I feel guilty that I haven’t painted. I think I need to get my brushes out. Painting is my reason for being. It’s not negotiable, I have to paint, or at least draw. It will happen, I’m just not sure when. As the days get darker I always find it more difficult, especially painting under artificial light. By the way, I must have a hundred brushes around the house, I think they multiply when I’m not looking!
I was looking for an image to use for this post and found this. Where the light through prisms in the mobile in my window was casting rainbows on these brushes. I hope I don’t get artists block, sometimes I just can’t paint…
It’s blank, I have the canvas, I have the paints, I have an idea, but I don’t know where to start. I have to do a painting for someone, and I want to, but my mind is blank. Just like the canvas. I might have a fight with it later, spread some green and red paint on it. It’s just knowing how to start. I’ll have to do it, soon….
During lock down last year, members of the Orme Art Group collaborated in recreating this Cezanne still life. We took a square each and copied what we saw in whatever medium we liked. Some of the images were smaller or larger than others so when the picture was put together not everything lined up. Also the colours vary because each artist was working to their own image colour settings. I think the resulting collage is rather good. We did several separate challenges like this over covid.
Today at the Brampton open exhibition. I found my barn owl painting in a good position, not tucked away out of site. Earlier I’d been to Art and Minds in Middleport and was asked to paint an extra painting for a quiet area in the gallery. Both gave me a little bit of joy in a sad time. Perhaps I will start planning the painting tomorrow.
WordPress keeps telling me my phone is full. I know! I keep trying to delete photos but it’s almost impossible. There are thousands of them. There’s lots of other things, I am not sure of half of what’s on here….
So I think I will have to buy more memory. Its funny how real memories are subsumed into a digital memory. If you don’t have a photo of it, it didn’t happen? Case in point, the recent death and funeral of the Queen. People have always recorded their lives throughout the ages, for example look at cave paintings. Then art throughout the ages, paintings for people who could pay, or sketches by people who had the means or ability to draw or paint. Then deguerreotypes (not sure of the spelling) became popular, painted portraits turned into slow motion photos that took time to take and heads had to be clamped in place to get a clear image. Box brownies, single lens reflex, eventually digital cameras, then phones which took a few photos. Now, the mobile phone is a hand held computer… But it still gets full.
The human mind can hold more information, but it’s not stored in a logical order. Links from the past suddenly reach out and grab your attention. Clearing a human brain of memory is not a good thing, and unless it happens through illness, age or injury, causing degradation of the brain structure, it is to be hoped that people can build memories (good or bad?), not lose them.
On Saturday 24th September 2022, Art and Minds, a new gallery at unit 3 Harper Street, Middleport, will be opening to the public. It is also going to offer support to service men and women.
I was pleased to be offered some wall space there and have five small paintings that will be on display there including paintings of poppies (for remembrance) and two relating to industrial archaeology.
The gallery is in amongst a group of shop units and the Harper Street entrance is directly opposite the entrance of the Middleport pottery in Middleport, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. If you are visiting there why not pop across the road and come and look at the new shops there. X
I was asked if I had any more poppy paintings for the shop unit today so I resurrected an old painting.
This was from 2019, it was a Poppy that lacked definition, it was a bit dark and flat. I was never very happy with the leaves so I over painted them too. Acrylic on canvas.
Argh! I started putting eyelets on the back of my paintings and the paint started to flake off! I don’t know why, but I think because it’s a different type of canvas. So I repainted the patches where it came off. Then I had the ‘brilliant’ idea to varnish it.
First get the top off the varnish bottle. It’s one of those push down and twist types. That took half an hour. Then paint it on. But one of my hairs fell on it! I tried to lift off the hair and the paint flaked again. So, a few more dabs of paint mixed in with the varnish. It was due in today. It might not get there! And I’m left with gummy hands.
Two fifteen am, almost done, need a rest and to let the paint dry a bit. It’s acrylic so it won’t take long. Some of this is wrong, but if you don’t see the original photo you won’t know! It will probably be finished by Three o’clock.
Mallaband-Brown 