Why do you put pictures on your walls, if you do? What might strike you as important in a picture? The obvious reason would be subject matter, maybe size for the space, the colours depicted, the colours of your room, what the image makes you feel, and other things that we cannot really put into words. You can justknow if a picture is right for you. They can just speakto you, if you know what I mean.
So why paint a scene like this?
At the time I was painting images of animals in mythology. My research led me to Korean Shaman imagery; I finally decided on the challenge of composing my own version of this traditional image from Korean culture.
The tiger’s size is exaggerated to convey it’s power and strength, the Shaman’s eyes are closed to display his trust in the tiger and how he feels at one with the world. You can almost feel the tigers warm breath on the Shaman’s toes! A trusting peaceful relationship with nature. Crane’s are often depicted in Asian art as they represent longevity, purity and peace. The mountain is of significance as a holy place. The Shaman shown in traditional images vary and are in fact a multicultural icon.
“Koreans still very strongly maintain traditions as old as their culture itself, that mountains are especially holy places of communication of energies between heaven and earth. The sacred aspects of these mountains and their relationships with the human communities around them are embodied in the ideas and icons of Sanshin [Mountain-spirit].”
From 2013 for a year or so I painted many ACEO’s. These are small pieces of artwork traded on Ebay to collectors around the world. Harvey the Aardvark was featured on the majority of them and looking in my PC files I produced (and sold!) over 160 of these tiny pieces of art measuring only 3.5 x 2″ (or 9 x 6 cm).
I had some of them printed up to a larger size; and have now put the remaining of them in my online shop. This is one of my early designs and one of my favourites, the original art being sold to a collector in the USA.
“It wasn’t Me” – with Harvey The Aardvark and Digger the Dog – print available to buy £10 Free P&P here.
If you have seen any of my recent printmaking artwork (for sale here at www.dianeyoungartist.weebly.com) you might be wondering what is going on here. My paintings (mostly created between 2000 and 2019) often have some sort of storyline going on, and most of my paintings are inspired by animals or birds. Creating an imaginary image of animals behaving as humans that looks convincing is a challenge I have always relished!
The original of Daft Cows (Cows Life Drawing class) was painted when I was at Uni, around 2005. I have some cards left over still, I am not really sure who shares this sense of humour enough to send to someone else!
We are lucky enough to see the occasional badger in our garden snooping after fallen bird feed and turfing up the lawn; it is more like a grass patch than a lawn to be honest, so we don’t mind! Time has really flown since I created the “Love Badgers” design; a limited edition print of the original painting is still available now online.
Decal window stickers which look great in you car window; available now in both of the designs below “Love Badgers” (Sorry Badgers are now sold out! Please contact me if you would like to reserve some from a future order) and “Love Greyhounds & Lurchers”. Buy online £1.75 each plus just £1 postage.Click the images or buttons below for links to buy online.
After many years painting I have now turned my attention to printmaking, hand creating printing plates from a mountboard base. I ink them up and pull them through a printing press onto dampened paper. It sounds simple but it is really complicated! The process opened up a whole new world of creativity for me and has furthered discovery into mixed media too.
Shop online here for original Collagraph Prints, Paintings, prints and wildlife decal stickers.
Find and follow me on instagram/facebook etc here .
Email me: diane@dianeyoungartist.com About anything! Questions, enquiries, chat all welcome.
New blog posts below. See my Showcase in the menu for finished artwork. Lots available to buy just click the button below!
Seahorses Aquamarine is an original work of art. A collagraph print hand finished with 24ct gold leaf. Full details below….email me if interested or you have any questions diane@dianeyoungartist.com / FB mssg or check out my instagram and DM me there.
Available to Buy £195 plus P & P
Framed Total size 32cm x 42cm (with A4 aperture)
Collagraph print handpulled onto 300gsm Somerset Velvet paper using Cranfield inks. The image has been hand tinted with watercolour and finished with luxury 24ct gold leaf. Gold leaf gives a unique look in different light..
How does your creativity come to you? There are so many different ways and means for us to form our new ideas. If only (sigh) we could produce utterly original work from referring only to the inside one’s head this is in reality impossible. ldeas cannot possibly arrive from nothing can they? Even if you suddenly have this visual composition roaming in your head based on mathematics or a fantasy style painting inspired by a walk in the woods last week, or an abstract work depicting the feeling of being by the sea since your beach holiday these refer to information already stored which has been absorbed from the world outside of you. And of course we are also informed by seeing other artists’ work; whether that art is produced by your friend or your art group or an Old Master of times gone; this could be incidental or deliberate. It is wasted energy trying to avoid what has been seen or done already!
I usually get a pretty fixed idea of how I want something to look and try to find reference for this from all manner of things. I have stores of actual photos, reference books, lots of my own photos of nature despite how rubbish they might be, snaps from TV programmes, and holiday pics on my PC and also digital storage of old drawings and my paintings. Of course the internet is really useful in figuring out the form of say animals in action, or the way the moon reflects on water, plus there are photographers who allow direct referencing to their work too on Facebook, useful obviously if you really have not seen an alligator up close or such the like.
Sometimes I forget about looking at my own work, most of which will not have been used for final work and even if it has I can use bits of it again.
I am in the process of creating a collagraph plate and looking at fox references at the moment. I want one loping along, with a purposeful gait. I had been looking around on the internet to translate my imagining into some sort of reality but (yet again) could not find the exact form I was looking for. After procrastinating (yet again!) I found a photo taken a long while ago of a fox by chance in a lane local to my house. Unfortunately he was looking back so his head is effectively missing.
Thanks to the search documents facility bringing up everything with “fox” in on my PC I could then see that one of my finished paintings could be useful for the fox head. The Fox and The Grapes below is an original painting still and it is for sale.
The painting is 29 x 33 cm priced at £150. If you are interested in the painting please email me here diane@dianeyoungartist.com or message me here on facebook .
The Fox and The Grapes – 29cm x 33cm- For Sale £150
Fortunately I have photoshop so a quick flip and some mucking about with the shapes I have pulled them together and have a perfect reference point to move forward to the next stage of putting my next Collagraph print together. Ta da!
Foxy reference ready for incorporating in my next piece of work!
More of my foxes FOR SALE here –
THE DUCK AND THE JUG FOR SALE £75
The Duck and The Jug – Total size with mount 40cm x 30cm- FOR SALE £75 + P&P
THE FOX AND THE GOLDEN BELL FOR SALE £150
Fox and The Golden Bell – 31 x 38 cm – FOR SALE £150
If you are interested in my work please email me here diane@dianeyoungartist.com or message me here on facebook .
I am trying to hold back on this work in progress and not ruin it by any rash decision making.
The seahorses and the arc are collagraph print, and what appears as coral is watercolour based on the pattern made by the Sundarbans where hundreds of rivers meet the Bay of Bengal.
This is an original collagraph print made from a combination of my photo of Venacher Loch in the Trossachs placed as textures of the trees and the loch within in the form of a rutting stag. These beasts naturally inhabit both the Highlands and the North Lowlands of Scotland. We were there in 2017 visiting friends when we went to Venacher Loch for a walk and a lochside supper when I took the photo; such a serene and beautiful location.
I love macro photography; the great reveal of these photos once transferred to my PC never fails to amaze me. This shield bug needed rescuing from our porch after perching on a fairy light.
Some process images. I have cut through the drawing to directly carve out my mountboard plate. Glue is applied with cocktail sticks to make the lines which will be highlights or white; a very absorbing task! The larger image is where I am peeling the mountboard for the required texture. This is then sealed with button polish, dried, inked and printed.
It is hard isn’t it! Some decisions on composition are really easy but at other times they are really hard. I mean there are potentially so many variables, and reviewing the results, deciding on their worthiness is often really difficult.
Sometimes you want a certain detail left in, you think this detail is a good idea! But for some reason this great idea does not work. We want the design to hold together well and be more than the sum of its’ parts. Sadly this can mean letting go of something we really would have preferred stayed as part of the composition.
I had wanted a back drop and small details (telegraph poles) in these small collagraphs (5″ x 7″); but small details on small collagraphs made with mount board do not work so well. Possibly because working so small is not correct with this medium, or perhaps I need to hone my technique. I do like a graphic look, that is with a white background and sharp profile. I mean what am I doing creating something that does not fit with what I like in the first place!?
Truly I am quite new to the printmaking medium. And I should experiment, but my final print below is a lesson in the “less is more” motto.
Having taken out the small details that are not working, and also the backdrop, this is the final result which I feel works best.
Diane Young Artist 