GRACE BLACK
Paintings
BIO
I live in South London, England where I was born. I use acrylic, ink, watercolour on canvas and paper. I wanted to study art after I left school but I learned to type and got a job as PA. I still wanted to go to college and went Middlesex Polytechnic and got a degree in Social Science. I continued to study art at local evening classes and eventually took it further. I received a Diploma in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College and then went onto gain a BA in Fine Art from Central St Martins. I stopped making art for a while and then went back to studying life drawing taking classes at the Royal Drawing School and learned traditional printmaking also at the Royal Drawing School.
THE STORY
I have been a life long learner of making art with many starts and stops over the years. I went to college thinking that I would I would learn to be an artist and I did that but ironically art schools sometimes forget to show you how to actually develop the skills you need. In my case I did not learn to draw or paint but I did learn how to develop an artist practice and become a professional. I am now learning how to paint. The paintings and drawing on this website are the results of the process of my learning over recent years. I didn’t get gripped by it until 2015 and then I struggled with what medium oil or acrylic. For health reasons I choose acrylic in the end and because I did not have the patience to wait for paint to dry. I paint what I want to see on a wall. The portrait is a subject that I am devoted to. Images of people are important to me and there is no reason for it or not one that I can easily identify. I am just drawn to these subjects for now. I have recently started painting objects I like the shape of. My favourite practice is filing a sketchbook and this can take years.
