New paintings and regular art updates.
Self portrait reflected in a stained glass window at Little Moreton Hall in Staffordshire. The idea was to create a ghostly image in keeping with the age of the property. I could have gone all out and added an Elizabethan headdress but I didn’t want to over complicate the idea. The painting is set at sunset when things get a bit more spooky. I do like creating narrative images.
This is the partner painting to the green man portrait of my hubby. They mean a lot to me. I intend to put them up together in my house once my exhibition is over. It’s about A4 size, probably a little bigger. I used some silver metallic paint on it to give it a slight shimmer. Acrylic on canvas. Painted a few years ago.
Time blurs everything. Thirty years ago I was doing a course at college and for a while I rented a small studio with two other artists. But it didnt work out. One of them was collecting egg boxes to try and insulate the walls as the place was freezing in the winter but also to try and deaden the noise of rock music one of the artists used to like playing. The windows had arched wooden frames that were quite architectural but they were single glazed. I only painted a few things but when I was there and the music was on it would drive me mad. Unfortunately I could only use the place in the evenings and that coincided with the rock sessions. So I gave it up in the end. Now I’m looking at leaving my current studio. It’s too expensive to carry on renting. If it is the choice between paying rent for it or paying the fuel bills I have to make the sensible choice.
How would you describe yourself to someone?
I don’t have brown hair anymore, and it’s rather longer than this painted self portrait. I still wear glasses. I’ve been trying to loose weight and succeeded in dropping 35 kilos.
I am generally cheerful, despite old age creeping up and breaking bits of me. I mean if you see me across a crowded room I’ll probably be the one shaking and staggering a bit?
I’ve always been short. I knew people got taller as they grew older, so I was very disappointed when I stopped growing but other family members didn’t! I’ve always assumed myself to be ‘good’, and have been described as pleasant. But I got a stubborn streak from my mother and grandmother and I’m quite moral and believe we are all entitled to our rights and shouldn’t be pushed around.
And I try to be creative, I love art, invention, science, science fiction and cats, and as someone just said I’m a good artist!
Blurry photo from my Facebook memories
I called it “fair fat and forty”, which was actually a statement radiographers used to use for the risk having gallstones!
I must have been feeling a bit fed up when I painted it. The picture was taken off another photo so it’s a bit pixelated. I shall have to find the painting and take a better photo. I was wearing a favourite tee shirt recycle, repair, reuse. And I’m in front of books with humourous titles that I made up… I can’t read them here. I tend to do a self portrait every ten years or so. X
How do you want to retire?
The UK government changed the retirement age a few years ago. They bought in a sliding scale so that women cannot retire until they are 65 or above (it was 60), and men’s retirement age had gone up from 65 to I think 67?
What that does effects millions of women and men. I would have retired by now, I could have still worked, but it means I cannot get my state pension yet, even though I have been paying into all my working life. The result is that a lot of people will get less of an overall pension for what is left of their lives, and are more likely to die before they get it. That also means the government will get to keep more of it.
So? People were living longer until recently, but the age you die has actually reduced, especially with the drop in wages, and increases in poverty. Older people tend to struggle to pay bills or afford to heat their homes, and as they are more likely to have health issues their lives may be shortened.
One possibility though is that the governments decision might be overturned. The WASPI women (women born in the 1950’s who say they were not warned the retirement age was due to be raised), had a judicial review pending at the start of June. I haven’t heard the outcome, but maybe I can retire…. SOON.
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was tired. Well that’s exactly how I feel, busy weekend. An art group day yesterday and put up an exhibition with them, then today a drive out to Audlem to sing with our choir, then back to help take the exhibition down. Hubby says I look miserable not tired!
About 11 years ago I drew this self portrait. I was with a group of other people who went to a pencil drawing workshop. What strikes me the most about this is how chubby I was, it reminds me how I’ve changed.
The sketch was done using a small makeup mirror and it was impossible to see my whole face at once, but I did my best. In one section of the drawing I almost rubbed through the paper trying to remove some of the graphite. That’s why there is a dark smudge on one of the cheeks.
We were told the drawings would be used for the London Road festival in Stoke. Imagine my surprise when I was driving home one day and this was attached as a 6ft square banner on the front of an empty shop. I now have it at my studio at spode.
I found a beauty filter on my phone camera. I tried using it… No matter how I turned it up I couldn’t fade out my lines at the side of my nose and mouth…. So I gave up and decided to embrace my features! Black and white high contrast image and I increased the granularity of the image. I look tired (I am) and my hair was a mess, but who care? You just keep going….
I was looking for this drawing because there was a prompt on one of the Art groups I’m on that asked people to post #thisisme. I looked and looked for this and could not find it, and yet its on my WordPress media gallery! It was originally drawn for a college project ‘I’. As you can see it includes a self portrait, a canvas and pencil and brush, some poppies, an x-ray, books, an old pottery, a cat and finally the willow pattern on a plate. Each thing means something to me. It was drawn in 2020 so I have changed slightly since then. No bits have dropped off but I’m not as well as I was. Life eh? Gets to us all….
Mallaband-Brown