Deconstructing art practice and the joy of learning through sharing
An article exploring the value of sharing techniques with another artist and gaining new insights into my own way of making paintings
I’ve just spent a fantastic couple of days with a fellow artist painting together in my studio. This article is to capture the new insights I’ve gained through teaching someone else about my own art practice.
Mary Price and I in my studio after our oil and cold wax painting session
If you are already a reader of my Substack (thank you!) you will know that Mary Price, also known as Artist in the Shed, has been my collaboration partner in the Prime Women concertina sketchbook project. Mary is based in Bristol and is known for her joyful, exuberant paintings that celebrate life, in particular through the expression of plants, trees, palms and birds. Her main medium is acrylic and she has very distinctive mark making. Contrast my preferred medium of oil and cold wax, and my passion for expressing my love of light and atmosphere using translucent colours teamed with “grungey” scratchy layers. I particularly revel in painting the Cornish landscape around the Helford. Mary and I shared a joy for colour (and life in general) and both enjoyed the experimentation of working on the sketchbooks so we planned a meet up in person where I could share some of the techniques I’ve developed in using oil and cold wax.
Studio scenes, midway through our joyful session of learning and sharing
Of course, the wonder of art is that two artists can take the same medium and the same colours and produce completely different individual works.
The first thing to say is that I owe a great debt to the wonderful artist and teacher Paula Dunn. Last year I was lucky enough to get a much-coveted place on one of Paula’s oil and cold wax landscape workshops. This year I will be doing the advanced 3-day session in Coverack (just down the road here in Cornwall) and I can’t wait. Paula selflessly shares her practice in these workshops, and I learnt so much from her, both observing and doing. Of course, the wonder of art is that two artists can take the same medium and the same colours and produce completely different individual works. There is always that fine line between being influenced by someone you admire, absorbing their teaching and internalising it, then making it work with your art, versus just plain old copying. I love the drama and light that Paula injects into her work that is inspired by the staggering landscapes that surround her in Yorkshire. In her workshop, I loved her boldness with obliterating marks and layers - I always remember her saying “Well I can choose to bring it back if I want” - I always try to have that in my head now when I paint, in order to stop myself getting over precious about any parts.
The last year I’ve honed what I learnt and designed a way of “controlling the chaos”.
I also have a love of light and landscapes and seascapes, but my surroundings are softer. I love the Helford colours and coastline. The distinctive trees outline against moody skies. The soft pinks and oranges of dawn and the muted greys and blues of the river itself. The last year I’ve honed what I learnt and designed a way of “controlling the chaos”. The beauty of mixing cold wax with oil is that you can achieve some amazing effects, from translucent glazes, to thick impasto. Adding solvent enables you to create some incredible “happy accidents” with mark making. As I was demonstrating this to Mary, I realized how much I have learnt to work with the “accidents”, intentionally incorporating them into my process, and using them to develop my own visual vocabulary to capture light, textures and water. It feels very much like being the conductor of an orchestra, knowing which instruments to bring in when, when to pull back, when to go loud, and when to let the music go so quiet you can hardly hear it.
…teaching someone else is a fantastic way to deepen your own understanding of your own processes that you are probably just doing completely instinctively
What was really enriching for me was seeing these techniques take on a whole new life in Mary’s hands, as she picked the colour palette she loves, strong blues, yellows, turquoises and reds, and started to carve distinctive shapes into the wet paint, accompanied by regular “oohs” as she too was amazed at the versatility and richness of this medium. As much as possible I tried to “work out loud” during my painting to verbalise for Mary a particular mark or technique and explain how I had made it.
Working on my paintings and “working out loud” to verbalise my process
It was really enlightening for me to explain to someone else the thought processes I was following as I built up my layers. When you paint solo in the studio and you get deep into a flow state you don’t really think about it, it is happening instinctively and often very fast. Having to explain it to someone else really makes you pause momentarily and appreciate the decision.
Me holding an abstract painting that I created during the session
One thing I have realized is that in the layering and scraping process I am playing a lot with the sense of space, and creating “veils” of colour that obscure, and then cutting through them with solvent to reveal hidden colours. The layers help create the sense of atmosphere and emotion, which is a key element in my paintings. I want to convey the sense of wonder, joy, peace or excitement that I have felt from being in these places. I have a fondness for using thick impasto on light sections, to make the light feel like a physical thing, to make its energy even more tangible. These marks, and a few distinctive hues such as the flesh coloured dusky pink, tangerine and buff titanium white are part of my colour signature.
Detail of a recent painting “Purple Haze” showing some of my visual vocabulary
This experience has definitely made me think more about potentially running my own classes, either in person or possibly online. It has re-emphasised that you certainly never stop learning, and actually teaching someone else is a fantastic way to deepen your own understanding of your own processes that you are probably just doing completely instinctively.
Close up of “Frenchman’s Creek dusk” with some of my signature colours and marks
An absolutely joyful and learning experience.
Meet the artist - event alert!
If you would like to come and find out more about my art process and paintings, I will be at the Tolmen Centre in Constantine near Falmouth (Cornwall UK) on Sunday 11th February from 2pm to 4pm for a Meet the Artist session. I currently have over 20 of my paintings on display there and will also bring some oil and cold wax with me. Let me know if you are interested.
Recommended links
To see more of my paintings, please do visit my website www.sophievelzian.co.uk or follow me on Instagram (@sophievelzian) where I regularly posts work in progress and also beautiful Helford River photos.
To find out more about Mary’s work, please do check out her highly recommended Mary Price's Substack or also her website - www.artistintheshed.com
You can also read both our articles about our concertina sketchbooks here:
Finally, the wonderful Paula Dunn can be found here - and if you can get into one of her workshops I would highly recommend it!
Sophie this article is wonderful as was the time I spent with you. It’s very exciting to me to learn the rudimentaries of cold wax and oil and I know I’m going to have so much fun learning how to manipulate the happy accidents and make them do what I want them to do. Creating a personal visual vocabulary is one of the most exciting aspects of painting for me. Bringing in new techniques elevates what has gone before. Our collaboration has taught me so much and opened up big possibilities for future work.