Author: Suzanne Conboy-Hill

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From fire screen to fantasy citadel with a massive guard frog

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Journey of a still life assignment. I never made sketches prior to painting, and every drawing had to be perfect. Come the OCA course and it’s all change. The video above shows some of the stages in the making of the final piece that will go for assessment next week. There could be more; like writing (and why did I not make this connection?), every version is a draft, nothing is ever finished, but at some point you have to let it go. I’ve enjoyed doing this; drifting and shaping gesso on black cartridge, inking and scraping, scratching with oil … Continue reading From fire screen to fantasy citadel with a massive guard frog

Digital Art1 Comment

Augmented reality and art

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Several years ago there was an app called Blippr which let you both make and read AR images embedded by tagged code into a flat surface. Before it went under (or was bought and drowned maybe by a competitor), I made a couple for work, and also scanned the front of a display box of flea treatment at the vet’s to reveal a website (imaginative!), to the amazement of the receptionist. Layar was another and both have gone silent. Now there are some new ones on the scene and I’ve been trying them out. This is Thyng which shows promise but … Continue reading Augmented reality and art

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Black and White exhibition at The Basement93

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Just some of the marvellous pieces on display at this boutique shop-gallery [and thank you Google for the pano] in Steyning, west Sussex. People make the most extraordinary things; familiar and unfamiliar at the same time like those little raku sheep and the sturdy pigs standing four-square next to them on that stack. Blow a magic breath over them and they’ll come to life. If you’re looking for an original gift for someone (or yourself because goodness knows you’ve earned it), this is the place. The exhibition runs for a little while longer at 93 The High Street Steyning and … Continue reading Black and White exhibition at The Basement93

art course, work in progressLeave a comment

From fire screen to fantasy citadel

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

I’ve unpinned this now but it might not be the end. It’s gone to sit on the studio wall while I let it stew and maybe give it some competition. The new piece will be bigger – four A3 sheets pasted to an A1 sheet instead of two on an A2. That’ll show it. As you can see, there’s some bleaching by the camera (an iPhone 8+) in the close ups when they’re on black so the bottom picture gives a better idea of the whole. The bricks are troubling though – too distractingly flat and prosaic – so they … Continue reading From fire screen to fantasy citadel

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Iterations in the life of a piece of art

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

The brief is to produce a still life or interior of at least A3 size and demonstrating a number of capability criteria. I won’t go into those because, here at least, they’re not very interesting. More so might be the process, from spotting the target to getting to grips with the piece itself. It starts with a photo. I’ve had this fire screen for years but, unlike a lot of familiar household items, I still see it because it shines and burnishes itself in almost any light. There were sketches to get a feel for composition – did I want … Continue reading Iterations in the life of a piece of art

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What’s happening on the art front?

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

This is sketchbook work towards a larger degree piece. I’ve been looking at Gustav Klimt and his mosaic style paintings (and discovering I’d never get that gold leaf look because he used actual gold leaf!). This is a fire screen in my house. It has candle holders fixed in rows to the back so the design is intended to flicker gentle light through to the observer, rather than to act as guard against a roaring fire. They’re both made on a layer of white gesso applied to black sugar paper; one with inks, the other watercolour pencils. Each has been … Continue reading What’s happening on the art front?

art course, work in progress4 Comments

Work in progress or am I done here?

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

This is a piece of course work. An exercise concerning materials, although I’m not completely sure whether that refers to materials in view or in use. I’ve covered both bases – wood, fabric, glass in the frame; oil crayons, charcoal, inks, and a variety of implements to scrape and scratch at the layers for texture, a bit like sgraffito. The base is cartridge paper prepared with a layer of gesso which I’ve textured to reflect the materials in view, and the colours come from layering the various media, blending, scratching, and generally shoving the media about. So, am I done? … Continue reading Work in progress or am I done here?