New paintings and regular art updates.
Acrylic on canvas
I keep finding old photos of paintings that I have done over the years. This was called tree spirits and went to a lovely couple who had fallen in love with it. Those that follow my blog know I love pattern and shapes. My favourite shape is the spiral. I don’t know why… But curving round and twisting, leaves shading the faces. I want to do more like this.
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Molly Leigh was said to be the Burslem witch. She lived in a small cottage, a photo of which I based this picture on. There are no photos of her so I tried to find a painting of an elderly woman from about that time and chose a picture of a French peasant by Theodore Gericault as an inspiration. The plants in the background are meant to be foxgloves and different herbs in a garden I imagined to be full of things you could use for remedies. I didn’t find much out about her life, except she is meant to be buried in a local church yard with the grave orientated East West, instead of the normal North South way. We went for a walk and ended up in the graveyard, only to get told off by someone from the church who kept getting people messing about round Mollys grave. When we explained we were on a photo walk of Burslem and we didn’t want to do any strange rituals he was OK. The painting is set on a night of the full moon and I tried to make the sky atmospheric and spooky. I’m sorry people won’t be able to see my murals in the Leopard anymore. No doubt they will be painted over or removed.
This popped up on my Facebook memories today, it’s a mural I painted on lining paper on the wall in the Arnold Bennett suite at the Leopard Hotel, in Burslem, Stoke on Trent. It’s about 13 or 14 years since I painted it. It’s based on the Burslem Riot which happened at the same time as other riots were happening in the country about how people were being treated. I think it was organised by the chartists in 1843 (when they were trying to get the vote if I remember right). The riot act was read to disperse the crowd. A man called Josiah Heapy was shot dead by the troops and is remembered as a victim of oppression by the local elite. The main characters in the ainting were all based on people I knew.
Autumn Acers, painting from when I visited Jodrell bank a few years ago. I was just browsing my photos and thought how nice it would be to sit in their dappled shade this morning. Its already about 27 Celsius inside the house this morning, and hotter still outside . I’m up early to do some college work, but the heat is getting to me. The humidity is the worst thing. We had torrential rain along with another massive thunderstorm last night and more is forecast for today. Luckily I live on a hill, but i thought my car would get washed away last night because the water cascading down the hill started to look like a river. I would not be surprised if properties further down on the flat main road got flooded! So, yes, dappled shade in the garden is what I might be seeking a bit later on when I have a break. I’ll be back later.
High up on the wall in the bedroom are the supports that my summer dreams painting hung from. I need to re-string the painting with something stronger. I really need to dust away the cobwebs and take the string down. I hoovered up and forgot to attack it with the vacumm cleaner as I was looking at the floor. The vacuum is a bit heavy fir carting up the stairs and the cobwebs are a bit too high for me to reach. Anyway, better get on and try and find something to get at it with.
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Just found this view of my studio wall, a selection of smaller paintings I did a few years ago. I wish I was still going there. Maybe by September I can get back in there? I’m paying rent for a room I’m not using.
I’ve got paintings to take down there, maybe when I finish this semester I can get back to it? I’m glad I’m busy, I’m glad I’m being creative. I just need to get my act together more.
Anyone else struggling with being organised at the moment?
I’ve just noticed how many times I’ve written ‘I’m’ here. I wonder if its bad grammar….
The top image is a painting of my eyes reflected in various ways, the second has been adjusted in Photodirector that can change the style of your image and has lots of tools that I have used, but this is my favourite. It’s interesting to see how a painting can look if you were painting it in a different style. I don’t know if I could achieve this in actual paint. It also gives you new ideas that you could maybe use instead.
I do like experimenting with art. The original painting is a bit different. It was about looking into myself. Possibly a failed experiment. But I like it.
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This was a mural I painted quite a few years ago of a local colliery at a place called Florence, near Longton, Stoke-on-Trent. I was commissioned to paint this as a piece for the working men’s club there back in the 1990’s. The image is based on various historical pictures and photos. I had fun putting it together. It took me about six weeks to complete during weekends and evenings. It was painted in the corridor inside then installed later. X
One of my largest paintings, done between 1982 and 83.about five foot by four foot. The man is my hubby and the cat our old lady cat we had several years ago. The rest is completely from my imagination. I’ve always been interested in standing stones. It’s based neolithic burial sites. The foxgloves and poppies are about medicine in the past. I think we must have visited Devon or Wales, because of the waterfalls. It’s oil on canvas. No idea what the book is about. But he’s always reading!
Oil on canvas
Forty years ago I was at college learning how to paint. I had lots of fun and did some painting too! I used to paint in oils until I discovered how fast and clean acrylics were a decade or so later. I’m a fast painter but acrylics go off very fast so my style changed somewhat. Instead of mixing colours wet in wet on the canvas I ended up trying to get my colours right on the palette. I think I probably ended up with a more splodgy style until I learnt to blend layers on the canvas.
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