Rook or Crow

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I painted this tiny picture about a year ago. I think I copied an old illustration. He just seems to have such a cheeky character. With his great beak, ready to sever your fingers if you are not careful. I think of him planning and plotting, soaring high above his roosting site while he is getting ready to settle down to sleep, or joining his group in the nearby fields. I don’t remember what a group of crows are called, but I think rooks are a “murder”, but I might be misremembering.

So that’s this tiny painting, if he had a name? Reginald…..

Calling this finished

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Just did a few more adjustments. Painting on the texture of canvas is difficult when you try and brush paint on it. I half feel like I ought to paint a thick layer first so I could paint on a rough surface. But it’s not bad. I could see where I need to make changes, it’s sometimes difficult to force the paint into the nooks and crannies of the canvas. Phew.

Colour and pattern

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Slinging a pattern on here today because my brain is a bit fried with this cold and I was looking through some old digital sketches and I liked the colours in this.

I don’t know why, but spirals are the main shape that make me happy. Those and waves like those on the Japanese prints of the sea near Mount Fuji.

Spirals are amazing, found in galaxies and whirlpools, tornados and hurricanes. Waters spouts, spiralling growth of climbing plants. Water spiralling down a plug hole… Even the double helix of DNA.

Patterns are interesting, makes life interesting too.

Four

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Four faces, four seasons, four points of the compass. Why four. Why is a four leaf clover lucky? Four wheels on a car, for stability? Four suits in cards…. Four quarters, but that’s just quarters. The four winds.

But then I can’t think of many other fours. And why four anyway? We have ten fingers and ten toes, and for that matter the British culture used to have twelve as its main number, twelve inches in a foot, twelve pennies in a shilling. But then there are all sorts of other numbers, 1 for winning, coming first, two’s company. Threes a crowd, bronze medal, third place. Who wants to come fourth? Seven and eight are supposed to be lucky numbers. Thirteen may be unlucky?

However you look at numbers all of them will be imbued with some story or other. That’s what humans do. Tell stories….

Finished Mural

Finished and varnished! Well after being struck down by a severe head cold all week it was touch and go if I could get this done. But I was doing the lower part of it, so only had to climb up at the end for a few minutes to varnish the painted bits at the top. I now feel like c**p to be honest. But I’d promised to get it done (a bit like Boris) (grr) (people in Britain will know what I’m on about)…… The people I did it for are really pleased.

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I found a black cat drawing

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Found a digital drawing I did in 2016 on my Facebook memories. This was drawn on ArtRage free app. Black cats are not that popular, robably because of the myth that they are witches familiars. I just like how they look, like mini panthers or jaguars.

Black cats are proud creatures, mainly short-haired although I have seen long-haired ones. They can cause some allergies because their dandruff seems to trigger things. But I don’t think that’s a problem.

Black cats crossing your path are considered good luck in Britain, but unlucky in the USA. It’s funny how things can be so opposite in these countries. As they say America and Britain are two countries seperated by the same language. Anyway I still like black cats.

But is it Art?

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I saw this piece of art on the TV, I’ve drawn it because there  will be copyright on the image and I just wanted to illustrate it.

I was only half watching the TV so I didn’t get the artists name, I think I heard that it is a banana taped to the wall. I think there were more than one and they were sold for $130,000? Each!

I don’t understand the ethos behind them. I think that it is art, but I feel a bit concerned as well, I’m not sure anyone should pay that amount for something so ephemeral. Do you change the banana when it rots or the tape when it loses its tackyness. Does it have worth because it has only a short lifespan? Can it be compared with the Mona Lisa.

In the same way as the ‘this is not a pipe’ painting was ridiculed in the past, could this be working off the same premise?

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