Cadmium colours

Back in the eighties hubby brought a whole load of cadmium colours back from the company where he was doing chemical analysis. I had about eight coffee jars full of cadmium ranging from pale yellow to red to deep maroon. But I didn’t know how to mix them, it was before Google and I had them on a shelf for a year. I also knew Cadmium is a heavy metal although these colours were pigments so hopefully they were safe.

Then a fellow art student asked about them. I agreed to give them to her. I know she used them in many paintings! I often wonder if she used them all, I haven’t seen her for forty years.

Ginger cat

I painted this ginger cat a few years ago. He’s based on a stray that moved in with us for a while. He would sit on a windowsill and stare out at the garden. I decided to make his view a bit more floral, and almost Mediterranean.

Unfortunately we had to rehome him because he would fight with our other cats and ended up with an abscess in his paw. I spoke to the vets and they agreed to find him a good home. I hope he was happy and it was sad to say goodbye to him.

Koish

Koi carp I pay a few years ago, it was part of my recent exhibition. I thought it was worth showing on its own here. I love painting reflections and the way some parts of the painting can be seen through so you can see the fish. Other things include the distortion of the window bars in the water. Acrylic on canvas.

Lifedrawing

Ten minute watercolour sketch I did today at our art group. I am not going to show the front view sketches that I did as some people may find them offensive. Most of them were pen and watercolour sketches, I did try using a sharpie pen but the ink bled onto the paper and was too smudged. These were all 10 or 20 minute pictures. The final life study is an acrylic on canvas. We had an hour to complete it. I painted the models braids with ribbons woven into them and I mirrored the idea of them by painting a chequered floor (the floor is wood block parquet). I might post a close up later.

Air

A painting from a few years ago, a bit burry with camera shake. It’s one of four I did to represent Earth, Air, Fire and Water. It was a series I really enjoyed. Working with the flow of paint, allowing my imagination free rein. It’s acrylic on canvas. Two of the set had already been sold and I was thinking of painting replacement images. I wish I had, I’m not sure I ever will. X

Green woman self portrait

This is the partner painting to the green man portrait of my hubby. They mean a lot to me. I intend to put them up together in my house once my exhibition is over. It’s about A4 size, probably a little bigger. I used some silver metallic paint on it to give it a slight shimmer. Acrylic on canvas. Painted a few years ago.

Peeling paint

The window panes are solid, but the wood is old and the paint peeling. One of my paintings of Spode, I just had to paint it with the blue and white reflected sky. I put a photo of it onto the peeling paint group online, but they were a bit sniffy because it wasn’t actual peeling paint, but a painting of peeling paint. I was let off with a gentle warning to photograph the real thing, which is strange, because a photo is just another representation, and as we have seen on the news recently photos can be manipulated with filters (I’ll say no more!).

If you look closely you might see my fingers clutching my phone as I took the picture (bottom right hand window pane).

Feeling a bit down in the dumps so decided to post this, it’s a favourite X

Lands end

The end of the land, a toe dipping into the Atlantic Ocean, most South Westerly point of Mainland England. The destination or leaving point you can go to or from if you want to travel the length of Britain. The other end of the trail is John O’Groats in the very far north of mainland Scotland.

We only visited once in the 1990’s and didn’t get to the actual Lands End sign because the area had been taken over by a company and we couldn’t afford the admission fee! We went up the coast into the next bay and stopped off for a clotted cream tea before going back to out camp site. I’d like to visit again one day, although I think that’s a remote possibility, (pun intended!). This is a painting I did after the visit.

Exhibition was lovely

Lots of friends came to my exhibition and it was lovely to see them. I’d taken a box of wine and some orange juice and I really was scared that no one would come. It’s strange how anxiety can affect you, but I shouldn’t have worried. I think its like a performance anxiety, stage fright, having to talk about your work, explain the thought behind it. I luckily knew most of the people there so I didn’t need to panic!

The exhibition is on for another week so I should be able to show more people round during the week. X