Tag: Design

Swirled

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I did another doodle today, just because I can I guess. I wanted to do something bright and colourful. Something cheerful during this hot spell of weather.

Primary colours with a touch of green and orange to brighten up my day. A tiny bit of black for contrast….curves like a fountain give a flourish to the doodle.

I’ve explained I the past what apps I use, I don’t want to bore you again!

Sometimes I can see animals in these patterns, today I think I see cats or dogs…I used to see patterns in old wallpaper and curtain patterns. There is apparently a name for it but I cannot remember what it is.

All the best and have a good weekend!

Colouring books….

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My partner is not an artist, but he does enjoy art, so he has started colouring adult art books. The themes in them don’t seem to have progressed much more than in children’s books, but they do allow him to relax by concentrating on a subject.

The art in the books appears to have been drawn with a bit more skill, and if you choose something with a specific theme they appear to be of higher quality. He recently bought himself one based on the Lord of the Rings books.

I dont know how anyone else feels about this? Is colouring in  a book an art form? Is the artist the person who draws out the initial image or the person shading in the image?

I guess its like old fashioned painting by numbers….however it is a hobby for those who want to engage in artistic projects.

It would be interesting to see how an artist tackled filling in the pictures. Would they use traditional felt pens, or more interesting methods such as acrylics, oil paints, different types of charcoal or even collage and gold leaf. Turning something which is mundane into a spectacular rainbow of colours.

So maybe that is a challenge. To take one of these books and transform it into a true piece of art….

2011 mysteries

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Ok  so I’ve found some more photos of scenery, this time from 2011. I think I was influenced by Van Gough for these. The harvest scenery was reused in 2013.

I hope the people putting up the scenery, the members of the cast, and my family don’t mind me using their images. I guess they have been shared a lot of times, and as this is 7 years ago they probably don’t look the same anyway!

So why Van Gogh…? It’s the energy in his paintings that I love, the swirl of atmosphere and emotion. Not all art has to be completely figurative or abstract. To me his work sits between the two. I dont know if the phrase magic realism even fits his type of art, but anyway, both he and many other artists from the same era, like Gauguin for instance, had revolutionised the way paintings were made.

I have to say I love the impressionists and the post Impressionists. As the society around them changed, they worked their magic on art. There are other schools of art, like fauvism and expressionism, cubism and surrealism. They all made a difference too. But I still think the Impressionists and post Impressionists are my favourites.

Anyway, perhaps I will stop posting scenery paintings…..

2013 scenery

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Looking on Facebook, memories pop up from years ago. These pictures were taken in July 2013. I’m not sure if I did all of them that year. I may have painted over an old one from a year or two before.

As on other occasions harvest was one of the themes. Also the industrialisation of Stoke on Trent, when canals were dug out and bottle ovens and kilns were built. I even had to paint a public house. (With working door!)

I’m not sure how many years I have done this for and its always a bit of a rush job, or my health hasn’t been good. But I feel so much part if my community that I won’t say no.

I would love to do more, make the flats more intricate, more like murals. But at the end of the day they are only on display for a few hours, one day in a year. Just as long as the scenery helps tell the story…..that’s what they are there for.

X

This years mystery

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This afternoon (Saturday 7th July) I will be in the Mystery Play. This is the scenery that I have painted for it. The last photo is the two boards joined, the grey bars of cloud is not the finished effect because I decided to change them to flatter clouds. Unfortunately I could not take another picture because my phone went flat.

I have lost the book I was working from so I just tried painting cumulus and stratus clouds.

I think the looming clouds make it feel more oppressive. The play is about war, family, and woman’s equality. I hope it does work on the day.

Our play starts at 2 pm and only runs for 20 minutes, I think it will be good.

I am still here!

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Just busy at the moment. I’m painting some of the scenery for our local mystery play next Saturday. The theme is the Tittensor Evictions by the Duke of Sutherland, and including two wars and the suffragette movement all in twenty minutes.

The scenery is based on a painting by Corot. I think it’s a landscape in the south of France. I’ve added a thatched cottage and there will be figures in the foreground. This is half of the panel (or flat as they call it in the theatre) its 8ft by 4ft. There will be another panel of the same size attached above it which of sky. I’m also going to add the hall where the Duke lived to this panel.

I’m painting with acrylics and emulsion on hard board. This took me about two hours to paint. I also have a sign to do…. so I will be very busy again!

The Mystery play has been happening for over 10 years now at Penkhull. It started out being purely religious but has taken on different themes over recent years, including one about the river Trent. Apparently it’s the largest community arts event in Stoke-on-Trent and there were 400 people participating in putting it on last year.

It’s on 7th July if you feel like coming along…

 

Paint

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Paint is a wonderful thing,  a riot of colours, a rainbow of tones.

Acrylic for ease of colour use, oil paint for staying damp to ease blending. Water colours for transparency and simplicity, Gouache for more opaque colours over watercolour. The types of paint are fascinating. Each has its own method and technique. Even paints such as emulsion and gloss can be used in Art, and of course spray cans are used for graffiti.

From millennia ago humans have made marks, on cave walls, on rocks, papyrus and paper. Canvas and screens. The need to make pictures seems to have been with us almost from the cradle. Children learn to draw at an early age. Scribbling, then with improved hand eye coordination comes drawing, painting, even writing. For what is language, it is an abstract representation of what was once pictograms. Egyptian hieroglyphics show the link between art and language.

Paint and art invade our society. Art and colour are used to design every day objects. Architecture is a form of art. We need artists and painters in our visual society. Art is there in video games, special effects, what colour your clothes or car will be next season. What palette you decide to use to decorate weddings and birthdays. The list is almost endless….

 

Getting your ducks in a row

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I found this digital drawing of a duck on my Facebook memories. It was drawn in ArtRage oils and I just liked the pattern for the feathers that I created so I took a section of it and duplicated it in the Layout app on my tablet. I then changed the colours slightly in an Instagram filter called Charmes I think.

I wanted to make a reflection pattern and this uses 16 sections of the original drawing turned and twisted. I think the bits at the top and the bottom look like small crabs and the central sections look like vegetation arching  over a still pond.

I often draw birds, I love the way their eyes stare out at you. I love feathers, I used to draw them all the time as a child. I liked how the strands in them interlock. I have drawn peacocks and swans and lately painted crows. I would like to be able to paint birds in flight, its how their wings spread, and the feathers flutter and split as the wind flows through them. I like the iridescent colours that sparkle off the feathers, especially on birds such as peacocks.

 

Roses

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Roses are red

Violets are blue,

This doesn’t rhyme

I dont know why!

Roses have such an important role in life, they are a symbol of love, lijd red roses for valentines day. They can be sent to patients in hospital, and are a beautiful addition to a garden. Roses are used as an image on greetings cards and can also be found as part of traditional canal art.

People always seem to want to retire to a cottage where roses grow around the door. I tend to think you might get spiked on the thorns if you are not careful.

Roses are red, but they can also be in many other colours, from palest white to almost black. Some roses have sweet scent, others are without perfume. Some flower continuously through spring, summer and into autumn while others bloom only once a year.

I am interested in trying to paint or draw them, their convoluted petals are a real challenge. How they intertwine, whether they are simple flowers like the dog rose, or more complex like hybrid tea roses.

The plants can be used formally, for instance in a rose garden with box hedges , or scrambling or climbing up trellises and trees. They will grow up a pergola and give scented shade in the summer. They can also be used as ground cover.

Don’t ask me about pruning, black spot, aphid attack or other problems because I don’t know….

 

Complexity

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Complexity enchants me, it excites me, it tickles my mind. Complexity is deep within my soul. To illustrate this I have added some digital drawings that I have played with. I started before these with a roughly drawn profile which did not have gender or age. After working on it with a smudge tool I decided to use picsart to change it and blend it into something new. I feel like it is now a profile of a boy.

I used a colour transformation tool in picsart to bring out more vibrant blues and purples. Only when these were set did I go into changing the styles in another part of the app. Eventually I put the drawing through layout which us another app to multiply it up.

Complexity comes through the various iterations, colour, texture and tone being changed each time. I go by feel to decide when to stop, I don’t want to go too far so the picture becomes a bland mush,  but I did try and push it as far as I could.