Old cartoon

Posted on January 8, 2022 Posted in Cat, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Cartoon, Cat, Fun, Life, Play, Sketching, splashes, Watercolour sketch, WetLeave a comment

I painted this little cartoon years ago. Don’t remember the date but probably 20 years? I think I’d splashed drips of watercolour onto the paper and the cat was a way of using the paper up and not wasting it. Photo taken late afternoon with a dim sidelight on. I could have waited till tomorrow but I wanted to share.

I have a friend that hates cats. I wish I could explain how I love them. Their character, their expressions, their true friendship when you get to know them. They seem aloof, but once you know them they are not…. And they don’t seem to hate rain. I’m often soaked when they come in from a rain shower, but I thought this looked funny. X

Fairy in a tree

Posted on January 8, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Fairies, Fairy, Metal, Sculpture, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, swing, Trentham Gardens, WireweavingLeave a comment

If you visit Trentham Gardens in Stoke on Trent you can find various wire woven fairies dotted around the grounds. Some are easier to spot than others. One flies down to a fountain to fill a watering can, another holds onto a huge dandelion seed head as it is caught in the wind. A warrior queen fairy stands on a plinth by the lake. I liked this one, hanging down from a branch in the trees on a swing. She’s hard to spot as the tree is an evergreen pine. She’s a welcome addition after walking around the lake.

Dragon hide

Posted on January 7, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Dragon, Experiment, Fire, Fun, Hide, Scales, Sketching, Skin, smaug, the Hobbit, ThinkingLeave a comment

What does a dragon need to stay safe? If you read The Hobbit, Smaug the dragon was killed by an arrow that pierced a soft area in his skin under his arm. Dragons have to have a strong skin..

So what would it look like? I’ve been experimenting with how big the scales would be. I guess they would have to be like an alligator or crocodile skin, rather than a lizard or snake whose scales seem smaller or softer. The dragon would need fire retardant scales to prevent charring or burning either around its mouth when it is fire breathing or on the rest of its body. Maybe male dragons duel in short fights, if they were to attack each others wings they would need to be strong. Dragons wings always look vulnerable. The skin is stretched between bony fingers. Surely that could easily be holed if it were not well maintained. Lots to consider.

Abstraction, scales

Posted on January 6, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Abstract, Art, Black and white drawing, Black ink, Colour, Drawing, Flood fill, Scales, SketchingLeave a comment

This started as a black and white line drawing but then I played with it by playing with the texture then using a flood fill tool to add colour. I finally put it through an Instagram filter to heighten the colours. Just a little abstract pattern.

Glasses

Posted on January 6, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Drawing, Fun, Glass, Glasses, Sight, Sketching, Vision2 Comments

#bandofsketchers… For todays prompt. I took my glasses off to draw this old pair. Then I decided to add the bottom of a small glass as the prompt is ‘glasses’. Then I tried to pick the drawing up because I thought these were my current pair!

Quentin Blake

Posted on January 6, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Artist, BFG, Black and white drawing, Drawing, Fun, Illustration, Life, Portrait, Quentin Blake2 Comments

I just watched a lovely programme about the artist and illustrator Quentin Blake. He’s famous for having illustrated Roald Dahl’s books like ‘the BFG’. Also Michael Rosen’s ‘Sad Book’. His style is so free and impressionistic, his drawing lines are full of energy and expressiveness. If you haven’t seen his work Google him. My sketch was a quick portrait which tried to get an idea of not only him but one of his characters too. Ten minute sketch. X

From the 80’s

Posted on January 5, 2022January 5, 2022 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged amalgamation, Art, Breath, Fine Art, Horse, Mythical, Mythological, Oil painting, Painting, Pegasus, UnicornLeave a comment

An oil painting on board I did sometime in the 1980’s. It’s a sort of combination of a Pegasus/Unicorn which also breathes the wind. It’s semi abstract with a feeling of being stained glass. I would have liked to have actually made it, if it was possible. It’s quite small, about 12″ by 16″, the colours are quite muted. I love the fun of experimenting with painting. I like the idea of making an amalgamation of creatures.

Willow pattern

Posted on January 4, 2022January 4, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Artists, City, Clay, Close up, Creative, Painting, Poetry, potters poem, Pottery, Stoke-on trent, Willow patternLeave a comment

A bad, fuzzy close up

Of a painting I did

A willow pattern plate

That Spode pottery made

Based on patterns

That came from the east

So many variations

That you find all around.

Blue and white pottery

Glazed and painted

By skilled, creative artists

Paid by piecework,

(the number they did) .

Stoke on Trent city

A fading of clay,

But once so many people

Gave their art to the day.

Faded..

Posted on January 3, 2022January 3, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Blue, blue Jeans, Drawing, faded jeans, Jeans, Prompt, Sketching2 Comments

Today’s (Sundays) #bandofsketchers prompt was faded.

Faded jeans… I only have a limited pallette I’m working with. It gives me more of a challenge. I was also drawing in a darkened room as hubby was watching TV so it was hard to see the folds and crumples in them.

Painting from college

Posted on December 31, 2021 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, boyfriend, College, Fine Art, Hubby, Life, Memory, Oil on canvas, Painting, Portrait, SnowLeave a comment

This is a painting I did when I was about twenty. I was at college doing my fine art degree and I had recently met my then boyfriend (now hubby). This was in my small studio at college. The painting has been on the wall for several years. I painted him sitting on a chair with his feet up. He hasn’t changed too much.

Outside there was snow lying on the hills above the city. You could just see the roofs of the college across the road. The rooms we worked in were reasonably light. I remember the studios upstairs had parquet flooring. It was a different world from what I came from. I’m glad I went.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Art