Tag: painting

Something old, something new

It has been many years since I have had my paintings available for sale. I have mostly been working on commission pieces for the past five years. 

It is so interesting to look at my older works. To bring them out of storage and see them again. They are very different in some ways from my more recent works. They are tentative steps that seem to describe where I was then and the direction in which I wanted to go. They describe how I was feeling at the time. But they also seem to echo, or perhaps, foreshadow- the mindset I would later experienced during the pandemic years. It is an interesting experience to see this. Like they have given me a roadmap to loosely follow out of this stuck mode I have found myself in. Something from my past has given me a key to something new.

I want to set these paintings free. They have traveled over continents and seas and were packed away in the dark for so many years. So I have decided to put them on an online gallery and shine some light on them. 

And now a door has opened and I can keep moving and growing and adding to the world.

I will be adding more paintings to my portfolio next week. Here are the three that are available now:

‘Small‘ available here
‘That’s how the light gets in’ available here
‘Folds’ available here

Sticks, stones, roots and bones

‘Sticks, stones, roots and bones’ (2021) artist: Jodi Hugo

Elements.

All I keep thinking about is the soil I am from. The earth and the land that still courses through me. The elements that make up my body and my brain. And how I am inevitably shifting and changing physically as I live, breathe, drink and  eat in this new strange land. The seasons are flipped the microorganisms are different. The water tastes and washes differently. The sun hits me differently and all this dust and dirt is filling me.

The memories hurt. The nostalgia burns in my chest and the loneliness of this new uncanny valley country is accumulating on all the surfaces and in every corner. It seems like I should understand it and understand the people. But the mold is different. I have tried scrubbing it away but the dust accumulates faster that I can clean it away. 

Every cell will be replaced in time. My bones will be left with holes. My blood will taste different. My brain will still be somewhere in this old place. It will still be functioning on all the old elements, polutants and nutrients that it was built from as it is withereing and not understanding this new reality and this new aging body it finds itself in. 

But we had to move. We had to escape so that we can find rest.

The roots and stones, bones and soil we left behind will keep us together. It will bind us. The way it molded our bodies and minds will always leave a trace. The environment imposes it’s will even after we have flown from it. 

Will I be able to incorporate this place and become a part of it as I shed all I do not use? 

And will I be buried in this soil that my ancestors left centuries ago?

My mind will fade and this body will be left to become a part of this land. 

Figments of Memory

Figments of Memory

Patreon page

I have just started a Patreon page! And I thought I would share my first post with you. I am still trying to figure out how everything works but it can’t hurt to start spreading the news. Please feel free to go and take a look! I am very pleased with the new direction I am taking my work. I am  incorporating many of the styles I have already built on for many years. So: this is from my new post:

Figments of Memory

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I have just started a new series of works and this is the first completed painting.   It is a mixed media piece that incorporated charcoal, acrylics and soft pastels. It is made on board. The piece has a very interesting texture which is something I would love to explore further in upcoming works.
This new painting is about the remnants that are left in our minds. People we vaguely remember. These moments are often heavily laden with emotion and certain details. Yet the rest is left partial or missing. `And often memories are completely fictitious.

Observing Existence

Observation is inherently existential. It is communication about our experience of our existence. I find it impossible to separate the two no matter how mundane an object I choose to paint. The human form is not mundane – especially not to humans- yet it is ordinary. It is something we all possess. And everything about this fact is interesting. This is existing and this is experiencing.

 

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Lightheaded by Jodi Hugo

Two new works- different but the same

Two new works- different but the same

I’ve recently started to explore painting in a more’abstract figurative’ style- what an oxymoron! This is turning out to be incredibly tough. Distilling what the reason for that is, is just as illusive as the work itself. But I am enjoying the struggle and actually liking some of the results.

My most recent two works are playing with a similar subject matter. I am thinking about wings and extensions and being wrapped up. I am thinking and processing by working.

 

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Practicing Art

Practicing Art

Some new works are appearing as I keep working. I made one commitment: keep working.

The idea is to get up every day, start again and just keep going – whether inspiration strikes or not.

For a very long time I avoided having anything to do with the topic of Creativity or even Art. This seems strange as I am an artist and have been doing art for so long. The reason – I suspect- may be because I was rebelling a little. After having Art and Creativity as the focus in my life since the age of two (when I started my formal art education) and then going on to studying it for 4 years at University: twenty years had added up and I think I was tired of the subject. And I felt somewhat disillusioned. I felt like I hadn’t gained what I expected to gain from all the academics. I was lost. How do I carry on on my own?

What I hadn’t really ever been taught was the practice itself. The ‘how to’ of being an artist.I found a roundabout way back to my practice. By reading books on Mindfulness, mindset, Minimalism and a myriad of other – seemingly unrelated – topics like Physics, Evolution and parenting. Yet all of this information and self help seems to show a pattern – at least to my pattern seeking mind- everything in incremental. We need to keep building one brick at a time and eventually we have our dwelling. So obvious. But it has taken me a decade since studying to understand this.

Last year I read the book Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey. This was the first time, since studying, that I had read a book about Art. I think what attracted me was that it is not theoretical or philosophical. It is just describing the rituals and routines of some of the most creative people in history. It is not telling me why or who I should be but showing me how others do it.

This book had an amazing impact. These people had such ordinary, sometimes simple and even, from the outside, boring lives of repetition.

I realized that my need for routine was actually the right route to take. I seemed to have been sold the idea that my life needed to be filled with all these other whimsical things to make it exciting to bring out my creativity. Yet all I wanted to do was sit and work and drink tea. I wanted a boring routine with space and quiet and time.

This book showed me that this instinct I had was not just some silly desire but that it was and is absolutely essential for a creative life. Just as it is for my four year old – some wisdom from the parenting books! I had to develop a routine. This is the basis for creating and sustaining this reality I longed to pursue.

I now view my art as a practice. It is something I do regardless of whether I  feel like it or not, regardless of the perceived success or failure I am experiencing and regardless of the amount of inspiration I feel.

…

Now I am also adding my blog to my routine. (I have changed it a little – you may have noticed!). After quite a long silence, I feel the need to share some of my thoughts and processes. I hope that they might be of some relevance to you. Either way: you are welcome on this journey.

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3 ways to be a more productive artist

3 ways to be a more productive artist

"This work is about reaching out. Being vulnerable. It is about a connection and letting someone in."
“This work is about reaching out. Being vulnerable. It is about a connection and letting someone in.”

I have been very productive lately. This also means that I haven’t been blogging. I haven’t been doing much besides painting.
Productivity has always been quite a challenge for me. It has taken many years to figure out all the barriers. First I needed to understand what was holding me back from doing the one thing I have always felt was my calling. Why couldn’t I paint when that was all I was thinking about?
I seem to have come across 3 key productivity boosters for myself and hopefully some other people.
1. Be your own best boss. 
This may seem obvious but it took me a really long time to understand that when you are self-employed you are your own boss. You are not bossless. What helped me was understanding what kind of boss I would like to work for. I read an article on how to manage my personality type at work. At first I thought: “so glad I am not a manager or an employee! Whew!” Suddenly it all made sense. I was a manager and an employee. And I was being the worst boss possible to and for my personality type (INFP).  I was critically breaking down every single thought or attempt I made to create. This was a bad boss – especially for someone like me! This obviously creates a spiral where I would become a worse employee and in turn be a meaner boss. If I had to be anybody else’s boss I would never dream of treating them this way- it is quite unnatural for me to be mean. So I changed my style of managing myself. And voila! I have become a really good employee. I would really recommend finding out how your personality type might influence how you would be best managed.
2. Block off work time without interruptions. 
I have managed to put aside a few hours every day where I can work without being interrupted. I need to be completely isolated to be affective.
Even if I feel uninspired I will, at least, sit in my studio. Just being there often gets me working.
3. Have other people handle the the things that you are not good at. 
I realised a while back that one of the biggest stumble points for me was trying to do all the different tasks of running my own business. All I really want to do is create things. All the other aspects like selling art, marketing, admin and dealing with people were strangling me so much that I couldn’t make art. They were big stressors that left me paralysed. And then I joined a gallery – Which in itself was a challenge for me – and it changed everything. Now, except for the occasional commission, I only make art.
And that is all I ever wanted.
Back to the studio 😉

This work was inspired by a line from a Tori Amos song 'Take to the sky'. Sometimes we need to do things without apology and live without fear.
This work was inspired by a line from a Tori Amos song ‘Take to the sky’. Sometimes we need to do things without apology and live without fear.

you can see more of my work at State of the Art Gallery

Painting Flowers

Painting Flowers

Cycles and Memories

Complicate
Being the artist I always dreamed of being has been a big challenge. Business sense does not come naturally to me.  I have spent most of my life feeling the pressure of being a failure. Self inflicted of course! Someone who just can’t live up to this image that everyone (mostly young me) had, or has, of who I was and who I would become.
I have found the past decade to be the most difficult. How can I be an artist if I can’t even show anyone my work? After spending my whole life preparing for this ‘role’, I just couldn’t do it.
And how could I be me if it is so painful to work, because of my relentless criticism of myself?
And yet, I just can’t stop doing it. My mind is obsessed by it. I see everything around me as a potential work of art. I breathe painting and sculpting, yet it has caused me so much pain.  It was too heavy, too emotional.
Simplify
About two years ago I made the conscious decision to do it as a hobby and not hang my whole identity on it. I started producing in a meditative, relaxed way. I tried subject matters that were not too intense but still meaningful to me. I started painting our local indigenous flowers. This has brought me the most happiness. But I couldn’t help but wonder why something so basic could calm me so. Then, as I was working on my newest paintings, I realised:
My very first memory is of painting my first still life at art school when I was 3 years old. I have vivid pictures of my teacher taking me to my seat and where I sat in the room. Mostly, I remember the bright yellow sunflowers. They were so beautiful. The memory is so much more than the result. The memory is so detailed. And I think it is because of the space my mind was occupying. My mind was focussed on the present. I was there, observing, understanding shape and trying to show this by painting it. The act of observing and then portraying what I saw became a lifelong obsession.

my first clear memory
my first clear memory

And here I am. Still painting flowers. Still painting what i see: quite literally. Our brains observe and process and then somehow reflect what we experience, no matter how basic. And by using painting is my method of communicating it. This is what I have always wanted to do. This is who I am. For now.

Protea
Protea

Pink protea

Grayton flowers
Grayton flowers

Some more of my work: State of the Art Gallery and my website