New paintings and regular art updates.
I was at Spode studios today selecting the images I want hung at my Retrospective exhibition. They are a colourful and eclectic mix. It should be up tomorrow. I’m having a closing evening on Friday when most of the work will be for sale. However a few works that are of my hubby and myself are staying with me.
I’m finding old portraits
Portals to a previous time
Not photographic images
But paint on canvas
You made me smile
You made me laugh
And cry too
So I hold onto these
Small tokens of love
With all my strength.
X
From the Internet ‘Kintsugi, (literally gold seams) is a traditional repair method that takes the broken or chipped parts of cherished vessels, glues them back together with a Japanese lacquer, and paints the seams with gold or silver powder.’
I’ve taken that idea to create this possibly last portrait of my hubby. It’s called ‘Mend Him’, and it’s my wish to put him back together again. It’s a bit rough and ready, but it expresses my feeling of loss. I think it captures his tiredness as he got older… I started this a few months before he died.
I miss him so much and if I could I would mend him, turn back time, use any power available to restore him to his best. X
I’m holding a retrospective of my art at Spode studios next week. It’s because I am leaving the studios after 7 years this April. I have enjoyed my time there but circumstances mean that I cannot continue there.
The retrospective will run from Monday 4th March 2024 to Friday 8th March. There will be a closing viewing of the exhibition on Friday from 6.30pm to 8.30pm.
Most of the works will be for sale. Please join me if you can at Spode Studios, Spode Site, Elanora street, Stoke upon Trent.
A collage I’m playing with
Gold foil and acrylic
Fiery and fierce
Flaming colours
Spiral out
Blowing out smoke
Of the dragons snout!
Started this acrylic on canvas today. It’s from a photo of Westport Lake I took at the weekend, it’s about 9 inches by 6. Or maybe a bit bigger? I want to do more to the trees and undergrowth. I’ve got some metallic bronze to give a watery reflective effect. I like the empty bench, it feels lonely and reflective.
Round window at Spode painted a couple of years, ago, the glass was held in a circular metal frame. I enjoyed trying to get a feeling of depth using deep shade, and perspective with the rows of bricks. I think they might be a bit exaggerated. I liked the way the concentric circles sink inwards and the shadows bend around the edges.
I painted this teapot six years ago when I first moved into my studio at Spode. This is a medium sized acrylic on canvas. It’s from my imagination, and the flower design is based on the pattern ‘calico’ by the Burleigh pottery. I think its based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. I made the wooden panels up from my memory. I still have this painting at my studio at Spode.
A few years ago I painted a picture of the willow pattern on an imaginary platter. I used two seperate images of a willow pattern plate and amalgamated them into one. The willow pattern has several iconic aspects. A pine tree, willow tree, three people crossing a bridge, temples, boats, love birds. I’m sure they will have explanations of what they stand for. I really enjoyed creating this. X
One of our local museums, the Brampton, in Newcastle under Lyme, is letting the Orme Art Group exhibit work in their entrance window from the end of January for two months. It’s a chance to sell work or at least get our work in front of a new audience. We each can show one work plus some smaller pieces. Plus it gets a painting out of the house for a while. I hope the display does well.
Mallaband-Brown