The Modern Arts Notes Podcast: Piece on two of my favourite contemporary abstract painters Jonathan Lasker & Shirley Kaneda

http://blogs.artinfo.com/modernartnotes/2012/11/the-modern-art-notes-podcast-jonathan-lasker/

My favourite Quotes

“To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”

- Aristotle

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. "

- Will Rogers

Snippet of inspiration: Matisse, Mitchell and Ayres.

As a painter I take inspiration from a variety of artists, from Ian Davenport to Shirley Kaneda.  And as an abstract painter with a focus on the formal histories of abstract painting, it is no surprise that my attention is continually focused on the painters of the 1940's and 50's. 
In my series of 2012 paintings, the work of Wlodzimierz Ksiaz was hugely influential. I became fascinated with the processes adopted by Ksiaz, as well as the characteristic thick impasto of his paint application.
Below outlines some of my favourite artworks that informed my paintings in 2012.

“Although there is no specific place, nature is more ‘really’ present than in most representational paintings. It is because of the ‘reality’ of the details. The details, shaped like brushstrokes, have committed shapes, and the colors have committed texture, hue, and substance. They are not muddy, which has nothing to do with the presence or absence of browns or grays, but with their being clearly what they are. Miss Mitchell has been attentive to outside nature and her inner experience, and she gives you something real.” Fairfield Porter on Joan Mitchell. From Reality and the Museum, 1961.

Henri Matisse, La Tristesse du roi, 1952.

Gillian Ayres, Maritsa

Loughborough University Graduation: Finally a Fine Art Graduate!

The Student Wordsmith: Artwork of Inspiration. Written in response to 'Fiesta' 2012 Abigail Jackson.

A lovely friend of mine who is currently completing her Masters Degree in English at Loughborough University wrote this poem in response to one of my paintings. Check it out!

http://www.thestudentwordsmith.com/2012/08/artwork-of-inspiration-part-i.html

My Show At The Private View: Fine Art BA (Hons) Loughborough University.

Abigail Jackson
Untitled Orange Painting
Oil on canvas
150 x 300 cm