Loving Vincent

Posted on January 18, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged 1890, animation, Film, Fine Art, History, Illustration, Painting, Style, technique, Texture, Vincent, Vincent Van Gogh2 Comments

I saw this film late last night and was enthralled by it. Each individual frame is hand painted in Van Gogh’s style. The son of the postmaster where Van Gogh used to live goes off to try and deliver a letter from Vincent to his brother Theo, after his death. When he finds the brother is also dead he decides to take the letter to the Doctor who was treating Van Gogh before his apparent suicide.

The film covers the year after Van Gogh’s death and shows in black and white flash backs incidents that might have happened between Vincent and the people around him. This is told through a series of conversations between the postmaster son and various characters.

This is a visually sumptuous film in Van Gogh’s style. The Polish/British co-production is stunning and intriguing. The gradual understanding of what happened makes for a satisfying investigation of the circumstances surrounding his death.

Release date: 2017 (United Kingdom)Directors: Dorota Kobiela, Hugh WelchmanMusic by: Clint MansellBox office: 42.1 million USDAwards: European Film Award for Best Animated Feature Film,

Fluid

Posted on January 18, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Beach, Drawing, fluid, Life, Sea, Sketching, Texture, Water, Waves3 Comments

Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was fluid. I tried to draw a beach scene from above. I used an image off the Internet to give me an idea. I watched an animated film called ‘love Vincent’ about the life of Vincent Van Gogh last night so I’ve also done this with texture. (see second photo).

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Posted on January 17, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged attachment unavailable, Group, I want to see, join, not visible, Poem, Poetry, SharedLeave a comment

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A photo of a Christmas tree

And a cat called ‘Stew’!

Snake/Dragon

Posted on January 17, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Dragon, Drawing, Fun, George and the dragon, illuminated, Illustration, Medieval, Sketching, ThoughtLeave a comment

I tried drawing a sort of Mediaeval image of how I imagined a dragon would look in an old book or manuscript. This was more to try and evoke the style than to copy a real drawing. I tried to think how I would draw a dragon if I was a monk adding illustrations or illuminations to an old bible or bestiary. I should probably have looked at images of George and the Dragon. But I wanted to draw a sinuous curve. I could also have mirrored the image so it would look like the letter S… I might try that. Anyway I’m not well so drawing is occupying my mind and distracting me. X

Dragon eyes

Posted on January 17, 2022January 17, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged an unexpected journey, Dragon, Eye, Idea generation, Ideas, pupil, smaug, spoiler alert, the HobbitLeave a comment

Where do ideas come from? Spoiler alert. I was just watching ‘ the Hobbit an unexpected journey’ the first film in ‘the Hobbit’ trilogy. At the end of the film the dwarves see the lonely mountain far in the distance. We follow a bird as it flies across the land to the mountain. There we see the dragon inside the mountain. Smaug, the dragon, wakes up and you see his eye. The pupil of the eye has a funny slit in it. Not exactly like this, but I wonder if I was subconsciously influenced by the film? You only see it for a couple of seconds but it’s a beautiful image. I think my dragon eyes are quite sweet, but not as good as the animated Dragon Eye of Smaug.

Condensation trail

Posted on January 17, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Afternoon, Condensation trail, contrails, Life, Plane, Science, Sky, vapour trail, WikipediaLeave a comment

We don’t see many planes overhead these days, but the last couple of afternoons we have seen a condensation trail as a plane has flown over.

Condensation because water vapour in the atmosphere condenses out on soot from the plane engines as the plane flies through the cold moist air. It makes a cloud that can hang in the sky for ages or dissipate quickly. In this case it was almost gone by the time the plane had passed over.

There are conspiracy theories that the trails are releasing chemicals into the atmosphere. This isn’t true but stems from some experiments years ago by scientists seeding clouds with silver iodide to create rain by giving water droplets a nucleus for the water droplet to form on.

So there is a grain of truth, but just that. The reality is far simpler. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrail. For more information.

Self portraits

Posted on January 16, 2022January 17, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged 1978, Canvas, Memories, Newspaper, Portraits, Quink ink, school of art, self portrait, TimeLeave a comment

Our college exhibition in 1978, a few of us got in the local paper. One image was painted in quink ink on paper and the other one was larger on a canvas. I don’t remember what happened to them. I may have left them at the school of art. Even now I still remember the fun I had painting them. I wish I could go back in time to those days again. I don’t know if they still sell quink ink. When you added water to the black colour it would split into browns and blues. Great for painting cloudy skies

He’s reading

Posted on January 16, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Books, Fun, Literature, Photo, Photodirector, Poem, Poetry, Reading, Relaxing, TVLeave a comment

He’s not watching tv

He’s reading

He’s finding out

Facts and figures

Fiction and delight

Sitting reading

Relaxing and settled

Sunday afternoon

Comfortable life.

Almost a year ago

Posted on January 16, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged 2021, Art, Dragons, Fountain, Hanley Park, Life, Sketching, victorian, water featureLeave a comment

I was standing by this fountain in the small part of Hanley Park. The main section is over the road. I decided to draw this in my sketchbook. It’s a felt pen sketch and I could include it as an urban sketch. The fountain had been restored after many years and looks wonderful. I think it’s probably Victorian in origin. The previous year it was frozen almost solid with icicles all over it. I particularly like the dragon fountain heads on it. I will have to try and research its origins.

Sore throat

Posted on January 16, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Ache, cold bug, covid test, Disease, Illness, Life, Negative, Sleepy, Sore throat, Tired2 Comments

Sore throat, aches, tired. But at least I tested negative for Covid. I don’t know how I’ve got this ‘cold’. I go everywhere outside in a mask. But I suppose I could have picked it up off a surface when I’ve been shopping. At one stage I was washing all the shopping that came into the house. I guess I’ve dropped my guard a bit..?

One thing, I won’t be going out to anything while I have this cold. Just because it isn’t Covid doesn’t mean I should go out and share it. I’m just going to take cold medicine and keep my fluids up. I didn’t wake up till 3pm, not good. The sun has now set and I feel dull and sleepy.