A few years back I wrote about clearing out my art studio in preparation for moving to a new house. As we are now very close to actually moving, I felt it would be good to revisit the subject. What is slightly unnerving is that when I wrote that piece in 2019, just as I…
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Journal planning, record keeping and how to persevere It is that time again when I am looking at forward planning, habit forming and goal achievement. I mentioned last month that I have had a number of shows cancelled but this month I am delighted to tell you that I have been invited to take part…
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How to take care of Artwork Paintings You have spent many hours and a huge amount of energy to make your art so you really should think about what will happen to it once it is finished. Not least because anyone buying your work could ask all sorts of questions and if you can’t provide…
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How to be confident in your art making. How to avoid mistakes which could or have already destroyed your creativity and learn how to put fear in its place. I am pretty sure that we have all heard the expression “Feel the fear and do it anyway”. It is the title of an excellent book…
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I would like to bet that, like me, whenever you go into an art store, you are seduced by the colours on the side of paint tubes or pots and you have lots of different colours to experiment with. I know that I have been, and I know, too, that none of us need all…
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Although we are in the middle of a pandemic, speaking to my friends and family we have all remarked that we can’t understand why, with all this time on our hands, we are actually busier than ever and don’t know where the weeks are going. Even before this crisis, being busy had somehow become a…
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70th blog should an artist listen to the “get yourself a proper job” advice. Chatting to an old friend last weekend about how she is coping with the lock down and what she did to celebrate her birthday, she told me that she had decided to try out the watercolour paints I bought for her…
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As I’m sure you are all aware, here in the UK we are now on hard lock-down. Don’t let this frighten you. This is the perfect time to try something new, improve existing skills and remind yourself that you have skills you haven’t employed for some time. I am talking specifically about drawing. Regardless…
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Some more ways to make interesting screen prints. A few weeks ago I wrote about screen printing using stencils. This week is about producing painted mono-screenprints. The process is very similar to the stenciled screenprints but let me recap here. The first thing to do is tape up the edges of the screen. Using parcel…
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Being part of an art community will help you achieve more than trying out on your own.
Celebrating your wins both in art and life. Why is it we tend to let the negative overrule or dominate over the positive? Generally, we are quick to take on negative comments and dwell on them whilst almost ignoring the compliments we receive. I have been very guilty of that at the end of this…
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54th blog How to start making artwork after a break . Last week I wrote about the importance of stepping away from your work to produce better results. This is just as true in real life as it is in painting. A break in concentration allows you to re-evaluate what you are doing and produce…
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By stepping away from the painting. This week I wanted to talk about the need to remove oneself in order to see things in a different light. When I lived in the USA, I had a horrible but brilliant oil painting teacher. She never liked me and, frankly, I wasn’t impressed with her, but I…
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What to (and what not to do) when making acrylic pouring paintings and getting cells. Although there is a wealth of information on the internet and also many YouTube videos on this technique, I am still regularly asked how to produce the “cells” with which people are so enamoured. I thought I would offer…
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Continuing on from last week’s blog on how to get your artwork ready for an exhibition, this week I am looking at how to hang a group exhibition. These days if we want to know something, we generally ‘Google’ it. I did just that when embarking on this blog but I could not find anything…
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If you are planning on taking part in art exhibitions of any kind, these basic tips will help you present your work in a way which could increase your chances of selling. It is all about presenting work in a professional way.
My work. This week I thought I would share my process for making the ‘bubble’ pieces which so many people have said that they enjoy and have purchased from me. I am currently preparing a number of pieces for a client who knows what colours she wants but hasn’t commissioned work from me before and…
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Change – how to cope with it and embrace it. It is that time of year when it is all change. Here in England, the children are going back to school, my wonderful flower boxes are beginning to look disheveled and the leaves on the trees are just beginning to turn. Summer is coming to…
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Design. Why design is so important in your artwork? I have had the luxury of being on an amazing painting course which started in May and which deals predominantly with design in our artwork. The course has reinforced all the things I have ever been taught about producing good art but is delivered in such…
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An Artist Statement and Bio, what are they, why do you need one and how to go about writing them. An artist’s statement is a short, written piece about your artwork, your art practice and an opportunity to briefly discuss the thought process behind making your work. If you are struggling to write one for…
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Putting your work up for sale the first time is a scary business. You are putting your soul on show for other people to comment on. You need to applaud yourself for your bravery. That said, please don’t expect to sell. Of course, it is disappointing when you don’t but selling on your first…
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Planning ahead! A friend came to visit me this week and was telling me of her frustrations. She is new to art and through lack of planning had caused herself real angst. This friend, who is a textile artist, had sewn a beautiful work but having finished it found it was the wrong size for…
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I covered paint quality in a previous blog ( https://alisongsaunders.art/blog/) but I just wanted to touch on it again here. My advice is always to use the best quality paint, brushes and sub-straight you can afford. I liken it to making a chocolate cake. If you use cheap margarine, the cheapest battery-hen eggs, cheap…
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A very knowledgeable and talented master watercolourist friend of mine reminded me this past weekend of the mistakes I have made in the past when signing my work: more about her in another blog. This reminder led me to writing this week’s blog. Let me explains. I am currently taking part in the Surrey Artists…
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This week’s blog is mainly aimed at those of you who will be exhibiting in some form of Open Studio event in the next few months. Hopefully those of you who love to attend will gain a better understanding of what we put ourselves through to make these exhibitions worth visiting. So, as I prepare…
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How to buy art…. …or how to commission a piece of art. Now don’t go running for the hills, it really isn’t that scary. So why would you consider commissioning a piece of art and more importantly, is it going to break the bank? Well let’s get the money bit out of the way before…
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https://alisongsaunders.art/blog/ To the uninitiated ‘mark making’ sounds a bit pretentious, but I am not sure what else you could call it without making it sound childish and lacking in skill. The art of making marks to represent the world around us and how we respond to that world, has been going on for thousands of…
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If you visit my website and sign up for my newsletter, you will automatically receive my free Guide to Buying Art. You can get yours too by clicking here. https://alisongsaunders.art/about/ As a result of this guide, I have had a couple of conversations with people about framing artwork they have bought unframed, so thought I…
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My followers will know that I have committed to writing a weekly blog post. Break that down and it is 52 subjects I need to find to write about each year. Sounds simple enough, until you try it! Oh, I could write just for the sake of it, but you don’t want that, you need…
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This is a question I am asked a lot but in many different guises. For instance: – “What influences your art?” “How do you pick a theme?” “Do you paint other things?” Or the question can be phrased: – “I can never decide what to paint what do you suggest?” Or my favourite: – “Oh…
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Now I know that there are hundreds of thousands of artists out there, many far more talented and better known than me, but even more unknown, just getting started, taking up art for the first time etc. etc. artists who might find my thoughts useful. I don’t present myself as the font of all knowledge…
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Learning from Lewis Nobel Last month (September ‘18) I was so lucky to be able to join the lovely Lewis Nobel for a three-day class in Ashbourne, Derbyshire along with my friend Colette. In fact, it was Colette’s idea to go and I will admit I was concerned about being on a course for three…
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Fairly easily, you would think. And yes, once you have understood about balance and the mathematics of balance it is fairly easy. Well a piece like this one here is fairly easy. This mobile is one of seven mobiles I made as part of my final project for my BA Sculpture course. Throughout the sculpture course,…
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It seems that the work I produce, on a daily basis, in my concertina sketch book has gained a following. How exciting. With that said, I thought it might be a good area to cover in some of my blogs, with this being the first one. When you go to art school/college/uni, whatever you want to…
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As yet I have not had any of my designs accepted and I might not have any of them accepted, but I said I would share the story, so here goes. I have been involved in painting fibreglass objects to raise money for charities of a few years now. So far, I have decorated two…
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