Mural at Florence

Based on the Florence colliery this is a mural I painted on panels several years ago. It’s emulsion on marine ply and it was covered in perspex to protect it from the dirt and fumes from the road. I think it’s been relocated from here but I’m not sure whether it’s now inside the building. I haven’t been there for a few years. One day I will go and have a look.

Flower mobile

Just a photo from my bedroom window including a flower mobile that hangs in it. ( I do like taking photos of random objects.) The cat sometimes reaches up and bat’s at it because of the noise it makes.

The camera was zoomed in so it affected the exposure and left light around the edges of the twigs and branches and the other dark areas on the photo. In this case there was no need to use filters on it as the phone added its own effects.

Using old photoshop

My photoshop program is over ten years old. I keep using it but it no longer communicates with Adobe so I think it’s on the way out. I have the opportunity to get the new version, but I’m dithering. Is it worth it? Will I understand it? Has anyone got experience of it? Answers on a postcard please…. I guess I will have to bite the bullet because I do like my old version and I would like to keep using some form of it.

Our challenge

Painting by Bonnard. The art group I’m in are taking squares from this image and producing copies to be linked back together. I think the plan is to get it finished by the end of December. Plans are also being discussed to collaborate over a Christmas card. It’s good to be doing this despite being in lockdown again. At least we get to share artwork even if we don’t physically meet.

I think this is the third or fourth one we have done. I’ve already completed square 2 but I’m doing square 6 as well. I’m going to try and get it done soon.

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Spiral

Drawing spirals calms me. Following the contours round. Sometimes I add a dot so that the line has to deviate around it. I used all my metallic pens for this, mainly silvers, a gold and a purple. I did have a green but it has almost run out. I think this looks a bit like a tree trunk, like dendrochronology. Tree rings that you can look at to see how old the tree is (the outer ring is the one which was current when the tree was cut down). If you count inwards then each ring represents a year generally. You can alsu tell by the thickness of the line. I know that’s not what my drawing represents, but it’s what I see when I look at it.

Green amaryllis

Green amaryllis bulb about to burst, the last years leaves still surviving in another pot and some darker green leaves in another pot. The living room reflected behind in the background. Today’s #bandofsketchers drawing this afternoon. I kept the colours to a minimum to emphasise the greens.

At the museum

At the Terracotta army exhibition in 2018.at the World museum in Liverpool. I like drawing as well as taking photos. (I had over 100 photos).

The World museum is full of so many interesting exhibitions, ranged over several floors. These included Egyptian art, Clocks, Marine artefacts and other art and objects. Too much to see in one day. I would love to go back and see more!

Digital life drawing

I took my tablet to a life drawing class a couple of years ago. I wanted to see what a digital drawing would look like. I chose to use a program called sketcher free that gives you different texture tools, like fur long fur, ribbon, chrome, and other pens. You can chose the background colour. You can also use a colour slider and picker and a change in pen sizes. It’s a bit complicated to choose a pen shape that translates to the drawing well. There are other programs that are simpler to use but I liked (as usual) the patterned effect I created.