From thirty years ago?

From an old slide

Finding things that I haven’t seen for years. There is a set of old slides that I might try and get turned into photos. I’ve also seen an app where you can convert negatives to photos on your phone, which is great, but I already have them in albums and do I need more on my devices? I wish I still had the painting but it was sold to the local MP at the time. I think it ended up at the house of commons!

This was a friend years ago. I painted it with the idea that the perspective of the window gave it an interesting effect. The figure looks large in comparison to the shelves across the window. I also liked the slightly twisted pose. It’s an oil on canvas.

Horse at Trentham

Copper tree, copper sculpture. Photo taken at Trentham Gardens last year. I think it looks Grecian, or Celtic. I like to collect interesting images and this was very striking. I think it’s on the far side of Trentham Gardens Lake? I haven’t been back since with all the problems with the virus and the way things are going it might be winter or later before I go back? Various parts of the country have gone back into increasing quarentine measures. The threat for them is fines of up to £10000 for breaking the rules. So I will remember things rather than going out much. I will try and stay safe, and watch small businesses fail. The world is beautiful and sad.

Possible exhibition

I might be having an exhibition in October. There is a slot free at a gallery where I have exhibited before. What I need to do is produce some new works. It might be based on my Urban sketches, or something totally new and colourful. I will have to be careful though as I start my next semester on my college course on Monday, so I will have to try and fit everything in to a limited timescale. Got to have a discussion.

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Orme art group project.

Collaboration

Orme Art group collaboration on a Henri Rousseau painting done for August. We have all taken one or two squares and created this amalgamation of styles. Mine are the one with the head and the body of the guitar. It’s good to see everyones techniques and takes on the subject. How some bits don’t line up, but overall it has a wow factor. Hope you enjoy.

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Giraffes

I found these on my phone, small, colourful paintings in acrylic an tiny canvases. I think these were done a couple of years ago. I paint so many different things. I remember a lady from South Africa really liking these and getting one of them for her mother.

Today I get my results for my First term doing an MA. I hope I’ve done OK. You have to paint a lot of giraffes to get enough money to live on. So I’m trying to diversify! If I can get some illustration work that would be helpful. So fingers crossed and a deep breath. I will try and stay calm. X

Wedding painting

Painting done from two photos of our wedding. I chose each portrait from one or other photo and fitted them together. I’ve got photoshop on my computer but I just did this by eye. And yes my sister is a lot taller than me. My hubby is looking like some sort of ambassador! Family and friends arranged up the stairs at the registry office. I love this painting, I had it framed and it has pride of place in our house. There are twenty nine portraits on the painting.

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Spode window.

Spode window

I’m in the reflection, you can see my fingers holding my phone in the bottom right hand pane of glass. Acrylic on canvas. Approx three foot by two foot. Painted a couple of years ago and exhibited at Spode and The Waiting room gallery at Longport. I’ve not painted much for the last six months because of covid 19 and doing my MA in illustration. But I know I need to paint again. I don’t want it to stop. I will be planning to paint more images from the Spode site. I love industrial archaeology. I hope to celebrate more of it in paint.

Tree spirits

Acrylic on canvas

I keep finding old photos of paintings that I have done over the years. This was called tree spirits and went to a lovely couple who had fallen in love with it. Those that follow my blog know I love pattern and shapes. My favourite shape is the spiral. I don’t know why… But curving round and twisting, leaves shading the faces. I want to do more like this.

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My mural of Molly Leigh

Molly Leigh was said to be the Burslem witch. She lived in a small cottage, a photo of which I based this picture on. There are no photos of her so I tried to find a painting of an elderly woman from about that time and chose a picture of a French peasant by Theodore Gericault as an inspiration. The plants in the background are meant to be foxgloves and different herbs in a garden I imagined to be full of things you could use for remedies. I didn’t find much out about her life, except she is meant to be buried in a local church yard with the grave orientated East West, instead of the normal North South way. We went for a walk and ended up in the graveyard, only to get told off by someone from the church who kept getting people messing about round Mollys grave. When we explained we were on a photo walk of Burslem and we didn’t want to do any strange rituals he was OK. The painting is set on a night of the full moon and I tried to make the sky atmospheric and spooky. I’m sorry people won’t be able to see my murals in the Leopard anymore. No doubt they will be painted over or removed.