Meet the Artist (Me) This Sunday

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Gail Brodholt

‘Meet the Artist’ sessions are held at Bankside Gallery throughout the duration of the Annual Exhibition of the RE (Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers).
Every Saturday and Sunday afternoon from 1-4, there will be an RE member present at the gallery, ready to talk about their work. Admission is free and no booking is required – just turn up. There is a complete list of artists here.
I will be there this Sunday (29th May) and I’m always up for a chat about printmaking and my own work, of course. So if anyone feels like a trip up to the smoke, I’d be very happy to see you. Mostly it’s just tourists, mildly puzzled as to why I’m sitting there, and of course there’s always someone who’s come in out of the rain….
As an added attraction, Angie Lewin will also be there – normally there’s a crowd three deep around her table and one person at mine (possibly because they can’t get close enough to Angie.)
All this and some wonderful prints to see at the exhibition – well, you can’t ask for more than that, can you?

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2012

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Gail Brodholt

I’ve had two linocuts selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition! The first one is Retail Therapy and below that is Remember Me.
I’ve never been lucky enough to get two in before – so I’m thinking pink champagne is definitely a possibility tonight…..

FAQ’s on a Printmaker’s Working Life…

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Gail Brodholt

I’m often asked to answer a set of questions by art students, as part of their studies I guess, and as these were particularly interesting ones, I thought I’d share them here. A cheap and cheerful post, that’s what I like…

What are your motives for the subject matter you work with?

I just like to record the world around me but I’m drawn to the idea of the journey, of being in between places.

Have you remained faithful to your original narrative and ideas or have you adapted them towards a more commercial slant?

I think that in an ideal world, you would just produce what you felt like at any given time but unfortunately if you want to make a living, you have to learn to be flexible and adapt.

If you want to be taken on by commercial galleries, and that’s where a lot of potential buyers will see your work, then you have to be able to sell for them. It’s not too difficult getting galleries to accept a couple of paintings for a group show, say, but if they don’t sell those paintings, they won’t ask you again. They have bills to pay too.

Of course, you can always make your art in your free time and have another unrelated job that pays the bills. Personally I never wanted a regular job and, other than a few stints temping in offices, I’ve never had one.

I guess I have adapted to what sells in order to keep the money coming in – but in moderation. You have to be pretty bloody-minded about your work to keep slogging away year after year in a freezing cold studio and anyway, people aren’t stupid. They pick up if you’re just going through the motions – passion about your subject always shines through.

Was linocut your first medium, or did you investigate other ways that would be sympathetic to your work?

I have a degree in painting and half of my practice is still painting. When you’re starting out, getting a foot in the door is easier if you have prints to offer a gallery at first. Like any other retail business, they have to justify the space they let you have and a few prints in a browser is less of a risk to them when you are still unknown than a big spot on the wall.

Do you work to a rigid timetable of production, as in ‘so many pieces per year’ or is it more fluid?

No timetable as such, but for instance, if I have a solo show coming up, that might mean supplying the gallery with forty framed pieces, in addition to which I will have other commitments. I have to have a timetable in my head (if only to reassure myself that I will be able to do what I’ve agreed to).

Has it been ‘easy’ to reach the position you are in now?

Not really – unless you’re prepared to work exceptionally hard, you won’t get anywhere. It’s a very competitive field and there are so many other talented artists waiting to step into your shoes, if you let them…

Would you recommend it to an art student?

Yes, it’s a great life – but if money matters a lot to you, then probably not – you never make enough to relax.

Have galleries been a vital part of your career?

Yes, I don’t sell through my website – I haven’t got the time – and so I’m more than happy to let the galleries do all that for me (in exchange for the commission, obviously). Lots of people I know do sell very successfully through their websites but the downside is that they don’t have good long-lasting relationships with galleries (who are in effect being undercut by the artist selling direct).

It seems to be difficult to keep the momentum going if you don’t show in the ‘real’ world from time to time. Hiring a gallery is an option but it is time consuming and expensive. I prefer to send off work to galleries and let them take the strain.

Does your web site work as an effective tool for sales and publicity?

It’s very effective as a publicity tool and it’s so much easier to send a link to your website than lugging around a portfolio. Also you can reach much further afield (world-wide even!) than would have ever been possible before.

And NO details of course, but can it be considered as a ‘living’ for you?

Yes, I make a reasonable living but I work long hours and I can’t rely on the same amount of money (or any, occasionally) going into my bank account every month.

So there you have it – and if there’s anyone still left reading after all that – are there any questions that were missed out?

Current Exhibitions

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Gail Brodholt

The Royal Society of Painter Printmakers’ Annual Exhibition has started at Bankside Gallery in London. It’s on for another three weeks, until Saturday 9th June. This show is always worth seeing, especially if you’re interested in printmaking, as there is a huge variety of techniques and styles on display. All the work is for sale at really competitive prices.
During the exhibition, I will be taking part in a Meet the Artist session (with Angie Lewin) on Sunday 27th May – more on this later…

And it’s the last week for the London Calling show at Cambridge Contemporary Art– ends on Sunday 20th May. Lots of London themed work from the likes of Paul Catherall, Frank Kiely and me too, obviously. Drop in if you’re in the area…

This is a linocut called Midnight Cowboy, available framed only from Cambridge Contemporary Art.

New Media Journey Part Two

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Gail Brodholt

I have to say that I well and truly exhausted my meagre writing skills last month, in my definitive research into the more posts = more readers theory. See here for an explanation (of sorts.)
I know that eleven posts in April doesn’t sound a lot but if you compare that to the five I managed to write in March, the measly two in February and the slightly less pathetic four in January, it’s more than double my usual output. Combine that with all the extra tweeting and facebooking I did during the month and no wonder my nerves are shot to pieces…
So, yes my stats have gone up massively, but from an exceedingly low start point, and to be honest, I’m slightly wondering why did I bother?

So I’ve decided to mull it over for a while and in the meantime, I’m hard at work, making a new linocut – a companion piece to my last one, Up with the Larks, seen below (34 x 33cms). I can see a new passion coming on for dark stairwells, long shadows and floods of light…..

The Best Job in the World (Except for the Money)

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Gail Brodholt

The other day in the studio, the chat turned to one of our favorite topics – what we’d do if the Half Moon syndicate won the lottery.
It’s funny how we are all absolutely convinced that we wouldn’t give up working, however rich we became. We’d just buy a better studio, preferably one on a tropical island, and while we’re about it, a gallery on Cork Street and, hey, let’s treat ourselves, one in the East End, too.
I guess this is why:

1. It’s not a regular job – so you’re free to come and go as you please. But then I do find I go to the studio five days a week anyway. What can I say, the guilt gets to me….

2. There’s no-one telling you what to do and when to do it. You choose what you feel like doing each day, even if that’s sitting around all day drinking coffee and discussing what you’d do with your lottery millions….

3. That interested reaction when you tell people what you do. “Oh, how lovely!” they say, picturing you floating around in a sun-lit meadow with your smock and watercolours
I don’t know why but I always feel compelled to explain, to their increasingly glazed faces, the reality of working in a freezing cold studio and the hard physical work of using a press.

4. Knowing that there are people who actually want to own the things that you love to make (and that you would be making anyway, lottery win regardless….)

So while I’m not completely convinced by this – that us newly minted multi-millionaires would really find that dragging ourselves into the studio to work is a realistic alternative to spending the day water-skiing with George Clooney – I can definitely understand why we might think it…..

From Sketch to Editioned Print

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Gail Brodholt

I like to do a lot of very quick and varied pen drawings in my sketchbook – it’s a bit like limbering up. I also like to write lists of everything I’m seeing – sandcastles, seagulls, etc., to jog my memory later….

Here I’m looking at beach huts more carefully – these ones are in Wells-next-the-Sea in North Norfolk. I like to do lots of little vignettes in the hope that something stirs (an exciting idea rather than a yawn obviously).

Another sketchbook page but this one is of the beach huts in Cromer – I don’t want to spend much time on drawings at this stage as I don’t want to over-analyse what I’m doing and lose the spontaneity. Well, that’s my excuse…..

Once I’ve got the ideas fixed in my head I try a few thumbnail sketches – just playing around with composition and structure. I like this part – trying to bend the reality of what’s in front of me into what I see in my head…

Here is the working drawing, a combination of the thumbnails above, bottom left and top right. These beachhuts are in Cromer but there is no great curve around the bay as such and the railings are much closer to the huts. And if that viewpoint was real, I’d be standing in mid-air over the sand….

And finally here is the finished print, with added seagulls and abandoned toys – I’ve called it Indian Summer (33x34cms, linocut).

Avoiding Your Fifteen Minutes of Fame…

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Gail Brodholt

I read an interview with Grayson Perry, where he said, “It’s one of my deep fears that I might become fashionable. All that means is that you are on the verge of being unfashionable.”

I remember when it used to be clothes that went out of fashion very quickly, but it’s absolutely everything now. There was a time when you’d buy some furniture, fully expecting to keep it for years, but now, heaven help you if your new sofa’s covered in amethyst linen – everyone knows it’s taupe barkcloth now. And what about bathrooms? Limestone mosaic is so last year, darling….

An artist colleague of mine got taken on by a very good gallery and immediately started selling amazingly well – so much so that she couldn’t keep up with the demand. Then within a relatively short time, the sales just dried up. Her work was still stunning – so why? Well, her background was in fabric design, she absolutely devoured lifestyle magazines and once supplied Ikea with some of her images for reproduction – her work just hit the zeitgeist. Then the world moved on, she was devastated, got dropped by the gallery and never really recovered confidence in her work….

Another artist I know has a similar approach – good sales for her are a validation of her work and she will focus very strongly on current trends to facilitate this. Somehow though, she manages to move with the times as she’s very inventive and resourceful. But oh, what a stressful way of working – she’s forever having to think up new subjects and colour combinations – windmills, artichokes, turtles, you name it, she’s done it.

So what happens to those ordinary artists who quietly develop their own visual language over the years and then one day wake up to discover that their work has just become the latest thing? I should be so lucky, you might think – but what happens when fashions change? Do you sigh and quietly get back to work? Well yes, of course you do, but unfortunately your work now looks curiously dated and you’re left feeling very frustrated that no-one seems interested anymore.

I guess the ideal is a slow but steady career progression, with time to make mistakes and to learn your craft. I fully intend to go on working until the day I die – or until I win the lottery, I haven’t quite decided yet.

My New Media Journey

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Gail Brodholt

Here’s the thing – I have been told (more times than I care to remember, quite frankly) that more blog posts = more readers.
My response has always been to reply loftily, “You don’t understand, I’m not doing it to amass hundreds of readers”. Which is just as well….
“It’s a personal journal – the fact that it’s public is neither here or there” All lies, of course. Obviously I want to be famous…..
Anyway, worn down as I have been, I agree to carry out a little experiment – to blog at least four times a week for a month, and to link to the post on Facebook and Twitter. Then I’m to sit back and see what happens.
So here I am, two thirds of the way through, with bleeding fingers and a new facial tick – is it working? I’ll let you know at the end of the month….