Discovering Art with Jevan Watkins Jones: Preview of his upcoming workshop at Firstsite

Q1. Hi Jevan, can you tell us more about the workshop, what can people expect to learn and take away by the end of the session?

Jevan: Each workshop will be fun, explorative and conversational – moving from set tasks in the morning to supported time in the afternoon in which participants respond to an open brief.

We will learn in different ways – from technique based experimentation, by looking at the work of other artists and in discussing the challenges and potentials of each medium and noting our accomplishments. Participants will create a small body of work to take away. Some small works, some big works.

Q2. Each session will explore a different art medium – up next is Indian Ink! Can you tell us more about this art form? Who uses Indian Ink and is it a complicated technique to master?

Jevan: There’s a real joy in its immediacy, seeing the gesture of the brush mark and the ink’s sumptuous black. Its ability (by adding water) to create a delicate grey scale makes it a very versatile medium. As with the use of any medium, practice is key to confident expression but pleasing results, to encourage us, can happen simply.

Indian ink remains stable (waterproof) as a medium because it contains shellac which is now derived mostly from a synthetic resin and therefore vegan friendly.

It’s worth reading this short potted history of Indian Ink on the Winsor & Newton website. I’m a big fan of Morandi’s ink drawings from his bottles. I grew up looking at Hockey’s figure drawings in ink and it is well worth reading up on Cozen’s revelation using ink and teaching method…we may have a go!

Q3. In our June session, you will be exploring Acrylic and help students create painted studies inspired by the rich colours of the summer garden.

Your own work as an artist and gardener is profoundly inspired by nature and plants. What advice or a tip can you give for capturing nature’s richness?

Jevan: It’s a big question!

In recent times I have become more interested in painting an approximation of the garden, no less about seeing, but seeing with the full range of senses and trying to express visually, through paint marks, the particular processes I’m engaged in as a gardener – pruning, digging, raking and so on…

A tip for capturing nature and the richness of colour in high-summer is as much a reminder to self, to remain aware and sensitive the growth journey of a plant or ensemble of plants, visually and, actually, emotionally. What does this thing before me, mean to me?

Q4. We would be delighted to learn more about your own creative practise – is there a medium that you enjoy working with most?

Jevan: Ah ha, well, not really, I enjoy many mediums and ways of working, suiting different modes of expression.

However, taking this as a Desert Island Disc’s question (a dream!), I may come down in favour of charcoal and this is because of its elemental nature – incinerated wood from the fire. Ritual and mark being inextricably linked. Nature and art, bound. If this were the case though, I would miss the colours yellow and green…but now I am dreaming of golden sands under my feet and fresh vegetation behind me!