Mori

Posted on April 20, 2025 Posted in Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Death, Fine Art, Health, Life, memento mori, miniature, Painting, Skull, WorryLeave a comment

I think a lot about life and death these days. If I don’t hear from people I worry about them. This morning my cat was so fast asleep he was barely breathing. I didn’t want to disturb him, but he is getting old so I gently blew on his ear. It twitched and I was overjoyed. He was fine and woke a few minutes later.

My sister says she might come and live with me if my health gets worse. But somehow I want to reject that. I’m not ready for a last chapter of my book. There has been too much loss lately. I just want that to stop. To enjoy life for a change. Slough off my sorrows and come back fighting. I can’t keep my sadness and worry going, it’s too exhausting. I know I need to “memento mori”, a Latin phrase, which translates to “remember that you must die” in English. It’s a reminder of mortality and the fleeting nature of life. The phrase can be used for a work of art. I think that was what my little painting was about.

Arthur Berry mural

Posted on April 19, 2025 Posted in Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Arthur Berry, Emulsion on wall, Fine Art, Leopard Hotel in Burslem, Life, Mural, Painting, Portrait, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

Arthur was one of my tutors at college. He went to Burslem School of Art to train in painting. I did this portrait mural of him and one of his paintings at the Leopard Hotel in Burslem in the back room. I think that was over ten years ago now. Unfortunately it was lost in the fire in 2022.

It’s emulsion paint, painted directly onto the wall, so when people ask me if the paintings were rescued I have to tell them no.

What is this?

Posted on April 9, 2025 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Abstract, Acrylic on canvas, Art, Bold, Chaos, Colourful, expressive, Fine Art, Life, PaintingLeave a comment

Acrylic on canvas I painted today. I wanted to paint a bold abstract which doesn’t have a name and I spoke to a fellow artist to ask what she thought. I almost called it Migraine!

She put her art therapy head on and felt it could represent emotions wanting to escape, perhaps bottled up anger. Certainly it looks a bit like a Catherine wheel. I think the outer part looks like flames. It’s not calm. It’s expressive, but also chaotic. Felt good to paint it. X

An Artist

Posted on April 2, 2025 Posted in Cat, Fine Art, Memories, Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Artist, BA, College, dailyprompt, dailyprompt-1891, Fine Art, Illustration, life memories, ma, Painting, SketchingLeave a comment

When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I must have been about five when I realised I wanted to do art. I would make patterns on graph paper, draw and doodle and sketch. I know my mother started to collect some of my drawings. As I got older I put them on my walls. I even strung them across my bedroom held on by pegs because I didn’t have enough wall space.

When I was in my teens one of my paintings was sent to our twin town in Germany to be exhibited. My headmistress was given a drawing I did of my fellow pupils as a leaving present and I knew I wanted to be an artist as I told my careers teacher, not a nurse as she tried to persuade me. On to Art school to do a degree, and even 40 years later an MA in illustration. Now. I’m struggling. But iooking at different methods and skills. I’m not giving up!

Props

Posted on March 1, 2025 Posted in Memories, UncategorizedTagged Art, Design, Making props, Memories, Painting, Papier mache, penkhull mystery plays, Scenery, WhaleLeave a comment

A whale that was made for the Penkhull Mysteries plays. It was used in the story of Jonah and the Whale and the story of the river Trent which rises on Biddulph Moor and travels through England in a North East direction to eventually flow through Nottingham and on to the Humber Estuary at Hull. This was made of willow withies held together with masking tape then covered with water based glue and newspapers (papier mache). It was painted white to block out the printing and then painted in grey black and white. The makers added serrated teeth and the jaw was articulated so it could open wide. I think the throat and tounge were painted pink and white. We made lots of props for the plays including a set of horses, butterflies, flowers, plants, and all sorts of other objects. I used to help paint some of them and also large flat boards that were joined together as scenery. I hope we get to do more this year.

Finished painting, Cat on a box.

Posted on February 28, 2025February 28, 2025 Posted in Cat, Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Cat, Fine Art, finished painting, Painting, Poem, Poetry, TabbyLeave a comment

Acrylic on canvas.

Little tabby cat lies on a box,

Sleeping with many purrs.

Paw hanging above books,

Resting on my easel

I carefully add whiskers

Tabby stripes match my mug

Showing through the stand

Last flecks of fur

And the panting

Is finished.

WIP, Cat on a bookcase.

Posted on February 26, 2025 Posted in Cat, Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Cat, cat on a bookcase, Fine Art, Painting, Sleeping, tabby cat, Wip6 Comments

Resting on my chair that I use as an easle, a seascape in the background and then a small cat painting I’m fighting with. Either the cats head is too large or the leg and body are too small.

I’m not sure about the book sizes, they might be too small too. Sorry its dark, I need a photo in daylight. The chair it is on is cluttered with mugs, the TV remotes are there too. I need to get them out of the way, will probably continue tomorrow.

I’m so tired it’s just taken me 3 attempts to type in the tags for this post before I managed to save them. I keep nodding off!

Celtic cat, an old painting

Posted on February 25, 2025 Posted in Fine Art, Memories, UncategorizedTagged Art, Cat, Celtic knotwork, Design, Fine Art, Memories, my history, Oil on canvas, Old painting, PaintingLeave a comment

When I finished college I still loved Celtic art so I tried very hard to create a Celtic cat including Celtic knotwork. This was really difficult to do.

I was pleased with the work and glad I did it. I don’t do such complicated things these days. Very difficult to follow the rules of knotwork so that the overlapping patterns need to follow. Oil on canvas think.

Thumb painting?

Posted on February 22, 2025 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic, detergent, dried, Fine Art, Oil, Oil paint, Paint, Painting, stains, Thumb, turpentine2 Comments

Squeezing a tube of paint for today’s picture and the top of the tube was blocked. I tried to gouge the piece of card stuck to it and paint squirted out all over my hand! I cleaned most of it off but then thought it would be interesting to take picture of my thumb….

It’s an occupational hazard, that and getting paint on my clothes too. I managed to get blue paint on my top. Most of the paint I use is waterbased, like acrylic, but if you don’t wash it off quickly it can dry and form a skin of plastic on your clothes. In the case of oil paints, they stay wet for longer and can be cleaned by wiping off the excess with a cloth or paper towel, then using synthetic turpentine to dissolve the oil paint and wash it out with detergent.

Seascape

Posted on February 22, 2025February 22, 2025 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, art workshop, Emulsion, Fine Art, Ink, Jo Watson, Landscape, Painting, Palette knife, Seascape, Sky, WorkshopLeave a comment

Painting of a seascape done at a Jo Watson workshop. It’s not finished but I ran out of time. The top photo was taken in bright sunshine, the second at home in a darker space. Interesting how the second one has warmer tones, but it’s exactly the same painting. I went a bit Bob Ross, but I’m after more of a Turner feeling. Acrylic, ink, emulsion on canvas. Using brushes, palette knife and scraper card. Although I might have added orange later.?

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Painting