Author: Suzanne Conboy-Hill

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Art and politics

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

There’s no credit for this image on the Facebook page so I’ve clipped the whole post and added a link. I find this profoundly moving, skilful, and so simply, alarmingly, graphically on point. Science fiction has produced numerous stories of the environmental apocalypse of our own making [unfortunately I can’t put my finger on one for now] but this sculpture is the best illustration I’ve seen. I like art to have meaning, which is not to say I need it always to make political points or to be in-your-face emotional wrecking balls, just to say something that prompts a bit … Continue reading Art and politics

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Art and politics

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

There’s no credit for this image on the Facebook page so I’ve clipped the whole post and added a link. I find this profoundly moving, skilful, and so simply, alarmingly, graphically on point. Science fiction has produced numerous stories of the environmental apocalypse of our own making [unfortunately I can’t put my finger on one for now] but this sculpture is the best illustration I’ve seen. I like art to have meaning, which is not to say I need it always to make political points or to be in-your-face emotional wrecking balls, just to say something that prompts a bit … Continue reading Art and politics

Research & Reflection2 Comments

Quantifying, describing, and evaluating art

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

I feel as though I know nothing of art; no schools or movements, no artists beyond the most obvious, and no real way of searching, researching, or critically evaluating my own or anyone else’s work. It’s alarming; I should have some way of sparking from what I can see to what it reminds me of somewhere in the artistic canon, but I don’t. I can follow the breadcrumb trail of the course materials and ‘look’ at still life or shading or composition, but as yet I have nothing to say about it. What encourages me is that I have a … Continue reading Quantifying, describing, and evaluating art

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Part 2, Project 3, Exercise 2

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Love a bit of consistency! [Edit: turns out this is Project 3, not 2] This exercise is quite the opposite of the previous one in which line was paramount; this is about building up shade and tone using the flat edges of pastels and blending without too much regard for detail. This first attempt – on four pieces of A4 black sugar paper taped together at the back – uses oil pastels and also charcoals to get the feel of broad sweeps again after all that tickling the paper with pencils. Both picked up their own textures from the paper … Continue reading Part 2, Project 3, Exercise 2

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Carrots

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

I’m planning on eating this soon so today was the day for another go at Part 2, Project 2, Exercise 1 – still life using line. I had a bit of an epiphany in the last few days, the whole deal coming over me fully articulated and with supporting evidence from artists I could refer to and name. Sadly it was last thing at night and I’ve forgotten most of it but the ripples are there and I guess it will come back. In my experience, once those tremors get started, there’s no stopping them. So I tackled the still … Continue reading Carrots

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New pencils

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Prismacolour and Derwent Inktense. Trial run on mauve sugar paper because why make it easy! Above is the prismacolour which I can’t quite bring myself to spell without a ‘u’ and how petty is that! I wasn’t too impressed with these at the start but actually the colours stand out pretty well, given the fibrous nature of the paper. I like the way the white really does come up bright and sharp. Below, with the other bird looming above like a predator, is the Derwent Inktense which, admittedly, is a medium that benefits from adding water. Not on this paper … Continue reading New pencils

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Part 2, project 3, exercise 1

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

This is a poignant drawing and I may have deviated from the brief somewhat. My neighbour’s husband died on Wednesday after being taken ill on New Year’s Eve. We’re a small community and a tight little neighbourhood so everyone rallied round to look after dogs and domestic needs while, let’s call her Wendy, sat at her husband’s bedside in the hospital. Now she’s home and her family is with her, we’re on standby to be the shoulders she’ll need after they’ve all gone. Tonight, I took a little LED candle and put it on her doorstep with a note. This … Continue reading Part 2, project 3, exercise 1

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Part 2, Project 2, exercise 1 – natural objects, detail and tone

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

I’m feeling enormous resistance to this exercise; partly because static objects bore the socks off me [and I know they shouldn’t but there you go], and partly because it takes two pairs of glasses to switch between the looking and the drawing [grr]. But, after having a word with myself about sucking it up and getting stuck in, I ripped a piece of bark off a large section of log I use as a door stop and deployed my secret weapon – a ‘brass rubbing’ of the surface to give me the guidelines. This is 6B pencil + Faber-Castell coloured … Continue reading Part 2, Project 2, exercise 1 – natural objects, detail and tone

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Part 2, Project 1, Composition 3

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Going tiny today; two ceramic birds that fell off a wind chime in the garden, a shell, a pencil, and an eraser on a black paper background. The sketch took about 10 minutes because I’m trying to be quick and loose (careless? casual? nonchalant?). 9B pencil and my trusty Derwent battery operated eraser with a new bit in its teeth. Conte crayon with objects picked out using the eraser. Similar quality to those first photos of Ultima Thule! The next page is that (totally self-inflicted) mauve. And the still life has been rearranged; cheers Flora. I set out to pinch … Continue reading Part 2, Project 1, Composition 3

Project 22 Comments

Part 2, Project 1 – Composition 2

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

A pair of quick sketches just to see what I could achieve by being a little less concerned about messing up sketch books. This is [please forgive me!] the Parrot Sketch* I covered the paper with orange and yellow charcoal to break the pristine feel of the white paper, dribbled yellow ink down the centre where the parrot – a balsa wood object that I’ve repainted several times and now sits in my conservatory in front of a large red container I’d given to my parents some years ago and that came home after they died. They’re both surrounded by … Continue reading Part 2, Project 1 – Composition 2