New paintings and regular art updates.
A painting I did in situ in a house in Robin Hoods Bay in Yorkshire about 7 years ago. We were away on holiday and we’re impressed by the house which had it’s living room at the top of the building to give views of the cottage rooves and the sparkling sea in the distance. Sometimes I want to visit there again. .
My attempt at wax resist printing that I did with the brilliant Belinda Latimer a few years ago. I enjoyed trying to do Batik in her workshop, creating layers of colour. I also did a print of a couple of fish that I called Pisces had framed in a deep wooden frame. Another example of my experimental art practice.
What could you do more of?
I have been ill and down for a while and I need to start feeling better and reclaim doing some real art. Yes I can work on my small phone screen and create small pieces of digital art, and yes, over the years I have done a lot. But I begin to need to paint again. It must be a good sign? I’ve got to stop being frightened of creating, fear of failure is holding me back. Will I ever get through being blocked? At least now I can admit I want to.
Exercise in perspective. Digitally manipulated photo of a door and window. It’s created an apparent corner where non exists. I tried rotating the image four times until I was satisfied with this picture. I used the incollage app to do it, I was previously using the old Instagram layout app.
It’s September, obviously time
For Christmas mince pies!
The Winter Solstice
Is three months away!
How many sweet desserts
Will be eaten before the season?
We are in mists and mellow fruitfulness
Autumn just begun, not winter yet…
Not Angels and jingle bells!
Eat by date?
Best before 7th October!
Will be spoiled by Christmas!
A picture I created five years ago. Collaged from an angled view of part of the old spode factory in Stoke on Trent. I love it because it looks like it’s floating in a beautiful blue sky, with patterns of wispy clouds creating a tracery of waves like the tide coming in around the buildings. I should do more….
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
I used to be hurt when people said things to me to upset me. I would take on board what they said, and it could lead to several sleepless nights, or mistrusting my judgement or feelings.
After a few years of this I talked to a new friend who explained a way of getting through or over the uncaring words.
What they said was imagine the nasty words are poison. The words are absorbed by the victim (in this case me) and the poison works it’s way into the mind of the person they want to hurt. This affects that person’s confidence, thoughts, security.
But in the meantime the person doing the poisoning walks away scot free. With no effect on them, able to go and place poison elsewhere, spreading their cruelty and getting a rise out of others.
The trick is to realise what they are doing and train yourself to ignore their jibes. Inoculate your mind against their poison and learn to stop their tricks before they can get to you. It really does help.
On beach holidays I draw seahorses like this on the sand. I will use a stick to draw it out and sometimes use pebbles to decorate it. These drawings are ephemeral, disappearing on the high tide, tracked over by footsteps, lost in windblown sand. Seahorse is a half horse, half fish. I just draw, them for fun.
Slate retaining wall holding up a grassy bank. Drawn in the Artrage app on my phone. Imagined from when we’ve visited the lake district and Wales. There is a metallic slider so I’ve added it to give the slate a wet sheen. For todays #bandofsketchers prompt ‘slate’.
Sketchbook app using the watercolour pen options to create a flowing, wet in wet effect. It’s a portrait of my hubby, watching TV on a quiet Sunday afternoon. I’m so pleased I found my stylus (I had to glue it back together) it’s much more controlled than simple finger painting.
Mallaband-Brown