New paintings and regular art updates.
Self portrait reflected in a stained glass window at Little Moreton Hall in Staffordshire. The idea was to create a ghostly image in keeping with the age of the property. I could have gone all out and added an Elizabethan headdress but I didn’t want to over complicate the idea. The painting is set at sunset when things get a bit more spooky. I do like creating narrative images.
What topics do you like to discuss?
That’s why I like trying to paint astronomical pictures, like this tryptic of Jupiters pole based on the photos by NASAs Juno probe.
I’ve always been interested in both subjects, I wouldn’t say I was an expert, I will always check my facts if I write about science, but I enjoy thinking things through. And having a visual mind helps me imagine how things work.
Art is my first love, I worry that I will find it increasingly difficult to create since my diagnosis with Parkinsons disease. I would be bereft if I could not continue. I hope that better treatment becomes available, another reason for being interested in science
Painting that just popped up on my Facebook memories today from 9 years ago. It’s a picture of a green man sea spirit. The image was based on a terracotta face I had outside my back door. There is a crack through it which was caused by frost I think. I changed the colours to reflect its maritime appearance. It has a similar feeling to the Air painting I just published, a spiritual or mythical feeling. Acrylic on canvas.
A friend now has this painting of Koi carp swimming at a pool in a garden centre I did a few years ago. Perhaps I will have to do more wobbly paintings now I have Parkinsons disease. I hate the thought I might not be able to paint. Someone asked me today what I was going to do if I don’t paint. I don’t know. It’s always been part of me. I know my manual dexterity is deminishing. I hope something can be done about it. At the moment I’m mentally staring at the ocean not sure if I can dip my toes in anymore?
Artist ‘stuff’, paints, paintings, canvases, brushes, boxes, sketch pads, heaters, all my ornaments on the mantelpiece. Carrier bags. I’ve never been this cluttered. Some of its going to have to go. But it’s cheaper than renting the studio. I not letting many people in till I sort it out! But it’s storage not hoarding (yet!)
All that’s left is a small bag of rubbish. My studio was a small space but I fitted a lot in it. Now my living room looks like one of those TV programmes about hoarders! I didn’t realise how much space it would take up and a lot of my paintings have gone to a friend’s studio for a while. I’m going to have to learn to throw things away. It’s not an exciting photo but it means a lot to me. Maybe one day I’ll be able to afford to go back. I’ve got to have some hopes!
Sketch of an eclipse on canvas in acrylic paint. I challenged myself to just paint with red, yellow, blue, white and black so I had to mix new colours using the primary colours on the pallette. I added a tiny moon surrounded by the corona of the sun visible against the darkened sky. It might be something I paint properly in future.
His birthday,
He was no fool
We would have had on this day
A walk by a pool?
It would have been a grand day
Even if it rained
The sun is shining today
But he’s not here, my friend.
I’m sitting feeling lonely
His life came to an end
He had so much to give
Love and hugs, not only
A great wish to live!
When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Give me crayons, give me colouring books. Books with paper covered in dots that you wet with a paintbrush and colours emerge.. Dot to dot books, pages with squares on that I could turn into patterns. I might have been a bit older than five for some of these, but I always wanted art things for my birthday or Christmas. I must have heard of artists because I always wanted to be one. I got an etch-a-sketch machine to draw with, I loved that.
My sister wanted to be a musician, she eventually borrowed a violin from school. I got jealous because my parents said I was doing art and they couldn’t let me have a musical instrument, so I overtightened the strings on the violin and they snapped ( bad/very guilty memory!)…
Now? I’ve been an artist all my life. I started drawing when I was a child such as historical people in tudor dress, Asterix the Gaul, horses, clouds, all sorts of things. I still do that, anything is interesting to me.
I painted this ginger cat a few years ago. He’s based on a stray that moved in with us for a while. He would sit on a windowsill and stare out at the garden. I decided to make his view a bit more floral, and almost Mediterranean.
Unfortunately we had to rehome him because he would fight with our other cats and ended up with an abscess in his paw. I spoke to the vets and they agreed to find him a good home. I hope he was happy and it was sad to say goodbye to him.
Mallaband-Brown