Jean Burman

My Grandmother would have described it as a “dirty day”…. and I can’t think of a better way to describe the miserable rain we endured this morning as artists from “all over” trudged dutifully into the Tanks Art Precinct for the third day of ArtEscape.

Southern artists must have been wondering where the heck they had escaped to… as the expectation of a warm and balmy “Winter School in the Tropics” dissolved into a quagmire of mud… and dripping downpipes.  At least the rain was warm... and the wet feet and frizzy hair didn’t seem to dampen the creative spirit!

Mercifully the sun peeped through around lunchtime… and the humidity dropped just enough to allow some of the wet media to dry.  It’s been frustrating… waiting waiting waiting for pictures to dry so that we can continue working on them.

I got a wet “derriere” sitting here this afternoon waiting for my ride home!

Classes started in earnest with our small group applying our burgeoning abstraction skills to painting a life model.  I love life drawing… so this was nothing new… except that this time round we were expected to look beyond the figure to abstract shapes and opportunities to exploit newfound concepts and techniques.  It was hard.  There is always the tendency to revert to what we already know.

You can see the inescapable watercolour influence here…even in acrylics.

Here I enjoyed the spontaneous approach to mark making

… and  that something of the “spirit” of the sitter was captured in both these 3 minute poses.

This was rather fun too… using a print making approach. I loved the white… but no surprises there… as a dyed-in-the-wool watercolourist! LOL

Madness clearly setting in… as “newspaper” is prepared with acrylic gel varnish by a fellow artist!

The crowd gathers for a discussion of “those who’ve passed this way before us”

Followed by a fuller discussion of more complex processes

The well stocked on-site shop for all supplies Art related.  There is virtually nothing these guys can’t or won’t supply! LOL It’s a great place to meander between bouts of inspiration.

And then there’s the perennial bucket problem… with the carting of water essential to the greater purpose of decorate/echo/destroy. (grin).  Looking ever so part-milk maid/part-confounded artist… this rare portrait was captured (in transit to the tap) by Official Photographer extradorinaire Ingrid Douglas…

(whom I also managed to capture the day before…

capturing me! LOL)

Thanks Ingrid… clearly your photographic skills far surpass mine… (no surprises there)… I hope you will forgive me? 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 16th, 2008 at 10:59 pm and is filed under That's Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.