Insect puppet!

Posted on June 26, 2023June 26, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Design, Etruria canal festival, Fine Art, Puppet, puppeteers, Sculpture, skilled2 Comments

I think this man sized puppet at Etruria canal festival a couple of weeks ago was meant to be a preying mantis. I didn’t get the details of the puppet theatre company but they are obviously very skilled makers! I think this is absolutely beautiful (sorry if you don’t like insects), the colours are amazing and the way it is painted with such great detail is a tour de force. If anyone knows the name of the puppiteers please let me know, put it in the comments. Then I will edit this post and include it here. X

Lifedrawing

Posted on June 24, 2023June 24, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Cartridge paper, Drawing, Felt pens, Life, Life drawing, life model, Sketching, watercolour pencils2 Comments

Life drawing, 30 minute sketch with the Orme Art Group. Felt pen and water colour pencil sketch. Dark blue acrylic paint curtain courtesy Steph from the group. Back to work again in a min!

Planter

Posted on June 23, 2023June 23, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on wood, acrylic paints, bottle oven planter, Bricks, Painting, Yatch varnish2 Comments

The falcon works in Stoke has an emblem on the wall of the old derelict pottery, it is a Goss hawk. I took a photo of it and painted it onto this wooden planter from Project 2000?in Stoke on Trent. I painted on all the individual bricks too. It’s been outside for a couple of years and it’s still looking good because I put a thick layer of yatch varnish all over it to protect it.

Tree spirits

Posted on June 17, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Commission, Faces, Fine Art, Painting acrylic on canvas, Pareidolia, Tree spirits2 Comments

An old commission from a few years ago called tree spirits. Another experimental piece. It is part of my pareidolia, seeing images of faces or animals in objects. The orange, green and purple were used to give it a feeling of dawn or sunset.

Monkey and bug hotel sculptures

Posted on June 11, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, bug hotel, Life, Macaque Monkeys, Sculpture, Trentham Monkey Forest, willow weavingLeave a comment

Monkey made by willow weaving, tree trunk carving, bottle kiln shaped bug hotel and a large house shaped bug hotel. These are in the entrance compound of the Monkey Forest before you actually walk around the money enclosure. It’s interesting to see the different ideas that the sculptors have come up with.

Degree shows

Posted on June 10, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged BA honours, Degree shows, excellent, final day, Fine Art, Interesting, Painting, Sculpture, Staffordshire UniversityLeave a comment

Today was the last day of the Fine Art BA (honours) degree shows, and art foundation show at Staffordshire University. It’s an annual event and I have tried to get there most years since I graduated from there myself.

I think this year the body of work was excellent. There seemed to be a resurgence of painting and there was some beautiful art. There was quirky, humourous and poignant art too. Dotted throughout the show were “Mushroom Creatures” for a piece called “the oddity of connection”. They were small felted wool figures with mushroom heads or hairstyles. Very unusual. A bit like mythological creatures, I think they had won first place in the degree show.

I’m so glad I was reminded to go to see the shows. And lovely to see such a variety of styles, it takes me right back to when I was there all those years ago.

WIP my friends dog

Posted on June 9, 2023June 9, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Animal portrait, Dog, Friend, Martha, Pet, Portrait, Watercolour, Work in progress6 Comments

To reduce my stress levels I decided to start a small watercolour of my friend Martha’s dog. I’ve been promising it for ages, but with everything that’s been going on I decided to wait until I felt slightly happier. Anyway, the floodgates finally opened today and I was able to finish two portraits. So why not make another start. It’s nice to use watercolours again. Hard to keep the colours light enough. I shall post it soon, about A5 size.

My tribute

Posted on June 9, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, at peace, Fine Art, Finished, Life, Portrait, Sister, Small painting, Twin4 Comments

Tribute to my lost sister, as a young woman. I promised it but it’s taken months to finish. Perhaps I can finally move on? It sat half done, staring at me. But I feel she is at rest. Art has always been my freedom. I can work through my feelings when I do it. Life has to go on, even though its sometimes really tough.

Finished!

Posted on June 9, 2023June 9, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Abstract, Acrylic on canvas, Fine Art, Morris Man / Steam Punk, Phil?, Portrait, TiredLeave a comment

I could have continued to adjust this but I’m tired out and my arm is shaking too much. The entry date is Monday for the three counties open exhibition with Keele University in Staffordshire. I didn’t want to leave it till the last minute. Wish me luck!

Almost done….

Posted on June 8, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Clocks, Cogs, Dancer, morris man, Painting, Phil?, steam punk, Work in progress2 Comments

The cogs are a bit messy on the hat. I might change the shading, but I’m painting under electric light now so it’s got a different cast or hue to how it was painting in daylight. But it’s almost done…. Tiring and hard to see details…. I’ve added a few gold highlights, I might add some silvers. I will have it done by tomorrow I think….

Mallaband-Brown

Category: Fine Art