Nine years ago

Posted on January 19, 2021January 19, 2021 Posted in Cat, Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Black and white cat, Flowers, Life, Memories, Painting, Portrait, Sad, Tuxedo catLeave a comment

On my Facebook memories. One of our old cats plus a painting I did of him. I can’t help but notice the similarity between him and our outdoor cat.

Cats come and go, but most of the ones we have had have been black and white ‘tuxedo cats’.

Why? Most of our cats were strays or rescue cats when we got them. Perhaps there is a cat family in the area, maybe they have the same antecedents? Certainly this cat could be the father of our new cat, or related in some way. I’m glad they came to us and sad that we lost this one. He passed away about nine years ago and might have been poisoned by antifreeze. He went missing and when we found him he was already dead. Such a shock. I miss him.

Arthur Berry

Posted on January 18, 2021 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Arthur Berry, Fine Art, head of a woman, lecturer, North Staffs polytechnic, pastel drawing, tutorLeave a comment

I have an Arthur Berry picture of a woman’s head, a pastel drawing. I got it a couple of years ago and I remember him as one of my tutors when I was at college a few decades ago. He was an interesting man, author, artist, playwrite, poet. The potteries Lowry. His technique was unique. Dark pastels and charcoal, depicting the potteries, it’s surroundings, its characters. Laughter and humour is part of it. I love his work.

Watching Sky Landscape artist..

Posted on January 13, 2021 Posted in Fine Art, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #skylandscapeartist, A5 sketch pad, Art, Chartwell, Churchill, Life, Painting, quick painting, Sketching, TV programme2 Comments

Tried to paint Chartwell while watching #skylandscapeartist, bit old fashioned? Took about fifty minutes, in watercolour. Hard to hold my phone and a little A5 sketchpad at the same time and paint and watch the TV.

Watercolour sketch. My frozen shoulder makes my arm shake so the lines are a bit wobbly.

Copying Bonnard

Posted on January 8, 2021 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Bonnard, Collaboration, numbered squares, Orme Art group, Painter, Painting, winter challenge9 Comments

Orme art groups winter challenge was to take a numbered square from this Bonnard painting and try and copy it. Then when they are done by group members they are pieced back together as a final collaboration of the group.

I did one using felt pens and permanent markers. This one is done in watercolours. I’m not completely convinced by my painting but I’m not going to do any more to it. X

From Australia

Posted on December 31, 2020December 31, 2020 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged antipodean, Australia, far away, Fridge magnets, greetings card, Life, New year, Seasons greetingsLeave a comment

This arrived in the post this morning.

A card and two fridge magnets from an old friend. She lives in Australia and these are her lovely art works. I love them and it’s so kind of her to send them. Goodness knows how long it takes to post something all that way.

I know the sun is probably set on the other side of the world, and they are in mid summer. Their new years day will be later (no earlier! Oops) than ours by about twelve hours. Hope she has a good new year x

Memories of a painting

Posted on December 27, 2020December 27, 2020 Posted in Cat, Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Bad wiring, Cat, Cloth covered wiring, Dangerous, Life, Livingroom floor, Oil on canvas, Old House, Old painting, Old wiringLeave a comment

Old painting I did a long time ago. It was painted in the living room of our old house. The floor was collapsing into the cellar and was held up by a large steel bar with two scaffolding poles holding each end. The cellar was also wet, it used to drip condensation onto the floor. I remember the wiring was bad. The flex to the lights was twisted and cloth covered. If you touched it bits would drop off. If I wanted to change a light bulb I used to put insulation tape around the wire. The bathroom was an old coal shed that had been knocked through. Our neighbour complained about a bulge on our wall so the dangerous buildings inspector came out. The bulge was OK it had been built like that. But we had to move because he warned our landlord that the property was not safe. We bought the painting with us to the new house.

Bauble paintings

Posted on December 25, 2020 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Bauble, Christmas, Glass bauble, Memories, Painting, Ribbon, Tree decoration2 Comments

One of my bauble paintings that I did a few years ago. I did quite a few of them and they were only two inches by three. I was trying to paint old fashioned glass baubles. You don’t get them much these days. Sometimes they had a curved hollow in them with a reflective surface so they glittered in the light of fairy lights. It was a memory from forty or fifty years ago. Old fashioned and nice…..

Acrylic on canvas, with ribbon on the back so they can be hung on a Christmas tree.

Found old paints

Posted on December 9, 2020 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Art box, Chalks, Coloured pencils, Cupboard drawer, Found!, Life, Oil paints, Pallette, Thirty years, Watercolours3 Comments

Found these paints in the back of a drawer. About thirty years old!

They are Rowney Oils and Windsor and Newton Watercolours and a box of various paints, chalks, and coloured pencil. Goodness knows why they got put away. I haven’t checked the oils, they may have dried out, but the watercolours and chalks and pencils should be fine. I think I could call this a win!

Jupiter swirls

Posted on December 6, 2020 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Atmosphere, Blue, Colour, Fine Art, Gaseous, Jupiter, Painting, SwirlsLeave a comment

Painting I did of the gaseous swirls of one of Jupiter’s polar regions. The photos were taken by NASAs Juno probe. I was amazed at the colours and patterns on that fantastic world and had to have a go..

It’s a large acrylic on canvas. I think I painted it two years ago and it was included in an exhibition called ‘blue’ at Spode Studios, Eleanora Street, Stoke-upon-Trent, which is one of the six towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent.

lobster painting

Posted on December 6, 2020 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, blue lobster, crab painting, Environment, Fine Art, Lobster, neatness, Painting, professional, sea life5 Comments

A blue lobster I painted earlier in the year ( I used a stock image off Google to work from) I’ve now got to paint a purple crab to accompany it! I find it quite difficult holding my phone as I cant always print images off. It’s also interesting that I have reverted back to my old signature, I had started signing things “Mallaband-Brown” simply because my name is so long its not always easy to fit my full name on. Also it is meant to be my brand (my blog is called mallaband-Brown too). There are so many things I should be doing to improve the look of what I post. For instance this image is twisted slightly, so the edges of the canvas do not line up with the edges of the picture… I guess I should pay more attention, but my brain is more involved in the actual painting than being neat!