Category Archives: Article

Art for Thrash Metal Band

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Aggressus band photograph

After making the acquaintance of guitarist Eddy Morris, his  band Aggressus have asked me to work with them, supplying artwork to help their next stage of development. They have a three track demo CD available and a promo video on You Tube, for their track ‘Arrogance of God‘.

They will need artwork for their demo CD, Tee Shirts/ merchandise and front and back covers for their upcoming album ‘Martyrs of the Revolution’ which is awaiting final touches in the studio.

Art has had a healthy relationship with music packaging since the mid 60′s and despite the trend in digital recording and downloading, the visual dimension is still an essential part of a band’s identity. Whether you like the music or not, I think that metal bands’ interest in Fine Art (and Literature) is one of the things that make them interesting.

 

New work unearthed!

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I know the title of this blog post seems odd, but I’ve recently been having a tidy up of my artworks – they are all in bubble wrap and/or cardboard boxes ready for transportation to exhibition or for delivery to customers. During the process of tidying up, I undearthed this new work – well, new to the internet, that is!  I’d forgotten I had this particular painting, which I created a few years ago and took to exhibitions with me – and I’d never managed to get a decent photograph of it because it has been framed and glazed by my husband. However, today he’s successfully taken a photo for me and I can now show it on the Rogue Gene Gallery and my own website. It’s called “Groene Maelstrom” and measures 46cm by 33cm around the frame (that’s 18 x 13 inches). The painted areas measure 14.5cm by 21.5cm each and the rest is black mount.

"Groene Maelstrom" by Helen "Aitch" Davison.

Painted in acrylic in an abstract expressive style, it has a mesmerising effect on you as you look at the painting. I find it quite relaxing as an image. You will be able to see it on the RGG shortly – you may even wish to purchase it as a Christmas gift for someone, feel free to do so!

Crafty Connections

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The title of this blog post relates to the crafty connections you may make when taking part in craft fairs. As I reported recently in my personal blog (All things arty), sometimes taking part in a craft fair does not immediately bring success of a financial nature. However, the one I took part in last weekend is paying off for me already, since this morning I received a telephone call from a woman who had asked me for a business card and as a result of that, I am now booked in for another Christmas Craft Fair on the 10th & 11th of December. I think that the more often you are seen, the higher the chance of your work selling, since you start to build a reputation in your area for your particular art or craft. This time of year is particularly busy for craft fairs, so I am now fully booked up until the week before Christmas! I have my own table now, too, which helps – sometimes you have to pay extra for table hire. I have just taken delivery of a new table top jewellery display, which I will be using to show off my Christmas Tree ornaments!

I have also bought some lovely little jewellery boxes that are designed to look like small cupboards with a drawer at the bottom – I’ve nearly finished decorating the first one, which I’ve promised to my niece for her bedroom, but if they are popular, I will be decorating more for the future, too.

They measure 13.5cm x 10cm x 7cm each and are really well crafted. Supposedly designed for children to decorate for themselves, I think adults will appreciate using these to store little pieces of jewellery or craft items, as well.

I’m finding that my artistic output has increased since I started taking part in craft fairs – I am still painting, as well, but my focus has changed temporarily to smaller paintings and easily transportable items!

I would never have known about the fair on the 10th & 11th unless I’d taken part in the one last weekend, and I very nearly opted out of that one because I didn’t really feel up to it, so I’m very glad I did – and that I used my checklist to remember to take my business cards on the day, too!

Effective Presentations

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Artists are sometimes asked to do presentations about their artwork or short seminars on how they work to other groups of artists. You may even have been asked to do a demonstration evening at an art group. This can be quite daunting as not many people really enjoy standing up and giving presentations. With this in mind I thought I would pass on some hints and tips about public speaking that you may find helpful.

Preparation

- First of all preparation is the absolute key to an effective presentation. Consider your audience (who is this talk to?). Your subject matter and style may vary if you are talking to a group of fellow artists as opposed to a general group with no artistic involvement. Therefore don’t use jargon if you can help it. Keep the subject matter easy to understand for everyone.

- How many people are you presenting to? Do you need to use slides or other demonstration material? If so, will it be large enough for everyone to see – even at the back of the room?

- How long have you got? If you do use slides count on using no more than 1 per minute. Keep the text large and use a maximum of 5 bullet points per slide. The information on each slide should support your presentation. Whatever you do don’t read the slides word for word. If you must use powerpoint use it as an aide to support your presentation, don’t have reams of text on it. People will be busy reading each slide and not listening to what you are saying.

- Plan what you are going to present. Do you know enough about the subject to confidently answer questions at the end? If not do you have enough time to research the subject? The better you know a subject the easier it is to present on. That way if you lose your place as you are delivering your presentation you will know enough to talk generally until you can bring the subject back to your original plan. Continue reading →

The Virgin Blogger…

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Well as a the title suggests, this is my first ever ‘blog’, so I’m going to keep it briefish until I know what I’m doing! So, here goes…

I’ve been painting very sporadically since late 2008 following a series of events. Firstly, having to give up my much loved studio space in Edinburgh, Coburg House Art Studios  meant I no longer had space and time to create as I wanted.  Then in early 2009 my now ex-husband and I split up which set in motion a very, very difficult and protracted divorce, house move and separation from my children.  So frankly, I wasn’t in a good place for creating!  In fact, I wondered if I would ever create again!

It was almost 18 months later that I finally became inspired to pick up a brush and this was inspired by my ex-sister-in-law (who has thankfully remained a dear friend) who was going through treatment for breast cancer.  She sent me some photos of herself after she had shaved her head, leaving just a rather fantastic mohawk, screaming to the camera.  It was like a eureka moment – I just had to paint her but I decided that in line with the Breast Cancer Campaign, I would make her mowhawk bright pink and keep the rest monochrome to make more of a statement.  I was nervous about attempting to paint such a huge painting after such a long absence but it was like riding a bike and here is the result - Pretty in Pink

acrylic portrait by Kosana Marton

Pretty in Pink: painting by Kosana Marton

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Christmas cards and Arty Aitch bags

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As the Christmas season fast approaches, and along with it, for me at least, a selection of fairs, I have been making some more Christmas cards. Here are a couple of “series”, which I have temporarily called the “pink” series and the “red” series, although I haven’t actually named them as yet.  These are just a sample of the full batch I have created – I don’t want to post them all on here!

The "Pink" series

The "red" series

 
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