'Brush, Paints and Picasso'

'Brush, Paints and Picasso'

10" x 12"

oil on board

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Since posting the first stage of this painting I've been able to spend a further two sessions on it. The bulk of the work was completed on Tuesday and finishing off was done this morning. I will, as always, look again later (tomorrow) to decide whether it is finished or not. An important element in my still-life paintings are the abstract shapes within the composition. Abstract shapes become more obvious to the eye in a cropped composition.  Interesting spaces and shapes are created where the objects slice through the picture plane and off the canvas. Picasso is one of my heroes and the printed image that you can see in the book is 'The Weeping Woman' which is one of my favourite paintings by him.

Book, brush and paints

A quick post to show you the painting I started today. I managed to achieve the first stage in the limited time I had this afternoon, but my days are short this week, so progress will be slow I'm afraid! All being well next stage tomorrow!

'Lakeside View' and 'My Faithful Cat!'

'Lakeside View'

80cm x 50cm

charcoal on paper

SOLD

I have two drawings to show you today...this drawing depicts Whisby Nature Park, Lincolnshire. I made it at the time of year when the bullrush heads had just started to explode...I love it when that happens! Charcoal was an ideal medium to use because of its flexibility. I was able to push it and pull it around the paper to portray the softness of the furry tops but at the same time achieve the strength and sharpness of the reeded stems. I always use high quality paper but nevertheless if you require pure white areas within the drawing then you cannot afford to get any charcoal on the surface at all, so planning ahead is essential!

Onto drawing No.2 made today...a page from my sketchbook

 'My Faithful Cat!' 6"x4"

I thought 'd just throw this one in...today I've been recovering from the dreaded norovirus which descended upon me Tuesday evening...arghhh! So no teaching today and no teaching tomorrow and I apologise to all those class members who have had to miss a class. Anyway, all that time my devoted cat has been laying by my side in her favourite box, every now and again opening one eye and peering over the side of the box at me.  Today in her honour, as I began to recuperate I made a drawing of her whilst she awaits the hand that feeds her to get back on her feet!

'Young Amaryllis, Brass Pot and Radish'

'Young Amaryllis'

12" x 8"

oil on board

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I don't know whether you know about the growth cycle of an Amaryllis but once you get them out of their little box and start watering them they're away! Their growth is that rapid you can literally watch them grow! I started this painting Saturday and by the time I had finished it on Sunday, the leaves had grown right off the canvas! I found balancing the two contrasting greens interesting...the organic green of the plant against the synthetic green of the pot. It gave me an opportunity to check out my very old tube of emerald green which has rarely seen the light of day (I'm not a fan of tube green as my class members will be very quick to tell you). But I am pleased to say that I found the paint to be still usable and...a perfect base colour for the green of the pot. In its defence, tube green does have its place but should, in my view, only ever be used within a mix and never straight from the tube.  

'Notre Dame' in charcoal

'Notre Dame'

80cm x 60cm

charcoal on paper

I used an old photograph that I took a long time ago to make this drawing, in the days when there were only reels of film and disposable cameras! In those days our films were sent away to be developed and all we could do was cross our fingers and hope...hope that we got our own photos back and not someone else's! It's hard now to imagine a world without digital cameras, phone cameras and instant results! I have to say making the drawing (this is the second version by the way) brought back some great memories of being in Paris. The one thing I remember above all else was the creative and artistic graffiti dotted about everywhere...wonderful stuff! 

Not sure whether we'll be snowed in by tomorrow. At the moment it doesn't look too bad out there. But whatever it's like, we'll be venturing out as we have our grandson's first birthday party to attend, so come what may we will get there somehow!!

Have a good weekend whatever the weather!

'Winter Beach'

'Winter Beach'

70cm x 50cm

graphite on paper

I was going through my archives today and came across this drawing of Mablethorpe beach in mid-winter...not so snowy that year though!...but I do remember the gale force wind while I was trying to make some studies on the beach!  Needless to say I wasn't on the beach very long!   It was the haphazard fencing that attracted me. It almost looked as if it was growing out of the sand. I feel that sometimes monochrome says more and that the power of the image can be diluted by colour. For this reason I never ever took this drawing into paint.

'Pomegranate and Spoon' becomes 'Pomegranate, Spoon and Knife'!

'Pomegranate, Spoon and Knife'

8" x 8"

oil on board

SOLD

I've never thought that this painting was quite complete so today I added another object, the knife.  It's quite tricky adding another object after a painting is finished without it looking added on or out of place. I applied more paint around the area where the knife was to be placed so as to achieve softer edges. That seemed to do the trick. Now I feel the painting is resolved.