Jennie De Groot: We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo, you can come too, too, too…..

09 January, 2014

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo, you can come too, too, too…..

I am having an interesting ( in a GOOD way) time experimenting with my paints whilst I am being a dutiful mother ( please read that as being present and involved) to my children during the summer school holidays. I cannot spend hours in the studio but I can use the odd hour here and there to play. Playing allows for mistakes and new learning. I am also getting to grips with the camera…I managed to push some button that stopped recording the photos! After some head scratching and manual reading, assistance from a pre-teen kid and then just pushing all buttons wildly, I seem to have got myself back to square one. Pathetic, I know. You will hear this story again.

I have some hardboard that I have gessoed, cut up into various sizes, as a new surface to paint on. I am using my paint scrapers, an old credit card, house paint brushes, a collection of rubber paint shapers and lots of turps washes . I am teaching myself to glaze in a way that intrigues me with Liquin and other mediums.. I have scoured the internet, devoured the literature and window shopped all the art store stores for various mediums, tools from the hardware store and even scavenged an old toothbrush…all in the name of play. I am using up my oil paints and although I love the water-soluble paints for easy clean, I miss the stink that tells me I have been making stuff. Like a kitchen needs to render good smells to encourage the appetite, a studio needs to reek of turps and linseed oil and maybe of dog…….

So, a small play on hardboard to be the inspiration for a larger painting on canvas…..the glazes begin when the underpainting is dry. Maybe to morrow, but I love what I am seeing so far…….semi abstract is what I am going for.

More impressions from flying over the Coromandel east coast .