My Art Residency Begins...

Art Residency Diary

Lee-Anne Peters

Day 1 on 4 August 2022

 

This morning I felt very excited that this long-awaited day had arrived, for today I was to start a one month artist residency – my first, in the beautiful historic town of Oatlands in Tasmania.

 

On arrival to the artist cottage - with a working studio shopfront, I unpacked, and rearranged some easels and studio furniture to my liking.

 

I began by reflecting on what I want to achieve or accomplish from this residency and how I might be able to make the most of this grand opportunity. I reviewed some possible challenges, and how I might be able to avoid such things.

 

I also spent some time researching my muse, the Black Swan.

 

From this I decided that I want to portray in my artwork something alluring, mysterious and elegant from the swan. Blackness has long been a symbol of the unknown. I'm not sure how I can reflect this in my painting yet, however I can check in with this intention as I am painting to see how it feels.

 

After filtering through my photos to find the best ones, I came up with the three that felt exciting to me to start with.

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I spent the afternoon drawing onto my art board (canvas) or mapping out, the form, outline and assessing the composition of three swans. This is an important foundation for me to ensure it is right before I proceed to add paint.

 

I slapped the first layer of paint on one piece – just so I could see some colour. Note: my paintings will have as many layers (up to 10) of paint added until they are done. Although I am not happy with it yet, I trust in; the solid foundation I have, my ability to observe tones, shapes and patterns, and I know that almost all artwork goes through a messy and somewhat 'ugly' phase.

This is usually the time when people give up on it, however if we can push through, keeping our standards high, then the artwork is bound to become pretty special.

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Lee-Anne

 

AirSpace,

79 High st,

Oatlands, TAS