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Michael Autumn

Michael Autumn

+44 7770590511

https://michaelautumn.wordpress.com

https://www.youtube.com/@Michael.Autumn

https://www.fineart.co.uk%2Fdirectory%2Fmichael-autumn_101904.aspx

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/MichaelAutumnArt

I’m a self-taught artist. I learn best by doing things (as opposed to just reading about them), trying things out, research, patience. I loved school and really enjoyed most of the subjects, but I especially liked art (did a lot in my own time at home) and technical drawing. However, my art teacher advised me not to go to art school! She said I could teach myself all the art I wanted, and that I should study an academic subject – which I did (philosophy, psychology, and economics). With hindsight, I think she was wise enough to realise that art is a very precarious way to make a living, and, realising I had academic potential, suggested I get an academic university education with better career prospects – and pursue art at my own pace.

Life can lead you in odd directions – like floating in a barrel down a river or stream – and you don’t necessarily end up where you want to go. Sometimes you just have to get out of the drifting barrel, use your compass, and head off in the direction you really want to go. At, and after, university, I accidentally fell into computing, liked it, and found I had an aptitude for it – and so I drifted down that river for many very successful years – in many industries and several countries. But while it was very much appreciated by others – who paid me very well indeed for my work as a programmer, designer, technical architect/consultant – it was meaningless to me…

Despite being a bit of a polymath, I still got/get most pleasure out of creating things and, hopefully, giving others pleasure. I’ve always created things (painting, crafts, photography, videos, poetry) – it’s my nature – but sometimes you have to devote yourself entirely to something in order to really excel in it and achieve ambitious things. So in 2019 I decided to give up a very well paid career in IT to devote myself entirely to art.

Once I went to a Royal College of Art open day, with a view to applying for a full-time post graduate course in art, but I got quite a rude awakening/realisation. It was very apparent that it was not for me: it was clear they wanted mouldable minds (which I am not!), were mostly interested in “newness” or “originality” – almost to the exclusion of quality and aesthetics. Well, I am all about quality and aesthetics – as was the vast majority of art up until around about the 20th century – and I make absolutely no apology for that.

My love for Nature informs most of my art. I am also very interested in philosophy and psychology – and this comes through in my art also. I don’t want to be one of those art college graduates whose art is only shown in galleries (because normal people don’t want it in their homes), and is passed by in seconds with people whispering under their breath “WTF is that?!”… I want to make art that at the very least is visually appealing, uplifting, and thought-provoking…

There’s always more than meets the eye in my artwork. I can’t, and don’t want to, recreate what someone has already done – or in a style or medium that has already been done. So you won’t find me doing “normal”: normal landscapes, normal portraits, normal still lifes – or normal whatever. I have to justify to myself why I am doing a piece of art – and why it is new or worthy…

Kathleen Cowie

Kathleen Cowie

Artist’s Biography

Kathleen Cowie is a visual artist from the northeast of Scotland, UK and is currently based in Aberdeen.

Kathleen studied at Gray’s School of Art, Robert Gordon’s Institute of Technology [now Robert Gordon’s University] in Aberdeen from 1983-1987, graduating with a BA[Hons] in Fine Art, Drawing and painting. She also has an interest in printmaking and won the student printmaking prize in her third year at Gray’s. Kathleen then completed the Post Graduate Certificate in Education and became a teacher of Art and Design in Scottish schools for twenty-eight years, eighteen of those years as a Head of Art, and SQA marker for Art and Design.

Kathleen now focuses on developing her art, and tutors her own adult art group and specialist workshops for groups, communities, and clubs.

Kathleen has shown work with the Aberdeen Artists society, The Hospitals Trust,  Peacock Printmakers Aberdeen, and the Meffan annual show in Forfar. Her figurative art has been featured in the international Artist and Illustrators Magazine and she has work in private collections.

 

Artist’s Statement

Kathleen Cowie works across several art specialisms. She draws and paints from direct observation, sometimes developing the imagery into further paintings, mixed media pieces and original prints. Kathleen also designs and makes kiln-fired enamel jewellery and small products which are abstract in colour, shapes and texture and are often functional. She is also a regular ‘urban sketcher’.

Kathleen’s inspiration is wide reaching but includes an enduring interest in figurative art and portraiture, aiming to capture likeness, posture tension and character, an authentic human presence.

The observation of both random and symbolic still life objects and artifacts is also a theme. As are coastal and urban features of the north-east of Scotland. As a wild swimmer and scuba diver the marine environment fascinates and Kathleen’s paintings and prints in this area quietly highlight the beauty and importance of sea life and the need for its’ protection.

Drawing underpins all of Kathleen’s art and she aims to produce work that has simplicity and directness, but also refinement.

Jennifer Summers

Jennifer Summers

jenniferannsummers.com

Instagram: @jenniferannsummers

Facebook: jennifersummersart

Jennifer is a self-taught artist currently based in Scotland. She has been actively practicing and exhibiting her art for the last ten years. The majority of her artwork is inspired from both her childhood home of New Zealand and from the United Kingdom landscape. Landscape and map scenes form the majority of her artwork.

Her drawings may appear to have two subject matters depending on the perspective of the observer. Casting your eye over a whole drawing, an image will emerge, slightly disjointed, and reminiscent of a never-ending maze in which no-one gets to the impenetrable finish line. Observing the drawings up close, the second subject matter rises revealing the suburban housing that constitutes each of the segments. These maps reflect suburbia with its endless streets and repetitive structure.