Black on Grey on White

It's January, the month of new beginnings . Fresh starts. Things are going well in the studio and that's just it: they are ticking along smoothly. Time for a " spice up" . To boost my mojo . To re-asses. On the plan this month: Step out of my comfort zone .  Notch up my pencils to a new level. Dare to make mistakes Try a new technic , a new approach, new pencils. Slow down and feed my inspiration the good old fashioned way: curled up on the sofa books and magazines in hand; : AWAY from the computer from the fast lane of image overflow! Visit the art museum. The space, the light, the art are pure eye candy and a wonderful way to feed my artist soul. Make mistakes but make a start: pick up my pencils fearlessly Watch this space it should be interesting…. "Four Power" Sheona Hamilton-Grant. 2014. All rights reserved.

Mea culpa. Stalled my blog!!!! Life went into overdrive. Foot slipped off the clutch, releasing it too way quickly, timing went up the creak and the word flow came to one terrifying standstill, lasting not days or even weeks but months. Two to be exact. Neglect like this has not happened in the 6 years I've been blogging. Quite shocking! Behind the scenes, in the depth of the studio, my pencils have been active, totally ignoring (and forgiving) my poor blogging skills and have been working scribbling near to non-stop. No bad driving going on in the studio.... Instead new explorations have been concocted, fun combinations have emerged. The result a combined rendering of my favourite subject ( Hurricane ) and favourite substrate ( paper )... Fingers crossed life resume a touch of normality ...soon. "Paper Clone" Pencil on Paper, 35x49cm Sheona Hamilton-Grant. All rights reserved

A couple of days ago I mentioned, in passing, being a professional graphite artist and a amateur photographer.  This led to: how do I draw the distinction between being a professional artist and an amateur photographer? Now this turns out be a question laden with serious food for thought (and a rather long blog post)! A pro is paid an amateur is not. Rubbish answer. After another quick head rummage, it became clear that this question had a mass of tangents to get lost down and that no straight forward answer would be possible. Let’s go back to the question: how do I draw the distinction between being a professional and an amateur? Let’s see. ·         As a professional artist I draw for money as well as enjoyment.  As an amateur photographer for enjoyment alone. ·       Success, customer satisfaction and results are how I judge my graphite work whereas when I photograph participating is mo...