printed baby t-shirts (above) and hand printed Christmas cards (below)

Tea-light candle holder
by Jo Howell

Colourful Christmas cards
by Jo Howell

Whilst creating these delightful craft items for Christmas I have also been working with Arcadea Disability Arts as a session artist, which means that I work with a small group of learning disabled people on a range of creative projects. The job is really rewarding and they have been producing some fantastic work.

I have also worked on 2 film projects this year, one was a promotional video for Creative Cohesion that was commissioned by Frank Styles. You can check out that video here.

And, the second film I worked on was with the National Glass Centre and my role was as workshop leader. I lead several workshops in the NGC on filmmaking, and then edited the final footage provided by the participants into a comprehensive 'How to: Engrave Glass" film. The film isn't available online for you to see yet but you can pop into the National Glass Centre where it is being screened.

Thanks for reading.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

www.maverickart.co.uk

Waste not want not....

Pixelated test prints
By Jo Howell

I have been working on getting a number of prints framed and ready for a solo exhibition at Infinite Arts, Sunderland. When I ordered the prints I decided to do a experiment in visual abstraction, I took small details from my image Rooftops and blew them up to 75cm x 50cm with the ratio of 1 pixel per cm squared. When I got the tests back I decided that the abstraction was not enough and that I wanted to push the pixel size to between 4 or 5cm squared, which will reduce the image into a gridlike form even further.

But this then meant that I had 2 very large prints that I had no real use for. As you may have noticed with the Eleflump of last months blog I hate wasting things needlessly. So this set me to thinking of ways that I could work photography with paint to create new and interesting effects.


Basic Preparations
By Jo Howell

With the current economic climate I have had to learn to make art from a variety of different things that I previously would not have considered. The base for the experiment with the test prints was actually a deconstructed cardboard box that I cleaned up by priming with household emulsion and PVA glue. This makes a Low-fi alternative to canvas which can be expensive especially when you are only experimenting.


Pixelating the pixels
By Jo Howell

 I cut the images into squares that I could arrange and rearrange until I found a combination that I liked, cutting the images into squares turned them into pixels, the basic coloured cells that digital images are made of.

Once I had decided upon the arrangement I used spray mount to stick the squares to the prepared cardboard.

I added layers of paint and ink to pull the work together, I have now left the piece to dry and have come away to consider the parts that I like from this process, and to think of how to finish the piece.

Part of being an artist is having the confidence and freedom to try out new ideas or concepts, I don't believe in having a finished piece of work every time that I decide to create something. Quite often I make work that I may never finish because the idea didn't pan out the same as in my head, but whether I finish it or not I will have learned from the process. This is one of those ideas that could have potential but I will have to experiment more with presentation and the concept before I can really decide.

And now for a little experiment in social interaction, if you have read my blog via facebook please write 'pixel' in the comment under the link that you accessed the blog from. Lets see how many pixels I can collect!

Thanks for reading you can check out more work via my facebook page and my website.

A glass act...

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.