New paintings and regular art updates.
Art is whatever someone wants. This is a painting I promised to do a year ago, but then I got busy with my MA and I never seemed to find the time to work on it it’s only small, about A4, acrylic on canvas. It needs work on the light and dark areas and I want to get a bit more texture into the sand. But it’s a good start. It’s 3am so I’m putting down my brushes for the night.
Just been to Stone in Staffordshire, to the Artisan Boutique on the High Street there. Its a lovely cafe and also sells artwork. I’m prt of a six person show together with other members of the Orme Art Group. The exhibition runs throughout June and the works are for sale.
I will be visiting to have a proper look at the place soon and maybe stop off and have a cup of coffee. The shop also has seating outside so it’s a pleasant place to visit when it’s sunny.
This is another of the paintings I will be exhibiting/for sale in Stone. Its the derelict pottery in a nearby street. This is the main factory. To the left of it are two bottle ovens (which were used to fire pottery in the past). The process eventually became gas fired and many of the old kilns were closed and fell into ruins. I think only thirty two of the many hundreds that were in Stoke-on-Trent are now left, and only a few of those have been restored or repaired.
The reason I painted this is that I wanted to include the Falcon plaque on the end of the building. It actually depicts a Goss Hawk and I think the pottery is actually called the Goss Works. Others know the history better than I do.
This acrylic on canvas Poppy painting will be on sale in a shop in Stone, Staffordshire later in the week. I will try and get a few photos of our group display when everyone has hung their work.
Poppies come in lots of colours from large red, magenta, pink and white ones to smaller common poppies with red patals and black splodges in their centres. Also white and pink variations. Then there are the bright oranges of Californian poppies, orange and yellow Welsh poppies and blue, hymalayan poppies. Just gorgeous.
Our group of artists will be exhibiting work for sale in the Artisan Boutique on the High Street in Stone, Staffordshire from the start of June. Six of us are exhibiting there so we will all have a few pictures on display. It’s a great opportunity for us to get seen a bit further afield than usual. Wish us luck!
Today, for the first time in two years I went back to Spode. I have a lot of paintings that I have done over the years. I’ve avoided going because of Covid and it felt so strange being there. Like the time hasn’t passed, and yet there are new people there. If I want to carry on being an artist I need to get my act together again. I called myself an explorative fine artist and I want to be one again.
Twenty minute sketch at a life drawing day with the Orme Art Group. The dark areas are grey and brown felt pens. The light brown, red, orangey brown and white were pencil crayons. When you draw or sketch quickly you need to get all of the figure down, so I do a basic outline and then try and fill in with blocks of colour. I work out where the shadows and light falls. I think I need to start doing it more regularly. Is it sketching or fine art? Not sure….
An Owl painting I did a couple of years ago. They are intriguing birds. Their ears are set at different heights underneath all their feathers so that they can differentiate which side their prey is on. Their wings are silent as they fight through the air, making it hard for animals to know they are being hunted. Sharp talons for gripping and hooked beaks for tearing into their prey make them a top predator. Beautiful but deadly.
Nine years since I painted this poppy with a white centre. I think that makes it look fresh and cool. Poppies have paper thin, crinkled petals. They look so delicate. I have lots of yellow, Welsh poppies in the garden, but not as many red ones that seem to need more sunlight. This was an acrylic on canvas and I think it sold quite quickly? But after almost a decade I still love it.
Here is a better photo of my mural that was destroyed in a fire at the Leopard Hotel in Burslem earlier in the year. The landlady was said to have come over from the Caribbean and married an English man. She then ran the hotel. The trouble is I painted this in 2006? I honestly can’t remember the story I was told and now the hotel is gone.
Mallaband-Brown