Young summer's night
'You need to think about broadening your pallete.'
I was an aspiring art student, trembling through an interview at my dream art school.
Three tutors were flipping through my sketchbooks at ferocious speed.
For the first time, I noticed how the pages were almost exclusively drenched in my then-favourite colours of Prussian Blue and Indigo.
Then, a few weeks later, an acceptance letter landed on my doormat.
In my elation, I vowed to learn to love all the colours of the rainbow.
But June nights – full of the beautiful, beguiling magic of summer – will always bring me back to my first loves of Prussian Blue and Indigo.
Pearl
To thine own self be true
I've just got home from working on the opening night of Glyndebourne's new opera, Hamlet.
The mood of the show is dark, powerful and stylish, and the music is contemporary. Perhaps not easy listening, but a grab-you-by-the-throat sonic journey of twists and turns, spine-tingling deep bass caverns and goose-bump thrills.
I had the feeling that many of the singers and musicians working on this show were well out of their comfort zone. Rehearsals were challenging and unnerving.
'But it's good to get out of your comfort-zone sometimes, isn't it?' mused Lee the tuba player.
The audience seemed astounded – they stood up en-masse in their crumpled tuxedos to give a standing ovation. They made a thundering noise, stomping on the floor and whooping.
I could see a spark of magic alighting in people's eyes backstage, as the realisation began to sink in that this could be a 'special one'.
'It's so hard to tell,' said one of the singers I am working with. 'When you're on the inside of something, you've no idea how it's going to be received.'
And that's so true.
When you're creating something, you sometimes you have to go out on a limb, try something new, take risks. Be true to yourself.
This can be terrifying.
However.
I've been inspired to take a little venture outside of my comfort zone...
Pearl
Cooking up a storm
Outside, it's thundering.
Melodramatic drum rolls echo through the inky summer night sky.
A flash of heavy rain is thrumming across the roads, rooftops, car bonnets. The raindrops are the storm's mischievous, rascally, shimmering little foot soldiers.
They patter and batter against my window. But not in a threatening way.
It's more as if to say, don't forget your power.
Late-night voices shriek and laugh as post-pub gaggles of friends run for cover.
The hiss of car tyres on wet tarmac.
Magic is real.
Pearl
Friends from dreams
I had a dream a few nights ago that I met someone called Cranberry Sugar Snap.
Some cultures don't distinguish between waking realities and dream realities... so maybe I really did meet her?
Anyway, she looked a little something like this...
Pearl
Paul paints Pearl!
The coffee shenanigans continue...
This time, Paul paints me in coffee!
Click the link below to watch the video :)
Pearl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMe_BiEUAn4
Dance of the daisies
I'm not normally a fan of landscape paintings.
But I have the extreme good fortune of being able to take my lunch breaks in the gardens of the opera house.
Everywhere you look, your gaze is met by stunning natural beauty.
Yesterday, I sat with my cheese sandwich and watched a cloud of oxeye daisies happily wobbling about in the English summer breeze.
I could feel the stress and tension literally draining away out of my shoes. And then I spied a colleague, also having a daisy moment!
So OK... I get it. I won't judge you for having a landscape painting in your house...
Pearl
Coffee skills
I've never actually been a huge fan of coffee.
But my friend, cartoonist Paul Cemmick, has turned everyone's favourite caffeinated beverage into an unexpected art material.
Behold - my first ever foray into painting with coffee!
(click the link below to watch a video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECJHH0VP6TI
Pearl
Remembering Arachne
It seems the summer has brought with it a rash of spiders.
According to Greek legend, we have Athena to thank for spiders. She transformed the Goddess Arachne into the leggy little creature after she had challenged Athena to a weaving contest – it is unclear who actually won.
And now my house, and the backstage areas at the opera house, are apparently awash with many varieties of Goddess Arachne.
I caused utter uproar when I inadvertently brought one about the size of a spaceship into the dressing room corridors – it was hiding on my dress.
And then, when I was sorting through some bookshelves, I found an old arachnid-themed college theatre project.
I think the idea had been to try to express the battle between nature and humans by creating a giant spider onstage... or something like that.
Well, I remember the project as technically challenging, but fun.
My relationship with spiders is better than it used to be, but it's still an uncomfortable one.
However, I have to admire their artistic abilities when it comes to spinning their magical webs – luckily, none of them have challenged me to a weaving contest (yet).
All that glisters
A few days ago, a tiny bottle of fairy dust exploded in my bag.
It really must have been magical, because now I seem to have a tanker's worth of glitter in my life.
Despite my best efforts to clean it up, the glitter has somehow managed to migrate throughout my home and has infiltrated all of my things.
'Oh Pearl,' people keep saying, 'you're all sparkly!'
Well, I have decided to embrace this as a happy accident.
I love to fling glitter at my paintings, so why not join in with the glitter party myself?!
Pearl
Allure of the dark side
'I just couldn't find my way with him.'
I don't remember exactly how the interview went, but I remember one of my favourite artists, cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, talking about how he struggled with the character of Hercules when he worked on the Disney cartoon.
'The bad guys are often much more fun, more interesting.'
I'm sure Scarfe has a lot of fun ripping politicians apart with his pens – and likewise for me, there can be something intriguing, dangerous and exciting to draw the 'bad guys.'
Maybe in a way they are more relatable? Flawed and fallible, they have given into their weaknesses.
Maybe we can have a little fun with the bad guys along the way, just so long as the 'good guys' always win in the end, eh? ;)
Pearl
Painting the town with flowers
'You need to hold the can at a forty-five degree angle, and spray with short, light strokes.'
Street artist S.O.S has designed a gorgeous mural, Dreaming In Flowers, for an event that was part of the Chelsea Flower Show Fringe.
She enlisted the fabulous street artist REQ to help her – and yesterday today I also assisted.
I helped to run a kids' spray painting workshop that S.O.S. had set up alongside her mural piece, teaching the basics of how to hold the cans and change the caps, choose colours and use stencils.
The kids were great - some were more confident than others in their creative ability, but it was lovely to see the magic in their eyes when they peeled back their stencils and saw their own piece of artwork revealed to them.
My contribution to the mural was minimal as I am new to using spray cans, but I'm looking forward to doing a spray painting masterclass with REQ soon.
Watch this space!
Pearl
S.O.S.: http://iamsos.com/
Tall tails
'Look at that street,' said my friend Nick as we walked past a turning.
I looked over and noted a steep, narrow cobbled hill falling away from us, and I saw tall, skinny brick houses crowded all over it.
'It looks like something you might find in a children's storybook,' I said. 'Someplace where an old woman might live – who you would go and visit after school. She'd give you jam tarts and show you magic tricks.'
'Or maybe it's orphan twins who live there,' said Nick, 'who are being brought up by an evil step-mother.' he cackled at the thought of it.
Inspiration – so easy to miss, and yet always right under your nose!
Pearl
With a little help from my...
'Don't feel guilty about spending time with friends.'
I've been reading a couple of excellent books lately about art and business.
Basically – pretty much like anything else in life – it's all about people.
When you work for yourself, there's a sense that you should be feverishly creating stuff all of the time.
But, both of the books I've read actually advise you to enjoy just hanging out with your friends - because very often, that's when magic happens.
So that's what I've been doing a bit more of recently. The pictures below were all snapped while I was spending time with some of the wonderful and crazy people I know.
And you know what? Some fun projects are brewing already. But more about that next week :)
Pearl
Heartful
I woke up yesterday morning to the terrible news from Manchester.
My heart leapt into my mouth, because I thought a dear friend of mine was working on the show that was targeted.
It turns out that he wasn't. My friend is fine, and I got to feel relieved.
But plenty of other people weren't fine.
I saw this on the internet today, and I took heart:
'Love is quieter than gunshots, but there is more of it.'
I'm not sure who wrote this, but thank you to Juliane for sharing it.
With love to you all,
Pearl
In reverence of poets
I didn't know that 'Bard' is another term for a poet.
Wikipedia explains further:
In medieval Gaelic and British culture, a bard was a professional story teller, verse-maker and music composer, employed by a patron, to commemorate one or more of the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.
Other sources claim these Bards were travellers, who made a living from performing and telling stories.
And this is why Shakespeare is often referred to as 'The Bard'.
But Shakespeare aside, I am intrigued by the idea of these creative, free spirits who spent their lives enchanting people.
Maybe one of them might have looked a little like this...
Pearl
New ideas
'Hmm,' said my 71 year-old godmother as we stood in a gallery at the Nottingham Contemporary arts centre.
I have to admit, I was just as baffled by the art that was on display as she was. A young woman with a quirky haircut handed us some explanatory notes, but they didn't really help to clarify things.
It made me think about how, as an artist, you make the distinction between exploring new ideas that are primarily about your own creative journey, and creating work that you have the intention of sharing with others.
Many times, I've been turned off by opaque artwork or performance that doesn't seem to make any sense, and yet boundaries need to be pushed, or we would never discover anything new.
'Well,' said my godmother, 'They're doing a talk about this artist on Wednesday, so I'll come to that, and then maybe I'll understand it better.'
Thank goodness there are people like her around, who have sparkling and inquisitive minds!
Pearl
Quills
Quills, ink and glamour...
I was in the process of preparing an illustration for entry into a competition called 'Punk Shakespeare', before realising the comp was only open to residents of the US.
However, I'd already done some research and some ideas were brewing, so I'm going to take this drawing through to completion. Not sure yet if it will be Will himself or some other dude... we'll see.
Either way, once you start looking into the era of The Bard, the magic starts to come thick and fast...
Think I might try working on this with a quill and ink – seems appropriate!
Pearl
Meeting the cello
My amazing friend Santiago Carvalho has been playing with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for over 40 years.
Last night, I had my first ever cello lesson!
Incredibly, Santiago lent me an instrument that was made in 1621!!
I only managed to scratch out a barely-there rendition of 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,' but the sound and the feeling of the cello was amazing.
Afterwards, I gave Santiago a little drawing lesson.
I've never taught anyone drawing before, so perhaps I pushed him in at the deep end, but he did very well. We set off with 20-second studies of my hand, and drew several versions on top of each other.
Step one: relax the mind, let go of inhibitions, and become very present to the process, rather than worrying about instantly creating a Michelangelo.
Perhaps it is the same with instruments – I won't be playing Strauss any time soon, but just getting the feel of the cello in my hands was a magical new experience for me.
Pearl
Waiting in the wings
A quick sketch of a moment in my day today...
I drew this from memory - not sure how pleased people would be if I was standing around with a my sketchbook and getting in the way!
Pearl
playing with stars
Don't be afraid of the dark. That's when the stars come out.
If you follow me on social media, you may have seen this drawing before.
Being a night-owl, I love the dark – as my Mum recently said, 'that's when the magic thoughts come.'
However, I have an early start tomorrow - who are these people who say they love early mornings??!
I want to stay up late and play with the stars BUT... sometimes you have to get up early to go and work on rehearsals for La Traviata.
I know, I know! I'm very lucky.
(And yes, I write these messages late at night and schedule them for the morning!)
Pearl
