The Kick-About #81 ‘Tannenwald’
The beauty of trees, inspired by Klimt.
Charles Sheeler, our prompt for our previous Kick-About, transformed his man-made landscapes into flattened, graphical patchworks. Klimt’s painting, Tannenwald is similarly transformative, magicking a forest of ubiquitous pine trees into something as tactile and richly textured as tapestry and is this week’s muse. Happy browsing – and you’ll find all previous editions of The Kick-Abouthere.
Vanessa Clegg
“This began as a photo I was given a while ago, so, after ripping it up and reassembling, it reminded me of those infuriating ball games where you have to get all the balls into all of the minuscule dips… Then, looking at Klimt’s painting, the fragmented style of tiny brush marks drew me towards the cake decorations: hundreds and thousands so… with a Pritt Stick and sprinkles, I attempted to reconstruct (or is that deconstruct?) the artwork. Not altogether successful, but a good session of ‘playtime’, and, if cakes…
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The Kick-About #80 ‘Charles Sheeler’
This week’s Kick-About is inspired by Charles Sheeler.
Textile artist, Sheila Hicks, inspired our last Kick-About together, and it was all soft, cushiony forms, meshes and string. This time out, we’re keeping company with Charles Sheeler and his crisp, clean expressions of modernity.
Marion Raper
“I really love the work of Charles Sheeler. How exciting it must have been to live during the 1920s and 30s when industrial buildings provided such a wealth of artistic material. For my first attempt at a painting I began by sticking a lot of newspaper down and did a rough copy of some factories from a magazine, but I felt it needed to be much sharper. Secondly I used an old picture I did some time ago and revamped it. I have to be honest and say I am not altogether sure where the original inspiration came from, but the colour scheme and shapes are all my own work.“
Graeme Daly
“Sheeler’s modernist…
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The Kick-About #79 ‘Sheila Hicks’
This week, work inspired by textile artist Sheila Hicks.
Our last Kick-About was a celebration of three year’s worth of mucking about with materials, making, inventing, re-imagining and re-purposing. As a result, I suspect some of us have spaces in our homes beginning to pile high with ad-hoc accretions of creative stuff. In terms of scale, none of us may quite have reached the heights of this week’s prompt, the giant textile installations of Sheila Hicks, though one of us is certainly pushing it…
Jan Blake
“I have no idea why i have never seen the work of Sheila Hicks before and other women artists of this particular era! What a great discovery. Striking and powerful. Having worked myself within vast architectural spaces and in theatre, I felt a kinship with her idea, attention to spaces and love of masses of colour. I like to see through the colours and the mixing of the layers in relationship to one…
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The Kick-About #77 ‘The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne’
some considerations of “The Waste Land”
We spent our last Kick-About together riffing on a surrealistic painting by Lucian Freud – a depiction of a strange artificial-seeming room filled with improbable objects and an air of unfinished business. Courtesy of an extract from part two of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, we’re this week occupants of another theatrical interior, as ripe with arresting imagery.
Vanessa Clegg
“This was a perfect prompt for me as I’ve long been a fan of Eliot’s work, so pulled out my battered and very old copy of his poetry to refresh my mind as well as do a little online research. The effect of WW1 struck me as the dominant first layer followed by references to sexuality, love and its unpredictable consequences; so with the help of an extremely scratched record, my dansette record player, iPad and a lot of soil and cardboard I cobbled together what I hoped would…
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The Kick-About #76 ‘The Painter’s Room’
Inspired by a painting by Lucien Freud.
Our last Kick-About was inspired by Bosch’s painting, The Garden Of Earthly Delights, famous for the unknowability of many of its signs, symbols, allegories and imagery. No less perplexing perhaps is this week’s jumping-off point, a painting by Lucian Freud that shares little with his unflinching representations of the human body, and more with the uncannier tableaux of the likes of Dali and Magritte. For all previous editions of The Kick-About just click here.
Graeme Daly
“The colours of The Painter’s Room, the peculiar cut-out window and, of course, the giraffe, made me think of architecture and elements experienced in a hot climate. I decided to paint simplistic environments and rely solely on the colour, while sprinkling in elements of Freud’s painting throughout.”
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Gary Thorne
“L. Freud’s fantasy zebra kick-started this adventure. Further influence came by…
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The Kick-About #75 ‘The Garden Of Earthly Delights’
The Garden of Earthly Delights always provides new inspiration.
Our previous Kick-About together was inspired by the organic, floating vessels of Ruth Asawa, exemplars of restraint. Much less so, the teeming visual motifs characterising Bosch’s extraordinary three-act painting, a maximalism of symbols, detail and hybridity. Bosch’s garden has made for a fertile stomping ground for these latest works made in a short time. Welcome to the party – and for all previous editions of The Kick-About, find them compiled right here.
Charly Skilling
“I can’t help wondering what the people around Bosch thought of this painting; family, apprentices, neighbours etc. I suspect there must have beenquite a few raised eyebrows, disapproving looks, perhaps one or two lasciviousleers. But the painting has survived,andbeen treasured, for over 500 years. You wonder how it would be receivedif it had been painted today?
Although Bosch was in middle age and beyond when he paintedhis Garden of Earthly Delights, I tried to…
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The Kick-About #74 ‘Ruth Asawa’
Layering and light inspired by Ruth Asawa.
In common with our last Kick-About together, which was inspired by cephalopods (those buoyant, ballooning denizens of the deep), this latest showcase of new works made in a short time features a further array of responses to floating, globular forms – specifically to the work of Ruth Asawa. Happy browsing.
Graeme Daly
“I was reminded very much of the fluid melting magic of lava lamps and, in certain elements of Asawa’s creations, I envisioned eyes that reminded me very much of Hitchcock and Dali’s dream sequence in the film, Spellbound. My images were created from photographing melted wax accumulated on a wine bottle over a period of time, with a couple of videos of my own eyes overlaid on top to pay homage to that surreal dream sequence.”
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Tom Beg
“I like the contradiction in Ruth Asawa’s…
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The Kick-About #73 ‘Cephalopod’
This week Kick-Abouters explore cephalopods.
Our last Kick-About was prompted by a work of art celebrated for its complex commentary on the act of looking. The subject of this week’s showcase of new works made in a short time is no less enigmatic – the otherworldly cephalopod. Enjoy this latest dive into the deep waters of creative play…
Marion Raper
“I have to say that cephalopods are not really my favourite thing. They are rather too wriggly and slippery for my liking and have too many tentacles and suckers to grab their unsuspecting prey! However, I do admit they are super-amazing in their ability to survive this world for so long by camouflage and cleverness. I especially like the information I read about the octopus that sneaked out of its tank, climbed over to another fish tank, ate the fish inside and then sneaked back again! I used some yuppo paper, which I marbled to…
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The Kick-About #72 ‘Les Meninas’
This week the Kick-About considers Velázquez and his painting Las Meninas.
The last edition of The Kick-About featured the works of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, artists celebrated for shrouding familiar things by which to re-vivify their significance. This week, our collective creative muse is Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas, another famous artwork equally shrouded to produce speculation and especial attentiveness. Enjoy this latest selection of new works made in a short time.
Charly Skilling
“I find this painting fascinating because it raises so many questions, and not just about differing viewpoints. It’s not a family group portrait, as the King and Queen are barely there. It’s not a painting to promote the Infanta’s status or prestige, as the people surrounding her are of little political or religious significance. And why is there a man standing in the doorway – is he coming or going or what? There is a sense the artist has captured a moment on the cusp of some great event, but what could it be? As I couldn’t answer…
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The Kick-About #71 ‘Christo & Jeanne-Claude’
Christo and Jeanne-Claude are the inspiration for this edition of the Kick-About
If our last Kick-About showcased new works made in a short time inspired by an extraordinary artist with which some of us were unfamiliar, this week’s online exhibition takes its cue from a very famous double-act, famous, that is, for wrapping landmarks and landscapes in swathes of material. Happy browsing.
Gary Thorne
“Christo & Jeanne-Claude’s trees reminded me of an Autumn ’22 visit to Eastwell in Kent, where I didthese sketches. For KA, I’ve combined tree structure with architecture to produce this white-card model, but then found myself short of time. The old idiot box was on whilst modelling, conveniently offering some varied backdrops, although as an unfinished KA, I prefer the black backing. being it reminds me I’ve homework to do on this KA.”
Graeme Daly
“I wanted to make a miniature version of Christo & Jeanne-Claude’s impressive, uncanny installation art, but attempt to make it look larger…
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