New paintings and regular art updates.
Forth painting in progress. Trying to capture the movement of a fly wheel and govenor as it spins. I’m working from a photo I took of the Princess Steam engine, which was running at Etruria Industrial Museum last weekend. Acrylic on canvas.
Finished at 23.05 today! I’ve done two others and I have one more to do. I’m getting tired. I decided to make the flower quite tight but the wheat and background much more impressionistic. I hope it’s subtle and not weak looking. X
I’ve started the poppy and wheat painting. Just primary colours to start. Then I will build it up. I might use some gold paint for the wheat seed heads. I’ve got to add green but the paint is still wet. Not much to see here yet. Lots of work to do on it.
Thinking of trying another idea for a painting. Wheat and poppy. Using red, blue green and yellow with thin black outlines. It would have to be stylized to fit in with the new technique I’m using but I don’t want to overdo it. I love the way poppy petals are shaped and coloured.
Just got a phone call. I’ve got my barn owl painting into the Brampton Open exhibition. I’m very pleased. I’ve got to pick the other one up but that’s OK, they were completely different styles so it gave me a bit more of a chance depending on what the selectors wanted. It will be up at the Brampton Museum and art gallery in Newcastle under Lyme from 24th September 2022 for a month.
My combined autumn and spring painting I did about four years ago. It’s quite big and I really felt free when I painted it. But like many other paintings it stuck in my studio. I enjoyed exploring the two entirely different styles and colours in this. I might find it and try and get it in an exhibition. X
Red seems to be the theme of my paintings this week. Red poppies and red steam engine governor. Now I need to try and get the poppies painting finished. I want to work on the petals to make them more realistic. I’d also like to get the leaves and stems right. It’s difficult from imagination so I’m going to try and find some reference photos to work from.
Etruria Industrial Museum is open this weekend. This is a museum that houses Jessy Shirleys Mill. It houses a steam engine that was used to grind bone and flint to be added to clay to make fine bone china. I want to take some photos so I can do some paintings if the machinery. The mill is ‘steamed’ once a month in the summer. They usually have events running alongside the steaming. I am not sure but they might have classic cars this weekend?
Etruria is a part of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire and is named for Etruscan pottery which copied the Italian style. It was made by Josiah Wedgwood.
I did a bit of work on this long thin poppy painting too. I need to finish it by next week. I do seem to like putting myself under pressure! I imagine this hung on a narrow section of wall. I want to add a lot of detail and make the poppies stand out against the pale blue background. I hope it has an art nouveau appearance.
As I listened to the continuing news of the Queen’s death I decided to recreate a digital drawing a couple of days ago as a painting. It’s not exactly the same, but yet again I’m focusing on pattern and trying out the experimental style that I have been using recently. See what you think?
Mallaband-Brown