New paintings and regular art updates.
I’m thinking of painting something like this. It’s a window in one of the buildings at spode. Goodness knows what the paint is made of. It is just so old. The wood looks dry and decaying. The putty holding the glass in is probably made with lead. Surprisingly the window looks quite clean and the building opposite is reflected in it. Capturing the detail will be a challenge.
Today I started a painting for the first time in months. I saw an image by photographer David Tipling of a Barn Owl from a Staffordshire Wildlife Trust bookmark and just had to paint it.
Why the owl? The photographer has captured it in flight beautifully The sinuous curve of its wings seems to scythe through the air. Its face is both impassive and intent.
I hope the photographer does not mind me painting his image.
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Time for a close up?
These were taken with a little lens that fits over the body of your phone. The device lights up inside to shine on whatever object you are photographing. The lens magnifies the subject so you can take close ups. Yes I realise you can zoom in with a phone but at close range you can’t usually get a clear image because the focal length (the distance you need to get a picture in focus) is too long. By adding a small lens the focal length is reduced to make tiny details visible.
From top to bottom, and each line left to right:
Head of a needle,
Woven cloth
Gold paint,
Part of a painting
Glitter on pink cloth
More cloth
Woven wool/nylon mix
The sun was warm today although it remains low in the sky. These tall grass heads were back lit by it. The sun was also reflecting on the metal fence. I couldn’t see the image properly as the sun was dazzling me.
I’ve done a few edits to the photo in black and white…
The negative image in particular looks quite alien.
You arch the river
Cover the water
Stretch over the bend
Fly across your reflection.
Green trees,
Green grey surface,
Grey and yellow stones
Pale browns.
Your feet touch down in the stream
The curve of you bends over the water.
They travel across you
but don’t see your majesty.
Sometimes it’s nice just to take a close up abstract shot of something. Shapes become more important than detail. Tiny pink petals almost look like butterflies and the straggly money plant, which is cast in shadow, raised its bulbous leaves up to the sky. The thin pale leaves of the spider plant are almost translucent in the light.
Then again you can play about with silhouettes in nature or draw dark doodles to make a pleasing composition.
Always explore, always enjoy, always create if you can.
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About 5 years ago we went on a photo walk around the north of the city of Stoke on Trent in a town called Tunstall. The idea was to do a circular walk encompassing greenways around the town that used to have a rail line and that runs between terraced houses on a raised path. There are bridges over paths and tunnels driven through the ground.
I used my old phone so the images are not brilliant. The day started overcast then it started to snow as we walked along the path. We came out onto the side of a newly built section of road then followed the path round up a hill before coming out at an old pub (can’t remember it’s name) where we stopped off for lunch and sat next to a real coal fire to warm up. Then off through local streets to finish near where we started outside the local health centre.
Photos include trees, train signals, walking along the path. A terraced house. The corrugated side of one of the tunnels. One of the metal greenaway signs, a dandelion growing on the side wall of part of the path, and bracket fungus growing on an old wooden post.
I’m hoping to go on another photo walk, may be when the weather is a bit better. The idea of looking at industrial and post industrial landscapes fascinates me.
