New paintings and regular art updates.
Today, for the first time in two years I went back to Spode. I have a lot of paintings that I have done over the years. I’ve avoided going because of Covid and it felt so strange being there. Like the time hasn’t passed, and yet there are new people there. If I want to carry on being an artist I need to get my act together again. I called myself an explorative fine artist and I want to be one again.
Sometimes I don’t know if a drawing will work. This one seemed to. Used Artrage oils and Sketch apps. Not much more to say really… I had fun!
Using a digital filter can make a difference to an image. It somehow tidies up the image. It adds a different quality to pen lines. This was done with photodirector/effects/style, choice two. Initial drawing was brown and pale green felt pens.
This swirl of cloud was visible from our back door tonight at 9pm British Summer time. We have had strong winds and hefty showers all day. Some plants have been a bit battered, especially the trees that are now in full leaf. The white line across the bottom is a condensation trail from a plane. I don’t know what the type of cloud is, I think it might be a type of Cumulus? I love the way the setting sun was catching the side of the cloud and a few seconds before proper sun rays were shining upwards from behind the roof of our neighbours house.
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was monument. I was going to draw the Duke of Sutherlands monument near Trentham Gardens. But then I came across this stone I painted as a memorial to my cat about fifteen years ago. This bought back memories of a lovely intelligent cat. Must repaint it.
The Magnolias are getting to the end of their flowering periods. The petals are starting to go brown in patches. I have a white Magnolia Stellata, this is a deep pink one we saw on a walk, I’d like to get one of these in our garden. I think they originate in China? They are such majestic flowers.
After I drew the laburnum arch I looked through the photos I took at the weekend and realised I could have drawn this instead. I don’t remember seeing it before, but it is quite striking. One thing about the UK is the greenery. Once spring and summer arrives the greens burst out. Yes we do get drought conditions, but we are very lucky compared with many places.
Adding layers of dots to a sketched pattern I did. Then I mirrored it. Someone on Instagram says I’m getting too psychedelic! I just love playing with patterns. In this case polka-dots! It reminds me of 1960’s Pop Art, but more abstract!
My hubby walking along a new path. It snakes around the trees and opens out new vistas. He was carrying a box and a bag of plants we had bought. I decided to change the colours to black and white. I usually like to keep the colours, but as I looked at the image black and white seemed to give the picture more impact and emotion. I think the figure of my hubby looks overwhelmed by his surroundings.
He got a bit of a scratch on his nose from somewhere. I’ve wiped it with some washing up liquid and salt water. He’s a big cat but gentle. He doesn’t fight much, just stays still and sometimes gets scratched. The look in his eyes is very loving. I think he’s a really sweet cat, but slightly bonkers! He purrs loudly at my other two cats and they all get on together. X
Mallaband-Brown