Tribute to Monet

Posted on June 23, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic, Art, Collaboration, Drawing, Farmland, Field, Fun, Monet, My contribution, Oil painting, Orme Art group, Painting, Poppies at Argenteuil, Watercolour2 Comments

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I’m one of twelve artists from the Orme Art group who did this picture of Monets Poppies at Argenteuil. Mines the middle one on the left. I used permanent markers and coloured pencil. Others used paints including acrylic and watercolours. It’s good to collaborate.

What I like about this is the different styles and colours. It sort of brings a modern feel to a classic painting.

We have a large field nearby that has a similar aspect, on a slope and edged with trees and hedges. The area is under threat of development although it is quite an ancient piece of farmland. I hope it can be saved. Its called the Croft and its beautiful.
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Vintage

Posted on June 21, 2020June 21, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Bicycle, Bike, Drawing, Ellipses, Fun, Mixtie frame, Red, Sketch, Ten speed, Urban sketchers Stoke on trent, Viking QueenLeave a comment

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This was today’s Urban sketchers challenge. Vintage.

My vintage Viking Queen mixtie bike.

Drawing this quickly it makes me realise how hard it is to draw accurate ellipses. This was the bike I bought a few pounds a week from Swinnerton cycles in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, forty years ago. I used it till I was knocked off and fractured my skull. I carried on riding it for a year, but it collapsed because the headset had been damaged in the crash. I took it to be mended and the shop lost the frame. I bought a new bike, but it was the wrong size for me. (my legs are slightly short). I ended up giving the new bike to a friend and learnt to drive. Big mistake. I got my old bike back rebraised about a year after I took it in to the shop. From then on I put on weight. I carried on cycling occasionally, but mainly used the car. The last time I rode my bike was about ten years ago. I’m scared to get back on it as my balance is not good. But I keep it, thinking one day I will have another go….

Pattern

Posted on June 20, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Drawing, Duplicating pattern, Fun, Life, Lines, Pattern, Sketch, Surface pattern, Tee shirt, Textile design2 Comments

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I drew this a few weeks ago. Now I’m thinking it would make a good design for some cotton material, maybe a panel on a tee shirt or a pair of trousers. I actually have a pair in black and white that is similar to this. It’s amazing what you can do with a black ink pen and a bit of technology. I just need to find someone to work with.

If you know any innovative art sites that do printing let me know. I did think about joining somewhere called spoonflower but I wasn’t certain about it.

Poppies continued..

Posted on June 20, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Challenge, Coloured encil, Copying, Fun, impression, Monet, Orme Art group, Permanent markers, Poppies at Argenteuil2 Comments

Here’s my attempt at my square (5) of the poppies painting. As you can see the image I was working from had a great big yellow five in it, so I ignored that. On the original photo the colour balance is more muted, but somehow on the one I was coding from the grass is quite orange. I decided to draw with felt pens, permanent markers and coloured pencils. It’s obviously too green, but it’s hard to layer up colour with pencils, they go shiny and form a waxy surface. After I finished this I added a few streaks of orange ermanent marker but they are too defined, so I left it at this. Positioning of the figure and hill is difficult. Hope when it’s added to the rest it will be OK.

Poppies near Argenteuil.

Posted on June 19, 2020June 19, 2020 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Claude Monet, Fine Art, French impressionist, Life, Monet, Painting, Poppy field, Relaxing, Summers day, Walking7 Comments

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Monets’ painting of a poppy field is such a ubiquitous image, but beautiful nonetheless. The figures at the top of the hill are the same couple at the bottom of the hill, though I doubt that he painted so quickly that he managed to paint the rest of the picture by the time they had walked down the hill.

The trees in the background and the house set at the back of the field frame a beautiful summers day. It always seems so calm and peaceful when I look at it. I feel joyful and relaxed, thinking of glimpsing a view like that in Devon or Yorkshire. I know many wildflower meadows have gone, but maybe we will restore more of them in the future so people can enjoy walking through them again.

Drawings

Posted on June 19, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Calendar, Covid 19, Lock down, Memories, Sketching, Stoke-on-Trent Urban sketchers, Thoughts, Time2 Comments

17.4.20, after I had drawn for thirty days with Stoke Urban Sketchers, and I guess at that stage I thought we wouldn’t be in lockdown for long. Our government, and in particular our prime minister was giving out optimistic press conferences saying that we should be able to get over it pretty lightly. I think he even said it was like some sort of flu? Of course things didn’t go that well for us, and now over 42 thousand people have died from covid 19 in the UK. Its almost like the government thought we would be immune with our “stiff upper lips” and “gung-ho” mentality. Clearly they were wrong.

So here we are. How many more drawings will I do before it’s safe to go out properly and not just dash to the shops to get essentials. Who knows when that will be?

My mona

Posted on June 18, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Digital drawing, Drawing, Fun, Leonardo, Life, Mona Lisa, Painting, Sketch, SketchfuLeave a comment

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I drew this at sketchfu about eight years ago. It is simply drawn with vasious circular brushes. Different sizes, a palette of colours, different opacity and transparency and an eraser.

I was looking at a post on Facebook by portrait artists. They thought digital art was just taking a picture in Photoshop and using filters to make it look like a drawing. I don’t think they understood the hours it takes to do something like this. It’s not brilliant, but it was difficult.

What’s in the bag?

Posted on June 18, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Black and white, Blogging, Drawing, Ink pen, Plastic bag, Shopping, Sketching, Stoke-on-Trent Urban sketchers, Usk challengeLeave a comment

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Today’s Urban sketchers drawing was to draw what’s in a bag. I have drawn a plastic bag containing different items obscured by the plastic.

Ink pen size 0.5,iI think I possibly should have used a bigger nib? But it did mean I’ve goy some nice fine lines. I think we are about half way through this set of challenges. The are happening three times a week. It’s keeping my mind occupied. I have other things I need to get done that I’m putting off!

Reflected

Posted on June 16, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Abstract, Art, Image, Layout app, Multiplied, Peeling paint, Photo, Spode, Stoke, ThoughtLeave a comment

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Looking in and looking out, mirrored sky shining. The window frames flaking and peeling. Put through a mirroring filter and you find a floating tower. Could it be magic. What is art? Why is a photo? Can an image be trickery in a friendly way? Must it be cryptic.

See the world through an ant or a bees eye. See the world through the eye of a whale or a satellite.

Our vision is an average humans vision. At a cartain height, with colour vision like primates have. We don’t have slits in our pupils, or black and white vision. We don’t use echo location.

Photos are interesting to play with.

Souvenir

Posted on June 16, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Black and white, Colour, Drawing, Knitting, Life, Pattern, Pen and ink, Picture, Sketching, Souvenir, Thai doll, Urban sketchers challenge, Urban sketchers Stoke on trentLeave a comment

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Texture and pattern. Today’s Urban sketchers challenge was drawing a souvenir so I drew a Thai woman and baby doll that my friend gave me. As I’m doing textures and symbols on my illustration course I decided to try out different marks to show the knitting on the cushion underneath the doll.

I have been doing a lot of pen and ink drawings lately, not using pencil or charcoal much. Maybe I should try some other techniques?

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Art