New paintings and regular art updates.
Today for #bandofsketchers we had to draw something ‘Awesome’. One thing I’ve always wanted to do is see the Aurora Borealis, northern lights. The electrons in the solar wind get trapped by Earth’s magnetic fields and get drawn to the north and south poles. There they are drawn down and they interact with the magnetic fields and great auroral lights illuminating the sky. The Southern lights are called the Aurora Australis.
Strange little painting
Came from my mind
A little idea
Of a bird in a tree
Old window bars
Rusty and dry
Frame a bright view
Of a frozen blue sky.
Jay at the centre
Waiting to fly.
Here is a better photo of my mural that was destroyed in a fire at the Leopard Hotel in Burslem earlier in the year. The landlady was said to have come over from the Caribbean and married an English man. She then ran the hotel. The trouble is I painted this in 2006? I honestly can’t remember the story I was told and now the hotel is gone.
A friend took a photo of my coat of arms design at the Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. The building burned down a few months ago and I have been trying to find good images of my murals. They were burnt in the fire and the photos are all I have of them.
Blue and white digital drawing using the sketch app on my phone that has a kaleidoscope effect, then with added texture using photo director. Reminds me of a ceramic bowl with a repeat surface pattern using transfer printing. The pattern also looks like dancers or iceskaters. It would also look good on fabrics, like a silk scarf.
I was trying to draw Virga clouds yesterday for a post here, but to be honest it wasn’t working. I gave up leaving a scribbled shape with conical bits hanging down. Today I doodled blue lines and blue shadows onto it, added segments and an eye and a head. The red is from the previous page but it could be antennae? The resulting creature seems to be floating. It could be in a sea or floating in the air. I’ve decided it’s a Neptunian…. A creature from the gas giant planet Neptune. I imagine it has a prehensile snout and it eats hydrocarbons from carbonbergs floating in the Neptunian skies. The long prong like legs are to grab the bergs as they sail by….
Sketch of the exhibition yesterday. The artworks were exhibited on large white boards. The are peg boards with rows of horizontal and vertical holes. To hang a painting you push two metal hooks into lots of two holes to make a place to hang your pictures up with string. It’s hard to describe but it worked. There were about eight or nine artists exhibiting. I did this in a five minute break between groups of people coming in.
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was plants. Sorry chums. I didn’t feel up to drawing much today so done a sort of abstract plant, might do something to it later.
I love painting but I find it hard to sell. My mind sometimes goes into panic mode and I say strange things instead of pleasantries. I can hear my voice coming out with odd comments, about someone’s walking stick, or immesaying I will discount the price of a print when they have barely looked at it. Today was odd and difficult. It’s been a long time since I have had to talk to people about my art. I was not fluent with my thoughts. I was nervous, sometimes tounge tied. As the number of people increased it got worse. My throat got dry. I wanted to talk but I just stayed silent. It was better towards the end, but I’m an artist not a saleswoman. Anxiety and covid make it harder.
When you have problems with shaking it’s difficult to paint details. This canvas is about 2 inches by 3 inches and the Jay in the central window pane is less than an inch high. I tried hard to paint the details. I think I did OK but it’s not perfect. But hopefully it will be a nice little gift…
Mallaband-Brown