Tag: Stoke-on trent

Misty cows

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Standing in the cold, waiting for friends out at Heath House in Staffordshire, I decided to take photos of the view of the mist and cows on my phone….

 

When I was chilled to the bone I decided to take photos of the trees across the road, the board advertising the Heath House, and the drive up to it. These have also been posted to Instagram, so I used a couple of their filters  to change some of the pictures to black and white, and also slightly pink or blue. I think this heightens the misty feel.

Some if the cows in the feild opposite were scratching their heads  against the trunks of the trees . What an itch they must have had. As the mist came down I realised what an ideal location this was for our expedition. …..

We have been extra’s in a local film, and we had gone to The Heath House to be filmed in some exterior shots.

The trailer for the film is at  humanus.uk

I hope the link works!

Serendipitous?

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Two pictures seperated by 12 hours….

I did the drawing on the left 12 hours before I saw the stones and ammonites on the right.

I was playing with colours on a digital drawing and added swirls and expanded some areas to look like marbles or stones.

12 hours later we decided to visit a friend, I had no idea she had this collection of stones (caboucions?), but took this colourful picture to put on instagram.

When I got home and posted it I was struck not only by the similarity of shapes in both pictures, but also by the colours. I have to say we are both artists, so we probably have similar tastes, but this coincidence is interesting. I dont believe in the occult or anything like that. I just think this is interesting and the colours and patterns are pleasing to the eye.

#digitallydoodling

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It’s time to show you some of my recent digital drawings posted to my instagram account…

 

While I usually draw and paint in traditional materials like paint on canvas, or ink and pencil on paper, I regularly draw on various apps aswell.

This started when I found a web site called Youdraw around 10 years ago. At that stage I did not have a drawing tablet so I went out and bought a small one with the pen attached by a wire. I was really pleased with what I could do, and I eventually progressed to a bigger tablet but still with a pen that was attached by a wire. I used it so much and did so many drawings I wore the knib of the pen down!

Then I was offered a second hand wacom tablet, it was a revelation. I had got a photoshop programme and I was learning about layering and cropping, basically all the little things that help you morph pictures. In the meantime I had found various drawing web sites, like 2draw and wetcanvas and floating ginko. I was using their apps, which were quite complicated, but the results were fun. I frequently got told off on one site for drawing too fast. I was not allowed to be an expert on it because I didnt take enough time!

It was then that I came across a site called sketchfu. (Now closed) this had the simplicity I was looking for, large, medium and small pens, an ability to change the opacity and a colour picker, but the way it worked meant that you could create really interesting drawings without all the finicky bits.

This site and its sister Muzy were closed by its owners a few years ago. I think they were getting too much traffic and not enough revenue.

I decided to do more drawing, I got a bamboo tablet, and for a short while posted on line on instagram and Facebook. But then I got another tablet, a computer…I downloaded a few apps like sketcher free, ArtRage oils, kaleidoscope, and others, all free. The only problem then is having to draw by finger. It’s not as smooth and clean as a tablet pen. I have used stylus pens, I think I will do that again.

Currently I have lots of art on instagram, and some if the digital art has the hashtag #digitallydoodling if you want to find it.

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Tonights lifedrawings

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Tonight life drawings at Caverswall.

The model is studying yoga so her first pose was based on a yoga position. I was drawing with a very soft pencil so the final drawing is a bit smudged ( I use both sides of he page and the graphite from the pencil can transfer across).

The first two drawings were 15 minute poses, enough time to get a reasonable representation. The last three drawings were all the same long pose but I chose to try and draw it for half an hour before the break, which was not very successful as I struggled with the fore shortening. I am quite pleased with the models face and upper body, but the legs and hands are a bit too small.

The fourth drawing was also for half an hour. While I might have got the figure slightly more in proportion I think the face is wrong and the drawing is too tight .

Finally I gave up and moved so the last drawing was for half an hour drawn from the other side of the room. I was much happier with this and used the final few minutes to draw the surrounding objects and a couple of the other artists.

Life drawing does help with understanding the human body.

There are quite a few local classes, and if you want to learn how to draw or paint portraits, or even just so you have a working knowledge of the human body I would recommend joining one.

Celtic art

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I recently looked through some old sketchbooks. These drawings are from one from the 1990s.

 

I have been interested in Celtic Art for a long time. I wrote my thesis on pre Christian Celtic art and I think these were drawn a while after that. I know they were drawn in  the early 1990s as I found a drawing of one of my old cats in the book.

Drawing knotwork is not easy, the trouble is getting the pattern right. Weaving the lines is quite difficult and I think here I was practicing the positions of each line. There are other circular patterns where two or three parts interlink. If I remember rightly these can be used on brooches and sheild bosses.

I still try and do this kind of pattern occasionally, for example a painting of a snake recently which had this kind of feel. I  also like the animals that are used as terminals to the knots.

Recently a hoard of jewellery, armoury and gold peices were found in Staffordshire. This was a Saxon Hoard but you can still see the influence of knotwork in the peices. I want to create something like the figure of a woman (see top of page ) as a painting.

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Big painting!

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  • Finally finished,
these pictures run from todays picture of the finished painting, backwards to the original start. Its about A1 in size.IMG_20180219_142219_731More done, including more shadow.
May change the curve at the top, its too much. Needs flattening.IMG_20180218_185303_881And so it continues….
This has had more detail added to the pot, and I have worked on the background more. This is the third picture. The green one was the second and the one with the red background was the first.IMG_20180217_013137_299

Continue reading “Big painting!” →

Spode Photos

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The industrial heritage of Stoke on Trent is amazing. Its history at the centre of the ceramics industry for centuries has earned it the title “the Potteries”.

Built up over years where there was a supply of water, clay, coal and other natural resources, the six towns of Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Longton, Fenton and Stoke-upon-Trent became a federation and the city of Stoke-on-Trent was born.

Many famous potter’s lived and worked in the city, including Josiah Wedgwood, and of course Josiah Spode. The city was also served by the Trent and Mersey canal, built by James Brindley.

The Spode factory closed several years ago as ceramic manufacture was outsourced to other countries. This eventually brought about the closure of the Spode works in the town of Stoke-upon-Trent (or Stoke as it is usually called).

Where the factory once was busy with activity and trade, the buildings have started to decay. The old bottle kiln base is all that is left after it collapsed. The place covers a large area of the town, and must have had a very large work force in its heyday.

But the future for the site is brighter than it could have been. An arts organisation has moved in to part if the buildings and if you walk up a yellow staircase you enter a series of artists studios. Cold in the winter, they still offer a place for creative people to work.

Other things are happening too. A cafe has opened, attached to part of the building, and a hotel us due to open.

The old visitor centre is being refurbished and Art exhibitions are being planned.

Over the last few years the factory has hosted the BCB or British Ceramics Biennial. This has attracted artists and potters from around the world.

These are some photos that I took around the site today. They were only taken on an old Android phone but I hope they give a feeling of the atmosphere of the site. I may be using some if them as a basis for some paintings.

Doodles in apps

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A few years ago I started drawing on my computer. I used a Wacom tablet and went on various web sites to draw. I remember names like wet canvas, floating ginko, 2draw , but my favourite was a site called Youdraw where you could only use two black pens and two white pens. They aimed to collect 500000 drawings. And I contributed several thousand!

The drawings at the bottom of the page are mostly from Youdraw. I manipulated colours and patterns in Photoshop, and enjoyed the results.

There are many more of these drawings on my old computer…but its upstairs and covered in dust at the moment. I need to get it into my head to get it repaired.

Along came another site called sketchfu. It was fun to use as it had simple colour palettes and no need to create layers.  The drawing of a sphere broken up into sections was done there….

But then…I got a tablet a couple of years ago for Christmas. …

It doesn’t have many apps, or much memory. After adding an SD card I discovered it had enough memory to download some free apps.

I’m currently using sketcher for galaxy (the nude and picture of two women), then ArtRage oils which is another free app (pigeon) and sketcher free (dancing figure).

Each has its own characteristics, so it’s good to do different things on different ones. I found using a stylus helped with lines, but have lost it and need to get a new one.

I also manipulate images in a couple if other free apps…picsart which allows you to edit and filter pictures, and layout which is linked to instagram.

if anyone can recommend other interesting apps that are free and don’t take up too much memory let me know.

 

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Etruria Artists are opening up again tonight

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FB_IMG_1517207844064Now that we are through the worst if the winter weather  (hopefully) Etruria Artists are opening up the warehouse at Etruria Locks in Stoke on Trent again.

Situated in an old warehouse on the Trent and Mersey canal in Stoke on Trent, it is near to the Etruria Industrial museum, which sits on the junction of the Canal with the Caldon branch of it.

The sessions run from 7 to 9 pm on a Thursday evening and should run regularly except when people are on holiday. Situated along the canal towpath from the museum. Walk past the forge and a few yards further on the warehouse stands next to the summit lock (lock 40).  It can be quite dark along the path so its an idea to bring a torch. The warehouse should be lit up when you arrive. Come on in.

The idea is that you can come in and get into doing art. There us a pottery wheel and you can throw pots or hand build ceramics. There is usually paper and paints and pencils available with people from the group happy to help you create your own work.

A small charge of £5 a session is made to cover costs. So why not come along and enjoy a stress busting session at the warehouse?

EDIT: we are not meeting this week, 12.4.18 …but should be opening next week again….

Life drawing and all that…

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Tonight was time for another life drawing class.

The model is very good at interesting poses. I do not know how she could remain so still, but it certainly made drawing easier. We did a series of short poses, then a long one which lasted the rest of the session.

One of the things I love to do is try and draw fine detail in pencil and coloured pencil. The sketchbook I am using is only about tablet size so what the drawings lack in scale I can try and make up for by adding details.

They are by no means perfect, but that’s the reason for practicing.

I decided to take my tablet tonight which has a few drawing apps on it. I used sketcher for galaxy, (I think its called) to do a final drawing. It was  difficult as I lost my stylus and need to get another one. So I ended up doing a glorified finger painting.

I find I have to swap tools on the app to try and get close to what I would find far easier to do in crayon or conte. However it makes for a looser drawing, and I think the result was quite interesting. I even found the way to colour the background. No doubt there will be more to follow!