Tag: Painting

Getting ready for a stall

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20180306_225311After a couple of weeks struggling with a cold I’m now preparing work for a stall at an  international womens day event at Burslem School of Art on Saturday.

That basically means getting paintings together that I can display for sale.

The last time I did something like this was when I sat inside at Spode Studios last November when it was almost as cold inside as outside!  I only sold a few tiny paintings. I have also had a stall in the winter a few years ago. It was cold and I did not sell much. So I have to say I’m a bit nervous of doing it.

At least I have some new business cards and labels done. I’m trying to be more professional.  Is there anything  I should think about?

There should be quite a few crafters there on Saturday. Hopefully it will be a good day.

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Today’s paintings

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This is what I get up to when I’m ill.

The first painting is a window in a wall at Spode. When I was a child there used to be a tv programme on called Play school. You were told stories and it would say things like look what’s happening through the round/square/arched window.

This reminds me of that.

The snake painting started out as a vague collection if coils. But then I decided to turn it into some sort of snake.

As I filled it in I saw it needed something else, so I added the ladder. I guess I am harking back to my childhood again, where we would play games of snakes and ladders.

Here it is almost finished. I’m not too sure about the colours though. It might need brightening up!

I changed the background and snake a bit more.

I finished this painting by changing the background from black to green, then a dark sparkly red. The problem is I don’t seem to be able to add photos to this peice so I shall have to blog again!

Life studies

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This week’s model at life class.

I did 3 drawings, 2 were 10 minute sketches, then one over 35 minutes and finally an hour painting a small portrait.  I like trying to capture accurate images and I think I was quite successful this week.

One thing I tried was using two colours in the background , turquoise and gold . I think this worked quite well. I used only 5 colours, orange, black, gold, turquoise and white.

The lighting caused good shadows which help to define the shape of her body.

Overall I really enjoy honing my drawing skills.

 

Big painting!

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  • Finally finished,
these pictures run from todays picture of the finished painting, backwards to the original start. Its about A1 in size.IMG_20180219_142219_731More done, including more shadow.
May change the curve at the top, its too much. Needs flattening.IMG_20180218_185303_881And so it continues….
This has had more detail added to the pot, and I have worked on the background more. This is the third picture. The green one was the second and the one with the red background was the first.IMG_20180217_013137_299

Continue reading “Big painting!” →

Today’s Life studies.

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It’s Wednesday again, and so have just finished Life class.

Tonight we had a musician called Mark sitting for us. He is an accomplished singer and accordion player, and we had the pleasure of drawing and painting him while he played and sang.

Two hours of hearing music such as the Stoke hornpipe and cajun tunes ensued.

It did make drawing him difficult but that was part of the challenge.  I did a couple of sketches and a close up drawing and a small acrylic on canvas portrait .

Good way of spending an evening.

 

Doodles in apps

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A few years ago I started drawing on my computer. I used a Wacom tablet and went on various web sites to draw. I remember names like wet canvas, floating ginko, 2draw , but my favourite was a site called Youdraw where you could only use two black pens and two white pens. They aimed to collect 500000 drawings. And I contributed several thousand!

The drawings at the bottom of the page are mostly from Youdraw. I manipulated colours and patterns in Photoshop, and enjoyed the results.

There are many more of these drawings on my old computer…but its upstairs and covered in dust at the moment. I need to get it into my head to get it repaired.

Along came another site called sketchfu. It was fun to use as it had simple colour palettes and no need to create layers.  The drawing of a sphere broken up into sections was done there….

But then…I got a tablet a couple of years ago for Christmas. …

It doesn’t have many apps, or much memory. After adding an SD card I discovered it had enough memory to download some free apps.

I’m currently using sketcher for galaxy (the nude and picture of two women), then ArtRage oils which is another free app (pigeon) and sketcher free (dancing figure).

Each has its own characteristics, so it’s good to do different things on different ones. I found using a stylus helped with lines, but have lost it and need to get a new one.

I also manipulate images in a couple if other free apps…picsart which allows you to edit and filter pictures, and layout which is linked to instagram.

if anyone can recommend other interesting apps that are free and don’t take up too much memory let me know.

 

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Etruria Artists are opening up again tonight

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FB_IMG_1517207844064Now that we are through the worst if the winter weather  (hopefully) Etruria Artists are opening up the warehouse at Etruria Locks in Stoke on Trent again.

Situated in an old warehouse on the Trent and Mersey canal in Stoke on Trent, it is near to the Etruria Industrial museum, which sits on the junction of the Canal with the Caldon branch of it.

The sessions run from 7 to 9 pm on a Thursday evening and should run regularly except when people are on holiday. Situated along the canal towpath from the museum. Walk past the forge and a few yards further on the warehouse stands next to the summit lock (lock 40).  It can be quite dark along the path so its an idea to bring a torch. The warehouse should be lit up when you arrive. Come on in.

The idea is that you can come in and get into doing art. There us a pottery wheel and you can throw pots or hand build ceramics. There is usually paper and paints and pencils available with people from the group happy to help you create your own work.

A small charge of £5 a session is made to cover costs. So why not come along and enjoy a stress busting session at the warehouse?

EDIT: we are not meeting this week, 12.4.18 …but should be opening next week again….

Life drawing and all that…

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Tonight was time for another life drawing class.

The model is very good at interesting poses. I do not know how she could remain so still, but it certainly made drawing easier. We did a series of short poses, then a long one which lasted the rest of the session.

One of the things I love to do is try and draw fine detail in pencil and coloured pencil. The sketchbook I am using is only about tablet size so what the drawings lack in scale I can try and make up for by adding details.

They are by no means perfect, but that’s the reason for practicing.

I decided to take my tablet tonight which has a few drawing apps on it. I used sketcher for galaxy, (I think its called) to do a final drawing. It was  difficult as I lost my stylus and need to get another one. So I ended up doing a glorified finger painting.

I find I have to swap tools on the app to try and get close to what I would find far easier to do in crayon or conte. However it makes for a looser drawing, and I think the result was quite interesting. I even found the way to colour the background. No doubt there will be more to follow!

 

So close…and now it’s finished!

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After hours of work my willow pattern painting is finished.

I have finished working on it after having to have a rest .IMG_20180129_191216_656

I needed to add details in the reflection at the bottom of the painting , plus shading and highlights on the platter and behind it so it stands out more.

This is the third painting of ceramics I have done in this series.

this jug was the second acrylic on canvas I did.

and this is part way through the teapot painting, which was the first one I did. ..

Im not sure how many more I will paint.

A quick update

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It’s been a couple of days and I’m getting on quite well with this painting of a willow pattern platter. I’m now working on the border and will then try and get more depth and shading into the background .

I’m hoping the paler, cooler colours help the cobalt blues of the plate stand out. This Is the third painting in a collection of ceramics. There may be more to follow.

Making a start