New paintings and regular art updates.
I saw this blue splodge today that someone had drawn using ‘woody’ pentel wax crayons. They are water soluble and can be ‘bled’ creating an interesting textured effect. My pareidolia kicked in and I immediately saw the head of a blue bull. Of course I had to draw around the splodge and this was the result. The main area that made me do this was where the two horns spread out, and the forehead is that nice curve that really evokes a head of a bull.
Tuesdays #bandofsketchers prompt was Trees. Twenty minute sketch, ‘watching them change colour’, my interpretation of trees in the autumn. Felt pen drawing.
One of the hazards of painting is getting covered in paint! I stuck my thumb in my pallette and splodge, all over my thumb. Luckily I didn’t get any on my clothes! I can wash acrylic off my hands, but once it’s dried it’s impossible to get out of your top or trousers. Oil paint can sometimes be removed as it’s slow drying and you can use thinners to remove it, but once acrylic is dry it’s solid like plastic. You might be able to peel a bit off but it gets in between the fibers and sticks. Anyway, I love this colour blue. Ultramarine? Not sure….
Hard work, but I think it was worth it. I think some of my paintings are like knitting or embroidery, pulling all the threads together to bring it to a finished piece. And sometimes it’s knowing where to stop, to feel satisfied. Sometimes my hubby says I overwork things, but I think I know where I am with this. I decided not to add any bees or butterflies, I think that would just distract.
I turned my painting upside down because I’m struggling to reach the top with my aching and shaking arms. I’m working on the background. But it also helps me see shapes and tones and proportions. I need to decide if I want the background to be blurry? Perhaps I should change my brush size and try and blur the edges. I will turn it back in a while….
Cats seem to be a theme in my sketchbook at the moment.
I love cats
Their eyes
Their whiskers
The shapes they make
The fun they create
Bouncing and pouncing
Bounding and jumping
Faces all furry
Twisting and whirling
They cheer my soul!
Sundays #bandofsketchers prompt was exercise. I haven’t been doing much exercise recently so I wasn’t sure what to do. I watched my cat chasing a ball and so I decided to draw her playing. I think it counts as exercise? Not a brilliant drawing but it’s hard to draw a cat moving so fast!
I am painting again. I’ve spent a few hours on this and it’s about a quarter done. I want to get it finished quickly because it needs taking in to the gallery, but I want to make sure it’s a good job. I’m layering u the flowers and I will be adding vegetation growing in front to give it more depth soon. I have to stand back from it to check how it fits together. But is it too busy?
Poppies and other flowers, I started painting this a few days ago and am trying to make progress. The flowers and tangle of vegetation is based on a photo I took at Trentham Gardens this summer. I hope it can be a meditative piece for a quiet room at the gallery which I have work in. I’m going to press on with this, it’s keeping my mind off things.
Reading a friends blog about the mid term elections in the USA it made me wonder about the whole thing. I posted this response to her post:
Interesting news on the ‘tinternet’ I keep seeing videos of what people are up to in different states but I saw one where republicans who include some ‘oath takers?’ will be guarding ballot boxes, especially between midnight and six am, to make sure no one tries to put lots of votes into the boxes… An extention of ‘stop the steal’? And they said they might carry guns!! Weird, is this democracy? No pun intended.
I seem to be getting more and more commentary about the elections, but in a way I’m quite interested, I know it’s none of my business, but there are so many world issues including war and global warming and climate change isn’t it about time the world’s largest democracies had a grown up and serious discussion about the whole world instead of soap opera style politics.
Mallaband-Brown