Wednesday 9 December 2015

PEACE - HOW WE ALL LONG FOR IT

The awful terrorism attack that happened in Paris, the fear that surrounds us in places where lots of people gather together, and the horror that is happening in Syria, brought me to a place of longing.  This longing is for peace and is reflected in my Seasonal card to all those who read my blog.  The words are by J. Hendrix but the concept is mine and I wish you all a healthy , safe and peaceful 2016.


Monday 30 November 2015

TURKEY - BEAUTIFUL LAND - MY SKETCHES

I have just returned from an amazing two weeks in Turkey.  It is a beautiful country with modern , dynamic cities, crystal clear water with the gentle waves of the Mediterranean Sea lapping the kilometres of beautiful beaches.  The highlight of my time there was a tour through Cappadocia.  The landscape was a bizarre mixture of strange rocky outcrops , endless plains ,the distant volcanoes and of course the majestic Taurus moutains forming a backdrop. We travelled to remote villages where folk lived simply and it seemed to me contentedly.  The polite and friendly Turkish folk, many relying on selling their wares were a joy to encounter.  A simple 'no' sufficed when an over-zealous sales person followed us through the markets of which there were many.  We were able to watch the intricate and delicate work of the women weaving extremely difficult patterns into the silk oriental carpets.  Their dexterity lasts only until they are about thirty years of age when their eyesight and hand co-ordination becomes less than perfect.  Here are the sketches I managed to do.   I would have loved to have spent more time with my sketch book but our schedule did not allow that indulgence. 




This was our very careful and experienced bus driver.

 
  

The lovely colours of the steppes with the Taurus Mountains the the background.



    
We spent an evening in a type of Monastery where we watched the Dervish dancing. The spin around for over fifteen minutes always in the same direction , wonderfully elegant and seemingly in a trance.



Thursday 3 September 2015

CLICK ON THE DRAWINGS

IMPORTANT.  I am not sure if you all know this.  Please click on any of the drawings or paintings on my blog if you would like to see a larger version.

CYCLING AND SKETCHING ALONG THE MAIN RIVER - GERMANY

We have just done a wonderful cycle trip along the Main River in Germany.
Nights were spent on a small ship with 10 very cramped cabins.  Each day we would cycle a stretch of the 250 kilometre cycle path.  The ship would steam ahead and we would find it moored at one of the charming villages along the river. This is really the best way to do a week's cycling holiday.  One does not have to cart all one's luggage on the bicycle. A simple meal and a fairly comfortable bed awaits one in the evenings.  There was not a lot of sketching time as we had to meet time deadlines but here are a few I managed to complete.

This was the route we took.
The lovely church steeples on the other side of the river.
.

Our small ship and her trusty Captain.

A rainy day along the river . The shapes of this industrial site fascinated me.

This was a really quaint very old Town Council building. It was higgledy piggledy and totally charming.





SKETCHING TIP : Sometimes there just isn't enough time to colour your sketches.  I always use a pen and never a pencil. You can't rub out pen marks and little mistakes give a drawing more life.  When time is at a limit, I quickly sketch the subject , make some colour notes in the margin with a few remarks as to the light direction, wind, weather and ambience of the place. I then add watercolour when I have time.  This avoids a sense of panic and I relive the moment as I paint the colours.






      












Monday 13 July 2015

REJUVENATING THOSE DISMAL PAINTINGS

How many paintings do you have lying around gathering dust?  Is there any chance of them being used for exhibitions?  You might be dissatisfied with the end result.  Something is missing - just doesn't have any 'umphh'.  

Why not haul one or two out and have a go at collage.

Repaint a watercolour in acrylics.  Darken some of the darks with a colour you would never use normally.

Lighten some of the lights to make them come alive.

Choose some adventurous light colours that really glow.  Bright yellows and greens.

It is only a piece of paper or a canvas lying dolefully in a cupboard or drawer.
Make the experiment fun and enjoy yourself.  Free yourself from the necessity to have everything perfect.  Use a big brush or a painting knife and let all that built up frustration and creativity have its way.

I would love to know how you get on.  Please share.

PAINTING HOLIDAY

It has been a while since I last posted.  However, I am back again and feeling better so here we go.  

I have just been on a week's painting holiday to a beautiful village not far from Valencia in Spain.  My friends Loli and Harold own a beautiful villa where they offer painting holidays.   The garden is a joy for any painter. It is full of interesting corners where one can sit and sketch or paint.  What a pleasure it is to be with like-minded folks (artists) and to chat about the things that mean a lot to us.  

Loli is a wonderful cook and produces meals that are guaranteed to get one's mouth watering.  Paella, unusual salads and delicious fresh fruits.  

Sue Ford, from England was the tutor for the week and she brought a group of delightful ladies and one gent who are avid followers of her art holidays. Sue is an lovely lady with infinite patience and an excellent artist in her own right.  We had a lot of fun together.  Each day we sketched in various locations.  I do so enjoy line and wash and sat quietly on my own just soaking up the atmosphere and filling my sketchbook with drawings. 

I learned a terrific technique (something I hadn't tried before) - collage with acrylic and line.  My work is shown here. I so enjoyed the process. It was absolutely therapeutic and I intend doing more.



                                          Loli and Harold's lovely villa Las Orguideas
                            where Valencia Painting Holidays take place
 
                                          Sketches of some of the plants in the
                            garden.
  
                                         
                                          A large and beautiful cactus plant over
                            a small stream.  I loved the rocks.

 
                                              The church in Benigánim


                            Here is my collage of Valencia.
                            I really loved doing it.

Monday 6 April 2015

SKETCHES OF THE SEYCHELLES

Here are a few sketches I did on the Seychelles.  I tried to capture a little of the atmosphere and colours.  Sketching could only be done early in the morning as the heat was unbearable later in the day.




Tuesday 17 March 2015

SEYCHELLES

I have just returned from a two week holiday on the beautiful Seychelles Islands.  The first week was spent on the island of La Digue.  We chose self-catering which is perhaps not the best option as groceries are very very expensive on the island.  

The colours are an artist's dream - tropical plants in many shades of green, coconuts on the trees.  They are a glowing orange.  The sea has shades of blues and greens to challenge the most experienced painter.  The light shining through the turqoise water on the breaking waves was stunning.  

My first visit to an artist's studio was on La Digue.  It had a thatched roof and was open on both sides of the area where the artist worked. She is an English lady called Barbara Jenson.  She has been living on the island for the past 17 years and produces lively acrylics with bright colours. You can pay a virtual visit to her studio at www.BarbaraJensonStudio.com  

The second studio I visited was the George Camille Gallery - a wonderful artist who is a great colourist and whose work sells very well.  www.georgecammille.sc   It is worth taking a look.

The next two artists were as different as two artists could be.  Gerard Devoud has his gallery in a beautiful, colonial house with excellent hanging facilities. Huge, colourful works expensively framed tempted the would be buyer.  I met the artist and he was excitable, an excellent salesman and totally enamoured with his work and himself.  It was a lot of fun meeting him.

Not far down the road was a sign to the gallery of Mr. Donald.  We rattled along a bumpy track in our rented car until we came to a broken down shack with a rusty old car chassis in the front garden.  The little Creole man had one or two paintings on the wall, very simplistic and a sad attempt to copy the style of Devoud.  His right hand was crippled with gout and we felt so sorry for him.  We gave him a donation and said it was a in appreciation of his showing us his studio.  We felt that helped him to maintain his pride.

It is a tough life trying to make a living out of art.  Good marketing and a gallery that encourages and helps its artists like that of Jason Horejs at Xanadu is what all artists need.  I am a coward when it comes to marketing myself and I know there are many artists out there who feel the same way.

My painting , 'My big fat Red Umbrella' which is on this blog was sold whilst I was away on holiday.  What a lovely surprise it was.  I now belong to an Art Association and we have exhibitions at various venues.  There is a committee that does a great job with advertising and promoting these exhibitions so the 20% commission they take on sales is worth it to the artist.

I will scan a few of my sketches done on the Seychelles and put them on the blog within a day or two.  Sketching was difficult as the heat and humidity made it possible only in the very early morning.  

TIP   It is well worth taking water colour sticks on holiday with you.  Great way to pick up colour quickly.  They are easy to store in a plastic zip bag.  I also take brush pens in three sizes which I fill with water so no need to lug around a jar of water and a number of brushes.  I do a lot of pen and wash in my sketch book so a good water-resistant pen like my sepia Rotrings are an essential part of my holiday sketching kit.  I never use a pencil or a rubber as I like the challenge of not being able to rub out lines and get too precious about drawings.  I prefer the odd mistake and the lively work that results.

Thursday 12 February 2015

I'M READY FOR LOVE

This is my second 'red' painting for an exhibition.  I think Peacocks are incredibly beautiful creatures (apart from their voices of course)!!  I would like to share first of all my peacock with its natural ,exquisite plumage and secondly my slightly surrealistic bird.  It was certainly a challenge finding all the shades of red.  


 

Wednesday 14 January 2015

MY BIG FAT RED UMBRELLA

Sometimes a painting just comes together.  I have taken so many walks through forests with my little dog Muffin (who is sadly no longer around to enjoy the snow).  

I belong to an artists club near my home and they have two theme exhibitions a year.  The theme for this February is the colour ' RED '.  I thought of various possibilities and suddenly I thought 'red umbrella' and the painting just grew from there. 

I used a limited palette namely, indigo, burnt umber, white, a touch of raw sienna on the dog and of course several reds in the boots and umbrella. It is a large painting 80cms x 60 cms which I feel gives the trees their height and depth. I use Liquitex acrylics which I love for their covering ability and wonderful colours.  I experimented with a painting knife to add texture to the snow and the trees.

 I hope you like this  one. I am happy with the outcome.  Here it is.


MY TIP FOR THE DAY

I receive a lot of brochures etc. in the mail and I normally send them off to be
recycled.  I also wash away a lot of residue paint on my palette.  I decided to use up the paint and cover the pages of a nice quality thick-papered brochure with this paint.  I now have a really useful 'sketchbook' with different coloured pages to try out thumbnails before painting.  It is also interesting to see how different colours react on different backgrounds.

You can also experiment with various techniques and mixed media.  

Best of all it cost me nothing!!
 


Friday 2 January 2015

NEW YEAR'S CREATIVE RESOLUTIONS

Here we go again making all those lovely positive resolutions which I, for one, never seem to maintain.

Here are my creative resolutions for 2015.  I hope some of my artist friends will join me.  If you have any that you would like to share , please share them with me on my blog.  You could be inspiring me or other readers too.

1.  I will clean up my studio and with great courage attempt to get rid of some of the reference materials, photos and umpteen dried out paint tubes.

2.  I will go through my discarded and disastrous paintings and attempt to do something with them.  Perhaps I will try a new medium or brighten up all the colours - perhaps cut a section out of a painting that actually looks rather nice and develop it further.  How about cutting some them up for collage and mixed media works.  The possibilities are endless.   

3.  I will do a drawing or a painting a day.  Miniatures count too.  No, I am not copping out.  Miniature paintings are a huge challenge in themselves.  

4.  I intend doing at least one or two paintings using a time restriction.  Half an hour or one hour. This will help me to only paint what is necessary rather than getting bogged down with the details.  This is going to be a hard one for me because I love painting all those little whiskers and hairs.   Nothing wrong with that of course but I feel I need to relax more and get some nice juicy brush work going on my canvases.

5.  I will try out a new medium.  Who knows , it may be the beginning of a wonderful love relationship with for instance , oils or pastels.  Worth a try!
It will be like an exciting , rather scary blind date.

6.  I will get out in the fresh air (at the moment we have sleet - ughhh!) and paint more plein aire works.  

7.  I will not allow curious spectators to disturb me so that I shut my sketch book and rush off to the nearest café for a relaxing cup of coffee.  I hate people watching me sketch or paint and this is a huge hurdle for me to overcome.

8.  I will be more organised and lay out the paints I need for a particular work rather than rushing off to my drawers hunting for the necessary colour I need during the painting processs.  Bad, bad, bad!!!

9.  I will work on a series of paintings for exhibition with an interesting theme.   I want to do a number of paintings of the Algäu which is the area of Bavaria, Germany in which I live.  It is very beautiful here and certainly lends itself to wonderful landscapes and buildings.

10. If I manage all of these, I will be extremely delighted with myself and can only improve as an artist.  


I WISH ALL THOSE WHO READ MY BLOG A WONDERFUL, HEALTHY, CREATIVE AND DISCIPLINED  2015.  I WISH THIS FOR MYSELF TOO.

This is what is known as being the most positive of thinkers.  He really believed he could get that stick through the front door.

I did this work with Polychromo Coloured Pencils on Bristol Board. These are my favourite coloured pencils with a great range of colours and really good coverage.