Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines.....

It's a busy time at the moment, fitting in any painting of my own has been almost impossible whilst I endeavour to get my yr11 students through their GCSE. After putting in a lot of extra hours to get them through their exam I now have to put in even more in marking it all to get the exam board paperwork off by the deadline. At the same time I'm trying to get a piece finished in time to register it for the Threadneedle Prize. There are at least 3 Other Open Exhibitions and Prizes coming up that I need to finish work for in time to register them.

So much stuff to get done and barely any enough time to do any of it! teaching full time And trying to get my painting career off the ground is certainly a lot of deadlines to juggle! Better that than having nothing to do! Here's a piccie of how one of my submissions is coming along....or not, depending on how much time I can steal to get to my studio and do it!

A productive day at the studio.....

The sun was out, the studios were bristling with fellow artists creating.....and my studio space was under attack from twelvety million ladybirds! In amoungst all of this I finished the first painting of my "Essex" series.  As yet untitled, I have included some pictures (only on my camera phone so not best quality).  With this series I hope to show Essex as I view it/how it has been shown by other artists, combined with the Essex that people who don't live here expect to see. The Essex that is all about the superficial, the cheap and tacky that is proliferated by endless Essex girl/boy jokes and by certain TV programmes! The glitter hasn't shown up on these pictures but when I photograph it properly it should.  I've put in some details of parts of the picture.  Proper photo's to follow soon......

New series underway

Got more time to myself as it's the Easter holidays and that means more time I can spend at the studio. No luck with the John Moore painting prize but hey there's always next year. So, Threadneedle Prize is next. Have begun work on a series of paintings, "Essex", not saying too much at the moment, but it will be a series of works combining the Essex that I know, with the perceptions of others. I'm working (for the first time in quite a while) in mixed media rather then just paint. Here's a preview of the first work in the series....in progress.

Will show the works as I'm working on them/finishing them as I go, so keep coming back to see how it's going.

Keeping it rolling!

Okay, so it's been quite a while since my last post. Unfortunately due to the rather stressful situation in my day job, my painting has had a to take a bit of a back seat....this is why I really would like to make a living out of my painting, it all too often has to sit on the sideline when deadlines are due at work, blah, blah, blah!  However, I have managed to open a portfolio at Saatchi Online http://www.saatchionline.com/evebrinkwhitt
which is very exciting.  Quite a few people have viewed my work, although noone has bought anything yet.  I also finally gave in and signed up with Twitter, @eve_whittington.  Still trying to work out what the hell goes on there - it's just a sea of hashtags and seemingly random letters and numbers.  Getting a master class in twittering from the likes of Lord Sugar and Stephen Fry though!
I'm still waiting to hear if I have been successful getting through the first stage of the John Moore Painting Prize and should know by the first couple of weeks in April. In the studio I am currently painting a piece that I hope to register for the Threadneedle Prize in the summer. 
At least it's the Eater holidays next week, so for a fortnight I can forget work and focus on my painting.  It'll be nice to get to the studio when other people are there, usually on a Sunday I work in solitary splendor! I'm told by my good friend Po whose website http://www.midwintertuition.co.uk/ is doing very well, that it's all about Klout...I didn't even understand when I Googled it.  It's a complex business, painting!

Submissions to Slack Sapce exhibition

There is a great intiative in Colchester called Slack Space and it's a great way of transforming empty shop units into something that is both useful and far better on the eye!  These spaces are transformed into exhibition spaces and give artists like myself the opportunity to get our work seen.

So I sent an email submission and was accepted, my work goes in tomorrow and hopefully they will include in their current exhibition.  It comes down to the curator and their selection, my fingers seem to be in a permenant state of crossed these days.

Still waiting to hear back about the John Moore Prize, and so begins the 2012 cycle of submissions and applications to exhibitions and prizes.  Gettting my work known and my name recognised is so hard, and means putting in a lot of hours after a long day at work.  It is made a lot easier by the support I continually get from Kerrie - she's dropping my work off for me tomorrow as I can't get back from work in time!

I have promised her that with the first painting I sell for a handsome price I will get her a Mulberry handbag!

2012, here I come....let's be having you!

Irons in the fire

So, as I said in a previous post - you get lots happening in one week then all of a sudden you feel like you are just waiting....waiting....waiting...........

I have moved into my studio space, but have been waiting to get paid so that I can get a heater to warm it up.  It's about -45 in there at the moment so no way I can work in there till I can get myself a source of warmth...wonder if Tracey Emin suffers the same problems in her new £2million studio....hmmmm, probably not!  Anyway, I love it and hope to produce lots of new works in there.  What's more it's great to be part of a community again.

I am waiting back from 2 potential opportunities, and will be submitting for 3 more exhibitions over the next few weeks, so yet more....waiting......

I hope that I am successful on at least one of these, every small success helps at the moment!  It's late so that's it from me for now (parents evening tomorrow!), will post if I have any success.  And to the people who are following in my small victories and far more frequent crushing blows...thank you!

New Year, new studio space

It's been a busy time over the last couple of weeks, and along with the change from 2011 to 2012 comes the move into a studio space.  It's the first time I have had a space for 10 years and I am incredibly excited.
I'm going to start moving in properly at the weekend and hope to be working in there as of next week.

Everything seems to be a whirl of applications and submissions at the moment, in an effort to get myself out there.  Trying to keep track of the deadlines is incredibly tricky at best.  At the moment I have submissions to 4 things, all at different stages of application....I say things because they're not all exhibitions.  One is in New York...which is cool but weird all at the same time.

Now I'm back to work, it becomes harder to stay on top of it all.  If I don't get any success with any of them then I don't mind because the going for it is the important thing.  Now I have my studio space I can get ready for my exhibition in May...just as well as I have run out of paintings for what I'm doing at the moment, let alone fill a gallery space on my own!

Such an exciting start to the New Year; new resolve, new studio space and a real sense that if I keep working hard at this then I might just get somewhere.  It's been a great few months and I can't wait to see where 2012 takes me.

Happy New Year!