John oxley

Bio: Age 63, male, Caucasian.Self taught, Took up art and poetry about 5 years ago. Suffer anxiety and depression. Was homeless for 9 years until 3 years ago when homeless charity that was working with me helped me find the place where I live now. Still experimenting with different forms and media. Common theme in lot of work is homelessness and mental health issues. However enjoy exploring many areas of life and art. May be because I am older I find process more interesting than results. So no fixed style as yet. Will have a go at anything just for the experience.

Instagram: @Jaxart147

Day 21
Poem and painting based on the poem about homelessness. I was homeless for 9 years. So as an artist I am being true to myself and dealing with the bad as well as the good.

Other side of the street

Day 20
Abstract. Horizontal lines of pastel yellow, blue, pink, lavender and green. Small short vertical smears.theen over that pattern black lines and smudges made using edge of pallette knife. Also white highlights made the same way. Gives effect of reflections in wet sand.

Wet sand.

Day 19
Prompt cheat. Well just took a picture of a bluebell painting of mine that is on my wall. Also did not have any canvas at time it was painted. I used an off cut of wallpaper instead.

Bluebells

Day 18
Reason still amateur painter do not do admin, do not sell myself. So ignored brief. Picture is a portrait of red Indian chief. Was done from memory.

Chief

Day 17
Oil on 5"x7"card. Horizontal smears of red, green, yellow, white and blue with a few vertical flicks using plain pallette knife. Abstract but your mind builds a landscape. Ignored brief.

Abstract landscape.

Day 16
Two abstract figures. Made of blue yellow and red. Smudges of green and orange where colours meet and mix. Image made using big pallette knife. Blob of blue, blob of yellow then blob of red, next to each other On edge of knife. Then made two vertical smears and two dabs under each figure. Job done in 30 seconds.

Happy accident

Day 15
Oil on card, 5"x7". Yellow, white and blue flames over a red and pink ground. Top third pink, bottom two thirds red

Flame

Day 14
9 images of of work done during this week. I have been experimenting with abstraction on a small scale. Made paintings on 5"x7" card. Some of images shown are back lit as,with card being thin, got some interesting results.

Postcard abstracts

Day 13
Yesterday's work reworked

Remake

Day 12
Playing with Procreate . Drawn my own version of Mona Lisa then placed against a stock photo of a bedroom. Not exactly collaboration but using others work to create an image of my own. Also not a perfect work but point was to stretch my skills on Procreate.

Just playing

Day 11
Abstract in oils on postcard sized card. Trying out idea. If used old postcard blanks could produce cheap decorative art.

Postcard abstract

Day 10
Picture of artist materials dumped on a table. Always at home creating, so the mess of materials in corner are a home in a home.

Making mess

Day 9
Drawing of cowboy on horse using lasso. Back-lit using golden hazy light. All done on procreate.

Cowboy

Day 8
Poem about depression and anxiety

Constant battle

Day 7
Photo of my 4ft x 4ftpainting of lilys on display in my window. No room on my walls for it, so put in window. Makes a good blind as I get woken at sunrise on sunny day.

No room on wall, makes good blind

Day 6
Three ice cream cones, one with flake, one plain, last one hundreds and thousands.

Guilty pleasure

Day 5
A simple list of things I find difficult since my partner died on Christmas Day. Just got to point where I can start to rebuild.

Life is more difficult than art.

Day 4
Left side photo picture of hand, right side my drawn study of that hand.

Research=practice=today’s study of hand.

Day 3
Picture of mug of hot black coffee on left side of picture. On right side example of a poem created while under influence of caffeine.

My essential homemade creative tool.

Day 2
Abstract swirls of colour. Fine lines of black and white picking out some shapes giving a structure for colours to work against.

Colour=joy

Day 1
Self portrait surrounded by text expressing that my work/art has no other function except being a function of me. Precise words are:- form,function, communication? Words? Pictures? Poetry? Art? Radical? Staid? Good? Bad? Does not matter in the end. The work has no function. The work is a function of ME. All done using the Procreate app on my I-pad.

Art is the artist