New paintings and regular art updates.
I’m actually sitting here having a quiet night in. We were going to go out but I didn’t feel well.
I’ve now had a few glasses of wine which was probably a mistake but anyway it’s New Year’s Eve….
What I wanted to say is that I’ve met some lovely people here over the last year. So….
HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone x
It’s the last day of 2018. 2am, only 22 hours to go till 2019.
How do I feel. Well I’ve started then stopped doing a couple of things this year, including not being able to get to urban sketchers because it clashes with another art group. Not persevering with trumpet lessons because I was feeling down, and almost giving up on archery because I’ve been too busy.
The wonderful thing is though that I have tried my hand at these things. Where before I never had time to do them. I know I need to get back to them and I think when we have brighter days I won’t be in such a hibernation mode. I guess part of it is trying to do more with my partner. I don’t want him to be isolated. He needs to get out there and do things but his mind is not in a good place..
I know there is a lot of talk about mental health but I won’t go into details. I just wrote a long paragraph explaining it all then decided to delete it. Sometimes things need to stay private.
So anyway, we are passing from one year to the next. It’s an arbitrary marker of time. I guess it does signify the return of the Sun over the next few months. Time does seem to go faster with age. Clocks tick…….
So as the season is merry I shall wish you all a happy healthy and fun 2019.
Everyone seems to be posting 9 of their best pictures on Instagram at the moment. I don’t know what app they are using so I just posted these. Mainly commissions plus my stall which I had at Spode earlier this month.
So I hope you all have a lovely New Year’s Eve and a great 2019!
We live on the wrong side of the hill to see sunsets, so it’s only when I see a glimpse of red or pink reflecting off the clouds that I know something is happening.
Today I was coming home from the shops and I saw a gap in the clouds and a tiny patch of blue. There was also a glimmer of rouge painting a fiery base to the clouds.
I quickly drove over the hill and tried to find a spot where the view wasn’t hidden by trees or houses.
He view was a grey one, with a tiny glimmer of red fighting the street lights on the horizon. The trees and iron fence made strong silhouettes against it. I wish I could have been there 10 minutes earlier. It may have been glorious, but I missed it.
One day I might live in a sunset facing house. Now I just look out for pink clouds and dash up over the hill.
X
I used to have a desiderata pinned up on a wall but it’s disappeared somewhere. So I tried to remember (vaguely) what it said. I tried to get the gist of what it meant. It’s turned into a sort of poem.
X
Here are three portrait paintings I did a few years ago. They are all Acrylics on canvas.
I think I’m reasonably good at capturing a likeness, but there are other things like the proportions of a figure to get right. I painted my mother and sister in one painting. My sister was taller than my mum but their heads are level in the painting I did. That’s because my mom was standing on a step so their heads were at the same level. To be honest it looks odd, not because it’s wrong but because you don’t expect one set of legs to be so much longer!
When I was learning to draw and paint figures I would often draw the heads bigger and the legs shorter. That’s because I was not looking properly and not taking account of foreshortening, especially when the model was sitting on the ground.
I enjoy painting people but not many ask for portraits these days. I am also good at painting pets, and I don’t need photoshop to put two figures together from two separate photos.
Anyway feel free to contact me if you ever want a portrait or a painting of an ancestor for instance
In 2013 there was a call for postcards to sell for charity at a blind auction. No signature was included so that there would not be a preference for one artist over another
I don’t even know if they sold but I enjoyed painting them.
Tree decorations or baubles can come in all shapes and sizes. I have a lot of very old glass ones wrapped up in tissue in the cupboard but given the fact that we have cats I decided to use plastic, knitted, wooden and painted ones this year. Plus a low energy set of led lights so if they bite the cable they won’t get much if a shock.
It’s the day after boxing day today which means TV has reverted to mostly the same cheap programmes plus a few second World War films. Thus seems to happen every year. . It is after all the season of peace?!
Life goes on, leftovers abound….. Next comes new year…..
X
Something about red cheers me up, going bright red, seeing a red sky, the glowing coals on a fire. The cherry red of a poker?
Red seems to signify heat and health, richness and cheerfulness. Go further along the spectrum and you get to infrared and far infrared. These colours outside of the visible spectrum can still be seen with infrared cameras, where you can then see the heat signature of objects like the heat radiating from windows and hot mugs.
Red is also the colour of life and blood. Of holding your hands up to bright light and seeing the red colour as it shines through your flesh. Red is love and hearts 💕
Cat hidden in dusty shadow. Lost to the World.
You were smart and neat once, now slightly chipped and nicked.
No longer on display, but hidden in a corner .
Spotted paint is scuffed, dots are faded,
But you can’t leave, you are an old friend .
Will you ever see the light of day, no sign of your return to favour.
Fold yourself into the corner, stay stray until you are called back. Home.
Mallaband-Brown