antony clarkson
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The Athole House Studio
Self-Isolation Artist Residency
30th March 2020 - 7th November 2021

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Picture
Over my career I have taken part in many artist residencies in various parts of the world; I have even organised and run a residency program myself. 2020 has brought new challenges to us all, I however intend to treat these challenges as opportunities. With this in mind today, the first day of my self-isolation having arrived back from my studio in the Untied States last night, I I launch my new blog which will become an integral part of this website as I redesign is over the coming weeks.

Artist Residencies give artists the space and perhaps more importantly the time to make new work; I intend to treat my time in self-isolation in the same way that I would if I were on an artist residency in another studio in another part of the world. Athole House Studio maybe one of my home studios but for me it is a work space, and lets face it, we all now have the time.

The Self-Isolation Residency 12th April 2020: Day 14

4/12/2020

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Picture
Today I  have taken a short break from working on my self portrait, as it is still quite wet, and have returned to working from some my landscapes studies. I've used this as an opportunity to explore some of my mark making techniques. The self portrait is being painted entirely with brush and the 'qualities' that those brush marks bring to the painting are really so important, as demonstrated by yesterdays details. With this in mind  I decided to approach today's landscapes entirely with the knife to give myself a comparative series of marks  to study.

Personally I have no preference between working with the brush or working with the knife, on the whole it often comes down to the way in which I am feeling as to which one I select to use. Funnily enough when students arer first encourage to try using the knife they thing of it as a 'blunt instrument', something entirely inappropriate to painting with. And I won't deny that it can take a little time to get the hang of the knife, but once you do it becomes a real pleasure to use.  As with the brush an awful lot of knife technique comes down to confidence, you really have to understand the varying pressure of touch that is needed to apply a layer of paint, often to another still wet layer of paint, to achieve the desired effect.

Yesterdays details that I posted were all painted very freely, really just blobs of colour here and smudges of colour there. Layers were applied upon still wet layers, so although the paint was applied freely there is also a large amount of care, which really only comes from experience,  is needed to not smudge the layers below. This is a technique that I have come quite adept at with the knife so today I tried a direct comparison with the knife. Once again I worked from a black ground and 'spread' on large areas of flat colour with the edge of the knife to suggest the basic areas of the landscape; sky, mountains, water etc.  As with the self portrait the paint went of quite thickly and with a fair amount of texture all of which I wanted to retain and hopefully add to with the subsequent layers.
 This is the point that can seem nerve racking, I now have to have a very light hand to add extra oily layers and layers on top of this insecure foundation. Most of this is done with the flat of the knife, which in a way makes it harder as you really cant see the mark you are making properly at the knife blade blocks your view. All I can really say is that once again it takes practice to know much much, or more to the point how little pressure is needed to add the new paint without disturbing what is already down, the one tip I would have it that if you feel even the slightest resistance you're probably applying too much pressure. One these layers have been applied you have two more things to do, the first one is breathe, because you probably haven't been doing for the last few minutes! The second on is to use the knife in a totally different way, to use it to 'draw' or even 'carve' the final marks and details into the wet paint, this is possibly my favorite part of working with the knife as it combines all the aspects of art I love the most, drawing, painting and sculpting

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  • CODEX
    • plane >
      • Apophenia: An Uncanny Presence.
      • Control(s)
      • Personal Topographies
      • The Self-Isolation Residency
      • Americana
      • Mauve Skies
      • Scotland
      • Selected Drawing & Paintings,
      • The Teaching Years
      • Spatial Paintings 2006-2008
      • Paintings 2006
    • mass >
      • The Blind Men and the Elephant.
      • Spatial Conceptions 2014 - 2022
      • Painted Objects
      • Autograph
      • The Newtonian Nightmare
    • volume >
      • Enso nest
      • Someone else's storey
      • Shower, The Process Residency 2013,
      • Concrete Haiku
      • Atypical
      • The Murder of Crows.
      • Composition in White (Painting), The Breathe Residency:
      • Composition in White (Sculpture), The Breathe Residency:
      • Floorplan
      • Paper Scissors Rock
      • Pilgrimage
      • The Fifth Column
      • Tension
      • Arch
    • blogs >
      • The Self-Isolation Residency: Blog 2020-2021
      • Apophenia: An Uncanny Presence. 2022
    • artist statement
    • cv & education
    • contact