April 2021
It’s been another funny period at the start of this year. A malaise seeped into my creative processes at the same time as lockdowns re-established and a general atmosphere of grinding ‘nothingness’ covered everything. I resolved to re-think how I think and where I find inspiration. Making specific time to read, learn, walk, observe, whenever I’m not actively creating. That began to pay dividends when momentum slowly came back into the world via the vaccination programme.
As a result of today’s several hours of art admin I was surprised to discover that I had already completed 18 artworks so far in 2021. That’s vastly more work than I expected and might also go some way to explaining why I’ve been a bit tired recently. It’s a contradiction for me to say that I have experienced a malaise when I have also been more productive than ever, but that’s just how it is. Productivity isn’t the goal, ever. Exploration is the goal.
I’ve just taken two weeks off from active creating and instead walked widely over the local area. Almost 100 miles in short walks. Foraging, learning the shapes of the plants, listening to birds, feeling the sun come back. Then I’ve come home and rested, thought, cooked, drunk (too much), and watched films. It has been tremendous despite the lingering lockdown. I’m looking forward to the rest of the year immensely.
New artworks
I won’t share all of my new artworks in this newsletter but here are a few selected pieces freshly framed and available in my shop for purchase. Most are at temporarily low prices while people get back into the swing of consuming art but do get in touch if you wanted to make a reasonable offer or wanted to discuss a reserving an artwork.
Most of these have come from walks or thinking about walks. Experiencing weather or the feeling a landscape instills in me. Some represent what I would call experiments or evolutions in subject matter or technique.
‘In praise of February sun’, 2021, ink, pencil and acrylic on paper.
‘The party on the lake’, 2021, acrylic on canvas board.
‘Sometimes fire is not the answer’, 2021, ink on paper.
‘The Long Man in the rain’, 2021, acrylic on canvas board.
‘The Field near Playden', 2021, acrylic on canvas board.
Art sales are slowly picking up again so by the time you read this at least one of the above pieces has sold. Any questions please do pose them to me.
RWA Open 168 Exhibition closes soon
The Royal West of England Academy’s 168th Open Exhibition closes on May 9th so you have literally days left to get to see the show. It is gutting that I haven’t been able to travel there myself to see my contribution ‘Let go’, truly awful to not be able to see my work in the biggest show yet.
Sigh.
But anyway you can book tickets via this link https://www.rwa.org.uk/collections/art-exhibitions/products/rwa-168-annual-open-exhibition if you do fancy catching it before it closes.
At least when I have to drive up to Chelsea to pick up ‘Let Go’ and take it home again I will also be taking another from the same series, ‘Anbid’, to a top-level digitisation company and getting a huge scan made of that piece. Silver linings and all that.
Twitter - @chrisboothart
I’m rubbish at remembering I also have a Twitter account but I have been trying to make it a bit more interesting recently. If you’re more of a Twitter user than an Instagrammer then you can find me over on Twitter here. It won’t be a verbatim copy of Instagram but it also won’t be comprehensive. It’ll be more of a side-step and me tinkering with a different way of chatting into the void.
Newsletters
When I take three months off from posting newsletters, like I just did, I can find myself losing track of exactly what I’ve been up to. Thanks for reading. I do see that a few people take the time to do so and it is useful to me to have these little check-ins with myself. Until next time do keep well, and I hope your springtimes are beautiful.