New paintings and regular art updates.
This is hard work, I don’t shake as much when I’m concentrating but the tremors of Parkinsons make small details difficult. I try and hold my breath and clamp my arm against my body. In fact I’m having to redo sections because I’m not happy with the results, but I will persevere, memory of Molly, work in progress. Acrylic on canvas. Copy of a mural I did at the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. Difficult to reproduce the same feeling.
Trying to recreate my Molly Leigh mural as a painting. Work in progress. Acrylic on canvas. It’s a lot smaller, about 12 by 18 inches? There’s a lot of detail to try and get and I’m adding a painting of a Jay. The bird was apparently the pet (or familiar) of Molly who is called the Burslem witch.
A photo of me taken by a friend when I was trying to sell small paintings at craft fairs. I’m afraid covid really knocked the head on this, I’ve only done a few small craft fairs since this and basically just one or two in 2023. The cost of hiring a stall usually cancelled out any sales money and also the cost of buying art supplies made the idea non viable. But I tried and I made some nice friends.
I had a lovely surprise this morning, a message from a lady who I had done a painting for, for their wedding present. It was a commission for her and her husband by her neighbour who I used to work with. It’s dated 1996.
Mevagissey is in Cornwall in the South West of England. We drove down to it on a day trip one summer.
It’s a long time ago and sadly I don’t remember painting it, but it’s got my signature on it and is dated, so it’s definitely mine. I used to like painting landscapes like this, the detail is such a challenge, getting it accurate. I doubt I could do it now.
The lady says she still has it on display and it’s admired by her friends. Not bad for thirty years ago! It’s so good to know my work is appreciated.
Going through my art trying to find images with sunlight in them. I came across the this semi abstract portrait of a Steam Punk. It’s from a photo I took at The Etruria Canal Festival either last year or the year before?
I like experimenting, especially since my arm shakes, so I can integrate that into the paintings, or try something even more different if I want?
I painted this mural several years ago on the wall in the Arnold Bennett suite in the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. The building sadly burnt down on 22nd January 2023 and remains a burned out husk of the former historical hotel.
It represents the Burslem witch Molly Leigh.
Margaret ‘Molly’ Leigh 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. Wikipedia
Born 1685, died 1746.
Her grave is in a Burslem church yard and is set at 90° to the other graves to indicate witchcraft.
My painting shows her old cottage and medicinal plants such as foxgloves. It’s a moonlit night and I painted a ring of icy cloud around the moon to make it more spooky. The ancient woman depicted is actually based on a French peasant woman by Theodore Gericault.
I’m going to try and get to an art project about Molly Leigh, the witch of Burslem. I want to try and do a painting of her, but I only had a bit of time today, and because I’m trying to get back into painting again I decided to paint an owl. I did it because it’s a magical kind of bird, the way they can fly silent as a whisper to catch their prey. It’s a small acrylic on canvas. I’m not sure of the species as I based this on a precious owl painting I did a few years ago.
Self portrait reflected in a stained glass window at Little Moreton Hall in Staffordshire. The idea was to create a ghostly image in keeping with the age of the property. I could have gone all out and added an Elizabethan headdress but I didn’t want to over complicate the idea. The painting is set at sunset when things get a bit more spooky. I do like creating narrative images.
My friend took this photo for me as the camera on my phone keeps glitching. I’m part way through painting a green woman for someone and I want the background behind her to be trees.
There are silver birches in the grounds of the community centre where I attend our art group so we went out and I chose the trees I wanted pictures of. It helps to see the shapes of their trunks and branches instead of trying to imagine them. The details of the bark are fascinating and I hope to try and reproduce the patterns.
I’ll post a photo of the work in progress later but I want to tidy it up a bit first, it’s a bit like a mediaeval illustration at the moment, I need to make it more subtle.
I think there’s a bit of Pareidolia going on here as I can see a face in the tree bark.
What topics do you like to discuss?
That’s why I like trying to paint astronomical pictures, like this tryptic of Jupiters pole based on the photos by NASAs Juno probe.
I’ve always been interested in both subjects, I wouldn’t say I was an expert, I will always check my facts if I write about science, but I enjoy thinking things through. And having a visual mind helps me imagine how things work.
Art is my first love, I worry that I will find it increasingly difficult to create since my diagnosis with Parkinsons disease. I would be bereft if I could not continue. I hope that better treatment becomes available, another reason for being interested in science
Mallaband-Brown