Workshop

Posted on November 15, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Blog, Blogging, Charity, Life, Making a difference, WorkshopLeave a comment

Oh what fun. I went to sing with our choir at a making a difference conference today. We heard about a business woman who had set up a charity to help feed children in the school holidays and from a second speaker about 6 women aged over 100 whose lives tell a fascinating tale of what life was like living through the 20th century. I could not stay for the second half but I really enjoyed a workshop to make a flag using paint a canvas square and masking tape to keep the colours separate and the edges of the colours neat. I was not able to collect mine but I hope someone from the choir will have collected it for me.

One of the songs we sang was “nanna was a suffragette” which talks about the fight for the vote for Women 100 years ago. Definitely making a difference.

Manorbier castle

Posted on November 14, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Castle, Manorbier Castle, Painting, Tenby, Wales7 Comments

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This just popped up in my Facebook memories. A painting on canvas I did of Manorbier Castle in South West Wales (near Tenby). There was a guardhouse near the entrance and a shop and cafe There is a Chapel towards the side nearest the sea. The castle is surrounded by trees and if you follow the road down past it you eventually find a path that you can walk on that takes you out into a shallow bay. The rocks are very interesting with long thin bars of rock separated into long segments lying horizontally ( if I remember rightly) . On the left hand hill overlooking the bay you can see the castle and on the right hand hill, separated by a valley, is the church up in Manorbier village itself.

It’s a few years since we went and my memory is hazy, but my partner remembers Gerald of Wales lived at the castle. I think it’s one of the few privately owned castles in Wales and I’m pretty sure someone lives in apartments inside the battlements.. Its definitely worth a visit, there are lovely gardens there. The only thing is try and go on a dry day as some if the steps are a bit slippery in the rain.

Painting props

Posted on November 14, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on foam board, Art, Eiffel tower, Painting, Panto prop, Pantomime, SceneryLeave a comment

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It was 2am and I decided to paint this. A board that will be one of many to be carried across the stage to show cast members travelling all over the world to get to where they are going.

4am came and I finally went to bed, then my head was spinning and I could not sleep!

Progress!

Posted on November 12, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic, Acrylic on canvas, Art, Autumn, Design, Green and brown woman, Leaves, Shape2 Comments

She’s almost done. I’m just trying to get a bit more of a 3d effect. I’m liking the more sombre colours but I’m putting a glimmer of gold into this. The face is quite controlled, I’m trying to go for a medieval look. Hope you like it (and the person who has commissioned it)

Cat sketches

Posted on November 10, 2018November 10, 2018 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Art, Artrage oils, Cat, Cat sketches, Digital art, Doodles, SketchesLeave a comment

I’m playing with digital sketches to decide whether to paint or draw a card design. After the first set done in a sketching app, I did the last one as an artrage oil sketch – over drawing a picture of a firework exploding that I did last week. I’m happier with that than the others.

I’m only doing these because I’ve got a cold. I was due to go out and go to an art group but I woke up feeling snotty this morning. But you can’t keep me away from drawing or painting for long. I’ve got a large peice of foam board in the car to paint on for something else this week….. But that’s another story.

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I think this looks more refined and handsome.

Fluid dynamics

Posted on November 9, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Fractal, Jupiter, Pattern, Space, Spirals, SwirlsLeave a comment

When you try and paint things you sometimes make connections with other objects. This, I think, is a good example.

I was making a cup of coffee this evening and because we were having strawberries and cream I decided to swirl a bit of cream into my decaff coffee. I knew that the pattern would be similar… But this was almost identical. It underlies how patterns in nature can mimic each other. From liquids to planetary atmospheres, even to nebulae and galaxies, swirls and spirals persist.

Beauty and ugliness are all out there. Patterns like fractals can be seen in the landscape. Pattern is wonderful.

Dog commission.

Posted on November 9, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Dog, Painting, Portrait3 Comments

This was from 2017 I think? It’s an image of a friends dog sitting in a grassy field near the sea. I used their photo to work from and it’s quite a big canvas. I wondered whether to add all the grass and weeds but I think it worked quite well. This is again acrylic on canvas. It was a pleasure to paint it.

Still painting

Posted on November 7, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic, Art, Astronomy, Blending, Jupiter, Painting, Scumbling, Shading5 Comments

Spent a productive 3 hours today on this…. Very complicated. The 1st canvas needs to be completed by Friday. I’m getting a bit tired so I think I will leave it till tomorrow…..

Trying to get the details is the problem. The image I’m working from is a bit pixelated. I’m bothered about getting the smoothness and roundness of Jupiter and also the blending between the different areas…. Oh well I’ll keep working

Green and brown woman

Posted on November 7, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Design, Green woman, Life, Poem4 Comments

Progress takes time and thought,

Progress means learning,

Finding your way,

Looking back as well as forward,

Learn from your mistakes,

Find your technique,,

Give time a chance and

Catch up with yourself.

Mind is strange,

Mind knows and sees.

Mind gets ahead, sees a solution

Before you know

How to

Do it

Paint it.

Grow and progress

I was just going to write a short note about how this is progressing but it turned into a little poem. Better get back to work.

Jupiter progress.

Posted on November 6, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Complex, Jupiter, Nasa, Painting, Photo, Science, Space, Tryptich, UniverseLeave a comment

Note the first photo is the latest version.

For some reason they came out opposite to how I posted them. Here are two parts of my Jupiter tryptich based on a photo Jupiter in the rear view mirror by Nasa. Taken as the Juno probe flew by Jupiter.

The challenge is to finish one panel by Friday. The other two will be painted on our Open days, 16th and 17th of November 2018 when we join with the Stoking Curiosity event. Run in conjunction with Keele University and Staffordshire University. There are a series of talks and lectures over the two days based on the integration of art and science.

Given I love astronomy I decided on this subject. Forgetting that I don’t have a working printer and that my computer is on the blink. I have to thank Mike and Nick at Spode for printing me off black and white photos and then colour images. I would not have got this far without them….. So I’m struggling with the complexity of Jupiter. I’m working on an image from above one of the poles where the oranges and reds of the main bulk of the planet turn to sombre blues browns and dark greys.

My shoulders and arms ache. Although I’m just trying to get one panel finished I have to work across two of them so they fit together and I can orientate where the blotches and patterns are. Please don’t expect perfection..I will try to see how it comes out. If you are around Stoke for Stoking Curiosity come along. I will be in studio 21 at Spode.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Art