Tag: Design

Homage to Escher

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This is a digital drawing I did in Photoshop in 2006.

The image is based on a self portrait drawing by M C Escher.

I have not included any of his lithographs and mezzotints as I am not sure about copyright on them. But you probably know them, and I would recommend looking his work up on Wikipedia if you haven’t seen them before.

From flights of birds or shoals of fish intricately drawn so they tesselate and move past each other, to water flowing downhill infinitely, people walking up and down stairs that twist and turn worse than in Harry Potter… Eschers work is mind expanding, exciting, exhilarating!

The lithographs I have seen are in black and white. Reality is skewed, people move in 3 dimensions, but at impossible angles. Up and down are confused.

Each picture is intricate, tiny details immerse you in an alien world. This is amazing art from the past, do have a look at them if you can.

See this link for further information:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._C._Escher

More animal drawings

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This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I have posted some more of my old drawings for you. As you can see I have lots of ideas, some of them come from photographs I have seen in magazines, others are from my imagination. I have a few more left, so I might post them later in the week.

I hadn’t seen the slideshow option before, hope you like it.

I do like dolphins, I swam with a wild one a few years ago. We were on holiday and came back to the caravan site in the late afternoon. There were a pod of dolphins in the sea. I got in the sea …I only took my shoes and glasses off…. then swam out about 20 yards. One dolphin stayed near the beach, it kept swimming near me. There were people in wet suits further out, and people in the shallows,  me in the middle…..I can’t say it was spiritual, but it was amazing.

The next day there was a warning sign saying that the dolphin was called Georges who was an adolescent male. He had hurt himself because he was too curious and had been hurt by propellers on boats.  Apparently you could catch illnesses like pneumonia from the damp air from his blow hole.

I didn’t care…. I had a wonderful experience.

More animals

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You don’t have to take drawing seriously, you can experiment and learn new techniques as you go!

The thing I try and do is to draw something every day. They reckon that you need to do  10,000 hours at anything to become an expert, something like that anyway. At my age I must be well passed that…..

These are more digital drawings, probably done around 2012. They popped up on my Facebook feed as a memory.  It’s interesting to look back and see what you were doing years ago. It is like looking at old sketchbooks.

I want to do some more work like this, but it is finding time to do it that is the problem.

Anyway goodnight all!

 

Orange

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Orange is sharp, orange is zesty,                                                         bright like the sun, full of sweetness.

Orange is clay, terracotta, rusty.                                                         Iron oxidized, turned into ochre.

Orange is fire, hot lava pouring,                                                         burning with heat, spitting out rocks.

Orange a mixture of red and of yellow,                                            painting the sky in a deep sunset glow.

Orange is warmth and spice in food,                                                 saffron in rice, turmeric too.

Let Orange be free, paint with it, see –

It’s colour reminds me to be happy…

Breaking the block!

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Going to an arts group is a great way to start painting again when you are struggling.

I’m a member of a couple of groups so I spent a few hours today doing a couple of little paintings, a view of a hill with a sunset adapted from an old magazine photo and a green man or woman (not sure yet) from my imagination, but taking the eyes , mouth and nose from a face on a leaflet at a local fire station where we hire a room once a month.

As usual I’m concerned with colours, trying to get them right…is there too much brown in the green person painting? Is the sunset too dazzling in the  hill and lake painting (which is only about 1 by 1 and 1/2 inches).

I started discussing skies with other members of the group. Trying to think through how to render the light on clouds as the sun sets. To be honest when I get my hands on a paintbrush and paints I soon start creating again. The friendly support of the other members of the group just gave me that lift I needed.

If you can join a group I would recommend it. Each person had a unique idea of what they wanted to paint or draw. We all have our own styles, and some people wanted to use pastels, while others were using oils or acrylics. Each make marks differently. It’s wonderful to take a walk round the room and watch the progress of the artists there.

So…….the block is broken. There may be a mass of pictures coming this way soon!

Artists block

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I want to paint, I have to have new work done in ten days, but apart from a few sketches I’m stuck.

I look at old paintings and drawings, and they are not good enough for what I’m doing, they don’t come up to scratch. They need to represent me, my art. I’m trying to be professional so they all have to be good quality.

I am blocked, I am allowing my fears to hold me back. Even thinking about it makes my mind go blank. It’s the fear of failure, the belief that Im not good enough. I know its not true. I can and will probably be OK, but its the fear…..

I can’t imagine being on the other side of it though. My stomach is fluttering. My mind is empty. I do not want to pick up my paintbrush. There’s canvas’s waiting to be covered but I’m not sure what to put on them!

Is there a patron saint for painters? I hope I get some inspiration soon…….

Yesterdays Art

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Some paintings I have worked on and a Mini Mona Lisa. ..

The first four are recent paintings that I have worked on because I was not happy with them. Water and Earth are both part of a series (including Air and Fire) I also want to improve them.

Leaves was originally a single leaf but it was very simple and I wanted to add more to it. The leaves are from my imagination. I sometimes use art as a way of helping my memory. If I can remember what something looks like I can use the memory for other paintings and not necessarily use reference photos. I dont have a photographic memory but I sometimes describe an image to myself, like the way a gutter and drainpipe are attached to a house. If I can describe it I can draw or paint it.

Autumn pottery is based on a “pot bank” the kilns that were used for firing pottery in the past. Now they use gas tunnel kilns. The plants are roses and cotoneaster. They are to represent vegetation growing around old, derelict pot banks. The blue background could be sky, or the water from local canals.

The final painting was a quick copy of the Mona Lisa, taken from a very old book on anatomy for student artists. I know it is wrong, the face is too thin, the smile is wrong. But for half an hour’s work its not bad. It’s on a tiny canvas about 1 inch by 2 inches.

So there you are, more paintings, its something I do.

Tulips

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Spring has finally sprung. Tulips are rising out of the earth following the refreshment of rain. Drinking in the water, their heads swelling and bursting into bright petals. Shimmering in the cold sunshine of early May.

The season’s are running behind the time here. Another cold and wet snap today, but hopefully better by the weekend.

I use the word hope a lot, I know, but thats how I feel. The colours of the tulips have raised my spirits. They photograph well and I have tried to create kaleidoscopic patterns from them.

Bright red juicy lips of deep red from a double tulip hold me enthralled.  Playing with the image to make it more contrasted, deeper, more shape to it.

I love spring, the fresh green leaves not totally burst from their buds even now we are in May. I hope it does warm up. I need energy to do more art!

 

Companion Cats

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I have had cats for most of my life…

Small ones, big ones, cheeky ones, timid ones…

Inevitably they get into my photos, drawings and paintings..you have probably seen a few of them over the months I have been here. Some I paint from life, as pet portraits, but these are a little looser, cat shaped and friendly. I try and capture their spirit and character as well as their likeness in these pictures.

The photo of my mad male cat, sticking his head up behind the easel amuses me. I didn’t realise he was there till he popped up and looked at me. I took a photo as I may do a painting of him…..

So what next? I hope I get a few commissions as I do like painting animals. We are holding an open studio on 20 May 2018. There will be workshops, an exhibition, stalls and open studios….maybe that will result in some work to do…

Pottery

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It’s a dry subject is pottery,

The clay, once wetted and shaped, is dryed to leather hard,

Then punished in heat, it burns to biscuit ware.

So called because it takes on the dry biscuit colour,

and Matt, flat, creamy white shaded non-sheen.

Waiting on a shelf, waiting to be gently dipped in liquid,

The glaze or slip is slurped up with thirst.

Then fired again in gas till shiny new and almost molten,

It is released from the volcanic kiln.

How is it not broken with the immolation of its body

No, just shrunken, the moisture burned away.

Ready to be decorated in variously gorgeous ways……

 

Drawing is of a jug, I think by Clarice Cliff. I drew it years ago on sketchfu…