I’ve added myself in the bottom right hand side of the painting. I’m there as a ghostly shadow in the photo, so why not? Trying to get an idea of cracked paint on the frame. 
Can you see my phone?
Tag: Acrylic on canvas
Painting upside down.
Sometimes it’s hard to see whether something looks right in a painting. Then I try turning it upside down. It really does give you a different perspective. In the case of the painting I’m doing it also allows me to get closer to the top of the picture as I’ve got it propped up on a chair.
Eyesight is another problem. If I’m staring at my phone looking at the image it’s hard for my eyes to accommodate (called presbyopia) where the lenses in your eyes get stiffer as you get older, so they don’t focus as well.
I’m now starting to paint the cracks in the window frame paint. I may come back to the clouds (thanks Martha, a bit of finger painting helped).
I’ve rotated the photo back to the vertical on my camera so I can look at it without moving the canvas. Eventually I will turn it back the right way so I can paint the bottom half. It’s going to take a while…..
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Progress?
I’m having a rest and trying to decide whether I’m happy with this. I think the width of the frames of the windows need widening….. Also I’ve been using quite a thin white paint which does not have enough pigment in it. I think I will need to strengthen it. At the moment I’m just using cobalt blue, titanium white and a black. I don’t know whether to add a bit of yellow into the sky and window frames, or some violet. But that will happen as I build it up. The image is slightly stretched horizontally. I’m wondering whether to strengthen the blue.
I’m quiet because I’m painting.
I’ve decided to paint this one. I like the reflections and the blues and whites which remind me of the Willow pattern colours. I’ve turned the canvas to landscape rather than portrait and I’m concentrating on the lower two thirds of the photo.
I like the photo, but I wanted to simplify what I was doing. I’m hoping to get a good representation of the clouds and I want to get the flaking paint and the other details in the reflection in the windows visible but subtle. I will try and post updates and I might take a break later to blog.
View of Plymouth sound.
This was a painting I did a few years ago. I think it’s from Bovisand Bay looking out over Plymouth sound across to Cornwall. I wish I could go back. I live the place. It’s just the cost and the length of the drive. I want to just have one whole week somewhere nice. We’ll we will see. Perhaps I will sell some paintings, enough to go there. X
Gemma
She sat at the top of the stairs
Sitting proud on the ledge,
Peeking out
From behind the foliage,
Staring at me.
She was loving and gentle.
Liked the sun,
Bathed in light.
Gemma was my best friend.
Our garden ten years ago.
This was our garden about ten years ago. The trees are a lot bigger now and there is a lot more shade. There is a buddlea that is touching the side of the house about the quarters of the way up. The picture is an acrylic on canvas. It’s a bit blurry I’m afraid. I took the photo at my sisters house and was rushing when I took it.
I painted it in situ, sitting on a garden chair and holding the canvas so I had to paint speedily. It’s about 12 x 8 inches, so not very big.
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A little exhibition
I’m at Etruria in Stoke-on-Trent today, at the warehouse along the Trent and Mersey canal from the Etruria industrial museum. It’s at the point where two canals meet. The Trent and Mersey and the Cauldon canal.
If you want to find me I’m next to summit lock 40 of the Trent and Mersey. To get in you either have to walk up a steep cobbled surface then walk down some steps, or walk through a work yard which is currently partially blocked by two big palettes of coal. We are not well signposted. I might try and rectify that!
Earth
A poem based on my painting of Earth,
Earth
Spinning in space,
Tipped slightly
So we have seasons
Without the moon
We would spin out
Of control.
Earth
Pale blue dot
Clouds flying
Tides swelling
Faults cracking
Volcanos spewing Ash,
Life growing,
Earth
Green and blue and brown
Earth.
Remembering paintings
I can’t remember where this is! It may be on a tor on dartmoor or it could be somewhere up high in the Yorkshire dales. I know the figure is a friend of mine, but he’s lived in Devon and Yorkshire so that does not help. Looking at it I’m not even sure of what the stone is. I know it’s been weathered by the wind to created the distinct layers in the stone. I’m not sure the colours are accurate. But I like the photo, there is a feeling of distance and atmosphere. Perhaps I will see it again sometime.
Mallaband-Brown 