Chopped up paintings

Ok.....so returned to yesterday's work and chopped it up ! Felt so much better about it. If I am unsure about cropping any piece, I use the , ' double L's on them.' See in the picture. Mostly though, I chop them up on the guillotine randomly, bringing in that element of chance.

I often almost get hooked on certain sizes / colours etc and this is really where I am with the Dailies. My logic says move out of them now but my artistic drive wants to continue. Maybe just take a break from them with a promise to return to them on a certain date.

The small 14 / 15 cm sq. are also a size I love. And they inform the Dailies.

Above... The double L's. I use these for cropping an image.

Chopped up paintings. They still seem dark , cold and gloomy. Also there are loads of bits of paintings that sometimes I collage. Endless possibilities.

These are the finished ones after a lovely morning. So much enjoyment. I looked at each one of the pieces in terms of colour, tone and composition. Sometimes if you just describe the piece in terms of colour etc then it helps you recognise how to make it better in those terms. You are only ever though looking at your pieces in terms of, ' rightness.' And there is only the artist that can decide that.Love it.

So. Looking at the first one top left, I would say;

COLOUR. Limited palette,  cold colors, 

TONE. There is a balance in the tones. Mid tone with a patch of darker tone and a strip of light tone , read as a sky.

COMPOSITION.An abstracted tree/ bush. Feels 

Ike an abstracted eland scape element ( or is that me ) 

There is a feeling of , ' rightness,' about it.For me.... Will see what I think tomorrow.

ALSO ..... Work on the separation of these. I display them together and therefore see them as multiples, rather than individuals. I do this with most of my work and that needs attention !

These are my birthday week Dailies. Mmmmm I see them again as a multiple. Mmmmm.

Had a trip out to the Art shop, Calder Graphics, Huddersfield.Wonderful. Bought spray paints to try, acrylic pens to try, gold leaf and stocked up on acrylics.Back to the studio. Decided to randomly look at Joan Fullerton's work. Picked a few pieces the appealed.

Above ....Joan Fullerton

Above .... Joan Fullerton

Above ..... Joan Fullerton

What do I think about her work......strong, vertical feel, texture, mixed media, ochres, greys, gold leaf.......

Above ......mine......remember I was supposed not to be doing any 52 cm sq. ( fail ) nor doing any with a figurative element ( fail ) Mmmmm . I like it but will I like it tomorrow ?

I used gold leaf but ended up covering it up . Found it hard to manage because I can't seem to put it down spontaneously , it needed to be placed. Try again.....

Monday after visit to Hawthorn gallery

Lovely morning in studio. Kept off the 52 cm boards ( found one and painted over the back of a Daily painting - not a good look ! ) ' Played ,' in paint and enjoyed it. Reworked the small ones from yesterday, worked on others. Just let it happen without trying to control everything. Just do the work and think about display/ exhibition a little further down the line......

Above...17x33cm

Above, 20x20 reworked from yesterday

27x37 cm Reworked and turned around

Reworked from yesterday 30x20 cm

New sketch 20x20 cm

New sketch 38 x22cm

New sketch 20 x29 cm 

Sketch box reworked. 30 cm sq. Cotton stretched over board.

Above New 34x23 cm

They still seem gloomy but I am trying not to judge them until I have done a lot more. Try watercolour tomorrow ( said that yesterday )

Still fighting the urge to have more 52 cm sq boards cut, but managed it today. I need to move away from those boards to change direction or move the painting along. The small ones feel more like sketches but I think that is only because I am comparing them with the big Dailies.Mmmmmm.

What is the difference between a sketch and a painting ?
SKETCH
Often preparatory work , preliminary work, experimental, first ideas, often dry media, smaller ( generally ) than paintings.
PAINTINGS
Often take longer ( not always ) use paint, more deliberate work ( not always )

So , whether or not a work is a sketch is up to an individual artist. As I see it , there is no significant difference between a sketch or a painting for me.


So, I don't like any of the work from today, I don't want to do anymore small landscapes but before I decide fully then try the 12 cm sq pieces that I usually love. Try that later or tomorrow .

Sunday after visit to Hawthorn

With everything in mind, I am thinking a little too much when often the questions answer themselves in paint. Which comes first, the idea or the Art? Well it could be either but my point , to me , is .......just go in the studio and paint. I don't need to decide every painting I am going to make before I have made anything.

So, returning to the paint, looking at pink as I often do, pinks are warm, generous, warming, pleasing, often feminine, lovely. Paint !

Above , first paint of the day. Mmmmm quite similar to a few others..... Back in blend world. Try other brushes than the decorators brushes I normally use to go somewhere else in the paint !

Above..... This was the last board I had in the 52 cm sq.  But at least I managed a bit darker tone and a bit less blending. I had prepared the board with three coats of very dark brown acrylic. I had mixed this from veridian and brilliant red.Georgeous. 

Below were the ones where I am trying to break away from doing the Dailies at 52 cm sq. These really are reworked prints. I take off a lot of excess paint with paper and card. Sometimes though they are prints in their own right, sometimes I work back into them. Play rather than plan. Something will come out of it.

Above A4 size, using very liquid acrylics, 21 x 30 cm.

Above 20x20 cm . Very thickly applied white acrylic underneath. 

Above 40x 27 cm

Above  32x 14 cm

When I look at these last 4 , they seem dull and dreary. May rework them when they are dry. I don't like them half as much as the 52 cm size. Try in watercolours tomorrow maybe.

Still tempted to go and continue with the 52 cm sq. BUT I know I can't really maintain the 52 cm sq. If I want to do other things ie, paint a few bigger paintings. Oh dear.

Try and tidy up the studio and my workbench this week to cope with bigger paintings. The whole thing is geared to 52 cm sq Or smaller Dailies..... Mmmmmmmm

Birthday trip out with Denise

Looking at frames again. I have got so used to seeing the paintings in multiples that it is really hard to see them as individuals. I need to frame a few and display them in frames in order to value them as individuals. My friend took me for lunch and a visit to 3 galleries in and around Stalybridge.

Loved the Hawthorn gallery. It was a pub . Loved the black walls inside. Picked a kind of double frame for one of the Dailies after revisiting the frames I have made and collected over the years.

Revisited frames ....

Above..... A very poorly homemade tray frame. Very few of the Dailies look good in this frame.

Above...... A homemade frame made with thin Mdf covered in cotton.This isn't enough on it's own. Maybe I could have this framed as well.

Above ...... A very old frame that I have never used . It has glass for work done on paper. quite a few paintings look good in this frame, although I don't want the acrylic ones behind glass.

Above....one made at a framers. Some of the paintings look ok in this one.

So, back to thinking about a big exhibition. The body of work I have made since I started the Dailies is ; 

Around 350 Daily paintings ( 52 cm sq )

3 bigger paintings 

Around 50 Distilled landscapes ( 52 x 35 cm )

Around 100 sketches varying sizes.

Around the 500 , 12 cm sq pieces

A few mounted sketches 

How can I make that into a coherent display ?

Well, this is what I am thinking so far........

One wall Dailies displayed in groups of 6 or 8.

One wall individual Dailies each framed differently.

One wall a display of bigger paintings , linked by the 12 cm informers ( by that I mean they inform the Dailies )

One wall of sketch pages , exploring the words that inform the work too.

Tuesday after Woodend show

I think now I have caught up with the Dailies. I keep alternating between painting over Dailies that I don' t like anymore or thinking that I should leave the whole years paintings as a kind of a visual diary of the Daily painting year. While I decide though I had better not paint over any more.

I looked back at the first week's Dailies from April 2014 .it's very interesting. They seemed raw, textured, not as carefully painted ( or blended ) but I liked them. I thought therefore it would be interesting to use one of the paintings to inspire another one.

This is the one I used as inspiration

This was today very blended one.Mmmmmmm

I had mixed the rose pink, looking at the old Daily painting.it was just Daler Rowney brilliant red and white. It wasn't wholly the right colour though. I love mixing the colours and have lots of pots of mixed colours.

The one above was the old Daily painting, from the first week. I loved the dark red purple colour so mixed a pot to use.....

Lots of pots of mixed colours.

The one below was the last one. I did start off with the purple but it went it's own way.

Because I am trying to change the Dailies into something else, I am bringing back the words and titles of the paintings. If a title hasn't come into my mind by the end of the painting, I sometimes get a big piece of paper and a felt tip , look at the painting and then just write the words down that come into my mind. A title usually comes up then. This was , 'Sky purple.''

Right , ideas today ....... 

Carry on with the Dailies

Stop the Dailies

 Do them different sizes

Paint over the ones I don't like

Get some more boards cut

Do some in oils

Think about an exhibition ....and if I did that then I would probably need differing sizes ......and some framed........Look at framing a couple again...............

Monday after Woodend show

Displayed at the Woodend at weekend. These were my studios for quite a few years but now hold around 30 to 50 artists. And there were quite a lot of guest artists. I had mixed feelings going back into the mill, some of the individual gallery and studio spaces are lovely. But , overall, it's still cold . I had a problem with a few floods there and quite a lot of my work was ruined. But that's all cleared up now . There was too much art to see and because it was my birthday weekend , I wasn't around . I work from home now and I like that.

Today though I seemed to be going round and round in the paint. Managed to do the ones below but it was an effort. Strange that some days it comes more easily than others. Where am I going in paint ?
Keep going until I decide.

These were painted over Daily paintings that I have rejected. Oh dear !

Two more rejected Dailies painted over. Better decide where I am going in paint otherwise I will have no Dailies left to paint over !

Happy birthday to me

Had a lovely birthday so far. Painted early and then went to the Woodend studios where I had a few paintings displayed at their Art Fair. Masses of art. Caught up with a few artists and then back to my painting ( well you can do what you out want on your birthday can't you )

They are all coming out with a recognisable ( she says )  figurative element. I am working on doing a display of 8 similar paintings, similar really in colour and tone. I am loving the pastel colours and loving adding grey to dull the colours down.

I am using acrylics as the primer,a couple of layers of dark coloured paint. Then, after painting in pastel colours, I am using etching tools to scrape back into the dark primer layers.

I have used sandpaper to sand the top acrylic layers.

Loving them today but need to stop painting to get ready to go out for my birthday meal .

Birthday cake with a little bit of one of my paintings on it.And the dog with her masses of tennis balls.

The latest group displayed on the Art lounge wall.

The paintings are ...... Gentle......still.......pastel......pastoral......romantic ........lovely ( well today ) 

This was a Daily painting from 4/1/15

This was the reworked version.

So, all the Dailies are published on Pinterest .I am just working out how to publish the reworked ones. I can' t show them as the original date for the moment because , actually , I reworked it today. Mmmmmm. Have to think on that.

I can see that this isn't in the spirit of the half hour Dailies. But, he ho, it's my art. It's Sunday evening now , after a big birthday weekend, so , can't wait to get in the studio tomorrow.

Thursday after the years Dailies done

Continuing to paint.....very gentle paintings.......

Word about these two.....gentle, dreamy,pastoral, flowing.......trying to turn the Dailies into another project but it's not happening for the moment. Get some bigger boards cut..........

Returned to the first week of the Dailies to see if they all passed the, ' is this a painting, ' test. Mmmmmm