New paintings and regular art updates.
Three years ago I painted my hubby ‘my green man’. It came up on my Facebook memories today. He is a green man, gardening does him good, helps him to try and relax. He is a bunging in gardener, there’s no rhyme or reasoning to his planting, and he just plants things where he likes, but he must have green fingers. That’s why I painted him as a green man. Acrylic on canvas.
Ten years ago I painted this beautiful flower. I think it’s a type of poppy called Shirley, I grew some from seeds. What I like is the pale centre instead of the usual dark, or black pattern in the middle. I deliberately used a pale background to compliment the light reflected on the petals. When poppies unfurl from their buds they look papery but they are quite strong, not delicate, its just a shame they don’t last very long and soon fade.
Something has happened! I’ve decided I need to try and do craft fairs again. I have asked to do a couple, over two weekends. I don’t think I’m ever going to make money at it but I hope to cheer people up with my little paintings. I only charge a few pounds for them, but they don’t take up too much space and they can get placed on shelves instead of having to be hung on walls… Now I just need some more small canvases.
In Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent is a place called Bethesda Methodist Chapel. It has been being restored over several years now. I have visited to sing there in performances with our choir. The building has gone from a crumbling shell to a much more robust structure. It is currently still being restored. One thing I have noticed are the spectacular stained glass windows. Methodist chapels are usually plain and simple. The wooden pews are unadorned. But the glass windows make me smile. It’s just beautiful art.
I just took my Heron painting to the cafe at Etruria Industrial Museum to swap it for the one of the waterfall that I have sold. I will try and deliver that to my friend soon who bought it from me. I need to do some more work because I have the opportunity of showing some small paintings at a new venue that is opening up in Middleport, Stoke-on-Trent, near the Middleport pottery. I’m trying to grab opportunity where I can.
Paint dots abstract on a tiny canvas. I used little glittery paint tubs with nozzles to build this up on a tiny canvas . It is not meant to signify anything. Instead it’s just an experiment. I wanted to see how much the paint would shrink as it dried. The paint is acrylic with added glitter/sparkles or a metallic effect. I don’t have a title for it.
You could go to a beach and find someone just painting stones as a job (Lulworth Cove in Dorset). A respectable way of earning some money as an artist. Sitting in the sunshine, working on imaginative designs. We bought one with a blue octopus painted on it. The stones were probably collected off the shingle beach (yes I’m writing about different shingles). I would love to go back there but I doubt this artist would still be plying his trade. Yes the world has changed.
Detail from a life study I did several years ago. I’ve chosen the figure in the background who is drawing because I think it’s important in a painting or drawing to show what is going on around the subject. This figure mirrors the seated life model to dome extent. On the other side of the picture is a large cloth hanging down over a screen and table. The artist on the right helps balance the image up. I used a large round brush with a good point to paint in the textures and thin lines. I did this directly onto the paper. I rarely do any pencil drawing on things like this, I draw with my brush.
It was called Dasies. The figure in the doorway was my friend at the time. But like the painting she was strange. A complex person that tried to do things and disturb my life. I think she might have been OK, but one day she did something that completely lost my trust in her. I won’t go into detail, but she showed an uncaring side that really hurt me and my hubby. I could have forgiven her, I could have accepted her apologies, but why should I?
What do the Dasies and plants signify? Because it was before the split, I think probably I was trying to beautify the image. The garden was not as floriferous as this. It was a gift for either her birthday or Christmas. She was good at hiding her thoughts and the slightly surreal air was trying to capture that. I think most of my paintings are quite narrative. I’m glad I kept a photo of it, I have lost track of the paintings I have done over the years. Perhaps this ended up in the bin?
a few years ago at lifedrawing at Burslem Schoolo of Art, just found this photo- watercolour painting.
Mallaband-Brown