New paintings and regular art updates.
My final solo show day at the waiting room gallery is tomorrow, 22nd September 2019. Its open from 12noon to I think 5pm.
Im hoping people that couldn’t get to the opening will come along tomorrow.
It’s near Longport Station (which is being restored) and is a great new artist led gallery. I’m hoping to sort out some prints with them so they will have artwork for sale with them after the show has ended.
So that’s The Waiting Room Gallery, Longport, ST6 4ND. Maybe see you there. x
Dust rising (or Dust 19) is a group show by artists being held at Spode alongside the British ceramic biennial which is currently on till mid October.
This is me with one of the plates that have been created out of transfer prints. (if you look over my left shoulder the green patterns on the window are where the image comes from).
It’s amazing what’s going on here. We might be a bit down in the dumps but Stoke-on-Trent is so full of creativity. There is still a full time Fine Art course at Staffordshire University which is quite unusual in the current economic climate.
Stoke-on-Trent is situated in the middle of beautiful countryside. You can’t complain if you want places to visit.
So I guess what I’m saying is come visit!
This portrait of a friends three children must be twenty years old or more. All I have as an image is an old photocopy of a photo of it….which is why it’s blurred..
The three children were having breakfast when the photo was taken. There was strong sunlight shining into the room. The main colour was pale pink but the pin board behind them and the deep shadows made a good contrast.
I’d like to share a photo of my painting but I haven’t seen it for years. I used to do a lot more portrait painting but I guess now selfies are the fashionable thing they are less likely to be commissioned.
If you would like a portrait don’t hesitate to contact me.
X
Someone was asking for ti’s on how to start drawing today so I gave this response.
Choose good quality things to draw with. If you use pencils try softer ‘b’ numbers not hard ‘h’ ones. It’s nice to see the marks you make. Also choosing a combination of thin and thick nibbed black pens means you can have different sizes of marks. Choose a sketchbook that has at least a hard back if you can. Not too big. That way it’s easier to hold and it doesn’t slump mid drawing. Finally you could practice making marks with them. I started drawing copies of things when I was a child. I chose something I liked. It helps your hand eye coordination. You don’t have to do that though. Everyone will do things differently.
I suppose I could have talked more about what to draw, but I think basic equipment is important. If you draw something but it looks weedy and thin it it can put you off. Like when you use cheap paints. You don’t get a good effect, you can’t really see the result and you might have to scrub at the paper to get the marks to show up.
X
There are various sculptures in Trentham gardens. Each time I visit there seem to be more.
From fairies to birds, animals, plants.
The original sculpture in the gardens is Persius and Medusa. A gory sculpture of Persius holding the gorgons head. The body of Medusa is draped over the column he stands on.
Later additions are several wire fairies holding dandelion heads, the seeds are floating into the air. Then there are snails sculpted onto plant leaves and a hare twisting round to look out of tall grasses. The latest ones I’ve seen are a huge kingfisher sculpture and a tree trunk that has been carved into the shape of a frog. I got lots of ideas of things to add to our garden from this visit.
Cracked paint
Algae on Stone
Rusty metal,
Details of life,
Details of colour.
Bright white,
Blue sky,
Grey stone.
Angles and Shadows……
Curves and lines.
Stark images
Contrast
Beauty.
This painting is a few years old, and I think it led to my green man painting. I tried to ain’t something that was about ‘mind’, the squiggles and orange splotches are meant to be like synapses, and flashes of electricity. If the nerve fibres in your brain we’re stretched out they would cover a huge area. The brain is convoluted and folded which increases the interconnection of brain cells. The more convoluted and complex the brain, the more intelligence seems to be the rule. There are probably research papers about it and there may be information on Wikipedia.
Back to the painting. I can’t remember whether the face was taken from a photo……. But the eyes look quite real? What I must do is start creating new paintings again…
One of the many slides I found last year of my art in the 1980s. I like playing with perspective and I used to do many more portraits than I get to do these days. Maybe selfies have taken over. But wouldn’t you want a special portrait with things that are significant to you included in it? I’m also good at amalgamating photos, so if there are three people each on a different photo who want to be together in an image I can do it – and I don’t need photo shop!
Get in touch, commissions welcomed.
I suppose it would happen. I decided to do a self portrait….. I seem to do them once in a decade. The last one was a drawing about ten years ago.
I’m not sure if painting myself as a Green woman will work, but hopefully it will compliment the portrait of my hubby as a Green man. I’m thinking of offering to do them as portraits for people who are interested in the pagan world.
I’ll share more as it progresses. X
Drop a pebble in a pond, or watch drips of water fall into a bowl. You get ripples moving outwards, they reach a side or an edge, then bounce back.
Sometimes the edge is soft. Grass or sedges perhaps. Then the ripple is absorbed, dampened down. Or ripples turn into waves, waves into swelling storms. It depends on the weather.
Mallaband-Brown