Portfolio – Inspiring youthful Artists

Wendy Connelly – with students from ‘Portfolio’ Wales

RAW-i Studios recently had the absolute pleasure of welcoming a small group of very talented young and aspiring Artists from a number of schools in Wales. After a very successful series of workshops discovering the alchemy of the old masters and making our own paint. They came along for a morning in my studio where I shared the projects that I have on the go. From commissions through local council and sensory rooms for a hospital trust to my current body of paintings. Being an artist is often ‘highly textured’. The isolation in the studio focused on a series of work requires dedication and resilience. Working with groups and other stakeholders on bigger projects demands a collaborative approach that can mean a softening of your own ideals. Triggers and processes of starting the day in the studio. A freshly brewed coffee and a biscuit whilst walking them through my ‘rituals’, talking about the ‘triggers’ that allow you to think about your work and reflect on your progress. From my sketchbooks and boxes of tools to the myriad trials and fails, we talked of how ideas are formed, developed and realised.

As the sun rose to its zenith, the late summer heat crept across the studio filling the place with dappled light. Lunch was taken on the larch table as birds and butterflies and bugs pass on by.