This years mystery

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This afternoon (Saturday 7th July) I will be in the Mystery Play. This is the scenery that I have painted for it. The last photo is the two boards joined, the grey bars of cloud is not the finished effect because I decided to change them to flatter clouds. Unfortunately I could not take another picture because my phone went flat.

I have lost the book I was working from so I just tried painting cumulus and stratus clouds.

I think the looming clouds make it feel more oppressive. The play is about war, family, and woman’s equality. I hope it does work on the day.

Our play starts at 2 pm and only runs for 20 minutes, I think it will be good.

I am still here!

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Just busy at the moment. I’m painting some of the scenery for our local mystery play next Saturday. The theme is the Tittensor Evictions by the Duke of Sutherland, and including two wars and the suffragette movement all in twenty minutes.

The scenery is based on a painting by Corot. I think it’s a landscape in the south of France. I’ve added a thatched cottage and there will be figures in the foreground. This is half of the panel (or flat as they call it in the theatre) its 8ft by 4ft. There will be another panel of the same size attached above it which of sky. I’m also going to add the hall where the Duke lived to this panel.

I’m painting with acrylics and emulsion on hard board. This took me about two hours to paint. I also have a sign to do…. so I will be very busy again!

The Mystery play has been happening for over 10 years now at Penkhull. It started out being purely religious but has taken on different themes over recent years, including one about the river Trent. Apparently it’s the largest community arts event in Stoke-on-Trent and there were 400 people participating in putting it on last year.

It’s on 7th July if you feel like coming along…

 

One word to describe my Art? “Eclectic”

Some artists have a theme they keep to, they will always paint birds or sculpt bodies, or even unmake beds.

I cannot do that, my mind jumps all over the place.  I usually paint in acrylics, but have also painted scenery, made props for plays, made pottery. I take reasonable photographs.  I recently crocheted blue squares and circles for a friends installation. I have painted murals, drawn in the sand on beaches, done digital art… I am eclectic.

Give me something to make a mark and something sparks in my brain, like a fire, and it won’t easily go out. The more I do the more I feel I can and should do better.

Isn’t it mad how a grey lump of stuff in your head can make you create?  Some people write, others make music. Something in my mind is very visual. I wish I knew more about how the mind works to explain mine. It must be something to do with memory and hand eye co-ordination. I started drawing at about 4 and I haven’t really stopped since.

So I have posted a few more pictures,  not all good, but its hard to search through so many images to find representative work.

If you want to draw, paint or create art, don’t hesitate, do it. The more you do the better you get. Practice helps, you can learn new techniques. Just don’t be afraid to try!