New paintings and regular art updates.
Just painted a volcano, possibly Fuji, I did this today, at a painting on copper workshop. The copper sheet is glued to a foam board backing. I used metallic acrylics. But the paint broke up into cells on the surface This allowed the copper to show through. It was hard to get it to spread but it made for an interesting textured effect. I used paintbrushes, rollers and palette knives. When you try and take a photo you can see lots of reflections. I’m quite pleased with the outcome.
A friend now has this painting of Koi carp swimming at a pool in a garden centre I did a few years ago. Perhaps I will have to do more wobbly paintings now I have Parkinsons disease. I hate the thought I might not be able to paint. Someone asked me today what I was going to do if I don’t paint. I don’t know. It’s always been part of me. I know my manual dexterity is deminishing. I hope something can be done about it. At the moment I’m mentally staring at the ocean not sure if I can dip my toes in anymore?
A combination of objects and their reflections inside and seating and buildings outside. This was three years ago when the place we were visiting was called the Potbank cafe. Now its owned by someone else and called the Quarter. Its based at Eleanora Street on the Spode pottery site in Stoke, Stoke-on-Trent.
Some of the buildings on the Spode site are due to be demolished and apartments are to possibly be built there instead. If it happens it will be sad to see our industrial heritage destroyed in order to build as many ‘units’ as the developers can cram on the site. The view out of this doorway may change, quickly or slowly, no necessarily for the better.
I’ve been working on another painting today. This one is of a canal view which will have Canada Geese painted on it with their reflections. More muted, but still using the idea of texture and pattern. Mainly purples and greens. Acrylic on canvas.
Little devil’s appear to be looking out of this reflected image of spring tulips. The orange, yellow, purple and green are really cheerful. It’s just fun to play with images and see what comes out from my imagination….. Even if they are a little devilish!
Reflected on a table top. Polished circles look like metallic scales. A layer of smeared washing liquid leaves a texture and using the layout app on my phone I mirrored and duplicated the images. I almost see metallic blue feathers?
I asked my hubby what he was thinking about when he stood at the edge of the lake. He said, just the distance, the weather, how calm the water was. The cool breeze, the reflections.
It sounds lovely and calm. No fears, no worries. I said to him, think of it again at bed time. Let it dispel any anxieties or worries. Just picture yourself on the bank, looking out. Let your mind drift away to quiet thoughts and gentle sounds. I might just try and do the same myself tonight.
The sun was setting as we got onto the canal towpath. Nowadays there are little led lights dotted along it, like a set of will-o-the-whisps showing the edge of the canal. Very useful as you don’t want to accidentally step in to the water! I only added these photos because they are lovely reflections and skies. There are more I might add later….
I like messing about as you know. In this case it’s a butterfly drawn with nail polish. I also used some felt pens to fill in the gaps. Yes it’s a bit strange, but I prefer doing this to just throwing the stuff away. At least the nail polish is locked into the paper and not sent off to landfill somewhere.
I will carry on doing drawings with them till they run out. They could be used to do illustrations. I wouldn’t use them in a children’s book! It might give them the wrong ideas and I am careful to apply a bit at a time to reduce fumes.
I did draw with boot polish once as part if a mark making class. It’s amazing what you can do…. Didn’t JMW Turner add mud and sand to his paintings?
I was talking to a fellow artist about drawing and painting glass. We discussed whether it has a blue tinge like water but I disagreed. I suggested he looked at the reflection on glass. Sometimes glass is tinted slightly, uranium glass for instance is yellowish, I said I thought it depended on what is added to it when it’s manufactured. I think if you were to put a glass and a plastic bottle next to each other as an exercise and draw what you see you would probably notice stronger reflections on the glass. Also look at shadows, glass, though usually transparent, throws a shadow…instead of using blue to define it I said try using a bit of grey. Observation is very important.
Mallaband-Brown