Category: Fine Art

Three counties open

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I’m very pleased to say I have had my painting ‘coast’ accepted in the three counties open exhibition in Burslem School of art later this year.

Burslem School of Art is famous for teaching artists their skills in the early twentieth century. I think Clarice Cliff was one of their students. I know the artist Arthur Berry studied there before becoming famous as the potteries ‘Lowry’.

It’s great that a physical exhibition will actually be held this year. I hope many people will be able to come and see it.

Quick sketches (life drawings)

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Warning contains nudity.

A ten minute and fifteen minute sketch I recently completed at a life drawing group a few weeks ago. Looking at them now I can see that the details are not correct, but not too bad. The leg lengths on the second sketch are definitely too short. You can see how I tried to extend them a bit. When you draw a figure it’s a good idea to work out where to place the head. If you are too low on the page you run the risk of losing the lower half of the figure as in the first, ten minute sketch. But these were swift sketches, drawn on pale brown Ingres paper which is suitable for the mid tones then drawn in black ink fine line pen and shaded with pencil crayons.

One thing I hate with life studies is when artists leave the head off. Especially when it’s a female study. To me, they may not be able to draw facial features, but by leaving the head off it makes the figure look more like a slab of meat, disturbing and disrespectful of the female model.

New work

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New painting, based on the lower photo of Dorothy Clive Garden waterfall. I’m working from a filtered photograph of it that has added texture to it. I will try and post an update later. I was trying to find an image to work from for the afternoon at the Orme Art Group today. I was worried about the yellow and green and purple colours, are they to muddy….? But now I’ve started adding a pop of red in places I’m happier. It is something that is making me happy, so I will carry on.

My Burslem Angel mural

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Thank you Sharon Crisp for sending me a photo of my Burslem Angel mural (lost in the fire in the Leopard Hotel in Burslem). It was painted in emulsion directly into a framed area on the wall that had originally been filled with flock wallpaper. I had asked if anyone had images of my murals a few months ago. This one was missing as was on of a woman standing outside a pottery with a row of bottle kilns. I’m really pleased to see this again.

I think it’s interesting how the clouds in the background look like smoke or flames.

Mural in Stoke

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Watch out, there’s a Leopard about. Take a walk in the wild side of Stoke, down a side street, off the main road. Strong colours against a black background. Stars shine out from the painting. I want to find out if this is finished or whether there is more to come. What is it painted in? Will it be permanent or will it flake and fade in a few years. It’s painted directly onto the brick so I imagine it will weather and peel.

Blue crab

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Finished painting

I said I would post a picture of this finished painting of a blue crab when it had got to its new home. I tried to make it accurate but its quite hard to work out the fine details. I also brightened the blues and toned down the sandy background. I made the area behind the crab softer so that it goes backwards out of focus and added more detail to the foreground. It’s new owner is pleased with it I think.

Digitally altered

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I am not listing what I did to this, I just like the end result! Computer programs and apps can do lots to your work to change and distort, add or reduce colour, duplicate or delete. Its fun and it’s great to experiment, at least that’s what I think. Splodges turn into complex patterns. Acrylic paint, felt pens and megabits!

Local murals

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Round the back of B’arts are a series of three murals. I think they may be constellations? I know there is a star group called Draco but I’m not sure about the Leopard or the Hare /rabbit? Anyway it’s a random piece of art but I do like it. There are chalked in letters above each animal so I’m guessing it’s not finished yet? Whatever, I love the movement in the animals. Good to see colourful art in the area.

Getting up late

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I am what they call a night owl. One of those people that stays up too late, can’t sleep and then get up too late. Half the day has gone before I see daylight.

Sometimes I don’t start painting till the afternoon. Then it means that I end up painting under artificial light. That’s OK but it affects he colours that I paint with. The light does make everything look more yellow and you cannot really see blues properly. I will wait till daytime to check the real colour (we live on a planet with blue skies and everything has a blue cast to it, but we don’t see it because our eyesight adjusts to it).

What shall I paint next?

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I don’t know what to paint next, I have so many paintings, maybe too many? If anything ever happens to me will they end up in a charity shop? Should I donate some to my local museum? I’m responsible for a lot of acrylic on canvas! The thing is I love painting and drawing so much. I hope I bring as much enjoyment to other peoples lives as possible. Art makes me feel better, more relaxed, happy, or sometimes sad, contemplative, thoughtful, or just calm.