Grey 7 . Looking at Turners working practice

One of the major pluses of doing the social media, particularly Facebook, is the critical feedback that you get from other artists. This week I have been referred to Turner's , ' Colour beginnings. ' I hadn't specifically heard of them before....they need major research. I was also tRyingt no think about Turner's working practices....I have an image in my mind that he worked on lots of paintings at the same time....but I can't find the image though. I often feel connected to Turner when I work and I do feel that he got lost in the paint ( as I do ) and then had a mastery to simply put a building or a boat on top of the paint which then makes you read the paint in a completely different way....might be interesting to separate out a boat / building of his and put it into another painting.Mmm...just a thought...

Anyway, what I love about being an artist is that you can research a subject just as much as you want to in order to fuel the muse, drop it when you want....we are not doing any study for any other reason ( like an exam ) than for it's own sake, so my research is random , interesting bits and pieces, that might help my aim of working like Turner for a week !

Turner was considered too bright in his day ( usually the paintings were more subdued )
His Dad did a lot of the prep for him ....made his stretches ( oh ...if only )
He liked to work on a white or off white surface ( he defo brought his watercolour skills to oils )
His stretchers were often 2 x 3 foot or 3x4 foot.
He completed 19,000 water colours , drawing and oils

So the idea was that I would create 9 at once and work on them together....Fail....made 6 boxes and then got fed up. Worked on them individually and then collectively.....

So these were the six after a few days woodworking and then painting ( dark primer )... The pieces were 12 inches square , on board.....

The pieces reflect the quiet contemplation I was after...these were the words...distilled landscapes...land stills...are they abstract enough b...getting too much clutter in them...edgy simplicity...brought the sky down.... Gently distilled...are the lights light enough and the darks dark enough ? ...I seem to go high key always when painting in grey....flat skies.....

I like working all a prima ( in one sitting) but just couldn't get them to work...

Because the surface is sooo small the painting needs to be pared down... The landscape element reduced / distilled

The tones are massively important to the atmosphere

Will pick out the titles for the works from the phrases that come to mind when I painted them.

At the end of the experiment I felt that it didn't suit me at all to try and paint more than one at a time...I was muddled and the paintings then became muddled too....I ended up seeing the six as one piece of work rather than 6 individual paintings.....they each needed their individual time....It was massively useful to try this

So, also this week , I have been thinking about mounting and framing pieces. I was trying to use old frames and have decoupaged old, discarded paintings on paper.....that seems to work so try a few more...love the art

I am trying to be in a period of reflection in my work. As an artist I am quick to paint but slow to do the marketing, selling, tidying, finishing off stuff......I am presently drawing up my, ' to do,' list....for next year........think I will do it in a separate post so that I can quickly refer to it throughout the year...........

Grey 6 ..Garden paintings

Still in greys....repainting old, rejected paintings, still thinking about mists and looking at the garden photographs....this was the painting finished this morning.....it has taken a long time, but I have enjoyed the process of looking at different greys and looking at opaque white balanced with transparent, mixing white and varnish. Massive potential...

The finished painting could have a little too much going on, maybe too undefined....but those things could be pluses too.....what do I like...the colours, the shapes which seem to suggest whatever you want and the dark smudges of the pencil crayon.....could I do a series of garden paintings....potentially

Too early to say anything about this

This one is an old favourite , retouched to enhance the lights and darks....

I am wanting to take time out from painting over Christmas to reflect and plan for next year....as an artist I am quick to go into , ' paint mode, ' but slow to do all the planning/ marketing/selling....

Grey 5 . Emptyness

For the last two weeks I have been doing a, ' Friday night practice,' painting without any pressure, practicing. I got the idea from another artist...I think it apwas Jeanne Mayers...will research. Anyway, it has massively apprealed to me...I like experimental work, I like to use different mediums and subject matter. I like it best when there is no pressure to create a certain piece.

Still looking at greys...love them ....and love the mists....had a problem with the greys I mixed in so much as when I put white in, the white acrylic made the grey very opaque....that's ok in the main...but not always. Bought some mixing white ( more transparent ) so have used that in this piece....and loved it...also bought this week ...paynes grey, very transparent but very blue...and Davy's grey....very transparent but very green....love it though....

Painted last night over one from last week....and corrected some elements today....these photos were from the garden this morning...loved it !

This was the painting. ' Emptyness,' 33 inches sq. Acrylic and varnish on board. I had drawn the trees and then put varnish over the crayon to protect it and keep it there. 

At this time of year, I naturally select greys...the winter light affects my choices of colour. If I want to paint using more colour, I use a S.A.D. Light box which seems to help me choose stronger and brighter colours....interesting ( well to me anyway ) .....theses light boxes are used for seasonal depression but I don't suffer with depression, I have just learned over the years through going in the Sun, abroad in Winter that my colours are affected by the light......this year, for the moment, I am happy to stay in greys.....I am really loving them !  When I studied Art at Huddersfield University ( 1999 - 2002 ) we had a tutor Beverley Little who used to constantly encourage us to help identify our own creative process....what makes us paint....when do we do our best work....why do we choose certain subjects to explore.....all in an effort to try and understand our, ' art selves. '

Grey 4. The mist echoes the mood.

I have been painting this most of the day !  And yet, after many incarnations, the final finished piece, for today, is very still, distilled, calm,silent, misty.

These are the , ' poem lines,' that I collected throughout the painting.....
Exploring greys in the landscape
The greys might need a foil ( another colour to work against )
Just keep putting the paint down
Not just grey
The grey sky is flat
Flat grey skies
Mist as comfort
Stripes...no
Rounded shapes in the mist
Cold grey, warm grey
Warmth
Lost
Needs to be tones
Concentrate on tones
Drips,splashes
Feeling lost
A gentle grey atmosphere
Grey breathe
A wildness, a shape
Patches of mist
Hard edges, soft edges
Be bold
Got to cover up the good stuff to get it to the next level
Is the mist faraway?
The mist echoes the mood.

52 cm sq. Acrylic. Exploring Davy's grey ( very transparent ) and paynes grey ( very blue ) the greys were very opaque...maybe need to try in oils or buy some mixing , transparent white !

Greys 3 and My North Christmas tree

Mixed up week this week ( in art ) ...that's fine. Continued to look at greys, mixed greys, ordered greys, enjoyed greys.....found it near impossible to get the greys to work on small 15 cm pieces....try 12 inch squares. This one was 52 cm sq.  A, fugue , almost of veridian and crimson, a mix that produces this wonder ours grey.....love it

The paintings does seem sombre but I have been determined to not put any more light in until I have done 8 to see how they fit together. Don't you need to challenge yourself as an artist in order to grow / progress ?

Mixing greys, greys, greys. Love the mixing and don't often do anything like this but greys seem really difficult colours to remember....try testing myself....it's only when you put them all together that you can see the massive difference in colour and tone.....

This is a little light relief....bought quite a few frames and bits of oddities at Emmaus this week to try out a Christmas tree of my Art on the Art lounge chimney breast. It may or may not work....

I did this last night....marked out the Christmas tree shape with wool which I intend to remove after and arranged frames and light up scrabble letters ( Sainsburys ) to fill in the shape. My next task is to paint images to go in the frames and paint the frames if I need to. Not sure which way it is going yet but I cannot get into the studio to work until late afternoon... So will carry on later.........

Finished it ! Took longer than I expected...he ho....used prints of the, ' My North,' series and also old discarded work. I included all the aspects of the , ' My North ,' series ...mills....ladies...hills....landscape....photos aren't so good so will try in the light tomorrow.

I took each frame down individually , painted it and put the art in....it felt right to limit the colour to a greeny grey....to critique it...It might work better bigger...I like the grey....you can't really see the individual pieces of art....it's very , ' Grandmas front room, ' ...but that might also be because there are other pieces of a similar vein up in the Art lounge.....

Greys 2

Poem Lines
( 33 inch square acrylic on board) the name of the series comes from the words that come into my mind when I am painting. I can encourage these words and often do by just keeping a notebook and pencil at the side of my painting....or I can discourage the words by ignoring them when they come into my mind. Overall, I like the poem lines....that's just what they feel like to me....not complete poetry, I don't want to write a complete poem, but rather lines of poetry !

So, catching the word on this one....
Thinking about horizons and tonal paintings...see what comes out...often like a dark underpainting, so mix the darks on top of an old painting....used a mix of Daler Rowney black and red which produces a warm brown that I love...returning to poem lines in a way, to slow myself down, rather than painting the Daily walks, a quicker process....
Trying to get out of tonal it's paintings into horizons...
It's the push and pull of the landscape..and the paint
An orange burst of foliage
It seems about texture
Doesn't seem like winter
But it doesn't seem like winter outside either...sunny georgeous
What to do with the rest of it
Sometimes I am only interested in the top line
I don't think of ot as light when I paint it...just paint
It becomes light after time
Patches of light
My creative process....unsure of what I want, nervous hesitancy in the paint, burst of confidence, nervous hesitancy, unsure about finished piece !!!
Mmmm

Went back into this today...it had got too abstract...pulled it back a bit to the landscape....

What would I call it....' I don't think of it as light, just paint.' If I am critiquing it, it's very understated ...I won't know if it's too understated until a few days have passed.

This was last nights and this mornings...I wanted to try a , ' Friday night practice, like , I think Jeanne Myers. ' It is just that....if there's no pressure to produce a finished piece....just enjoyment in the paint.I didn't collect the words last night, but still the title came this morning, ' Patches of light.' Reminds me of the Distilled landscape series....need to revisit some of those and also try some smaller studies...... Try to glaze some colour/ oils/light into the pieces.....carry on !

Moving into greys.......

The interest in horizons didn't continue from last week. That's how it goes ! I think I am onto a new muse but it fizzles out if it's not strong enough. So, I painted with thoughts of moving out of tonalist paintings and into horizons and what came out was a return to an interest in greys. Greys are a recurring theme, particularly in winter....the light does affect the colours that I use instinctively and I am ok with that. If not, I have alight box......that works and makes the colours I use more colourful.

I used a painting from last week that I hadn't really liked. Not liking them much at all at the moment....not really worried about that, I go though phases and I know that if I don't like it initially it might well be one that I love when I have left it propped up in the studio for a couple of weeks. We will see.

I am thinking about continuing the series of poem lines....so with notebook at the side of the painting, I caught the words....
It's the push and pull of the landscape/ paint
The landscape and the paint become one
An orange burst of foliage
It seems about texture
Where is winter ?
Sunny, georgeous
Where to go
Sometimes I am only interested in the top line
I don't think of light, only paint
It becomes light after time
Hesitance, hesitancy, hesitancy, burst of confidence, hesitancy, hesitancy, but post if confidence recurring

It becomes light after time.....33 inches square, acrylic on board

Critiquing the piece...

First I look at the completed painting and ask myself what words come to mind when I look at the piece......grey, light, my landscape, calm, still.......unfinished ( interesting )

Will return to the paint later this afternoon, .......life gets in the way of the paint sometimes.........

This is this afternoons effort. Charcoal and white chalk on canvas.....It took me a while to get into it....the charcoal is very different to the paint....obviously....but I added water to make a wash and then returned to the wet work with the dark, compressed charcoal. I sprayed the work with water and wiped out the , ' light.' Not sure how to fix it on canvas yet.....looked at artist Michael Wann...georgeous stuff, Sue Bryan also georgeous. Mmmm. I think I could get there if I did a series of them but am I motivated to do that ? Try on paper tomorrow.....

Moving into horizons

Up and down week in the Art.....still loving the warm darks that I have created in the tonalist paintings..... Had a lovely paint in the Art group on Wednesday, finger painted robins and we had such a laugh!!! The robins came out with their own attitudes / personalities/ stories....it was unbelievable.....we are going to continue with finger painting next week...landscapes this time....can't wait....

This was my Northern robin !  I love it .....painted over an old painting...it just came to life....it looks as though it's fed up and has a long way to go, trudging through the landscape....ha ha

Today's paint was a little bit of an epic....even though I was trying to create it instantly....I know I have a thing about wanting to create in one sitting....I don't like a conflict of mood in anyone's paintings so I don't generally like working back into a piece in any massive way....that doesn't stop me from repainting older works....and certainly in that instance, I like the input of over painting an unrelated underpainting as I like this one today....love the colours....whatever they were....

It's very dark in this corner of the studio, but often I do like to create paintings in front of others that I want my current piece to relate to ....have to just be on alert with a cloth to wipe off straying paint !

Over the other side of the studio.....made me think of horizons....I like a horizon....and often create them instinctively.Mmmm can feel a little research coming on ........

This one above and these below are winters landscape studies...just trying them out....painted over unrelated underpaintings....loving them at the moment.....media...all my acrylics that I used for the big one plus acrylic white ink and sepia ink.....just playing in paint whilst thinking wintery landscapes. .... Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't !

Moving out of tonalist landscapes

Had a fed up week in art...it happens.....no reason....just lost my way......go back to plan and be clear about what it is I want from the art.....at the moment....

Painted over two 33 inch boards.....liked them a little better...TODAY....May be the opposite tomorrow ! Do think I have learned from doing the tonalist studies....seem to be more aware of the tones and looked at both of these paintings this morning and immediately thought I needed more lights and darks.....didn't take a photo of them before though....

The dark is a dark purple I mixed. I love that...

This one hasn't got enough of a landscape feel to it yet....feels too abstract , not an abstracted landscape.....

Considering my mood, my painting was never going to fill me with joy today....try later.....what can I do ? 

Mix some new colours

Just put colour down

Try two smaller ones for the Art lounge...good idea....

Altered the display in the Art lounge to include four of the newer ones with four older Dailies. It's dark but there is a warmth to it. 

Below are this weeks tonalist studies, 15 cm sq. Sumi ink over acrylic paint.