Ashley Hanson Art: 'Still Life' - Gallery & Report at Creek Creative, Kent

Wednesday, 26 October 2016

'Still Life' - Gallery & Report at Creek Creative, Kent

Teddy Kempster

Each of the twelve Freedom in Painting workshops in Kent have explored a different aspect of painting. We have looked at 'Red', 'The Circle, 'LIbra (Balance)', 'The Diptych', 'The Space Between'. We have worked with the model on several occasions, there was a workshop that explored composition using the two lighthouses of Dungeness and recently we looked at the work of Richard Diebenkorn.

This time, eleven artists from all over the country gathered together at Creek Creative Studios in Faversham to explore the important genre of Still Life. In advance, the artists were asked to look at the work of Morandi and William Scott and also to bring in one or two of their own favorite objects.

A talk on the history of the genre was followed by a loosening up, compositional drawing exercise. The artists were then split into three groups and each group was asked to arrange on their own table, by consensus, a still- life of six objects which they drew for the rest of the morning, conventionally and unconventionally!

After lunch, the painting session began, and without giving too much away, the still-life changed during the afternoon.

Day 2 began with a challenging painting exercise and throughout the day, the artists pushed their paintings forwards, in the spirit of the words of Richard Diebenkorn:

'I have found in my still-life work that I seem to be able to tell what objects are important to me by what tends to stay in the painting as it develops'

As always, the workshop ended with an invaluable group critique. Over the 2 days the artists gave their all - intellect, painting skills and instinct, and through their intensity of working produced an incredibly strong and varied set of paintings.

Many thanks again to Anne and Simon at Creek Creative for promoting the course and helping set up the room.

GALLERY