there are too few blogs around...

... and so I created two more.


1. Gesa Helms Art at http://gesahelms.blogspot.com

is just that... some of my art, for sale. Just in time for Christmas shopping I realised that I will be near all my prints, sketches and paintings, so I could put them up for sale. I've stuck with a fairly simple format - something which etsy to this date isn't. Blog posts link to flickr sets, currently of the plein air sketches and the monotypes with the offer of a paypal buy now button. There will be more additions.

Simple? I hope. Persuasive? I hope so too.

2. New blog number 2 is my learning blog at http://gesah-study.blogspot.com

Well, it's for learning - more specifically it is going to be my learning log for the OCA courses I am doing. As you may know, I've been printmaking 1 for a while and earlier this month I signed up to the drawing 1 course. The learning log for printmaking is mainly kept offline, which has proven more tedious and less enjoyable than I hoped. So - paint and pastel: study will try out learning as voyeuristic online experience. It's going to be a bit tedious - with specific assignments etc, so I decided to keep most of the OCA material away from this blog. It seems that I'm never really short of material to write about, so a separate blog for learning may work best.

I am doing an "art sale"

... how I laughed when I finally realised it:

I've been inviting people to a party. The invite is  a bit vague what it's about - with my assumption that it's yet perfectly clear: it is my leaving party. Though 'leaving party' makes a rubbish theme, and is thus omitted from the titling.

But then one of my close friends - who should know what it is about, since August at the very latest - said: oh, you're having a party because you want to sell your paintings! I: Nohoo... it's my 'thank you and until hopefully soon' party. Reply: But it says art sale on the invite I: Yehess... among ten other things.

So, it is really an "art sale" not an art sale, a "leaving party" not a leaving party. Hahaha... what's in a title, heh?

But, the inverted commas (which in German are curiously called Little Geese Feet - I am not making this up) did not stop me spending a large part of the weekend with curating and figuring out what kind of schedule I want to make. My latest prototype is an explosion booklet:

- but I also very much enjoyed hers:

Exhibition rewind

Tom Bush, Untitled, Acrylics on Canvas, 20x20cm

Last Wednesday we finally took down the Eldon Group exhibition after four weeks. If you remember - we got a two week extension. Here a few thoughts on past and future...

1. Preparation and logistics.
Second time rounds are so much easier. So we had a good idea of what needed doing and we pretty much kept the division of labour as we had before: S-J organised the flyer and did much of the marketing; I saw to getting postcards, organising communication between all involved and with the gallery. All of this worked pretty well. In particular the communication with the people in charge of the gallery space went a lot smoother. We probably should have had a more concerted effort to get our flyers in key locations. Setting up on the day before rather than the afternoon before was by far the better way of doing this.

2. Opening event, opening times and location
We had a good turnout for the opening event. Interestingly, very few of the people that I thought would come, turned up but others instead. Last year, many of my colleagues came along - it being 4pm on a Friday afternoon made for a convenient end of the week with drinks. The first two weeks of the show were still during term time which gave better access to the gallery space in evenings and Saturday mornings (but not over Bank Holiday). The opening times and the location are still the main weakness of the event though - the space itself works very well (though the hanging system is fiddly and the lighting is a bit sparse).

3. Who visited and who bought
While most of my colleagues didn't make the opening, the people who came actually bought art. We sold 6 or 7 pieces on the first night. And Tom and I sold pieces after that. All the later sales actually happened when I took people I knew (colleagues or friends) along. - I am only realising this now. Interesting. So, I sold around 10 pieces - all of them prints, mixed media or pastel drawings. And the people who bought all knew me personally, some of them had in fact bought some of my stuff beforehand. They knew me either through work or the art classes. Our visitor's book did get a much wider number of comments from people either working in the building or also coming to see the show. In fact, every time I was there during the first two weeks, there were other people there too. - Which I found rather encouraging for the location it's in.

4. And what do I think other than all of the above?
Well - despite the prep and logistic going well, it still took up an enormous amount of time - probably 50hrs or so in the weeks leading up to it. So my evenings and weekends were fully devoted to the preps. It's quite enjoyable but rather overwhelming when doing in addition to other things. That also meant that I wasn't able to make much use of the two-week extension: at that point work was so busy that I didn't even manage a group email to announce it, let alone follow up some earlier expressions of interest or distribute another round of flyers. We had discussed asking some of the galleries nearby to come along also, but again that didn't happen due to lack of time. I only had three paintings framed professionally, which proved the right decision. I framed prints in clip frames, which I like esthetically BUT: that was one of the most time-consuming jobs, they look easy but clearly AREN'T!). Everything I sold was sitting in the portfolios on tables rather than hanging on the wall. I do really want to 'lose' some of the framed paintings though - no space for them. But other than that, I'm very pleased with having sold several pieces, and my right decision to include many of the lower priced pieces - in particular the linocuts were popular.

5. And next?
Two proposals to be done: one for in three years, one for in two years. And next year the St Andrews Gallery again. I'm surprised what 'continuity' emerged with a second time round - people kept referring to last year's show. The Eldon Group does have a nice wee space of existence and that spaces feels rather comfortable and friendly. That's one of the best outcomes from this year's show. It's also nice that my friends and colleagues are rather taken with Tom's paintings - as am I.

Like with the one above. - It also acquired a new title (but don't tell Tom): Pandora's Box. Just like this one of Tom's is now The One who Got Away.

Tom Bush, Untitled, Acrylics on Canvas, 20x20cm

PS: the blog is having its own mind at the moment
(as it in fact had most of the week so far;
i.e. I'm generally neither here nor there
and now on way to Bristol and Bath for the weekend)
... not that you think I am ignoring your many comments :)
Have a very good weekend.

Due to popular demand:

Our Eldon Group Summer Exhibition Gig will be running for two more weeks - until Wednesday 17 June:

!!! Exhibition Extended until 17 June 2009 !!!

Summer Exhibition 2009

Eldon GROUP

20 May – 17 June 2009

Open Monday to Friday 9 am - 5 pm

St Andrew's Gallery, University of Glasgow

Level 5, St Andrew's Building, 11 Eldon St, Glasgow

So, if you haven't been... go!

See the updated exhibition website

Tom Bush, Untitled x8, Acrylic on board, 20x20cm*

'Popular demand' sound very cool... in fact, whoever was to follow our show didn't get their act together on time, so we can have their slot too. But... psht...

* Two of these are mine now (momentarily), I think M. knows which ones... can't leave those boxes alone..

Eldon Group exhibition: Fancy a virtual tour?

Come along and have a look.

All went well and was also very good fun. About 40 people turned up on Wednesday evening and it was very relaxed and enjoyable. Each one of us with something to sell sold at least one piece at the opening, and the feedback we've been getting since has been very positive.

My favourite piece?

Memories of the Fife Coast by Chris Turpie
Oil on Canvas, 36x26ins

Moleskine Exchange Exhibition

It's been a bit quiet around this, but the Moley Exchange is almost finished. Just last week I received my moley back. And, how different did it look to when I posted it off in Spring.

Page 1 in Lines, Lineages and Linings Moley
Quote and sketch of one of de Stael's paintings

Its theme was Lines, Lineages and Linings. I started it with a quote by de Stael on the abyss opened up by lines on an empty sheet of paper and my favourite composition of the study plains.

Now it acquired a multitude of different approaches to the theme, as collage, a bit of oil, pen and ink, some free-hand sewing, some pop-out men-in-skirts, some delicate pastel work and more mixed media wizardry.

I remembered that one of my earliest questions to do with sketchbooks was on how to stretch their versatility. This is the main thing I've learned through the exchange: so many different ways of using the sketchbooks as galleries and experimental planes for a variety of media. And that's something I greatly appreciate and want to thank everyone involved in this!

Do you want to have a look at the sketchbooks? They will be on display from Monday onwards at the Learning and Resource Centre of the University of Ulster, Belfast Campus, York Street, BelfastBT15 1ET.

Goodbye and hello

I am feeling rather smug. Not only did I sell my first painting via Etsy to a stranger a couple of weeks back, but it has now arrived in Alabama and has found a happy new owner (phew, was I worried about my photos and the postal service!). Yesterday I received a phone call from another stranger who wanted to buy one of my framed study plains as a birthday present.

Study Plains, 2_1, 18x12cm (framed 35x25cm)
Gouache on Board by Gesa Helms



Corn in late summer, 45x35cm
Pastel on board,

And, now I am officially in profit: the costs of the framing odyssey last summer are finally paid off. So, rather quickly, I welcomed a new necklace to my collection. Goodbye and hello. There you go.

Tight Twist Pendant by Chris Lewis.
Now mine :)

A little PS: I needed (!) to add a picture of the study plains framed. They looks so different that way:

Presents #2 to #8

Present #2 is for myself, too.

I'd stumbled across some very nice jewellery while browsing Etsy ... oops.... sorry... not for telling yet. Well, and I found some more nice earrings, and thought that rather than merely replacing mine when I lost one, I could indeed spend some of my art sale money on expensive earrings. And so I did.

Take a look at these:



So, yes, I did sell a few more of the small see studies, decided to convert a few others into some presents, which means there are not all that many left now. Last night I was cutting some more mounts for the ones that are going; it always does astound me how a white mount changes whatever small piece of art is at its centre.


And, also yes, I do need to find a better way of taking photos. Jewellery against some beach finds does pretty well; just a pity that I don't make jewellery. I still need to find something better than the above.

Present #1

... well not really a present. But something good nonetheless.

My rejects from the RGI exhibition were parked in some of the postgraduates offices in the department. And when talking about the paintings, we arranged for them to come and look at sketches and the small bits and pieces that are kicking about my flat. It got labelled as Wine and more (mulled) wine at Gesa's, but it effectively was a private viewing.

I surprised myself with how many paintings I can display in my tiny flat - which already is severely lacking in available wall space. When I was preparing, I caught myself thinking just how presumptious the whole thing was, and almost hid the paintings away again (well, it was about wine in the first place, wasn't it?). I think one of the last jobs I would ever contemplate doing is marketing. It's not that I cannot enthuse people about stuff, but to do that in order to SELL stuff? I dunno.

I still laugh at a job interview I had in Glasgow years ago about a job as a fundraiser for a charity. Who knows what made them invite me... possibly some equal opps stuff on foreigners or so, but I completely made myself trip up, fall face flat down in the show... hahaha... that will never work as alternative career.

Now... my visitors last night were enthused alright in any case. So much so that they ignored all the small pieces and went for the proper(ish) stuff. No questions asked. I sold more than £300 worth of original prints, small paintings and an old oil painting between the four of them. How very cool. And I promised them to take them round my friend's place were the Coloured Sand paintings are temporarily deposited.

That's me done: I far exceeded my (unambitious) pre-Christmas sales target. Got a few new fans. And some money to go towards my next holiday. Cool.

My present #2 is on its way also: a present from work in the shape of a new laptop. Not any old laptop but one without a right click. Cannae wait!

PS: the photos are mangled uploads to flickr... I've been searching for Watermarks. I think these qualify and I rather like the recomposition of them

'Pick up your rejects'

... I've been waiting to write on this - something I did a few weeks ago. But while the jury was out, I thought any sustained slagging on my part would be unwise, seeing that they had my web details.

Well, so the jury's been out on a number of pieces.

Firstly the St John Art Sale - glad that part of me treated it as a piece of social experiment: how do art sales go if people are losing their pensions, worry about their homes and jobs, etc... So, while I remembered a good sale last year, I was kind of cautious when we went to pick up the paintings.
And indeed, not one of them had sold; being curious, I began to quiz people a bit about the sale, but I didn't get very far - 'oh, not too bad considering...'; 'ach, ok... we sold quite a few pieces'. Watching the pages of the entries as she was flicking through them to find mine, none of the 5-6 pages I saw had any sales recorded against them - last year they had sold about 25% of the paintings and weren't too ecstatic about that.

So, the fluffy pieces are on loan to a different friend this time...


Secondly, I got mail - I've been waiting really on two pieces of mail - one job related, one art stuff; I did get two pieces of mail, both art stuff.

One was a rejection letter from the Royal Glasgow Institute for the two collages I submitted earlier the month for their Annual Exhibition. In many ways I'm not too sad about it. It was one of the weirder experiences handing the pieces in. There was little info on the website, so we went - and rightly I had suspected that no info was communicated because the ones in the know already knew procedures, hanging mechanisms, conventions, abbreviations and much more. I didn't. So while I was battling with my nerves and tried hard to fill in forms without any mistake... 'Degree? Does my PhD count?' 'Nope: art degrees'; 'Which of the letters W O P A S etc stands for mixed media?', M. was observing.
So afterwards, as my adrenaline was returning to normal levels, she commented extensively: did you notice this, that, the other? I hadn 't clocked anything, but just felt that I was part of some art event that - if it would be something to do with academia - I would go to great lengths to avoid being part of it. So: a pretty alright outcome. And: I love my two collages! Pah!

But: the second art letter was unexpected. And it was handwritten on the outside... from the Pastel Journal.

Remember my struggles to find a painting that consisted of 80% pastel back in September? It is going to be printed in the April 2009 Pastel Journal. - As an Honourable Mention in the Abstract/Non-objective category, they chose Three Three One as one of 100 pastels to feature in the magazine. They claim they get about 4000 submissions. That is pretty cool. I like it. What a good thing to do. And did I say: they will print one of my paintings! A painting in print! Now I need to figure out how to get a good transparency done of it.

Three Three One (Detail)
Pastel and Acrylics on Board, 47x32cm

So, I happily pick up my rejects on 3/4 November.

Remember these ones: Coloured Squares

Various Coloured Squares, 10x10cm in wooden frame
Oil on Canvas board

They were done as part of the early colour investigations before all those fields in oil earlier this year..

I had six of them framed in a wooden, deep, double frame before the exhibition in June. Small squares they are quite impressive that way.

On my list for things to do this autumn was the concerted effort to recoup some of my extortionate framing costs from before the June exhibition.

So, all my paintings - small and large (if they are not going to some local sales/exhibitons) - are being put onto Etsy. I've also promised myself to do the same with the various plein air sketches I've done for the past 18 months or so. Vivien's shop opening prompted me to grit my teeth and write up descriptions for various things. And the first new items to go in are the Coloured Squares.

Here's my shop: http://www.gesah.etsy.com

And these are direct links to the six different Coloured Squares:

• Pale blue on Umber
• Green on Red and Ochre
• Dark Green on Lime
• Green on Green
• Purple on Umber
• Yellow on Green

And, I'm diverging from my straightfoward naming conventions of anything serial. So, rather than merely calling these CS#23 or thereabouts, they are COLOUR on COLOUR.

Dark Green on Lime
Oil on canvas board, 10x10cm

Have another look

at the exhibition...

I've been going along late last week to steal another look at our paintings. It's all good. Very quiet. That's ok, I suppose.

I uploaded some more photos of the paintings, the venue and the opening in this Flickr Set. Tom and I did a picture swap. So, I'll be getting one of his Gestalten (the grey one) on Friday and he takes one of my Fields around my Parents' House paintings home with him. He hasn't said which one it'll be, but I think I know. It's nice to know it goes somewhere good.

Painting is sooooo boring

I am telling you: painting frames is just mind numbingly boring. I spent the evening with it. Kept looking at my self-assembly floater frames (they are very pretty) and my paintings. It was a task I surely could have done without. Had meant to order white frames for the oil paintings. Of course, the white frames were out and I said: och, no probs, I take the untreated ones and just DIY them. I should not say these things, I know. Not that I can't DIY them, but I probably could have used those hours better.



So, while painting away, I kept casting my eye across - frames, oil paintings, frames, oil paintings - hm, something's odd here. Hm... keep painting, casting my eye across - frames, oil paintings, frames, oil paintings - hm, something is definitely odd here. No, surely, that will just be the angle of how the frames sit against the cupboard. Keep painting...

Did I not sort out my frames properly from S-J's for whom I also ordered some? Count. Well, 8 pairs, 4 paintings, all's in perfect order. Keep painting. Finish painting. Sit on sofa, cast my eye across.... [well, it was a long day, and my thoughts got pretty slow, so you kind of get the picture, hm?]. I pick up my notebook with the paintings' dimensions. Look at them. Big one #1 is 70x80cm, yes - that's what it is. Big one #2 is down as 24"x28". Hm. I'm bad with inch to metric conversion. But that was the most recent set of stretcher bars I bought, and that was DEFINITELY A LOT SHORTER than 70x80cm. I look at the paintings. No, they are exactly the same. 70x80cm for Big one #1 and Big one #2.

It starts to dawn on me. 24"x28" is the one that is being left unfinished for the time being. Not ready. No need to be framed. But in eager anticipation I must have ordered a frame for that one.

This leaves me exactly one frame short. Well done, Dr Helms! 20 points for observational skills! And these two were to be hung next to each other. So, effectively I am missing two frames.

Good. Smile to yourself. That's where all this planning and preparation gets you to.

Frames? Overrated! It'll look grand all the same, I'm telling you.

The Eldon Group... by way of introduction

The exhibition preparations are getting ahead now; I've ordered (and need to pick up from the depot) the postcards that some of us have been designing. I also took the first lot of (small) paintings to the framers yesterday.

By way of introducing some of my fellow artists, I thought I'd post the images of their postcards.

So, here they are:

Thomas Bush, Korridors,
Acrylics on board, 67.5x54cm

Sarah Jane Sharp, Dancing Jelly Fish
Oil on Canvas, 100x100cm
Chris Turpie, Dreams of Sunset
Oil on Canvas, 70x80cm

They were all pretty clear of what my card should be, so I'm including this one for good measure.

Gesa Helms, Fields in Haze
Mixed media on paper, 58x40cm

We are having an Exhibition Opening Party on Friday 13 June 4-6pm - so, if you're around, come along!

For some general info on the exhibition see: http://eldongroup.ghelms.com

We were initially a bit worried about the date for exibition (16-30 June) being so late in the year and also after term has finished. Yet, it all seems to be working out rather well as it will fall right into the annual Glasgow West End Festival with lots of events, venues and general things happening.

Series production

or is it: serial or serious?

I have just been typing a lengthy comment in response to Yellow and Lindsay's comment on the difference between collage and scrapbooking, when I thought I should just write it up as a new post.

So, here's some more thoughts on creativity and generic commercials.

Some of the issues that I had been wondering about to do with creativity is the slap-dash approach to produce many of the same paintings, cards, collage to flog them successfully. - My adventures into the depth of Etsy, and even more Ebay, quickly take me to sites that do exactly that.

The funny thing is that I often work in series, do several variations of the same theme - early ones are the Bedrock and Clouds paintings; and just yesterday I realised that I must have done the four scenes of the fields at my parents' place well over thirty times since January - in sketches, pen and ink, acrylics, oil, collage, gouache and pastel. So, there's plenty of repetition.

In particular now that I've found my abstract shapes and lines in the compositions, it doesn't take me long to divide up the canvas for that composition, go on to fill in colours - and then... hey - is it still there? The IT being elusive, the non-mechanic, the bit that makes it work. Or probably: the bits (plural) that still make it work, the mix, the dynamic.

The road to the blue trees WIP, Mixed Media Collage,
70x50cm on board, Detail

But then again, in many ways, it is the mechanic, the non-thinking that is important and helpful - to get to somewhere accidental and incidental amongst all the purpose and intention.

So, it's not really straightforward with the IT, is it? Just as well as that there's nothing wrong at all with decorating ones diary, making greeting cards etc. - do that myself, too.

...

Ach... it still verges on elitist posturing but I think I'll keep trying for some more explication on this.

Proudly announcing: our summer exhibition

I've been busy off-line, or rather off-blog. But it's all be for good reasons.

Here is the first look at our flyer for the Eldon Group Summer Exhibition. It's going into print this week, along with postcards etc. And I will give you some intro to the others in my art group. I am excited about this group exhibition coming together - and will easily talk about it non-stop. That easily avoided with this:

Which one for a postcard?

I thought I'd ask you for your thoughts on this one:

With the exhibition coming closer, I'm trying to decide which scene to take for a promo postcard.

I've had a couple of cards made a while back, but I want to have one of the pieces in the exhibition to feature on the postcard and none of the previous motifs will go to the exhibition. I also want something that gives a sense of the work I've been doing recently (and that I want to do).

Here are a few examples - and I'd appreciate your thoughts and preferences on these.


A detail of one of the mixed media collages such as this one:


Sunny, cheery gouache and pastels on paper - and a definite landscape:

Another definite landscape - less cheery, a bit more recent:


Or a bit less recent again, less landscape, still mixed media, no glue and limited palette?


Well... I think I've got my favourite - which is yours?

Art sale debriefing

Earlier today I went back to the art sale to pick up the unsold paintings. I had known of two to have sold until Saturday lunch time. One was the one gone before we arrived at the preview, the other one was bought by my friend's mother for her. Marilyn had helped me take the paintings to the show on Thursday night and really liked the yellow one. The other two hadn't sold but I figured that was still pretty good to sell half of mine.

When we went on Friday night, we had a good look around - there were about 240 paintings, mostly acrylics, some oils and some watercolours. There were very few pastels. Most of the paintings were in small formats - maybe up to 40x50cm. As for subjects, about half were landscapes with the others equally divided between still life and portrait/figure drawing. Almost exclusively, the subjects were rendered in a representational to realist style. It was only two other artists whose landscapes were explicitly taken up abstract elements.

When my friend and I were there on Friday, she suggested to hang out around my paintings. The paintings weren't actually hung together but spread across the room - I am not quite sure if there was any reason behind the hanging, but felt it was a bit unfortunate that it wasn't one person's work to look at together. Yet, two of mine were closeish together in one corner. So, Hilda and I sat down there with our glasses of wine.

And indeed some of the people would talk about my paintings. We ended up talking to one woman who really liked one of them, and she and her friends had already found the other of my paintings and noticed that one was missing. She didn't like the title - textured wall seemed far to prosaic to her, I think. But it was her and her friend's interest in my paintings that really made my evening. That was such a nice kind of feedback to get - thank you so much!!! I gave her one of my cards, and I think she and her partner were back the next morning when my other friend was there too.


PS: as for the photos... there were people there, too ;) Just not on my photos...

Textured Wall # 2

Textured Wall #2, 50x70 cm
Pastel on board
Gesa Helms 2007

I realise that I did never post write about this painting though it has been part of the sidebar for a long time.

I only framed it this week and took it straight from the framer to the drop off for the art sale. They hung it, but by the time we came to the sale it had already disappeared to its new home. So, my first painting to hang somewhere I don't know. Funny feeling, but quite nice, really.

The painting was done on primed Bristol board, with an acrylic underpainting and plenty of yellow, red and earth coloured acrylic paint and ink splashes before I started with the pastels. There are a few directional clues and markers in there: edges and ceiling corners which could easily read as something else entirely. The relative smoothness of the primed (with pumice powder) Bristol board makes a much softer work surface than my other boards that tend to be a lot coarser. Still, there is plenty of tooth to grip the pastels.

The ultramarine underpainting and the related soft pastel hues make this one rather calm and balanced - an effect that the earthy beiges, red-browns complement further. All the while, the red and yellow splashes shine through, create texture and markings that add interest and movement - not just along the corner lines but also across the whole painting.

Late night concepts...

Found this outside the pub on the way home from the art sale... a piece of Glasgow living room on the pavement.



And: I sold my first painting to a stranger!!!

It didn't even seem to have made the preview - we were looking for it throughout the exhibition and Textured Wall #2 seem to have gone walkies... I thought they maybe didn't like it, or it got broken before it got put up... but no: somebody had already walked off with it. How nice! Good night, and some more photos tomorrow...