New paintings and regular art updates.
I think I might do some poems about colours…..
Yellow
Banana,
Gold,
Lemon,
Custard,
Nice things are made of this….
But..
Pus
Bile
Lava
Can be nasty too!
Yellowish green, orangey yellow, pale, dark, umber, sand….
Sunshine, egg yolk, khaki, cadmium, sulphur, icecream
And vanilla…
Yellow lights up our life, heat in the desert, fire in dream.
Never shadowed
Adorned, arisen , shone.
Going to an arts group is a great way to start painting again when you are struggling.
I’m a member of a couple of groups so I spent a few hours today doing a couple of little paintings, a view of a hill with a sunset adapted from an old magazine photo and a green man or woman (not sure yet) from my imagination, but taking the eyes , mouth and nose from a face on a leaflet at a local fire station where we hire a room once a month.
As usual I’m concerned with colours, trying to get them right…is there too much brown in the green person painting? Is the sunset too dazzling in the hill and lake painting (which is only about 1 by 1 and 1/2 inches).
I started discussing skies with other members of the group. Trying to think through how to render the light on clouds as the sun sets. To be honest when I get my hands on a paintbrush and paints I soon start creating again. The friendly support of the other members of the group just gave me that lift I needed.
If you can join a group I would recommend it. Each person had a unique idea of what they wanted to paint or draw. We all have our own styles, and some people wanted to use pastels, while others were using oils or acrylics. Each make marks differently. It’s wonderful to take a walk round the room and watch the progress of the artists there.
So…….the block is broken. There may be a mass of pictures coming this way soon!
I want to paint, I have to have new work done in ten days, but apart from a few sketches I’m stuck.
I look at old paintings and drawings, and they are not good enough for what I’m doing, they don’t come up to scratch. They need to represent me, my art. I’m trying to be professional so they all have to be good quality.
I am blocked, I am allowing my fears to hold me back. Even thinking about it makes my mind go blank. It’s the fear of failure, the belief that Im not good enough. I know its not true. I can and will probably be OK, but its the fear…..
I can’t imagine being on the other side of it though. My stomach is fluttering. My mind is empty. I do not want to pick up my paintbrush. There’s canvas’s waiting to be covered but I’m not sure what to put on them!
Is there a patron saint for painters? I hope I get some inspiration soon…….
Playing with apps, dreaming in naps, I see your eyes… ,, what a surprise!
I see your lips like pomegranate pips……..
I see your nose ,, the beauty it shows!
I see a face, hidden in lace historical place, ,, wonderful Grace.
Just playing with rhyme, enjoying this time .
There are apparently lots of Urban sketchers groups around the world. I am a member of Stoke Urban Sketchers (USK). We meet every few weekends to draw interesting places in the Towns and Cities around us.
Today we had a stall at Burslem, and members sat and drew the view and also were scattered around the town trying to draw some of the old buildings and crowds. There was also a classic car rally so these became the subject of drawings too!
I made the mistake of just taking a sketchpad and a HB pencil and a broad black marker pen. I had to borrow some coloured pencil but I think my initial sketch was not that good.
I did get into trying to draw the crowds of people, including a man with a cup of tea or coffee who kindly stood still while I drew him. I finished by drawing the old roofs across the square. I could have done more..but I was too hot and bothered. I think it got to about 28 degrees Celsius. ..thats about 10 degrees hotter than normal. Phew!
I like taking a small sketchbook with me when I visit interesting places, its easy to snap a few photos on my phone, but much more challenging to sit for 20 to 30 minutes sketching the view.
Dorothy Clive Garden is beautiful. Even at this time of year when there are mainly spring flowers and the perrenials are not out yet you can see the towering trees, Bluebells, Magnolia’s and Rhododendrons.
We walked up to the tearoom and sat and drank coffee and ate icecream while the Sun (unusually for a Bank holiday weekend) shone down. It was so hot Richard bought me a wide brimmed hat from the gift shop.
I drew the view over the lawn to a low hedge where you can see evergreen trees and branches of deciduous trees just coming into leaf. In the distance was the misty blue grey hills of Shropshire. Over the ridge is a little village called Loggerheads.
Then we walked into the quarry garden. The blackbirds and robins were singing loudly. If you follow the sound of flowing water along the paths edged with Camellia, Rhododendron, Bluebells and other flowers which are just starting to open in the spring sunlight, you round a corner and see a tree that has been cut down to a stump that is still about 15 foot tall.
The stump has had the outline of a woodpecker carved into it, and apparently has had a greater spotted woodpecker (not sure if that’s the right name) living in a hole in it for the last two years.
Follow the sound further and you find the waterfall that runs from the back of the quarry down into its bowl. It is a man made feature but still lovely. I sat and sketched it, getting lost in how to represent the vegetation against the darkened rocks.
Finally we picked up some plants for the garden that we had bought earlier and walked down the slope to the pool at the bottom of the garden. This looks like it has recently been re-lined and the black liner is visible round the edges. Looking back up the hill various evergreen trees and bushes are visible, together with the new growth of Gunnera, which will grow massive over the summer. The pool is lacking its water lilies but they should be back soon. Halfway up the hill is a little wooden summer house or pavillion. The view is splendid from there.
3 drawings were enough. It was hot and I needed a drink. But I know I will go back again soon.
X
Leaves unfurl and block the view, the sky is shaded out, green and orange, and yellow too, they cast their shade about.
Atop a hill, those huge trees grew, their roots spread wide no doubt, and round their branches… true delight I see the fields sprout.
Now came old autumn, when leaves flew, they were madly strewn about, the world is seen as if anew, and “slumber trees!” I shout.
I’m not good at rhyming. I prefer blank verse, but I thought I would have a go at making a more traditional poem.
“View” and “Out” are such simple words…you can probably think of far more rhymes for them than I can. The poem is based on a visit to the Dorothy Clive Garden today. The leaves are starting to fill in the gaps between the branches and twigs, and some views will disappear until the leaves fall again in October or November, when the world beyond them will be revealed again. I think you can see three counties, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire can be seen from the top of the quarry garden there.
It’s a beautiful place if you feel like visiting it.
One day its winter, the next day the buds and flowers burst out and its Spring. The Sun goes through the Spring Equanox. Finally in the northern hemisphere days are longer than nights. In about 6 or 7 weeks it will be mid summer’s day.
The trees are covered I blossom. Our Apple, Cherry, and Pear trees are full of it. I hope the frost does not come and damage them. A few years ago when the cherry tree was small I festooned it with garden fleece. It’s far too tall and wide now.
The walls are bare. The hanging basket brackets devoid of their burdens. Later they will be filled with a glorious mix of trailing flowers, Lobelia, Surfinia, Pelargonium, Busy Lizzies. I even plant spider plants in them.
The back yard has its own microclimate. Last year we manages to grow a Banana plant and Lilies and Bouganvillia. (I dont know if that’s the right spelling), we also have Clematis and a small Apple tree round the back.
I sometimes paint the Poppies that grow to the size of small dinner plates in the summer. I have plans to do the same this year
X.
Some paintings I have worked on and a Mini Mona Lisa. ..
The first four are recent paintings that I have worked on because I was not happy with them. Water and Earth are both part of a series (including Air and Fire) I also want to improve them.
Leaves was originally a single leaf but it was very simple and I wanted to add more to it. The leaves are from my imagination. I sometimes use art as a way of helping my memory. If I can remember what something looks like I can use the memory for other paintings and not necessarily use reference photos. I dont have a photographic memory but I sometimes describe an image to myself, like the way a gutter and drainpipe are attached to a house. If I can describe it I can draw or paint it.
Autumn pottery is based on a “pot bank” the kilns that were used for firing pottery in the past. Now they use gas tunnel kilns. The plants are roses and cotoneaster. They are to represent vegetation growing around old, derelict pot banks. The blue background could be sky, or the water from local canals.
The final painting was a quick copy of the Mona Lisa, taken from a very old book on anatomy for student artists. I know it is wrong, the face is too thin, the smile is wrong. But for half an hour’s work its not bad. It’s on a tiny canvas about 1 inch by 2 inches.
So there you are, more paintings, its something I do.
Spring has finally sprung. Tulips are rising out of the earth following the refreshment of rain. Drinking in the water, their heads swelling and bursting into bright petals. Shimmering in the cold sunshine of early May.
The season’s are running behind the time here. Another cold and wet snap today, but hopefully better by the weekend.
I use the word hope a lot, I know, but thats how I feel. The colours of the tulips have raised my spirits. They photograph well and I have tried to create kaleidoscopic patterns from them.
Bright red juicy lips of deep red from a double tulip hold me enthralled. Playing with the image to make it more contrasted, deeper, more shape to it.
I love spring, the fresh green leaves not totally burst from their buds even now we are in May. I hope it does warm up. I need energy to do more art!
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