New paintings and regular art updates.
Tea for who?
Tea for you
With scones and jam
Or sandwich of ham?
Straight from the pot
It’s nice and hot
A fresh dark brew
Don’t let it stew!
Blue and white china
Nothing can be finer
From Stoke-on-Trent
To a friend, sent
A birthday gift
For them to lift
And then to pour
With milk and more.
This was the back room of the Leopard Hotel in Burslem (the Arnold Bennett suite). The hotel burned down last year taking my murals with it. They were painted in emulsion paint directly onto the walls so it would have been impossible to remove them before the hotel caught fire (apparently the empty hotel had someone growing cannabis in it and the fire was from an electrical fault. It had been bought for redevelopment and the local community wanted to take it over to make it work again. Now its gone. You can see the relative sizes of them to the size of the room. I painted them between 2006 and 2007. I miss them.
This came up on my memories today. I remember this was a cold and sunny day just like today. I was taking part in a craft fair outside Stoke Market. Things were better then, people had a bit more money. I think I sold a few paintings. I have to say they were a bit random… I think I had done a all exhibition earlier in the year so I’d painted all sorts of things, some better than others. I’m trying to be a bit more selective in what I paint these days. I’m also not keen on sitting outside in the cold as much!
I’m hoping to get some cards made from my pottery paintings. I need to start selling things, but it’s a balance between what I can afford and what I can sell. The cost of living is making life difficult for everyone. This painting is loosely based on a Burleigh ware design although it’s not an actual copy. It’s totally imagined so I had to decide on where the shadows would fall. The background is meant to look like wooden panels reflected in a desk or table. The minds eye is an interesting concept. I actually can imagine how things look, and by talking my way through things I can generally get a good idea of what I’m doing.
Spode reflected and my willow pattern painting. I like pattern and design so doing both of these a few years ago was a delightful challenge. The window frame in the bottom painting was old and peeling and it was fun trying to get a likeness of it. The top painting was a willow pattern platter but using two different images to meld together to create a unique image. The border around the painting was all my own design. (There is a teapot painting on the table but the details are not visible). They are being photographed so I can have cards and prints, they are up for sale at the Arts and Minds Gallery, Veterans Support at Harper Street in Middleport.
I’ve just dropped off a few paintings to the Arts and Minds Gallery at Harper Street in Middleport opposite Middleport Pottery. I have asked them to do some cards from them and they have also taken the pictures to sell for me. It’s really pleasing to have my work included there. The galley has a wide range of beautiful art work. It also is part of a network that supports local veterans and their families. I have been able to show and sell work there because my hubby has a link to the military.
The gallery is warm and friendly and are always supportive. I think it helps that it doesn’t feel exclusive and snobbish. It’s in a great place too, helping to expand the creative area around Middleport pottery in Middleport, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
Art is complex, it can mean anything. Art can be good and bad, but one person’s good art is something someone else might loathe. I just edited this image to crop a smaller area and add a circular frame. Now I look at it I can see a series of stacked triangles that look like graffiti. It could represent a Christmas tree, or a forest, or rain on a window distorting an image outside it. It could also be a Christmas tree bauble. The digital filter distorts my linework, and adds textures and pattern to my drawing. The colours were originally felt pens but they to have been altered by the digital filters.
On Sunday my owl painting almost sold, a lady came along and was interested in it for her daughter. She even took a photo of it to show her daughter, but unfortunately it was a no from her. I wonder what I can paint that I love that a customer would like? I try and do good paintings, but it is that balance between a commercial image and a more individual picture. I guess everyone is different, we all have our own ideas and unless I paint commissions I have to second guess the audience I have. My work is so eclectic, if I kept painting the same theme over and over again I know I would get bored x
Starting a painting of a beach and the sea from above. It’s going to show the surf and the pebbles and sand. I want it to be gentle, a meditation, no words, no footsteps in the sand, just the quiet lapping of water as the waves roll in and out. A peaceful memory as a painting for a friend.
I managed to sell about six mini paintings, a medium sized one and a little jigsaw at our Orme Art Group Exhibition today. A small profit when you take into the cost of producing them. I also made a small sale at Middleport at the Arts and Minds Gallery. I just wish this was more of a regular thing. At the moment my business is really just a nice hobby. X
Mallaband-Brown