New paintings and regular art updates.
Peeled paint surrounds
Dusty window
Spiders webs sprawl
Across the glass.
White paint turns cream
In the decades of sunlight
That has fallen here
Your surface crumpled
Like old age skin.
Black moss like moles
Erupt into bloom
Liver spots of gloom.
Like an aging wine
Gone past your vintage
Turned to vinegar
Terminal decline?
Looking through a window in a door at Spode out of the studio window. The layers of lines and squares superimposed on top of each other made it interesting. The wood frames each section neatly.
What you can’t see is the bright sunlight catching the building in the background. I could see it, but here it’s over exposed and looks almost white,merging into the line of sky above it. Eyes are so important, cameras are wonderful, but seeing in reality is a better experience sometimes.
I saw myself reflected in the window. The leaves of the ivy giving the image an eerie appearance. I might play with this to try and enhance the view of my face? Can you actually see me? My hand and phone are also just about visible. Funny what a little boredom will do to make you feel creative.
Do you have any collections?
It started small, two paperweights in blue and red with gold and silver leaf surrounded by clear glass globes. I loved the way the centres were embedded and I’ve always thought they look like small planets.
The skill and attention of the glass blowers that made them sparked an interest that has stayed with me, so every so often I will treat myself to a new one.
They have to be sturdy because the windowledge they are on to catch the light is also my cats favourite sun trap, so they have been knocked off onto the floor a few times “thud”, but no breakages luckily.
Also luckily they have not acted as lenses and heated up or set fire to anything! Always check it’s safe to place them. I wouldn’t put them where they can act as magnifying glasses to focus bright sunlight. My window is shaded by trees.
I have other collections but this could get quite boring!
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.
There’s something fascinating about the old windows at Spode Works. I took this photo this week in my friend Amy’s studio. It looks out over the back of the ceramic halls that front onto Kingsway in Stoke. The dirt and grime is from the clay dust that still covers much of the site. The buildings are freezing in winter and stay cool in the summer, I think because of the thermal mass of the solid factory.
Time is gradually eroding and changing the structure of the buildings. Buddlea bushes have colonised one of the older parts of the factory and I wonder if they will make it crumble. It will feel strange not to go there anymore.
Wow, it’s just rained heavily. A real squall with gusting winds. The gutters were overwhelmed and water poured down the window. Now the sun’s back out and the dark grey clouds have blown away. I love the sound of raindrops clattering against the glass and the gusts of wind whistling through the gaps in the window frame. It’s never been properly airtight, but I don’t mind and in the dawn light I can hear the blackbird singing on the top of next doors chimney. Music of nature playing around my garden.
It reminds me of the myth or saying about the month of March and March winds… If it is a gentle start to the month it comes in like a lamb and out like a lion, while if it’s windy at the start of the month the opposite, in like a lion out like a lamb tends to be the case.
The bottom of the stairs at the studios at Spode. The windows have been revealed after boards have been taken off them. Unfortunately my hands shake and I should have tried leaning on something to support the camera. But you get the idea of how the history of the place is there, sadly likely to disappear in the chaotic entropy of decaying historical buildings. I might well paint this. I love the peeling paint!
I do like a pattern, abstract, curves
Colours and shapes
All in a swirl
Like a pine cone
Or succulent
Fibonacci shaped
Helical twisting
Rainbow
Or window
Sweet.
I used coloured overlays and an added image of the previous collaged photo on top of this. I like the complexity and that the Christmas tree looks a bit like an insects head.
When I get fed up I like to play with images, creating something new, learning, and keeping myself occupied.
I used the incollage app and photodirector to create this.
Mallaband-Brown