New Artist Fair Feature - Lisa Andrews

Lisa is a British artist with an established working studio in the gardens of her home. There she has covered a diverse range of subject matter and developed her expertise working in oil on canvas. However, it Lisa's my love of travel and the inspiration in the diversity of humankind that has led her to cover a range of fascinating studies from the media fuelled obsession with celebrity culture, to the calm reflective nature of the Dalai Lama.

Lisa only returned to painting 18 months ago after a 13 year gap. Her work has been reviewed by the Daily Mirror Art critic, Martin Newman, and she has exhibited with a number of respected international artists, including Mark Demsteader and Paul Lemmon.

See more of Lisa's work at www.lisajandrews.com  

Lisa is another artist showing her work at the New Artist Fair!

New Artist Fair Feature - Jerry Hancock

Jerry Hancock became a professional artist in September 2009 after a lifetime of painting. That's a lot of hard work there!
He held his maiden art exhibition at Cornerstone gallery near Oxford in May 2011. In 1984 he moved from using oils and inks to acrylic aerosols. The messy process of painting with aerosols belies the end product, as what he produces are delicately executed pieces, with incredible detail that speaks rather more of watercolour than of spray can. Combined with Hancock’s scientific background — a degree in chemistry and 30 years as a science teacher — this leads to a body of work with a strong fascination with wind power and other natural sources of energy, and with puny and self-absorbed man’s interface with the wider world. Later work encompasses both the natural and the built environments: stark leafless trees, huge wind turbines, and the towering office blocks of Canary Wharf and New York City, the latter two from which Hancock admits to drawing much inspiration. Like Banksy, Hancock admits to occasionally liking to introduce humour and quirkiness into his art and like Dali he loves to paint with vivid colours and to leave the audience to interpret his art.


See lots more of Jerrys work at www.jerryhancock.webs.com


Jerry is another artist exhibiting at the New Artist Fair in September!

Exhibition Fee Pain- worse than a trip to the dentist

So you're an artist, right? So you're absolutely loaded and can pay to submit your work to endless open shows or hire out gallery space regularly, right? Oh no, wait, silly me, most of us can't!

It is a difficult situation; you have to get your stuff out there, non? But I am genuinely annoyed by all of these 'open exhibitions' which charge you simply to submit your work- not get in, oh no, no guarantee of that, but just to try. What a nightmare.

Don't get me wrong, I am more than happy to pay fees if I am accepted into a show. I recently got in to the New Artist Fair (click here to visit their website!); they seem to have the set up right. Artists can submit work for free, then the chosen people who get to be part of the exhibition pay a fee. This way makes sense! I am sure most artists are happy to pay towards gallery hire, PR costs, man-power etc, but why should you pay when you have no clue if you'll even get a chance to exhibit? You could fork out a lot of money over a few months and find you've gotten into no shows.

I recently found a 'call for artists' to submit work. There was a £20.00 sign up charge, and £20.00 per picture you wanted to submit. They must be making a killing! Meanwhile I'm squinting at my bank account, (always dangerous) unable to see the spare £40 to enter. Bum.

I see a similar situation with my music friends (my father being one of them); however, as I point out to him, they certainly have a lot of costs but they rarely have to PAY to do a gig! Sure, they have to do free-bees to get known, but artists struggle to even do that!

I wish galleries and show organisers would give us a break.

*BIG DRAMATIC SIGH*

Oh! Open Exhibition, Bethnal Green

So the Oh! Open Exhibition will begin on 7th July at Oxford House in Bethnal Green. I actually trotted along there yesterday to drop off The Parisian as part of the show. Going on the tube with a rather large canvas painting is certainly an interesting experience, especially on a Saturday. It does make you wonder sometimes as to why perfectly normal people can become so very awful as soon as it comes to getting a seat, getting on first, getting past everyone else. Sods.

But I digress, I did make it in one piece, and I got two cookies for my trouble! The lady who was collecting the art was very nice, and I think the show will look great. There will be loads of interesting artists, and I'm looking forward to the opening night on Thursday.

The Parisian

Welcome to Jot, Tittle and Dot

So, as some of you may know (actually I'm guessing most of you wont know, but indulge me) I recently relocated my rather large buttocks back down to London. As an artist, and a skint one at that, London can be rather daunting. It is seen as the place to be with all the opportunities; but unfortunately you can find your costs spiralling well above any money you may be making. Due to this frustration I decided to set up this blog, as a platform for my own art, but also one for others in the same position as me. Gallerys charge you an arm and a leg to have a show just a few days long, and most are not manned - so you would have to do it yourself. I lack a wealthy family member or trust fund to help me do this- like so many, I have to work full time to pay the bills (and the art fees!) so taking weeks off at a time to man exhibitions is tricky. Anyone else know what I mean?! I believe there are those who do. So this blog will feature artists, photographers, crafters of any sort, exhibitions and shows and galleries who are genuinely trying to help struggling artists.

This is not for established artists, it's to help those who are trying to find a little piece of the art world to stand in, so if that's you then contact me!