New paintings and regular art updates.
I’ve been invited by my friend and fellow artist Eve Travis to join a group of local artists at The Rigger Venue in Newcastle-under-Lyme on the 19th and 20th of June 2021. The idea is to get the art out of galleries and move it into the community. My vision will be images based on the idea of green men and women. Better get some works done.
Looking in through the door to the left side of the studio. I’ve got a lot of work that has been exhibited, I just need to sell some of it! I woukd like to find a good art site to sell my work for a reasonable amount (not an on line auction, or on the other hand, an expensive and exclusive site). I just want these to go to good homes.
Have been offered a space in an exhibition for local artists in June. That will be fun! It’s been a whole year since I’ve dealt with the public face to face. I feel quite nervous about it.
Experiment with paint and ink. The first painting was from a photo, the second one was extrapolated from the first. Both college work. Its fun trying different mark making and adjusting colours and hues to create different atmospheres in a piece of art. Mow Cop is a folly (pretend castle) sitting on a hill overlooking Cheshire and Staffordshire
Finally had a short walk today! We went to Cherished Chimneys which is a shop that sells chimneys and pottery at Longport, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. and the Waiting Room gallery across the road in the same place. Then we walked round Westport lake, which is just half a mile away along the canal. We saw blossom and bluebells along the canal and round the lake. We avoided heavy clouds as we walked. I think it had rained heavily in Stoke as the path was soaking wet when we got home.
Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was over… Today’s walk led us under this hawthorn tree that was growing over the road. Its in Hartshill on the way up to Queens Road. Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
We are thinking of getting a tree stump carved in our garden. We had to get it cut down to about seven foot high as it was over growing a part of the garden and making it shady.
This sculpture was in Trentham gardens today. There were quite a few other ones but this was my favourite, especially since it is next to the river Trent which has got a lot cleaner over recent years.
It was a short but tiring walk. Trentham gardens is worth a visit for a day. There is also a retail village and a monkey forest on the site. But do check what is open before you visit.
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Theatrical mask made by a friend for 2019’s Penkhull Mystery play. Strange that sux months later we had to wear real masks! I painted this up with my hubbies features. He had to sit still at a potters wheel and pretend to be a mannequin until the cast were transported back in time. Then he took it off and became Thomas Doodey, Master Potter.
To be honest I really miss the fun we had on that day. Crowds of people watching the action. Molly dancers, a hurdy hurdy man, Punch and Judy, and a maypole. Lots of stalls.
This year we are going to do a virtual Mystery play. I’m hoping to do a copy of the Mona Lisa I an hour and a half. Numerous other ideas are being considered.
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Three crosses in Stoke Cemetery, seen on my walk today. I’m interested in the celtic patterns on them, some more pronounced than others. This ancient design style is subtle and complex. I want to learn more about them again. I wrote a thesis on pre- Christian celtic art for my degree, but I would love to learn how to draw the patterns. I get lost in the patterns. I need quiet and concentration I think.
No, a mirrored photo, flipped on its vertical axis. The resulting image looks like a green island on a pond edged with a stone path. In actual fact this was a photo taken as we walked along the Trent and Mersey canal near Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent. Its strange how the eye sees symmetry as beautiful. Even ugly shapes can improve when you make them symmetrical. I also enjoy trying to create images that look like animals. If you follow this blog, or my Instagram page you will already know that.
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Bright sun and deep shadow. Looking out over the south of the city of Stoke-on-Trent from Penkhull hill. The gate has a square grill? on it. I like the way the spaces are captured like a square jigsaw puzzle. While people went off to beer gardens we went for a quiet walk instead. Green and blue, white scudding clouds. A pleasant day.
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Mallaband-Brown