New paintings and regular art updates.
When I finished college I still loved Celtic art so I tried very hard to create a Celtic cat including Celtic knotwork. This was really difficult to do.
I was pleased with the work and glad I did it. I don’t do such complicated things these days. Very difficult to follow the rules of knotwork so that the overlapping patterns need to follow. Oil on canvas think.
I went to an event planning meeting today at BArts in Stoke. It’s going to be an opera based on the witch (wise woman) from Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, who was alive in the 17th and 18th centuries. She was buried at 90 degrees to the normal North South orientation.
From Wikipedia :
Margaret ‘Molly’ Leigh (1685–March 1748) was an English property owner in the Staffordshire town of Burslem who, in her will, left substantial sums to charity. She was also accused of witchcraft, and, after her death, her grave was disturbed following claims she was haunting the town.
We had a singing session based on some of her life and the treatment she received from her neighbours. We were also invited to create some art based on her life. (hence the tub of pencil crayons. The opera is due to be put on later this summer.
Cat paw on my hand, he likes saying hello. Hello in the morning, when he comes up to me, assumes the “staring” position and waits to be fed! Then sometimes he will reach out with his paw to greet me. My other two don’t do that. One sharpens her claws on my leg, pulling holes in my leggings, the third likes to head butt my hand in greeting. Sweet.
Going downstairs?
Mind the cat!
Black on dark grey
Only a band of white
Saves me from standing on him
He sleeps on one side
Of a step
Leaving the other half
For my feet.
He doesn’t want to move
Only shifting
Reluctantly.
Each morning I get
safely downstairs
I feel relieved
Squeezing a tube of paint for today’s picture and the top of the tube was blocked. I tried to gouge the piece of card stuck to it and paint squirted out all over my hand! I cleaned most of it off but then thought it would be interesting to take picture of my thumb….
It’s an occupational hazard, that and getting paint on my clothes too. I managed to get blue paint on my top. Most of the paint I use is waterbased, like acrylic, but if you don’t wash it off quickly it can dry and form a skin of plastic on your clothes. In the case of oil paints, they stay wet for longer and can be cleaned by wiping off the excess with a cloth or paper towel, then using synthetic turpentine to dissolve the oil paint and wash it out with detergent.
Painting of a seascape done at a Jo Watson workshop. It’s not finished but I ran out of time. The top photo was taken in bright sunshine, the second at home in a darker space. Interesting how the second one has warmer tones, but it’s exactly the same painting. I went a bit Bob Ross, but I’m after more of a Turner feeling. Acrylic, ink, emulsion on canvas. Using brushes, palette knife and scraper card. Although I might have added orange later.?
Primrose, daffodils, forget me nots,
Bring me riots of flowers
Cascading colours
Twining stems and leaves,
Blue skies, warm breezes
Am I too optimistic?
Scenery painting from a few years ago… I think I got the arms too long, the flame too small and the head too small too! But anyway it gives an impression of lady liberty. This was done for a pantomime just before or after the pandemic. I can’t remember.
And….. I think all that is happening in the USA at the moment has pantomime qualities. The two ugly sisters are obviously two billionaires. The fact that in a pantomime they would be men wearing drag is very ironic!
Who is Aladdin or the hero of this panto? Who can say, but it needs to be someone brave who will stand up to bullying! Maybe he should be a Robin Hood character instead, taking from the rich and giving to the poor?
Lady Liberty could be a Cinderella figure, she is there to support the huddled masses and the poor. She understands their situation as she is an immigrant from France.
Finally the whole thing is stage managed with boos and hisses… Evil takes control for a while but Good will triumph in the end. And the baddies will be banished!
On Tuesday night I got trapped in my car. I booked it in a garage to try and get it fixed. The mechanic came and took the car this morning but came back in less than an hour. They said the lock and window are now working. They think the window lock button might have got knocked accidentally? Also the door opens now? I hope it’s just reset itself, but it makes me nervous, I might have to try and visit friends and make sure they are in if I visit. I will also have my phone at the front of the car so I can get to it straight away. If I decide to drive myself to the shops I might need someone to let me out!
I like this one.. Almost alien, orchid looking. Another kaleidiscopic view of white and yellow tulips. The wilting petals curve and writhe in a frenzy of slow motion death. I could imagine it as a 3d printed plastic shape. A strange receptical for a bee or hummingbird to drink at. Almost like candied or crystalised fruit. It could be a sweet treat of spun sugar.
Mallaband-Brown