Keeping just a few is a great idea. I have 20 years worth of drawings and paintings and I just don't know what to do with them. Your landscape book is so good! I say keep it to look at in another 13 years. The truth is, nobody wants our old art. Maybe a relative wants one, or maybe even a few. 😊 I have started painting over old canvases. Also - art plus dogs are the best videos.
Yes it's tricky isn't it, if we kept it all there wouldn't be much space to make new art! Plus I don't have children so there's no one to pass it on to! And I agree, every video is improved with an appearance from a dog!
Intriguing to see lots of your early work. Thanks for sharing Molly. Odd to hear such a lot of advice, keep it, don't keep it. Each of us has our own criteria for decision making. We should listen to our own heart and head! 🌼
Molly, this is so informative and fascinating to watch. I never had any of this. Of course art is Something that I took up when I retired. So I’ve never had any formal education. I’ve taken a class in watercolor now and then. But mostly I just do watercolor and oil and just do it on my own. I’m interested in your printmaking because it’s some thing that I probably will never do but I think it’s so interesting. I have lots of boxes of paintings and things hanging around. I never know what to do with them sketchbooks I have those two. I always tell my kids I can always go in the dumpsters when I’m not here! Thank you for sharing your journey with us.
Thank you for your comment! Printmaking is more accessible than people think, take mono printing for example, it's cheap and easy to do at home. I hope you manage to delve into printmaking as it's magic! I think not having formal art training can be a positive as you might create work with more freedom, not restricted by 'rules'. And then on the other hand there is so much I learnt in art education that I feel really adds to the work I make today. I think as long as you enjoy creating that's the main thing! Doing short courses is great for quickly finding out what you like doing and gathering inspiration 🥰
I love looking though other artist's sketchbooks. The big book is wonderful, but my very favorites are the long, thin books and the small book with the windows with the old double-sided tape. I think your work is lovely.
My foundation year was one of the best years of my life! I also chose the wrong degree course - although it was printmaking,it was a graphic design course, which just wasn’t me! However, I’m now doing the work I wanted to do then (40 years later!!) which just goes to show that there’s no time limit to learning! I loved seeing your early work!
Sorry you also chose the wrong course Janet! I'm glad we've both found our way in the end though! I feel I can kind of see the graphic design influence in the precision and cleanness of your prints!
Please, please don't throw your work out! I remember at art college being told to hold onto work, but like you are thinking to do now, I have done big culls through the years. I do really regret the loss of work that at the time of chucking I thought didn't matter. I now realise even my childhood work is of interest. I just think you might really regret the decisions you make today because in a few years time, or even 40 years time, the artist you will be might select differently and be interested and excited by things your younger self did yesterday. Love seeing your work by the way. Keep it all ! Allow yourself to keep your archive, surely it doesn't take up that much space?!
I agree! When you’re much older you will want to look back and other people in your life will be interested. My family has sketchbooks from family members in the early 1900s and they are fascinating to look at. They are family heirlooms
I'm sorry you regret the loss of some of your work, that's tough! I'm just really not a sentimental person when it comes to 'stuff', cluttered rooms/cupboards just make me feel stressed! I kept a decent amount of it don't worry 🥰
I've kept a good amount I think, I don't have children though so there's no one to pass them on to. I've always been very prolific when it comes to making art so having lots to store has always been an issue! 😅
Thanks for sharing your early sketchbooks and experiences in school. If it's something you'd enjoy sharing, I'd love to hear about how and when you got into wood engraving and any reflections you have on your work as a wood engraver so far. Apologies if you've already made that video and I somehow missed it. BTW, the sketches you've been showing lately are just gorgeous! I can't wait to see the prints they inspire.
Thank you for watching! I haven’t made a video about my wood engraving journey yet, I was going to do a look through my old wood engravings as I sorted them all into a folder last year so it’d be a pretty easy video to make 🥰 thank you for the video ideas, it’s always helpful to hear what people would be interested in 😀
It’s so interesting to me to see the volume and quality of your work over the years. So much beautiful work! I do sympathize though; it’s just not possible or practical to keep everything and letting go of things you’ve made is hard. (I aim for minimalism and find art is difficult to pare down). I found all your cut out shapes really interesting; dividing your sketchbooks, cutting around the outline of the crumpled paper pieces, removing parts of pages so not every sketchbook page is the same shape and size. I feel like you were (and still are) very thoughtful in every aspect of creating your work right through to the presentation. I’ve seen lots of artists flip-throughs here on TH-cam and I love how analytical you are, how you remain curious and constantly assess what engages you. Also, I used spray mount for most of my late 90’s college course work and it didn’t fare much better longevity wise… Thank you again for so generously sharing your thoughts and process ❤. Looking forward to the next vlog - always so inspiring Molly! You make me want to make 😊
Hi Natalie! It's so hard isn't it knowing what to get rid of, I also find old diaries hard as well. I never kept a diary for more than a few weeks but each is a real snapshot into my life at each stage. However, I'm aware if I keep them other people will read them one day and I can't have that 🤣 Interesting to hear spraymount isn't a good adhesive long term! I think as soon as you add adhesive to anything it can be problematic even ones that are claiming to be archival. I'm looking forward to releasing the next video (unlike this one... I almost deleted it 😅) it's a real mix of studio life, printing, sketching and collage. I hope January is treating you well!
Thank you for sharing your earlier work, and you could make yourself a collage with bits from all the paintings you liked and frame it for your home. 💙
I kept thinking while watching that some of those old artworks could have been cool confetti in your handmade paper..(might bleed though🤔) full circle kind of thing. Love your reflections on uni, interesting the paths we take. Glad your printing and landscapes where strong in you and "survived" the intellectualization 😉 //hugs from a wintery sweden❄️
Oh yes interesting, I love repurposing old work! I'm pleased my love of art survived those 3 challenging years as well! Thank you so much for watching!
It was very interesting to see your early work. I have some early work still, and go through it every 2 years or so. It is a good idea to keep some of it, even you do not like it because it shows the progression. You never know, someone may want to study your work in about 80 years or so!
I also got side railed when my degree requirements only took conceptual work seriously. It was so soul sucking and I was miserable. Like you, I love the art process and not so much the ideas behind art.
This was very useful to see your journey to now thanks for sharing this beautiful video Molly and Winnie is a lovely adorable dog I love your dog too!😊
Just watched your clear out of sketchbooks. I’m just starting an Art Foundation course two days after my 60th birthday. Thank you for sharing your experience, I’m a little nervous but also excited. I usually watch LAOY so looking forward to seeing you on there soon. Your Advent calendar went all the way to Hawaii for our grandson, who loved learning about the birds. Thanks again for the inspiration and the reality of art.
Oh Happy Birthday! I'm so pleased you'll get to experience Art Foundation, throw yourself into it, be curious and enjoy the all the techniques on offer! There were mature students on both my art foundation and uni course and they were an integral part of the group, especially at uni, I don't know how I would have got through without their warmth and wisdom!
Oh god the writing! I didn't mind critiquing my own work so much but I haaaated having to write up about other artists. I eventually figured out a formula that allowed me to smash out a number of pages near the end of a term but on pages left throughout my sketchbooks but very clearly I wasn't applying that learning to my work! It's not even that I don't enjoy looking at other artists I just found the write ups for box ticking exercises stupid! I'm actually really sad I didn't go and do a foundation year. I was so sure I wanted to do photography and also that I couldn't draw, plus doing a foundation meant staying at home for another year due to the lack of funding and I had a good enough portfolio to get straight on to degree level where I could leave home like everyone else. But now, in my mid 30s I wish I had had that experience of messing around with all types of art practice! I also could have used any of the facilities at uni to learn other skills but again, a lack of confidence in my ability to draw in particular kind of put me off and meant I really didn't make the most of all the opportunities I could have had!
Hi Molly, thank you for sharing these with us. It was really interesting to watch and listen to your experience of art education. I hope you're well. I'm a new follower, just a couple of weeks ago one of your videos popped up in my feed and I really enjoyed your style and honesty. I subscribed immediately and I'm presently watching your back catalogue from the beginning. I'm learning linocutting right now; my husband bought me some gorgeous Pfeil tools for Christmas along with one of Laura Boswell's registration devices as I want to make reduction and multiblock prints hopefully 😊 The detail in your pieces are amazing and I really love your landscape designs. I have a quick question regarding the multi line tools, if you wouldn't mind answering for me. Do you think they would work on traditional lino, as this is the surface I'm using? I want fine detail in my prints eventually but the price of the EC Lyons multi liners are such that it's a bit expensive to purchase on the off chance they might work. I feel a bit cheeky asking, but if you don't ask you don't get 😉 Anyway, thank you again, best wishes, Jane 🤗
I'm pleased you found my videos Jane, thank you for taking the time to watch! Lovely to hear you're delving into the world of print! Interesting you ask about the multiple line tool. I used to say no you can't use it on lino but then at a show artist Layla Khani (laylaartsutdio - that's her instagram name) asked to try my multi line tools on her lino and it did kind of work. You can kind of engrave the surface, obviously if you push too hard it'll just carve a chunk out of the lino. And because the lines are so shallow you wont be able to use loads of ink when you print it. So basically it'll create texture but it may take a bit of experimenting. I hope that helps!
Really interesting (as ever!). Do you keep all the sketchbooks you fill nowadays? And your prints - do you save one for yourself each time or keep a memory of your past work? x
Thank you so much, I keep at least one of each of my prints but not 'perfect' ones that make the edition, I keep the 'artist proofs'. I only really started using sketchbooks again in 2024. They're very different though, they're literally books for sketches, no writing or artist influences. It made me feel maybe I would benefit from documenting my work a bit more but I guess now I document it through videos...
I love your videos ♥ I don't know much about printmaking, very intrigued by the kitchen litho, never heard of it before 🤔 After uni did you do any further courses in printmaking to up your skills or are you self taught from that point on? 😃
Thanks for watching! Yes I am definitely planning to try kitchen litho again and will share the process on here! After uni I did a wood engraving course with Ben Goodman at UWE summer school. I think it was a day course. And then I got a scholarship at Spike Island Print Studio to do relief printmaking course one evening a week for a year and I got a around 4 more sessions with Ben during that opportunity!
A really interesting look back over your work. It’s good you’re keeping sketchbooks and work that still resonates with how you work now. Interesting to hear your thoughts about your Uni work, it’s a similar story Mark Hearld tells on a recent podcast (from 40 mins in) th-cam.com/video/h4MBAEcVAkk/w-d-xo.htmlsi=XIvvkCc1fsOkK36c I very much felt the same and it’s why I did a Visual Communication degree rather than Fine Art, the need to set out aims/background/reasons for everything you create doesn’t work for everyone and can really smother spontaneous creativity and craft skills. I’m sure looking through old work will feed into what you do now even if you aren’t consciously thinking about it.
I'm glad you found the video interesting! Thanks for the podcast recommendation! I'm gad you were well informed enough to chose a degree to better suit you! And you're right, in my next video I talk about how looking through previous influences informed a sketch I did the following day!
Keeping just a few is a great idea. I have 20 years worth of drawings and paintings and I just don't know what to do with them. Your landscape book is so good! I say keep it to look at in another 13 years. The truth is, nobody wants our old art. Maybe a relative wants one, or maybe even a few. 😊 I have started painting over old canvases. Also - art plus dogs are the best videos.
Yes it's tricky isn't it, if we kept it all there wouldn't be much space to make new art! Plus I don't have children so there's no one to pass it on to! And I agree, every video is improved with an appearance from a dog!
Intriguing to see lots of your early work. Thanks for sharing Molly.
Odd to hear such a lot of advice, keep it, don't keep it.
Each of us has our own criteria for decision making. We should listen to our own heart and head! 🌼
OMG yes, KEEEEEP that big sketchbook! So good!
It's back in the cupboard 😀
Molly, this is so informative and fascinating to watch. I never had any of this. Of course art is Something that I took up when I retired. So I’ve never had any formal education. I’ve taken a class in watercolor now and then. But mostly I just do watercolor and oil and just do it on my own. I’m interested in your printmaking because it’s some thing that I probably will never do but I think it’s so interesting. I have lots of boxes of paintings and things hanging around. I never know what to do with them sketchbooks I have those two. I always tell my kids I can always go in the dumpsters when I’m not here! Thank you for sharing your journey with us.
Thank you for your comment! Printmaking is more accessible than people think, take mono printing for example, it's cheap and easy to do at home. I hope you manage to delve into printmaking as it's magic! I think not having formal art training can be a positive as you might create work with more freedom, not restricted by 'rules'. And then on the other hand there is so much I learnt in art education that I feel really adds to the work I make today. I think as long as you enjoy creating that's the main thing! Doing short courses is great for quickly finding out what you like doing and gathering inspiration 🥰
@ thank you so much Molly for these comments!
I love looking though other artist's sketchbooks. The big book is wonderful, but my very favorites are the long, thin books and the small book with the windows with the old double-sided tape. I think your work is lovely.
loved seeing your early work, thank you. x
Thank you so much for taking the time to watch Jenefer!
Absolutely loved seeing your early work and progression. Fascinating though to see some of your art foundation landscapes and your art style forming.
Thank you Sue, I'm pleased you enjoyed watching!
My foundation year was one of the best years of my life! I also chose the wrong degree course - although it was printmaking,it was a graphic design course, which just wasn’t me! However, I’m now doing the work I wanted to do then (40 years later!!) which just goes to show that there’s no time limit to learning! I loved seeing your early work!
Sorry you also chose the wrong course Janet! I'm glad we've both found our way in the end though! I feel I can kind of see the graphic design influence in the precision and cleanness of your prints!
Please, please don't throw your work out! I remember at art college being told to hold onto work, but like you are thinking to do now, I have done big culls through the years. I do really regret the loss of work that at the time of chucking I thought didn't matter. I now realise even my childhood work is of interest. I just think you might really regret the decisions you make today because in a few years time, or even 40 years time, the artist you will be might select differently and be interested and excited by things your younger self did yesterday. Love seeing your work by the way. Keep it all ! Allow yourself to keep your archive, surely it doesn't take up that much space?!
I agree! When you’re much older you will want to look back and other people in your life will be interested. My family has sketchbooks from family members in the early 1900s and they are fascinating to look at. They are family heirlooms
I'm sorry you regret the loss of some of your work, that's tough! I'm just really not a sentimental person when it comes to 'stuff', cluttered rooms/cupboards just make me feel stressed! I kept a decent amount of it don't worry 🥰
I've kept a good amount I think, I don't have children though so there's no one to pass them on to. I've always been very prolific when it comes to making art so having lots to store has always been an issue! 😅
Thanks for sharing your early sketchbooks and experiences in school. If it's something you'd enjoy sharing, I'd love to hear about how and when you got into wood engraving and any reflections you have on your work as a wood engraver so far. Apologies if you've already made that video and I somehow missed it. BTW, the sketches you've been showing lately are just gorgeous! I can't wait to see the prints they inspire.
Thank you for watching! I haven’t made a video about my wood engraving journey yet, I was going to do a look through my old wood engravings as I sorted them all into a folder last year so it’d be a pretty easy video to make 🥰 thank you for the video ideas, it’s always helpful to hear what people would be interested in 😀
Thankyou. That was so interesting and informative.
Thank you for watching!
It’s so interesting to me to see the volume and quality of your work over the years. So much beautiful work! I do sympathize though; it’s just not possible or practical to keep everything and letting go of things you’ve made is hard. (I aim for minimalism and find art is difficult to pare down).
I found all your cut out shapes really interesting; dividing your sketchbooks, cutting around the outline of the crumpled paper pieces, removing parts of pages so not every sketchbook page is the same shape and size. I feel like you were (and still are) very thoughtful in every aspect of creating your work right through to the presentation. I’ve seen lots of artists flip-throughs here on TH-cam and I love how analytical you are, how you remain curious and constantly assess what engages you. Also, I used spray mount for most of my late 90’s college course work and it didn’t fare much better longevity wise…
Thank you again for so generously sharing your thoughts and process ❤. Looking forward to the next vlog - always so inspiring Molly! You make me want to make 😊
Hi Natalie! It's so hard isn't it knowing what to get rid of, I also find old diaries hard as well. I never kept a diary for more than a few weeks but each is a real snapshot into my life at each stage. However, I'm aware if I keep them other people will read them one day and I can't have that 🤣 Interesting to hear spraymount isn't a good adhesive long term! I think as soon as you add adhesive to anything it can be problematic even ones that are claiming to be archival.
I'm looking forward to releasing the next video (unlike this one... I almost deleted it 😅) it's a real mix of studio life, printing, sketching and collage.
I hope January is treating you well!
Thank you for sharing your earlier work, and you could make yourself a collage with bits from all the paintings you liked and frame it for your home. 💙
Thank you for watching Pamela! I like that idea, I'm always up for collaging!
So lovely to see your historical work!
@@KarenONeill-l6c thank you Karen!
I kept thinking while watching that some of those old artworks could have been cool confetti in your handmade paper..(might bleed though🤔) full circle kind of thing. Love your reflections on uni, interesting the paths we take. Glad your printing and landscapes where strong in you and "survived" the intellectualization 😉
//hugs from a wintery sweden❄️
Oh yes interesting, I love repurposing old work! I'm pleased my love of art survived those 3 challenging years as well! Thank you so much for watching!
It was very interesting to see your early work. I have some early work still, and go through it every 2 years or so. It is a good idea to keep some of it, even you do not like it because it shows the progression. You never know, someone may want to study your work in about 80 years or so!
I also got side railed when my degree requirements only took conceptual work seriously. It was so soul sucking and I was miserable. Like you, I love the art process and not so much the ideas behind art.
I'm sorry to hear that Mae, I hope you got back to making the work you wanted to make once you left!
This was very useful to see your journey to now thanks for sharing this beautiful video Molly and Winnie is a lovely adorable dog I love your dog too!😊
Just watched your clear out of sketchbooks. I’m just starting an Art Foundation course two days after my 60th birthday.
Thank you for sharing your experience, I’m a little nervous but also excited. I usually watch LAOY so looking forward to seeing you on there soon. Your Advent calendar went all the way to Hawaii for our grandson, who loved learning about the birds.
Thanks again for the inspiration and the reality of art.
Oh Happy Birthday! I'm so pleased you'll get to experience Art Foundation, throw yourself into it, be curious and enjoy the all the techniques on offer! There were mature students on both my art foundation and uni course and they were an integral part of the group, especially at uni, I don't know how I would have got through without their warmth and wisdom!
Wow ❤❤❤❤❤bravissima
Thank you so much!
Oh god the writing! I didn't mind critiquing my own work so much but I haaaated having to write up about other artists. I eventually figured out a formula that allowed me to smash out a number of pages near the end of a term but on pages left throughout my sketchbooks but very clearly I wasn't applying that learning to my work! It's not even that I don't enjoy looking at other artists I just found the write ups for box ticking exercises stupid!
I'm actually really sad I didn't go and do a foundation year. I was so sure I wanted to do photography and also that I couldn't draw, plus doing a foundation meant staying at home for another year due to the lack of funding and I had a good enough portfolio to get straight on to degree level where I could leave home like everyone else. But now, in my mid 30s I wish I had had that experience of messing around with all types of art practice! I also could have used any of the facilities at uni to learn other skills but again, a lack of confidence in my ability to draw in particular kind of put me off and meant I really didn't make the most of all the opportunities I could have had!
Hi Molly, thank you for sharing these with us. It was really interesting to watch and listen to your experience of art education. I hope you're well.
I'm a new follower, just a couple of weeks ago one of your videos popped up in my feed and I really enjoyed your style and honesty. I subscribed immediately and I'm presently watching your back catalogue from the beginning. I'm learning linocutting right now; my husband bought me some gorgeous Pfeil tools for Christmas along with one of Laura Boswell's registration devices as I want to make reduction and multiblock prints hopefully 😊
The detail in your pieces are amazing and I really love your landscape designs. I have a quick question regarding the multi line tools, if you wouldn't mind answering for me. Do you think they would work on traditional lino, as this is the surface I'm using? I want fine detail in my prints eventually but the price of the EC Lyons multi liners are such that it's a bit expensive to purchase on the off chance they might work. I feel a bit cheeky asking, but if you don't ask you don't get 😉
Anyway, thank you again, best wishes, Jane 🤗
I'm pleased you found my videos Jane, thank you for taking the time to watch! Lovely to hear you're delving into the world of print! Interesting you ask about the multiple line tool. I used to say no you can't use it on lino but then at a show artist Layla Khani (laylaartsutdio - that's her instagram name) asked to try my multi line tools on her lino and it did kind of work. You can kind of engrave the surface, obviously if you push too hard it'll just carve a chunk out of the lino. And because the lines are so shallow you wont be able to use loads of ink when you print it. So basically it'll create texture but it may take a bit of experimenting.
I hope that helps!
Really interesting (as ever!). Do you keep all the sketchbooks you fill nowadays? And your prints - do you save one for yourself each time or keep a memory of your past work? x
Thank you so much, I keep at least one of each of my prints but not 'perfect' ones that make the edition, I keep the 'artist proofs'. I only really started using sketchbooks again in 2024. They're very different though, they're literally books for sketches, no writing or artist influences. It made me feel maybe I would benefit from documenting my work a bit more but I guess now I document it through videos...
I love your videos ♥ I don't know much about printmaking, very intrigued by the kitchen litho, never heard of it before 🤔
After uni did you do any further courses in printmaking to up your skills or are you self taught from that point on? 😃
Thanks for watching! Yes I am definitely planning to try kitchen litho again and will share the process on here! After uni I did a wood engraving course with Ben Goodman at UWE summer school. I think it was a day course. And then I got a scholarship at Spike Island Print Studio to do relief printmaking course one evening a week for a year and I got a around 4 more sessions with Ben during that opportunity!
@@mollylemonart Thanks for the reply 😃 Glad uni didn't derail your love of printmaking. Your prints are beautiful ♥
A really interesting look back over your work. It’s good you’re keeping sketchbooks and work that still resonates with how you work now. Interesting to hear your thoughts about your Uni work, it’s a similar story Mark Hearld tells on a recent podcast (from 40 mins in) th-cam.com/video/h4MBAEcVAkk/w-d-xo.htmlsi=XIvvkCc1fsOkK36c
I very much felt the same and it’s why I did a Visual Communication degree rather than Fine Art, the need to set out aims/background/reasons for everything you create doesn’t work for everyone and can really smother spontaneous creativity and craft skills.
I’m sure looking through old work will feed into what you do now even if you aren’t consciously thinking about it.
I'm glad you found the video interesting! Thanks for the podcast recommendation! I'm gad you were well informed enough to chose a degree to better suit you! And you're right, in my next video I talk about how looking through previous influences informed a sketch I did the following day!
Yelling at the screen....."NO!!!!!!!!" when youre saying things are going into the bin!!!!
Haha I kept loads but honestly I’m not overly sentimental about ‘things’ and I hate clutter 😅