Happy 2018! A massive thank you, a House and Garden feature and an Artsy Shark article.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are feeling positive about the coming year. I for one am ready to take this year head on.

2018 has been a great one for me and my abstract art. I was finally well enough to knuckle down and make art full time (as full time as illness allows at least!). I managed to get featured in some publications and various places on the interwebs which has been exciting. I have sold paintings to collectors as far away as the USA and completed my first commission piece. My series titled 'new' is now embarking on a traveling exhibition around the U.K. and I am ready for another year of hard work.

Before moving on I must send out a HUGE thank you to all of you. This time a year ago I couldn't have dreamed I could have achieved so much. A year before that I didn't even think I would be painting again. So whether you have liked or shared my posts on social media, subscribed to my newsletter or even bought one of my paintings, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. You have all helped to give me confidence to keep going.

A HUGE thank you from Jasmine Farrow Art.

This year is starting well so far. I have been featured in House and Garden magazine, UK February edition which was nice. I don't know how they found me but I'm glad they did. The painting featured is called 'Face The Breeze' and is part of the 'new' collection

The other news is that I was also featured in an article on Artsy Shark. Artsy Shark is a website dedicated to inspiring artists to create better businesses. They have interesting articles for both artists and collectors. Click on the image below to be taken to the article.

Artsy Shark article.Paintings: Top Right 'A Walk In A Rest'. Bottom Left 'Rock Yourself To Sleep'. Bottom Right 'Freedom In A Mirrored Room'.

So here's to a great 2018 for all of us! Keep attacking your goals. Even small achievements are still achievements and a step in the right direction.

Starting a new series of abstract paintings

"Face The Breeze"

I am so excited to be starting my new series of abstract paintings. I was contacted by Little Van Gogh and they asked me if I would like to exhibit ten pieces in a touring exhibition. The exhibition will mostly be in corporate buildings, with large walls to fill. This means the pieces need to be large scale. Automatically I was excited as I have been wanting a reason to work bigger for a while. But because most of my paintings were under the size limit, I decided to start from scratch on a whole new series.

A large blank canvas and a work in progress.

So how do you go about starting a new series? First I decided that I wanted a square format. This is for many reasons, one being that I like it aesthetically and I find my compositions work better. Another reason which is secondary but still valid, is that I use instagram which has a square format. Any images of my paintings are either cut off or include distractions around the edges in order to fit the whole painting in. 

How do I choose canvas size? I knew it had to be large scale but I also know that my little studio can't handle ten canvases that are super sized. Of course the bigger the canvas the more expensive it is too. All things considered, for me the 80x80cm size made the most sense.

"Outside In Cuckooland".

And finally to the hard part. What will I paint? When starting a series it is important to choose a topic, style, colour palette or theme that you won't get bored of easily. The paintings must all look good together and be cohesive. I know this is something I will struggle with because I have so many ideas and things I want to try and express. Orchestrating a uniform thread is difficult. I have completed two of the paintings and already they are completely different to each other! I am hoping that the rest of the paintings will bridge the two together bringing in elements of both to disguise their apparent incompatibility.  I am sure this is not how to go about this type of thing. It is a good exercise to reign me in. I will try to always work in series from now on in the hope I will get better at planning.

Art Colour Inspiration

I am sometimes asked what inspires my colour choices in my art. There is no formula to choices made during my creative process. I do however, find that nature is still the thing that inspires me the most. Sometimes I am inspired subconsciously and it is only later on that I realise that something I have seen has had more of an effect on my work than I had first thought. For example, a few months ago there was an unbelievable Norfolk sunset. It was one of the most beautiful I had ever seen. I tried to capture it on camera but it just didn't look as wondrous as in real life. I watched it until all the colour had drained from the sky. I didn't notice until I later looked back at things, that from that evening I have developed an obsession with pinks, salmons and oranges alongside blues and greys. It really has given me a new appreciation for the colour pink. Pink is a colour I had previously hated with a vengeance!

Abstract Art Colour Inspiration. Norfolk Sunset.

Abstract in nature.

I was able to take a trip to Fairhaven the other day. It is one of my favourite places. It is situated on the Norfolk broads and is beautiful at any time of year.  As always, I took my trusty camera. I find that the process of framing things within the viewfinder completely changes your perspective. Images can be broken down in to shapes, colours and textures without the need for a narrative. Some people might look at an abstract piece and say "It's just a bunch of scribbles, lines and blobs". That is exactly what I see when looking at nature

Scribbles, lines and blobs.