New paintings and regular art updates.
After extending my exhibition at the Waiting room gallery it finished today. I’ve collected the paintings and one at least is going to a new home.
It was a pleasure to work with Frank Foy and Allison Dias who run the gallery. Despite unforseen problems they were very helpful and I look forward to working with them again.
The waiting room gallery is welcoming to artists, it is reasonably priced and they have good knowledge of art. Visit if you can.
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I was looking for an image to paint yesterday and found the oldest green man that has been found. I think it’s French, or what became France, as it said it was 1st or 2nd century. I painted it yesterday and it was in the craft fair although it didn’t sell. I think I will do a bit more work on it…. 
why? Because I think I’ve made it too green. Which is strange as its a green man….
Well, it rained. As you can see from the photos. Even so it was good to do the craft fair at spode today. I met some lovely people who were very helpful despite the fact I was having a bad morning. I’d arrived after very little sleep and getting up later than I intended.
It was lovely to hear classical music being played by a violinist, he was really good. Sadly I didn’t get his name.
I didn’t do that well. I don’t know if I was too close to the door, or if my art was not trendy enough. I sold a few things and some people took cards with my details on. I am shattered but happy. I may not have made a fortune, but made some good friends.
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Yes, these are all paintings I did over the last few days. Some are tiny, some are small and some medium sized. These are for my craft stall for tomorrow at the Hotel on Spode Site. I hope people come in and enjoy what will be on display and for sale. There are a lot of quality crafts and art which will be there.
I guess I had better get back to work and finish off what I’m doing.
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I got this Brown Betty teapot from Cherished Chimneys in Longport in Stoke-on-Trent. Its a traditional shape and colour. Apparently they keep tea warm for longer.
Cherished Chimneys have a teapot exhibition in their building (they actually mainly sell reclaimed chimneys) we had fun choosing the teapot from them.
We had been in the Waiting room gallery across the road at a Macmillan coffee morning to raise funds for their cancer care support work. A very good cause. Then we went to Bread in common, an artistic cafe that bakes bread and also cooks vegetarian food on a Fridays. Then to the British Ceramic Biennial in the afternoon. All in all a very busy day.
Then when we got home I did a few more tiny paintings, but that’s another story….
The British Ceramic Biennial has some hands on workshops that are free and open to the public. Last week I made a flat back pot using a mold of a boat with Donald Trumps head in profile and a pair of boots walking in the other direction. There is also a lion with a union jack, a monkey, and other figures and plants. There are other pots shown above. Each of them has been designed by an artist, so they are possibly controversial, maybe a bit tongue in cheek.
Today I painted glaze on my pot that had been fired. I didn’t remember to take a photo of it, but I have taken photos of some of the larger pieces now they have finally been fired.
I’m glad I had a go, it’s definitely worth a visit.
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She looked out of the window and saw the moon and stars. That was strange? Why were the street lights out? Normally there was too much light pollution to see anything. The world seemed very quiet, no car noises, no sounds of planes flying overhead. Something must be going on.
She had woken from sleep in her room that was in darkness apart from the moonlight. Then she noticed her alarm clock light was off. She tried to switch on her light. Nothing. She crept down stairs. The lights there were not working and the fridge was off. Worryingly the heating was off too. She picked up a jumper and put it on.
What the hell was happening? She felt alone, cold, her breath was steaming from her mouth. She opened the back door. No dogs barking, no bird song. Just the moon and stars.
Then she heard the moaning and saw the zombies….
Another start, luckily I don’t need a starter handle to get going. Something switches on in my head and I suddenly can’t stop. It’s weird, my mind must be wired up in a strange way.
Today I have started painting a lion, a car, ivy, a planet, a latch for a gate. All very random, but a challenge to myself. I have a little cartoon at my studio which says I will paint anything, and I think that’s true. I might not be able to get things exactly right but I do try.
I’m thinking about what to write or paint here. I will try and do a few more spooky stories when I’ve finished this lot of art work.
Toot toot, off I go!
I’m trying to paint the Great red spot of Jupiter and I’m using the photo on the right as a basis of it. The painting is more angled than straight on and so the red spot has a bit of curvature to it, as if the view point is down and to the right of the original photo….. But oh! Those waves and swirls, so hard to render!
Might add a moon or its shadow, thinking about it. Having a rest, still feel ill! Grr….
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I might be ill but I still need to paint.
This is called winter faces. I often paint images with faces in them. I think this one is because I used to walk in an avenue of trees in the park near where I lived. The trees seemed to each have a face, they were spooky but interesting at the same time.
I think I thought there were tree spirits, I hadn’t heard of ents or ent moots then! This is a 6 inch square acrylic on canvas. Solitary tree at sunset with stone lying snow.
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Mallaband-Brown