On WhatsApp

Having photos appear on WhatsApp can be odd. I get the pictures loaded into my gallery. I appreciate them all but I don’t always remember who sent them, that means I don’t always remember to reply!

So.. If you sent me this santa Christmas card, thank you! I’ll try and remember to send my cards out before it’s too late! X

Etruria Canal Festival

I have some paintings up at Etruria Industrial museum. The museum is open this weekend (31st May and 1st June 2025).

Red horse. This is a painting I did a few years ago, acrylic on canvas. From a friends photograph. I had her permission to paint it.

The Canal festival has all sorts of activities including music and canal boats on display and usually morris dancing. I’m looking forward to it if the weather is OK. I might struggle to walk around but will try my best.

Horsing about

I only had an hour at art group today so I messed about and came up with this. It’s a semi abstract painting of a horse/zebra. I was concentrating on a limited pallette, green, burnt umber, a lighter brown, silver  and white. First I painted the horse and highlighted it in green, then I added the gnarly tree. Finally I added textures, including the striped zebra idea. I think it has a vague medieval feeling. I’m calling it finished. Acrylic on canvas.

Playing with scraper board art

It’s hard to get a good photo when the surface of the underlying scraped board is so reflective.  I’ve been playing with scraper board art, in the 1st and 2nd pictures the holographic surface changed colour due to the angle of the light hitting it. The image is based on a photo of my cat. The 3rd and 4th are a copper colour, the horse was made up from my imagination. The underlying board was metallic not holographic but still changed colour based on the angle of incidence of the light.

War Horse

I’ve just watched the film Warhorse, directed by Steven Speilberg. It’s the story of a part thoroughbred  foal that is bought by a farmer who’s rivalry with his landlord causes him to buy the young horse for more than he can afford.

The farmers son trains the horse to pull a plough and work around the farm. But his father sells it to help save the farm.

The horse, Joey, is transported to France where it becomes part of the British Army and fights in the first world war. In the meantime the farmers son Albie joins up and goes to France to search for his friend. The story has a series of incidents where awful things happen to the boy and Joey. Will they find each other? I won’t say!

The story was originally on in the theatre, the horse and other animals were puppets, the main horse was supported and moved by two men and was made of a lattice work of plastic? strips that gave the impression of a horse.

It’s an excellent story and both theatre production and film brought tears to my eyes.

Seabiscuit

Watching the film Seabiscuit on the TV. I decided to try and draw a horse so I used Artrage to draw it, then I edited it in Instagram and also Photodirector apps. It’s a bit smudgy and indistinct but I quite like it. I drew the mane blowing in the wide and it’s tail up in the air. Brown with a white blaze on his nose. Digital drawing.