St George and the Dragon

Posted on March 13, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Dragon, fifteenth century, Italian artist, Life, Painting, Paolo Uccello, Princess, St George and the Dragon, wounded4 Comments

Detail of a dragon wounded by St George. Held on a line by a Princess it had captured. In this oil on canvas by Paolo Uccello, painted around 1460, the dragon, a mythical beast has been challenged after capturing a towns people including the Kings daughter.

As I’m doing my report I am noticing different things. In this case, the dragon only has two legs, and its leathery wings have white circles on them like a butterfly or moth. The long curling tail seems to balance its head and body. This dragon is more birdlike than serpentine. It could also resemble a dinosaur, perhaps a pterodactyl even though Uccello would probably not have seen fossilised bones. But in one of those strange coincidences this could be a type of evolution. An artist expressing a current idea that will eventually change to more modern forms of dragon.

slow internet

Posted on March 9, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged blurred image, Computer, Dial up modem, Fine Art, Laptop, modem, Mouse, Old phone, pc, Phone, Photoshop, round dial, track padLeave a comment

seaside image, blurred with different images

You know the feeling, an egg timer or a circle twirling. The second hand of a clock ticks..too..slowly…

Life nowadays is frenetic. Be There Now! See this Ad! Watch this Vid! Even our phrases are shortened to cram more information in. Life begins to make your head spin. And if you don’t keep up? You get left behind. There is a current advert on the TV (television) with someone attacking and smashing their router because their broadband is too slow. Do you remember Dial Up Modems? Whir whir diddle diddle, a strange tune to listen to as the modem selected the digits of the Internet service provider?At least thats what I imagined it was doing. When if you got ten emails in a day you were overwhelmed. Now? thats nothing. We are superglued to our screens.. (not really).

Before that. Dial up phones with a circular dial that you had to turn to get the numbers dialled. 0 took ages as your finger was placed in the 0 hole and then you pushed the dial round till it reached the bit that actuated the number…hard to explain to you youngsters out there.

Seriously.

LET GO OF YOUR MOUSE OR EQUIVALENT.

GO OUTSIDE

LOOK AT THE SKY, OR A TREE…

SEE?

You can survive without it!

Mural in Fenton Cafe

Posted on March 5, 2022July 6, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Colourful, Design, Fenton Town Hall, Fine Art, Fun, Painting, pottery history3 Comments

Mural at Fenton Town Hall by an unknown artist. It is painted in tiny squares (like pixels) and based on a plate design of an oak tree, cottages and a tumble down fence. I’ve seen it before about two years ago. Now it’s much more complete. It’s a huge picture. Very interesting and beautiful.

I had been told by staff there that it had been painted by a particular artist. I’m afraid that was not true and I’m happy to set the matter straight and confirm it was not painted by her.

Reflected sky

Posted on March 2, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, England, Fine Art, Landscape, Painting, Sky, Spode site, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

I can’t find the photo of a finished painting. It had more detail on the wooden supports between the panes of glass. The paint was peeling off and chipped and that’s what attracted me to the image. I’m the final version you can see me and my phone reflected in the surface. It’s an image of the Spode factory site. Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire.

Green man textured

Posted on March 1, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Design, Filtered, Fine Art, Green man, Painting, phone appLeave a comment

I love pattern so when I painted this I thought I was happy with it. THEN I decided to put it through a filter and add texture. Now I think I will paint over it and emphasise the curves and patterns. Making the most of the Holly and Ivy leaves and concentrating on the various greens. I could see it as a card or a notelet. I do love green men.

Forty

Posted on February 27, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Digital filter, Fine Art, Forty, Life, Painting, Photoshop, self portrait, Time passesLeave a comment

A self portrait I did aged forty but filtered to obscure it. It’s twenty years old and I can’t remember why I did it. I think I was experimenting with photoshop at the time. It’s me wearing a reuse, recycle, repair tee shirt (which I still have somewhere). My hair was in a short bob and I painted the book covers on the bookcase with the titles of all my favourite books. Maybe I will use a different filter and see how that affects the painting. I seem to do a self portrait every ten years, so a while to go till the next one. X

Georges remembered

Posted on February 25, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, bottle nosed dolphin, Dolphin, Georges, Landscape, Sea, Seascape, Waves2 Comments

I spoke about doing a painting of Georges the dolphin a few weeks ago and yesterday I got a chance to take a photo of the painting which is acrylic on canvas. I forgot how much I loved painting this. I think he was a bottle nosed dolphin. They have upturned mouths that make them look like they are permanently smiling.

I think I looked at a photo of a dolphin to know where the fins were but the rest is imagined and the landscape is based on the south Devon coastline.

Memories of panto

Posted on February 23, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Design, Emulsion on board, Fun, Humour, Painting, Panto, Pantomime, SceneryLeave a comment

Some of my scenery painting from a couple of years ago. I had to paint the backgrounds but also one of the stars of the show climbs into a mangle (that squashes clothes to get the water out) and he comes out flattened, a bit like a Tom and Jerry cartoon. I also painted the back of him on the other side so if it came out wrong way round it would also work. Behind me and the actors portrait is a bit of my scenery. It shows an old market or bazaar where Widow Twankey has a stall. If I can I’d like to try and do the same again if my arm and shoulder improves.

Tree view

Posted on February 18, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Branches, Leaves, Looking, Memory, Painting, TreesLeave a comment

When you stand under a tree remember to look up. You might be surprised to see the pattern the branches make and how the leaves don’t always overlap so they can absorb as much light as possible. Spreading out towards the light (phototropism) is where plants bent their stems to move towards the light. Look at the different shaped trees make, depending on the species. Some even have nicknames. Ash trees are supposed to have branches like witches fingers. This was one of my paintings from about twenty years ago.

WIP a while ago

Posted on February 18, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Ceramic, Fine Art, Painting, Pottery, Sad, Shaking, Work in progress4 Comments

Before my arm started shaking I was doing paintings like this. (for the last year and a half or so my left arm has been gradually getting worse with increased shaking ) Then I had to see the doctor and mentioned the problem. He said it was above his pay grade! I am waiting for tests. The thing is that art and particularly painting mean everything to me. I don’t know if lockdowns have knocked my confidence? Plus illness gets to you. Making it more difficult to complete work. I’ve got myself into a situation where I will do quick pictures and sketches, but I feel nervous of doing anything more substantial. I don’t usually talk about how I feel mentally, but I’m feeling down today. I will probably be OK tomorrow?

Mallaband-Brown

Category: Fine Art