Photo by Jess Farmer www.perspectivesphotography.co.uk
o h w u o of y l l a to h c ey u n m r u o o s j e ou v y i t k a e n r c , Tha s y r o m t c d lle orte o p c p u , s s end i r er f have h t o s r d an yea s e t h s i t t r a w over o l el f , s r e ib subscr nd a r . e s n e art p e creativ f i l y m o t ul , a e P s r , u n o c nio a f p o m , o he d c t An g n i n i l s p el m v u a b r t e d h t n e v belove e e k a m ou Y . d a ! n Re u f ike l m e e 20 road s Dec 20
In search of jewels In my twenties I had a dream in which I climbed a very steep mountain and once at the top I realised that there were jewels literally under my feet. My interpretation of the dream brought me to the conclusion that these jewels were my own creative talents and skills which I wasn’t very confident about at the time. This collage was sparked by doing a guided meditation exercise at the end of which I had to open a box to reveal what was inside it.
1 . SYMBOLS AND STORIES
What came to mind as I metaphorically opened the box was a ruby red , teardrop shaped, faceted glass pendant.
I was then told to decide whether to take with me what was in the box, or leave it until I came back to this place within myself next time. I decided to take it with me.
Jewel 1/2 hr collage a day, 2007 13.5 x 17.5cm, Oil pastel and collage on paper
In search of jewels In my twenties I had a dream in which I climbed a very steep mountain and once at the top I realised that there were jewels literally under my feet. My interpretation of the dream brought me to the conclusion that these jewels were my own creative talents and skills which I wasn’t very confident about at the time. This collage was sparked by doing a guided meditation exercise at the end of which I had to open a box to reveal what was inside it. What came to mind as I metaphorically opened the box was a ruby red , teardrop shaped, faceted glass pendant. I was then told to decide whether to take with me what was in the box, or leave it until I came back to this place within myself next time. I decided to take it with me.
Jewel 1/2 hr collage a day, 2007 13.5 x 17.5cm, Oil pastel and collage on paper
The Artist Who Lost Her Way One day, all those years spent making things purely to please other people took their toll. The artist {who thought she wasn’t an artist} began to experience numbness in her right hand. The artist {who thought she wasn’t an artist} had spent thousands of hours on her computer designing handsome corporate identities and websites for other people. The artist {who thought she wasn’t an artist} had spent many hundreds of days with pliers in her hand, making attractive jewellery for other people to wear. But all the while, she secretly longed to be an artist. She dreamed of being an artist. She had lots of pastels and paints and brushes and pads. But, whenever she tried to make art, she hated what she created. This made her hate herself and feel even less like an artist. And so she told herself she wasn’t an artist. And that really she didn’t make art. Still she went to bed at night dreaming of being an artist, and feeling so sad that another day had gone by without her making any art.
One day she woke up and her whole right arm and hand were completely numb. She couldn’t feel a thing. Soon the numbness gave way to intense pain in her shoulder and right down her arm. And so it was that the artist {who thought she wasn’t an artist} , realised that the time had come. She couldn’t carry on burning herself out for other people. She needed to rebuild her life in a different shape.
A short while later, by way of recuperation, the artist {who thought she wasn’t an artist} went to visit her family and, bored one afternoon, she drifted into a bookshop. Waiting for her on the shelf, she found a book called The Artist's Way. The title called to her. How could it not? For was she not an artist who had lost her way? A little later still, her beloved went on a trip
y life. m d e g n a hat ch t k o o b h t’ sketc a ‘f e h T
and when he returned, he brought a gift for the artist {who thought she wasn’t an artist}. It was a thick, handsome, gloriously empty, leather book.
The book was quite the most beautiful gift anyone had ever given her. As soon as she saw it, the artist {who thought she wasn’t an artist} knew what she wanted to do with it. She wanted to fill it with collage. So the artist {who thought she wasn’t an artist} began to dig through her drawers and cupboards looking for materials to use to fill her handsome book with collages.
And as she dug, to discover many, many made when she executed sometimes Always put away without
her surprise she began to small artworks. Years of art she believed she ’wasn’t making any’ painstakingly, sometimes frantically . acknowledgement.
The artist {who thought she wasn’t an artist} began to fill the beautiful leather journal with collages made from all the artworks she made when she wasn’t making any. Day by day, week by week, the book got fatter and fatter as the pages filled. She loved the growing fatness of that book. It felt pregnant with creative ideas. It sang to her that all those years hadn’t been barren of art after all.
And the more she filled the pages, the more she was forced to admit that she was an artist. That she’d always been an artist. That ‘not being an artist’ was just not an option. That it didn’t matter how much she hated or hid her work, she’d still be an artist. Because that’s who she was. And so the the artist who realised she was an artist began the slow journey of piecing together her artistic identity, of developing her practice, and honing her creative voice. And gradually, sometimes painfully, often joyfully, the artist came to embody her destiny and make her art. And never again did she say to herself that she wasn’t an artist.
The artist {who thought she wasn’t an artist} is me. Is s/he you too?
Sketchbooks My Mum used to tell me that every seven years we pass through an important cycle. But 7 is my special number anyway. I was born on the fourteenth, which is, of course, 2 x 7. Although this project is called the Sketchbook Subscription, in these seven books I’ll be sharing much more than facsimiles of sketchbook pages. (Although there will be some of those.) Instead, I am re- imagining the concept of the sketchbook as a rich and tactile visual medium to share the story of my trajectory as an artist with you. Because, needless to say, the process of filling the ‘fat’ sketchbook was only the very beginning of an expedition in which many experiments in directions and styles would build slowly, but inexorably, into my unique creative voice.
Exhibition 2008 with the theme of 7 " Seven is the argument that informs Cherry Jeffs' show. Seven collages with images originating in her home country of England, and developed with the cadence of the Costa Tropical in Granada (Spain). And Seven seasons to travel through via a folk tale representing the internal journey made by the artist as an exercise in self discovery." Juan Maria Jimenez, 2008
Follow the timeline In these sketchbooks, we’ll retrace that journey spanning a timeline of 14 years - or two seven year cycles - including the important transition between the 13th and 14th year marked by a big, bold and colourful painting with an artist at its centre.
6 0 0 2
ITALY collages
←
←
Collagea-day
Bajo mis Pies
Whimsical heads
2008
Whimsical Heads - paintings
Handless Maiden
Journey into the Past and future
ly s 2 a It ge a ll o c
2009 Spanish paper dolls
STARTE D ALTERE D BOOK
10
20 1 1
← UK es ag oll
Noah c
2012
El Sentido de los Sueños
Creative
←
Tree Series
←
rd Red bi e collag
STARTED AL ANDALUZ BOOK
365: Artwork a day
Yoga posture drawings
e, Whit ure text tings n i a p
e
g la
Yoga artworks
GW&F Drawings
Dancing trees
ol c rs t ape s ir p F
The ladder
st o L
t Shoo t ’ n Do Muse the
r pin ent os re
in
Li
lo
2016
Artist ’s Book “Sampl er”
←
An T gel ru mp ’s et
Wild West paper dolls
Th of e C Lo olou r ng ing
←
Artist Books
in e g sa le s Me Bott a
Out of the Box
2015
Grow wings and Fly series
ke th a F e i De sh se rt F
←
i lt u Q r Pape
13
Fire
e
c la a P
able e v o M rds a c t Pos
Grow wings paper doll
hosis p r o m a t e M
Mak e so m eve ry w ething eek
Pomeg
ranat e
2019
The Wolf
2020
The Magic of Symbols
…A journey that came to be epitomised by one potent symbol that of a woman growing wings and learning to fly. But in which many other symbols came to play a pivotal role.
Bird Looking Back (Study for Hat Series) Artwork-a-Day N o . 273, 201 1
One of the very many artworks I’ve made that feature women and birds.
Square from Paper Quilt, 2013 The symbol of archways appears throughout my work. So much so that I’m going to dedicate the next sketchbook to this theme.
In our journey together, we’ll explore how these symbols came to form a kind of personal shorthand that conveys the arc of my visual stories not only within one piece but weaving their threads through multiple pieces and bodies of work.
Look out for these symbols in the next six books !
Go Behind the Scenes Whether you’re simply fascinated by my art or you’re looking to grow your own creative practice, understanding the behind the scenes process of how I create the artworks will give you an enriched understanding of what it is to develop a creative idea or a body of work. As with all journeys, we’re bound to follow some directions that we can’t even imagine at the moment. That’s why I’m keeping the roadmap fairly flexible. (See the end of the book for more details.) We’re also bound to discover some things that we can’t anticipate, and probably learn some lessons that will change the way we travel in the future. This my friends is the true beauty of the creative road. I look forward to travelling it with you.
Self-portrait late 1980’s Graphite on paper 29.7 cm x 21 cm
Bio
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I’m a mixed media specia artist lising i n one-of artist f ’s boo ks. I’m al so a creat coach ive who e mpowe artist rs s and o ther creat ives t o gro and ta w wing ke to s the s kies. A nat ural w andere split r, I my tim e betwe the l en andsc a p e Devon s of and S outhe Spain. rn
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