Haiku Slam

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We went to  haiku slam this evening. Poets read one of their own works then had to read out haiku’s they had written. Eight poets split into four couples read out three haiku’s each. The best out of the two progressed to a semi final, and then two ended up in the final. It was actually quite dramatic. Some wise and some fun words were spoken.

I did not enter the main competition. I don’t have enough knowledge of the form and I only dabble in poetry. But they had a little poetry competition running along side the haiku. I decided to just join in that, so three of us read a poem out and then had to leave the room while people voted. I came second which was a surprise. Maybe I should try and do more funny poetry, I read a poem called ‘unexpected item in the bagging area’ about the frustrations of shopping that I wrote a while ago.

Leopard mural

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In 1842 there was a Chartists riot in Burslem which is the mother town of Stoke-on-Trent. During a meeting of Chartists in the town the magistrate decided to read the riot act and the police and military shot a rioter called Josiah Heapy while they were trying to quell it.

I did this painting at least ten years ago and recently it appeared in the local press to illustrate the root. I wrote to the paper giving them retrospective permission to use it, but now it’s on other Facebook pages. When I informed one page they took it down. I don’t mind it being used but I did it and several others and would like some recognition. Some people speculated that I copied it from prints from the time. But actually I researched it. Look closely and you will see faces of customers, staff and the owners of the hotel. I used old prints to get the buildings right in the background. Things have changed since then including a victorian town hall which was built later. The police and mounted regiment are in uniforms that I had to guess. I tried getting the information but could not find it out in time.

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Finished

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Took all day but I finally finished this. Spent a lot of time painting the old, flaking window frame. I’m not sure the sky colour is right. I might get up early and tone it down. I’m handing it in in the morning….

It’s called Spode Reflected.

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Who is he?

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There are some windows in Spode covered in various circular prints. This one looks like a photographic negative and appears to be someone famous although I don’t know who.

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There are other patterns overlaid. This must have been a particular place for some sort of work within the factory but I’m not sure what?

Painting upside down.

Sometimes it’s hard to see whether something looks right in a painting. Then I try turning it upside down. It really does give you a different perspective. In the case of the painting I’m doing it also allows me to get closer to the top of the picture as I’ve got it propped up on a chair.

Eyesight is another problem. If I’m staring at my phone looking at the image it’s hard for my eyes to accommodate (called presbyopia) where the lenses in your eyes get stiffer as you get older, so they don’t focus as well.

I’m now starting to paint the cracks in the window frame paint. I may come back to the clouds (thanks Martha, a bit of finger painting helped).

I’ve rotated the photo back to the vertical on my camera so I can look at it without moving the canvas. Eventually I will turn it back the right way so I can paint the bottom half. It’s going to take a while…..

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Spode patterns

I’m working towards the exhibition at Spode and I’ve been experimenting with the photos I took a few days ago. Using the Layout app on my phone.

The thing is, I know I can’t reproduce these as paintings, so it’s good to use photographs to experiment with the images I took. There was a film by Andrei Tarkovsky I saw years ago. I think it was called Stalker, the industrial archeology of Spode reminds me of that. Almost post apocalyptic….

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Clouds are a pain!

More work in progress photos. I’m struggling to get the clouds right. I need to try and get the detail and shading correct. Also when it’s finished the paintwork on the frames will be all crackled and flakey.

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Looking closer, the greys are dark but not too dark, I may also bring a tiny bit of brown in and thin it down for the wood in the windows. Mostly it’s blending and shading to get a realistic effect.

Progress?

I’m having a rest and trying to decide whether I’m happy with this. I think the width of the frames of the windows need widening….. Also I’ve been using quite a thin white paint which does not have enough pigment in it. I think I will need to strengthen it. At the moment I’m just using cobalt blue, titanium white and a black. I don’t know whether to add a bit of yellow into the sky and window  frames, or some violet. But that will happen as I build it up. The image is slightly stretched horizontally. I’m wondering whether to strengthen the blue.

I’m quiet because I’m painting.

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I’ve decided to paint this one. I like the reflections and the blues and whites which remind me of the Willow pattern colours. I’ve turned the canvas to landscape rather than portrait and I’m concentrating on the lower two thirds of the photo.

I like the photo, but I wanted to simplify what I was doing. I’m hoping to get a good representation of the clouds and I want to get the flaking paint and the other details in the reflection in the windows visible but subtle. I will try and post updates and I might take a break later to blog.