Tag: Green man

Grey man

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Actually green man, but I decided to see what he would look like in black and white.

I took the photograph at Salts Mill in Saltaire, Yorkshire, about 4 years ago.

Green men are found all around the country, representing the spirit of the fertile world?  I guess so. This one was a design on a large gardinere in the Salts Mill complex. I think he is probably a Victorian design. There us something quite disconcerting about green leaves growing out of his mouth. It reminds me of when a was a child, when I was told if I ate apple pips an apple tree would grow inside me!

We also visited a green man shop in Pickering, in the north Yorkshire moors a few years before, and came home with a tiny green man and a plaque of a lady surrounded in sea shells and seaweed. I’m not sure exactly where it was, I think it was near the railway station, in the centre of the town, it may have closed by now.

I like painting green men and women, there is a succulent power in them, green and verdant.

 

Experimenting.

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I’m experimenting with different ideas. I have gone a bit more abstract. The small green man has already gone to a new home, and I’m trying to make paintings with a slight Celtic influence, like the cat. The horse is taken from an illustration I saw, I think the original had a rider. I just like the strong shapes in it.

Further ideas are more industrial and town landscapes, more celtic/abstract designs, more animals. I might try and do slightly surrealistic pictures, where the perspective is altered. I painted some like that a few years ago. I’m exploring my mind as well as art…

I intend to try and do some ceramics over glass later in the year.

I guess it’s because of doing some mono prints yesterday. I suddenly feel more liberated. I’m not sure if I will ever stick to one style or idea…..

Green men….

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Green men tangled in a big green square,

I just wrote a really bad poem about Green men but I decided to delete it and not inflict it on you!

These were drawn in ArtRage oils, a free app from samsung galaxy. They were duplicated in an app called layout. The colours were enhanced using Instagram filters.

I like the way the digital brushes give it a more 3d impression. You can use ArtRage with 4 brush styles and metallic or non metallic paint. There is also a slider to change the size of the brush head.

Layout allows you to choose up to 9 pictures that can be moved or flipped to make new patterns. As you work your way through editing the pictures you end on a page that takes your drawing into Instagram, here you can edit the picture further. Eventually you end up with whatever image you want modified to suit your requirements.

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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!

Cards

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I have had some cards and prints done!

The top painting is of a light at Spode. I was pleased with the prints that came out. The tones are good, and the image is clear. I’m glad I used a local fine art printing company.

The second card is of a painting similar to the green man above. It was a second version I had done, without the curves at the bottom of the painting. (I don’t have a photo of it).

The green man is on a gardinere in salts mill, saltaire, Yorkshire. It was an example of Victorian pottery. I took a photo with my phone and used it to work from.

I will be trying to sell them at a few craft fairs over the spring and summer. It’s hard to judge if people will buy them, but you have got to try !