Friday 30 March 2012

Six days to go…

When we float
© 2012 Stewart Bremner
Mixed media on board
£650 – at Union Gallery
In less than a week Worlds Apart opens at Union Gallery. The exhibition features a new body of work that I created especially for this show and another similarly created by Kevin Low. We've been working on these our respective pieces for many months now and we're both very excited about finally seeing them out in public.

The exhibition is likely to be quite unusual and it's title was chosen for this very reason. Kevin and my work differ considerably. However, as Alison Audjo of Union Gallery points out, our work is "tied together by the thread of outstanding quality."

Alison also had this to say about my work: "I have worked with artist Stewart Bremner for many years now. Previously as agent in another gallery, but I am now very proud to be launching his first major exhibition in Scotland at Union Gallery: something of which I have always considered Stewart Bremner to be an intrinsic part.

"Trained as a graphic designer, the last two years has seen a major departure from his previous style, which I have been lucky enough to watch develop and, I hope, encourage.

"Not afraid to put himself through the paces to make what I believe to be his strongest body of work to date, it is no surprise to me that Stewart gravitated towards an abstract style of painting: where the possibilities are endless and match his über-creative brain.


"Abstract painting is sometimes considered a ‘difficult sell’, yet it can evoke the strongest of emotions from the viewer like no other style. There is spontaneity, a rawness and sense of urgency in Stewart’s work which is enthralling and addictive.

"Already gaining recognition in the States, I am sure that Stewart Bremner’s work will be well received closer to home."

My work will be on show from April 5th-30th. I am absoutely thrilled to have this opportunity and I believe the work I have produced is my strongest to date. Please drop by the gallery and take a look for yourself.

Friday 23 March 2012

Grasping an enormous edge

Several notable things happened this week. Firstly, and maybe most excitingly, the invites for Kevin Low and my show Worlds Apart at Union Gallery went out. This, together with posting a sneak preview of our work online, has made the whole things suddenly seem real. 

You are invited!
Being in the studio working with such concentration, I more or less lost sight of what I was doing and why I was doing it. This exhibition, that has been planned since October last year, is almost here and for the first time, maybe, I can almost grasp what that means. Further, after spending much of yesterday photographing (and re-photographing and re-re-photographing) my paintings I was for the first time able to see them all in one place at the same time, even if it was only on screen, and the enormity (if that does not seem too egotistical) of what I have created also hit me.

All of this good stuff happened at the end of a week that did not begin well. It began with me trying to finish the last painting in my new series. I had thought the week before, erroneously, that it was finished. At the weekend, it became clear that really it was not. The problems arrived when I tried to start working on it again. I simply could not find a way into the painting and, after an infuriating afternoon, I lost my temper and it went badly, and notably, wrong…

You are invited to this too!
Happily, I discovered that I am still good at fixing things and so it was that with perseverance, a couple of hours and a lot of glue, the wrong was righted and a day later I was able to carry on working on the painting until it was complete.

Some paintings come easier than others. Few I have ever painted have been as hard as this one. I am glad I have finished it, however I doubt I will ever really care for it because when I look at it, I remember what happened and how it felt; things I'd rather forget.

Writing down, albeit obtusely, what happened is not exactly the best way of forgetting. Nevertheless, I am writing this blog to record my life in art and this was an important event. The painting is drying now, sitting in a messy studio that soon I will have to tidy. Maybe when I see it in Union Gallery in a few weeks, I'll have a change of heart about it. Let me repeat that.

In just over two weeks, I will be delivering my paintings to Union Gallery and a few days after that, they will be on show. In public. This is such a huge and exciting thing that even not I am still not quite grasping what it means. This is not my first exhibition by any means, I've been at this for over ten years now, however it might be my biggest one to date. And certainly, I think it is the best work I have ever made and I just can't wait to see it all hung and out on show. If you're in Edinburgh in April, I really hope you've make it along.

In fact, if you are in Edinburgh on the night of Thursday 5th April, we are having a private preview. Come along and say hello. I'll be the one with the salt and pepper goatee beard and the big smile.

Friday 16 March 2012

The perspective seems a bit off from here

My studio needs tidying up
Right now I feel just a little bit sick. Worry and stress are taking their toll. Writing last week's blog seems only to have happened hours ago. It is hard to believe that it was actually seven full days. The list that I wrote then does not seem to have had very much struck from it:
  1. finish the last painting
  2. pick up five new cradles
  3. varnish the last three paintings
  4. put hanging on the last five large paintings
  5. photograph all of the paintings (some of them for the third time!)
  6. create titles for the last three paintings
  7. write a statement
  8. sign and title all of the paintings
  9. make a list of people to invite to the opening
  10. create and send out invites
  11. add a new series page to my website
  12. add a résumé page to my website
  13. add the new series to my Facebook page
  14. put out a press release
  15. work out prices for my paintings
  16. send statement and painting list to Union Gallery
  17. make opening night Facebook event and send invites
  18. deliver paintings to Union Gallery
  19. make a book of the series
  20. update accounts to cover expenses incurred in making the series
  21. tidy up the studio
  22. update website
I know I should be really pleased about what I have achieved so far (hey, look, I think I finished the last painting!), yet it is hard to feel much beyond the knot in my stomach. I have created some good work, about that I am certain. However there is still so much to do. Relaxing and feeling good about all of this isn't quite possible at the moment.

With less than three weeks to go until the opening, it is hard to find perspective. Other than  worrying about what I still have to do, I am also more than a little nervous about how the work will be received and equally so about whether it will sell. Money is always a factor and after doing some quick sums, I realise that even if the show completely sells out, I will still not make my basic living expenses for three months that I was working on the show. It is hardly a comforting thought and has to be tempered with the knowledge that I am not doing this for the money, I am doing this because I have to.

I have to make art. It is simply, as far as I am concerned, my reason for being here. The periods of stress and worry and doubt are all part of being an artist and I have more or less come to accept it. Knowing this, and that it will not last forever, that it will be balanced by better times, makes it easier to handle but it does not make it go away. So I will tell myself that this is the life I have chosen and want and then I will take a deep breath and get back to that list.

Friday 9 March 2012

A game of many hats

Sometimes, the days just slip by, however this week it has felt like they have been roaring by, leaving me spinning and disoriented in their wake. It seems only a day since I started what will be the last painting in my current series, yet when I look at the calendar, I see it has been five days. Five days! How can that even be possible? I've not touched it in all that time, although I have been busy preparing all my other paintings for the show, as well as ordering the last of the supplies that I will need.

In the middle of the week, in order to calm myself, to try to smooth the eddies, I made a list of Things To Do. One part of it dealt with my life, which has largely been on hold while I have been immersed in this work, the other part listed what I still need to do for the upcoming exhibition (Worlds Apart with Kevin Low, Union Gallery, April):
  1. finish the last painting
  2. pick up five new cradles
  3. varnish the last three paintings
  4. put hanging on the last five large paintings
  5. photograph all of the paintings (some of them for the third time!)
  6. create titles for the last three paintings
  7. write a statement
  8. sign and title all of the paintings
  9. make a list of people to invite to the opening
  10. create and send out invites (do you want to come?)
  11. add a new series page to my website
  12. add a résumé page to my website
  13. add the new series to my Facebook page
  14. put out a press release (and find addressees for it – are you one or do you know one?)
  15. work out prices for my paintings
  16. send statement and painting list to Union Gallery
  17. make opening night Facebook event and send invites
  18. deliver paintings to Union Gallery
  19. make a book of the series
  20. update accounts to cover expenses incurred in making the series
  21. tidy up the studio

The above list has fifteen more items on it than the one I wrote midweek and these are just what I need to do before this exhibition. Admittedly, it is the biggest exhibition of my career to date, however it is not the only one (see below). As you can see, being an artist means more than just making art. A lot more. I am also a picture framer, photographer, writer, designer, accountant and cleaner at the very least. I also need to be an entrepreneur, to do my own press releases and to provide my business with motivation.

Doing all of this and doing it well is an enormous challenge. Happily, these days it is a challenge that I relish and as with most things, I expect that the more I do it, the better I will get at it (even if the stress levels don't diminish)! I had better get on with it!




I thought I would find you here

We took the quiet roads
© 2011 Megan Chapman and Stewart Bremner
Mixed media on canvas, 30x40"
$1,350
In all of the rush and excitement in making my new series of paintings, I have been somewhat remiss in mentioning another exciting event that is taking place right now. Megan Chapman and I are having a joint show through March and April in Arkansas! This is the first time that we have shown both joint work and solo pieces together and I just wish that I could transport myself to Bentonville for a few hours to have a look at it. If you are in the area, please do check it out (and take some photos if you can, I'm dying to see it!).

Friday 2 March 2012

It's not all plain sailing

Sometime near the beginning of this week, I finished the final square painting I intend to make for Kevin Low and my upcoming show (Worlds Apart, Union Gallery, April). I was left with the last panels I planned to paint on, both large and empty rectangles. I've been painting exclusively on squares since September and in that time I have come to love the shape. I found then that facing again a blank rectangle was oddly unnerving, enough so that I soon began to doubt if I could do anything with these panels.

Megan suggested that I ended the series where it was and show only the square paintings. She told me that I had created some strong pieces and they will make a good show. I was of course thrilled to hear this, nevertheless I had a plan and I did not want to change it. I also really did not want to stop painting so soon. In these last few months, I have felt more confident than ever in my work, at the same time I have really, properly, enjoyed it. Stopping, therefore, was simply not an option. I knew also that if I did not paint on these 'last two' then I would be left unsatisfied. Despite this, with their different shape as well as the strange gap that had opened in my work flow, something would be different in these pieces. Upon reflection, I realised that I had here the perfect opportunity to create a postscript to my series.

It's been a frustrating week.
Still, I was unable to make a mark. I could not visualise what to paint or how this would function as a postscript. As the days passed, my frustration grew and so I sought again the advice of Megan Chapman, art soothsayer. She suggested that rather than using the motif of two elements apart, I could try moving them together. It was exactly the kind of can't-see-the-wood-for-the-trees idea that I needed to spur me back into action. I realised that it would also, if handled well, function as the postscript I was looking for.

After a little more thinking and planning and some rough sketching, I began to paint. My thinking and planning and sketching, however, had not quite resolved my format problem. I found that what had been successful on a square, would not work on a rectangle. It was not a happy discovery.

My initial idea would not cohere – the proportions were both ugly and clichéd, they moved horribly all over the panel and my marks were becoming oddly jarring. I simply could not make what I had in my head work in reality. Eventually, I completely scrubbed out everything and re-coated the panel with white gesso. I was back at the start. This was a hard decision, although one that I had no choice but to make because it had became clear to me that I could easily have spent days chasing paint across the panel, without reaching any conclusion and getting more and more irritable.

At half past eleven the next night, sitting on the sofa with the barren panel in my line of sight, if not in my attention, an idea slipped in from my subconscious. After several days of mulling, and one false start, something solid was pushed from one part of my brain to the other, with red flags, alarms and plenty of impetus. There was a clear message: 'paint this now!'

It was late and I resisted. Yet I knew I could not let the idea slip away and so I got up and made a few graphite guide marks, that I told myself I could pick up in the morning and then I sat back down. A moment or two later, I thought that I should mix in a little oil, just to give it a bit more shape, to move it closer to the new idea. I got up and added some oil and then a little more graphite. Then I made a few more marks and then a few more again. At this point I decided to put on some music. Soon, I knew that I was not going to go to bed when I had intended. I was very glad not to.

After all of the anguish, frustration and irritation, part one of my postscript is now well on its way to completion. It has been a more difficult than anticipated week of painting. Even so, I would not change any of it. I've painted and I've moved on, I've learned more. I also, as it happened, varnished a lot of paintings, sorted out their edges and put hanging on the back of them, but that is another story.

Part two of my postscript looms nearby, blank and hungry. I turn in my chair as I write this paragraph to stare it in the empty eye. That bugger is not going to give me any grief. It knows its place.