Tiny paintings

I’m playing with paintings again. The idea is to do tiny paintings that people might like but won’t cost much to have. They are about the size of a small matchbox. I’m trying to do new designs. There are giraffes and butterflies, an owl and a skull. Hearts, a panda and I’m trying to paint a little sailing boat.

Well I’d better get on as they need finishing by the morning.

Cat painting

This was what I was painting at 2am this morning. Bit more to do. I just liked his cheeky look. The background is a bit weird but I might leave it.

Next is a painting of either Mars or Earth. I’ve already done a couple of Jupiter so it would be interesting to paint something different. I just need a decent photo to work from.

Small clematis painting

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Small painting of a clematis flower. Just wanted to do something pretty and still interesting. This may be finished. I haven’t decided yet. So far I’ve started six paintings for the craft fair on Sunday. I’d like to be doing more art to be shown in a gallery, but I also think art is for everyone, and if this is a way to get it out to people?

The problem is deep rooted, artists rarely earn much, and often people want their work virtually for free. I’m a fast painter and I enjoy experimenting with art but that should not make what I do different. I guess it depends on the quality of the work? Also as an artist you can become very self critical. Questioning what you are doing. It’s a difficult thing to deal with. Anyway I keep doing it because I love doing it.

Dragon eye

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Tiny painting for the craft fair. I’m experimenting again. I’m doing normalise things but also things to catch the eye. Tiny paintings need tiny brushes, and my eyesight is not as good as it was. Shaky hands, holding my breath. Sometimes it’s hard to get the effect you want.

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Reds and greens…

Hmmm, so I got a strong red from the shop and decided to overoaint the poppy. Then I attacked what I think is a dahlia… In that one I really think I need to look at a real one. The third picture is my attempt at a dragons eye.. Don’t know why? The fourth just is, but I’m not sure what yet. Each need taming. Green might be OK. We will see….

View of Trentham lake.

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This is a few years old but I painted it while I was up on top of the hill by Trentham monument. It’s looking back towards the potteries with Trentham lake in the middle ground, obscured to some extent by the trees on the hill. I’m not that good at landscapes (this is acrylic on canvas). I guess it’s in my own style but it’s a little bit splodgy.

Anyway the reason for posting this is to inspire myself to do a few more. Perhaps we can get out into the open air this week and take some photos to work from.

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Run out of red

I want a light red

Not a pink

Not orange

Crimson?

Perhaps,

Maybe vermilion,

Something punchy,

Not magenta,

Not alizarian

Not a deep cadmium red (hue)

So many names

But which one will be right,

What is the correct tinge?

Works in progress

Paint laid on paint,

Building up layers,

Blood red?

Maybe if I put my heart into it.

 

Painting again

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I’ve just started this poppy painting. It’s on a black canvas about 12″ square.

I’m hoping I will be able to build up a depth of colour and detail  because of the dark canvas. It’s acrylic on canvas and is going to be big and bold. I need to work on the colours in the poppy but also in the greens of the foliage. I should finish it in the next few days. This is like a practice piece as I have another two black canvases to work on. Not sure what the subject will be.

When I was forty

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I did this self portrait. I don’t do many and haven’t done one recently. Maybe I should. At this time I had the front bedroom as a studio, until we got too much stuff and I moved my painting stuff out. My tee shirt was a recycling one but I haven’t seen it for years. I’m not sure what I think about this, but it’s another Facebook memory. It’s a bit blurred. I still have the original upstairs, will have to find it out.. Almost twenty years later.

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Favourite photo 2012.

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Memories, I don’t know when I painted this but it’s just come up on my FB page as the favourite photo of 2012. It’s a painting of my friend when she ran a market stall surrounded by her objects for sale. It’s based on a photo of her that I had taken. The cardigan and hair really added to the vibrant colours in the painting. I can’t remember what it’s called. 

I loved the scarf with the snake on it, and the puppet which may be Thai or Indian. Sometimes it’s good to paint what you see.

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