New paintings and regular art updates.
Im doing lots of things to take to two craft fairs at the weekend. Looking for inspiration and the right things to paint on. The tiniest are paintings of baubles. I have ribbon to add to them so you could even add them to a tree. I saw a robin in a photo and he was sooooo fluffy I had to paint him…finally Im trying to paint directly onto the little chalk boards so the abbey will need more work.
Depending on the weather in Britain we sometimes have snow in winter, or not. It depends on whether you live in the north, or are high up as the temperature falls the higher you get. This is a painting I did when I first moved into my studio at Spode, I think it was so cold in there that I didn’t have to think hard to imagine this image.
It’s based on an idea I had of hills in Yorkshire or the lake district , I think it needed more depth so I added the shadows.
I tend to talk to myself when Im painting, reminding myself where the guttering should be or how light would reflect into the shadows at the side of the house.
I like using my imagination. Exercising my visual memory. It’s worth trying to think through how something is put together. It helps you understand how it works.
Two days, one name change from frost woman to druid. The painting is complete. I enjoyed painting as a demonstration while at the exhibition this weekend. Thanks to my friend Raina for modelling for the initial face. Then lots of metallic paints later this image emerged.
I may do a bit more to the dark areas but I’m pretty pleased with it. A good weekends work.
Just some cheerful colours from my early flowering Christmas cactuses.
I hope they brighten your day.
Today I’m having a bit of a rest.
Swift photos of the paintings. Taken on the kitchen with a cat hovering and wanting to walk across the canvases. One is a bit overshadowed by the lighting in the kitchen but I wanted to show that they could be hung in various directions.
I showed them to someone and they wanted them! So they will not be available at the Orme group of artists exhibition on Saturday and Sunday but at least I can exhibit them so people can see what I can do…
My poor eyes! Lots of details …
My winter woman has turned into an early spring woman snow is still on the ground but cherry blossom flowers have sprung from the trees twigs and branches, it feels like an old surrealist painting, and I don’t object to that but I wish I coukd do better details .
This has been a fight! Hours of messing about with the shading and shaping of the branches. It’s not finished yet…..but I need a rest. Night all.
A couple of years ago I did a painting called winter man, two trees entwined to make a face looking out at you. Now I’m working on a profile view of a woman. I hope I can get the colours right and I need to add snow on the branches and shadows on the ground….. More to follow
I was watching a programme about Joseph Wright, a famous painter from Derby who used chiarascuro to paint fantastic images, from blacksmiths at work to factories and landscapes. His first painting that was bought for the city of Derby. It was paid for by public donation. It was called the Alchemist. Later in his life he went on a grand tour of Europe. He painted the volcano Vesuvius as an explosion of red lava and dark boiling clouds of smoke and ash.
I tried to do a quick digital sketch of what I saw but it was too complex to represent so I made up my own idea. This was drawn in ArtRage oils and the metallic setting was on about 50%.
I used the drawing tool on 100% for the wider brush strokes and 50% and 25% for the thinner lines. I also had the phone in its side so the image is in landscape format.
Green brown woman is finished. Ready to go to her new home. I tried to get a 3d effect with light and dark tones. One thing that happens when I try to imagine a subject is that it needs to look at least slightly like it could exist. With this I wanted to try and make the leaves look like they were real, but when you imagine things it does all depend on what you remember, how it’s put together and what colours it has.
Anyway I want the customer to be happy especially since it has taken a few weeks to paint…. Now all I have to do is finish Jupiter before this weekend!
Wow there’s a lot of things going on down at Spode today. The Stoking Curiosity event is very busy. I’m down at studio 21 and hoping people will pop in. There’s just been a call for a poetry workshop (I’m having lunch at the works canteen cafe) then will be back to continue painting Jupiter today and tomorrow.
So if you get the chance come down and see what’s going on today and tomorrow
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