Horsing about

I only had an hour at art group today so I messed about and came up with this. It’s a semi abstract painting of a horse/zebra. I was concentrating on a limited pallette, green, burnt umber, a lighter brown, silver  and white. First I painted the horse and highlighted it in green, then I added the gnarly tree. Finally I added textures, including the striped zebra idea. I think it has a vague medieval feeling. I’m calling it finished. Acrylic on canvas.

Bird doodle

I love my little notebook, getting filled up with sketches and doodles and bits of writing prompts. This bird recently appeared squeaking and squaking (odd word spelling I know) on the page. With this drawing comes memories of drawing odd bits when I was a child. I used to try and draw butterflies and moths and horses too. It is about learning to draw and freeing your imagination. Art is life!

Painting update

I’m still working on this. I tried to sort out the horizon line as it was wobbly. I think that the land in the background is too dark. I want to try and resolve the colours and waves on the sea…. Is it too light or dark….

This is from my imagination but I might try and find something that is similar. Or I could turn it into a more abstract image?

Crafts

Portrait of a woman called Carol in our craft group working on some diamond art picture. I enjoy doing small portraits, quickly done, it fits in with my Parkinsons shakes, if a line goes awry I can hide it in cross hatching. I have a small notebook with very pae blue lines so they are not very noticeable. I never want to stop drawing and painting. It’s my life. X

I must finish this

About three months ago? I started this, but then winter arrived and I stopped painting. My eyesight has got worse, I’ve found myself cleaning my glasses and realised it was my eyeballs that need “cleaning”, my cataracts are getting worse, extending into my central vision. It’s like a vaseline smeared camera lens that they use to make scenes in films look more romantic or nostalgic. In my case it’s like looking through mist. And it’s bloody annoying! Luckily I’m having my eyes checked out to have a cataract operation. Hopefully I will be able to paint again soon.

The Leopard destroyed

Remembering the Leopard

Sketch of the Leopard Hotel in Burslem that was destroyed by fire in 2022. I just found this on my phone. I’d done several murals in the back room and was devastated when this happened. The pub was empty and it had been broken into. The wiring was tampered with.

There are some ideas to rebuild part of it using the historic frontage to keep it’s architectural authenticity. I hope it happens. #bandofsketchers drawing in felt pens.

The canopy looks like a rabbit.

I was sitting in the library and looked out the window. I noticed the trees were still bare. Then I saw the shape of the canopy over the front door. It suddenly looked like a rabbits head. The letter Y at the end of library looks like a rabbits ears. I thought back to making shadow puppets on the wall, it’s so strange, a bit of Pareidolia?

Sketching today

Martin

Quick portrait I did today at a craft group I go to. I took my sketchbook because I just wanted to practice drawing. I find I get a lot of tension in my arms when I try and draw or paint theses days. It’s because I shake so much with the Parkinsons disease   but something takes over when I’m being artistic. But if I hold a sheet of music when I sing I can’t stop shaking. Weird.