Paintings at the waiting room gallery.

A post by @thewaitingroomgallery of my tryptich of Jupiter. I was there featured artist this week. The gallery is situated in Longport, Stoke-on-Trent and is linked with the British Rail Longport Train station which they are gradually restoring. They have won awards for their community work there.

I have a few paintings and glass jewellery on display there at the moment. There is lots of work by other artists there too.

Glass pieces done

One and eight are my hubbies pieces, the rest are mine. Out of the kiln at Art Glass Lounge. I did them at a workshop. Some are being turned into necklaces, some brooches and a couple will be attached to rings. I’m collecting them tomorrow. I’ve really enjoyed learning such a simple technique of layering glass to get a sparkling result. Can’t wait to collect the finished pieces. I will take a photo of them when I get them.

Take a break

Thursdays #bandofsketchers prompt was ‘take a break’ so I chose to draw this image from the front of the 2021 National Trust Guidebook. It’d just drawn in coloured pencil, charcoal pencil and fine liner black ink pen.

I need a break! So I would take it at Bodnant garden near Llandudno in Wales. It’s a National Trust garden. A beautiful place which drops into a wooded valley and is surrounded by the Welsh hills and mountains. We are missing the laburnum walk that will be in flower now. I hope to go there soon.

Degree show

We visited the Fine Art and Cartoon degree shows at Staffordshire University today, and I have to say that I was very impressed. I think they were probably the best I’ve seen in years. I haven’t included any images because of copyright. In the Fine Art section there was a lot more figurative work and portraiture than I’ve seen in years. There was also a lot of diversity which was great. In the Cartoon section there were a lot of fun ideas and comic strips. I chatted to some of the students there and they were very helpful explaining what they do.

I realised as I went round that the work is relevant to my illustration course. I really enjoyed the day.

Fine art shows.

I have no images to show…yet

This years fine art degree shows at Staffordshire University are on this week. Thirty nine years after I got my degree. I’ve visited almost every year except 2020. This year it’s on but you have to book a time slot and have a lateral flow test before you can go…. So I had to frantically find somewhere to have one done with enough time to spare to get to the shows afterwards. Anyway I’m looking forward to it. Great to be able to go and see real art in a real gallery space.

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Holly leaf

Watercolour with Arteza Metallic paints for the #bandofsketchers prompt for Tuesday ‘sunlight,’. A holly leaf caught in the sunshine. The painting was done from a photo, I painted it straight away without drawing it out first.

I need to do some gardening at the moment, the nettles are taking over so I need to cut them back a bit. They are good for butterfly πŸ› caterpillars but if they sting you as you walk past theyΒ  do need attention. The Holly bushes are a little overgrown too. It’s turning into a bit of a mammoth task, and I’m a bit nervous of taking it on!

Panels in illustration

Icecream

Now we are learning narrative art at college. Learning how to lay out panels. I think you are meant to have an idea and base the shapes of the panels on what we are drawing, but as usual I did it back to front, drawing the panels first, adding the speech and thought bubbles, then adding the people. The ideas for the story came last! My mind is strange. Anyway it worked quite well. I would try and make it neater if I were to do it again and perhaps import it into photoshop to tidy it up? Overall it was relatively painless to do. Note to self, why has the mother’s dress changed?