I painted an elephant portrait.

Posted on July 5, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Blurry, Elephant, Etruria Industrial museum, Life, Painting, Papier mache, penkhull mystery plays, Portrait, seven years2 Comments

Seven years ago I had a small exhibition at Etruria Industrial museum. This blurry photo just came up on my Facebook memories.

The blurry image of my painting was taken from a photo of my friend with a white elephant she had made of paper and willow withies. She was sewing a rich red and yellow fringe around it as way of hiding the legs of the person who was to carry it. The back had a hollow ‘houda’ I think its called? Like a basket to sit in. This was so a person could carry the elephant but look like they were riding it. I loved this representation of the elephant and decided to paint this image. My friend had the painting. The elephant? I think it was destroyed in a fire in the shed where it was stored…

Picassoish horses

Posted on July 1, 2023July 1, 2023 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, Emulsion, Horses, Life, Painting, Papier mache, penkhull mystery plays, picassoish, Props, Style2 Comments

The props for the penkhull mystery plays were made using willow withies tied and glued and then covered in paper and glue and painted white, then volunteers decorated them. I had fun giving a couple of horses a Picasso feel. I don’t remember if it was me or another volunteer that painted this one. There were four horses for an apocalyptic scene! I think we made a monster too but these are the photos from 9 years ago off Facebook memories.

Face app?

Posted on July 17, 2021July 17, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Face, face app, Fun, Mask, Mystery play mask, old photo, painted, Papier mache, Poem, PoetryLeave a comment

I don’t need retouching

Thanks.

Or soft focus

Blending

Trimming down.

I am me

I wear my own mask

Some favourites from 2018?

Posted on January 3, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 2018, Acrylic on canvas, Art, Gold, Gold leaf, Life studies, Nine photos, Owls, Paintings, Papier mache, Spode studio, Studio, Teacup, Willow patternLeave a comment

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Well I think it was 2018. Time gets mixed up in my brain. I enjoyed going to a life drawing group for a while then other things got in the way, the drawing of a dancer and a guitarist are from there. I had a go at using gold leaf on pictures, which is the picture of the crow or rook. The teacup with a willow pattern was a hat for our local panto. The owls was one of my first tiny paintings. The tree is one I drew while we were up in Yorkshire on the Keithley and Worth Valley railway. The houses ainting is based on a picture I had done in 1980. The photo of me in the mirror is in my studio.

So that was the selection from 2018. I might do one for 2019.

The process of making a pretend thrown clay pot

Posted on July 9, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Design, Painting, Papier mache, Penkhull, Penkhull mystery play, Pretend pot, Props, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Throwing potsLeave a comment

Started with a large flowerpot covered in glue and paper (Papier-mache). Then painted it with a base coat of pale orange / brown acrylic paint when it was dry. I had put a slightly smaller pot inside to bulk up the sides and it gives a nice ridge around the top as if the Potter was starting to thin out the sides. I’ve painted light and dark bands as I wanted to give it texture, partly to hide the crinkly nature of the paper and also to make it look like he is putting ridges around it.

I’m not 100% sure of the colour, perhaps it should be darker, it’s like a pale terracotta I think.

Papier-mache pot

Posted on July 8, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Clay, Design, Fun, Papier mache, Penkhull, Penkhull mystery play, PropLeave a comment

In the play we are doing this weekend my partner has to pretend to throw a pot on a wheel. We don’t want anything big, heavy or breakable, so I’m Papier-macheing a black plastic flowerpot. I had to buy some pva glue but only wanted just enough, not a great big tub or a tiny bottle. So instead of the adult craft section I found a bottle of clear pva in the children’s section at a craft shop.

Got home and started ripping up newspaper. This is many layers later, I’ve added a few layers about two thirds up to give it a slight bulge. When it’s dry I will paint it white as a base coat then a pale brown “clay” colour with shading to make it look hand thrown. I’m hoping it will look reasonably realistic.

Panto hat

Posted on July 7, 2019July 7, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Costume, Design, Fun, Life, Painted hat, Panto, Papier mache, Willow patternLeave a comment

FB_IMG_1562500702303 this was a papier mache hat that I painted with a willow pattern design for our Pantomime ‘Aladdin’ . It was used as part of widow twanky’s costume a few years ago. I have forgotten a lot of things I did. I guess there is more somewhere. This picture is from Facebook memories.

Previous years mystery making.

Posted on June 30, 2019June 30, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged A few years ago, Art, Blogging, Life, making, Painting, Papier mache, Penkhull mystery play, WillowLeave a comment

A few years ago we did a mystery play which had to include the four horsemen of the apocalypse. This horse was made by my friend Kate and I painted it and another one in a Picasso style to give it an angular and aggressive look.

As time goes on and we get older we are doing less complicated making, basically because we are spending less time doing it. For myself I would like to do more. Anyway I’m off in a bit. Lots to do…

Twins in masks.

Posted on June 30, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Blogging, Design, Digital art, Flipped photo, Fun, Humour, Life, Mask, Papier mache, Photos, TwinsLeave a comment

Playing with duplicated images, me and my hubby. I want to visualizer us without the clarity of a painted portrait.

Most faces are lopsided, by duplicating and flipping them you can get an interesting mirror image. I used the layout app on my phone to do this.

Anyone who has seem mirrored images of Edgar Allen Poe will see what I mean. He has a very lopsided face, one side stretched and the other side slightly shrunken. When you see his face mirrored on the right then left side it looks like you are looking at two seperate people.

In my case I changed my selfie to black and white, then I drew over it. The second picture had the exposure altered as well. Then I flipped the right hand side top to bottom but not left to right.

Mask

Posted on June 29, 2019 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Fun, Hot weather, Mask, Painting, Papier mache, Penkhull mystery playLeave a comment

My friend Kate has made this mask for the mystery play. I’ve got to paint it up to look like my hubby.

It was about 30 degrees centigrade this afternoon when we were rehearsing. I think it must have been really hot and uncomfortable in the mask. Hopefully the weather will be fine and mild when we do the play in a fortnight.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Papier mache