Three out of four aint bad....

In my last blog entry I mentioned that I wanted to do one painting a week, for four weeks. Am I on track. Well kind of. One isn’t quite a painting, but more of a sketch, but illness, and having a bit of a social life got in the way.

So far I have completed three out of the four pictures and just have one more to do, which I don’t think is that bad going.

I started off painting a version of a St Ives scene, although my artistic licence meant that I opted not to put in a few buildings. I then decided that all of my pictures would be of the same scene. I find it quite interesting to paint the same scene using different materials and mediums as it not only helps me familiarise with it, but I like to see how using different mediums changes my style.

The first painting was on canvas and painted using acrylics. I primed over an old painting I didn’t like – this is well worth doing, as canvas’s can be expensive. Then I sketched out in yellow ochre the outlines of the buildings.

I selected my palette of muted colours and set to work. Here’s the result.






My second painting was created on arches watercolour paper and collage, acrylic inks and acrylic paint was used.

I tore up some handmade paper and stuck this on to the watercolour paper using Golden Gel Medium. I then started to drip inks over the canvas, using a misting spray to help the paint merge on the paper. This gets quite messy so it’s best to put down some plastic sheeting or newspaper if you don’t want your worktop to get stained.

I then dipped card into paint to create the outline of the buildings and started to build up the picture. For the beach I used a texture medium and once dry I painted over it and dripped inks and sprayed water.

I will say out of all three paintings I had the most fun with this.

The final picture was drawn using a fountain pen and Quink on cartridge paper. I then used water to give it some tone. This is great fun to do and because I didn’t draw the picture first, it really makes you concentrate on the lines. I made some mistakes but as far as I am concerned, it all adds to the picture.

My final painting in the series may well be done with pastels....I’m not sure yet!

Painting challenge

There seems to be a theme of late for people posting a picture a day on a blog or website, whether it’s a photograph or a painting. At the moment I am a member of a group in Flickr where I post a photograph a day. I am almost 7 months in and it really has been quite a challenge. Some days I find it easy as a subject will just leap out at me or other times it’s late in the day and I haven’t taken a shot! However, it’s good fun and it is really improving my photography skills, even if lately my camera has been my iPhone.

As my creative focus leans towards art I would love to be able to create a painting a day, like these brilliant artists:

Marianne Bland
Karen Werner
Lisa Daria

However, I think that it may be too much of a challenge to take on, especially as I am already taking a photograph a day. So I have decided that I will do a painting a week for the next 4 weeks, starting from now (set’s stopwatch!!!)

So watch this space.......

Ooh an update....

Painted a bit more to it, but will leave it for a while until I can work out the next stage.

A creative day...

I had a super creative day yesterday. In the afternoon I spent some time doing a sketch of a lock on a cemetery gate. It was from a photo I took when Jim and I went to Cornwall. I really want to do more sketching as it improves drawing skills so much, so this is just the start of filling my little sketchbook.

Then in the evening I wanted to carry on with a mixed media collage painting I had started quite a while ago, but I couldn’t find it.....I did however find a painting of a flower that I had started some time ago which I wasn’t pleased with. So I decided to give that a bash and see how it came out. Still not totally pleased with it.

Before: After:

I then carried on working on my latest project. I have been looking at the work of Escher and am creating a series of paintings based on his work. I recently finished my version of Goriano Sicoli, Abruzzi and I am currently working on Town in Southern Italy.

My version of Goriano Sicoli, Abruzzi:

Here are the first stages of the second painting in the series (Town in Southern Italy). Not sure where I am going with this as I have left a lot out of the original picture but I wanted to get some colour on it before I made a decision.

Have a creative week!!!

A brief encounter....

I had the most wonderful and uplifting experience last night on the train which I must share with you....but let me go back a bit first.

Over the past couple of weeks I have found the lack of time spent painting frustrating. It’s down to me to change that and I am working on doing just so. I now have my travel sketch set with me at work and I am looking at ways to paint more in the evenings.

So last night I travelled a fair few miles and at a bit of a cost to attend my weekly art group. The money and time was well spent as I lost myself for a couple of hours doing something I truly love.

I had to get a train home and with all the connections it meant an hour and a half journey....rather more than the 5 mins I have had previously. But I wanted to go there last night.

So I settled down in my seat on the train, took out my copy of The Leisure Painter magazine and started to read. There was a baby crying in the carriage....well, it was more like a wail, and it was pretty continuous. I looked at the gentleman sitting in front of me and we both smiled at each other and commented on how hard it must be for the baby and the parents. And then he pointed to my art magazine and asked if I painted. I replied yes, and then what happened next was just wonderful. We sat there and chatted about art and his work and art and my work and more art until I had to get off at Clapham Junction. So we thanked each other for a wonderful conversation, bid farewell and each other a safe journey home.

Our whole conversation was so uplifting for me, and I hope to the gentleman too. I commute daily on trains and am all too aware that people just don’t talk to each other, so not only was it refreshing to chat to a kind chap, but also to have such an interesting conversation.

It also couldn’t have come at a better time for me after the way I have been feeling over the last couple of weeks. It uplifted me and made me feel encouraged and excited at what I do.

He said to me ‘Painting is good for the soul, you know’ to which I agreed.....but so are kind gentleman who engage in delightful conversation.

So thank you Kind Gentleman for uplifting my precious soul and I hope our paths cross again....

NB: I’ve just noticed that on my previous post about how to engage with more artists I mentioned talking about my art, but not to random strangers on the train....well how weird is that!!

Get Connected

I find sometimes the world of art a lonely one. I run and belong to an art group and I really enjoy being with people who are creative, just like me. But in between those weekly meet ups painting can be quite lonely.

I don’t mind painting on my own, in fact I love it and with the music on I can lose myself for hours. I’m talking about connecting with other artists. Is it hard to network with other artists? Or is it just me?

Maybe it’s my confidence as a painter that I struggle with, wondering if I am good enough to be considered an artist worthy of knowing. Maybe I need to be more ‘out there’ when it comes to meeting other artists.

So I had a good old think about what steps I could take to improve my artist’s network. And I don’t mean by having a hundred contacts who I never talk to, but ones who are interested in meeting up to exchange ideas, build up friendships and a long term relationships. So here’s my conclusions:

1. Believe in myself
2. Visit local exhibitions and meet artists
3. Use social networking sites
4. Talk about my art – not to random strangers on the train, but to other artists...this goes back to point one, believe in myself
5. Attend some art workshops

They are only simple suggestions and I am interested in hearing any you may have, but the more I do it, the more I will get from it. But before I can start talking about my paintings, I need to do some, and following on from my previous post I have struggled lately to find the time.

So it’s time for some good music, a large canvas and plenty of paint.

Procrastination.....

I am an artist. I am. But at the moment I am an artist who doesn’t paint. Hmnnn.....

I have inspiration, I have ideas, I have tools but I don’t have the time. Or at least I am not finding the time which is incredibly frustrating and leaves me with art paper untouched, paints in their tubes and ideas left to my sketchbook or my head.

I run an art group each week and therefore have some painting time but other than that life seems to be getting in the way.

How do other people hold down a full time job, commute over 10 hours per week, have family time and still manage to paint? Where do they find the time or the energy.

I am an artist.....right?