New paintings and regular art updates.
This little I inch square sketch is me trying too quickly draw three of the people at a rehearsal.
I just came in after 4ish hours rehearsing with two Choirs I am in, Clay Chorus and some of Loud Mouth women. We are accompanying a play that is on this week at the New Victoria theatre in Basford, Stoke-on-Trent.. Its called Bright Thing and is the 25th anniversary of its first performance, so no pressure x.
Oh heck, it’s almost time for the first rehearsal at the theatre tonight. We have been practicing as a choir over the last few weeks, but we are not perfect yet. I finally got a CD with the songs on it and I have been trying to learn them as I drive my car…..
Nerves are kicking in and my throat is dry with the cold I have had for the last few days.
The production runs from Tuesday to Saturday including a matinee. I really do want it to go well.
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One cat a leaping,
Two cats a sleeping,
Three cats are creeping,
Four cats are weeping,
Five cats are keening,
Six cats are fleeing,
Seven cats are healing,
Eight cats are peeping,
Nine cats are greeting,
Ten cats are purring…….
Not a good poem, just a bit of rhyming babble….
They came out quite well considering that I’ve been laid up with a cold and sore throat for most of the week.
I passed them on to there owner but was feeling quite rough and then spent the rest of the afternoon worrying if they liked them.
Not very professional. Perhaps next time if I’m ill I should wait until I’m better before doing this again.
Still feeling off so I’m having a bit of a rest.
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When I paint in acrylic I generally use either a plate or a plastic tub as a palette to mix my paints in. But eventually it gets too lumpy and I peel the paint (which is like soft plastic or coloured PVA ) off the palette so I can start again without getting caught on lumpy bits of paint or bits that haven’t dried and muddy new paint.
But, have you ever looked underneath? It’s like magic. Beautiful colours that have not blended together too much. Plus often the surface is silky smooth as it takes on the same shape as the plastic tub or ceramic plate.
Then I take a photo, sometimes I’ll clone or duplicate it and make a pattern……
Sunshine and showers
Blue sky and dark clouds,
Caged land hidden behind fences?
History gone, wiped away,
Washed by rain and hail.
Barriers to man, but not foxes or cats?
Life in the slow lane,
Land abandoned to its fate,
Blue sky reflected in puddles,
Given to dreams, waiting for growth of plants,
Or buildings?
How long will you wait
To find your fate?
Once, many years ago, I was young. I was looking at some old photos today and came across this article, from when I was on my foundation art course. I clearly wanted to be a painter even then. I think I was slightly amazed to be chosen. I guess no one else was willing to have their picture taken. I’d never been in an article for a paper before so it was quite strange, especially seeing my face looking back at me. There was another article in the same paper with some of my friends so I wasn’t a total show off!
The college had a rag week when people did mad things. Our town had a new statue of a hippo in the town square for some reason, so a group of students made a pink papier mache gorilla to be its friend. Another lot roped themselves together and pretended to climb up the local hill (almost flat) on their hands and knees….
Wild days
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We have just started Panto rehearsals again, people in the UK will know what that means, but some of my friends havent heard if it.
Pantomime has been a regular theatrical entertainment for many years. Sometimes it gets quite commercial and is sponsored by local shops or businesses but ours isnt. Which is good as It doesn’t affect the story.
Subjects include things like Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, or in our case we are doing Robin Hood. So, then there is a lot of comedy, children telling jokes, people dressed as monsters or wolves or ghosts and chasing the cast about. There are pratfalls and custard pies, bad villains and silly goons.
Generally someone gets captured or kidnapped and has to be rescued, either on a magic carpet or using a magic lamp or some other magical trick. That’s what happens in the Second Act. We have to learn lots of songs, usually slightly rewritten to fit the story.
There are the usual things, “it’s behind you” when something or someone is creeping up on our hero /heroine. Or the “oh yes it is” “oh no it isnt” bit where the audience knows something and one of the principal cast is trying to tell them they are wrong.
We have a brilliant wardrobe mistress who kits us out in costumes. The picture above is one of the cast dressed as a pot bank. Our costumes are hard work for her, she and a small team make costumes for 30 to 40 adults and children.
There is also work making the sets and painting the scenery. It takes months to organise. Our show is usually on in January but that means rehearsing over Christmas week. So it has been decided to put it back till February 2019.
Maybe I will put some photos of it on here next year !
Instead of just finger drawing in an app I’m trying to get a more realistic portrait using a Sketch app and a stylus . I am finding that using the stylus stops the slipping that makes more irregular lines that happens when I try to draw with my finger alone.
The drawing is being made up from the airbrush tool and I’m changing the thickness and opacity depending on the thickness of the lines I want to draw.
It’s again a work in progress so we will see how it turns out.
One problem with being ill is that sometimes my energy levels are not good. I’m often tired, and if I get a cold like I have now I just feel washed out. I end up looking at the canvas instead of painting it.
That being said I’ve promised to finish these two this week. They have come on well, but I think they will need daylight so that I can see the colours properly.
So I will take my time but work hard to finish them. Until I’m happy with them.
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