My Urban

My Art group often develop my ideas. I like that. I like to share my ideas because you get them back threefold. Sometimes that's unsettling....if someone has a better idea than you...but get over it !

So because I have been in the mills in my Art , I thought we should look at , ' urban art.' Mmmmm.. Can of worms.... It means so many different things to different artists / people ! So , I had to define, ' My urban.'

So, putting it in sentences. My urban is a little passed it's sell by date, a little scary but not downright terrifying. It 's the backstreets of cities mainly but towns also, particularly those with an industrial element. It's houses, buildings, wasteland, places in decline. There, I have pulled it all together ( she says ) Of course, I realise that's not everybody's , ' urban.' In it's rawest form , it could be graffiti or street art ( that's not my urban. ) there's a whole International movement of , ' urban sketchers,' but when I google , ' urban sketchers,' I get, in the main, pretty pen and watercolour images of nice

 streets, again, not my urban. Interesting, and also interesting to compare the different genres of urban, Northern, industrial, cityscapes, towns capes... What's in a name. These word diagrams are how I tease out my ideas in words. Simple, but it works for me.

Could see from this word diagram that there was loads of scope here. Feels exciting....but that's me, adrenalin junkie, love the start of a new project but then generally the enthusiasm wanes the longer the project lasts. I have many more, ' beginnings, ' than, ' middles,' and , ' ends !'

I looked at different artists, love the research, have defo got a research gene. So, the artists that I think match my urban are.....Anna King ( omg love most of hers) George Shaw ( omg love his estate paintings ) Kerri Pratt, John Virtue ( huge ink drawings of London skylines, ) Adrienne Wong ( simple charcoal drawings of urban spaces. )

This was the first one. 52 cm sq. I wanted.....restricted palette..... Drawn lines......sumi ink.....abstract element ( didn't want a specific place, as with my landscapes wanted something more universal )... Simple

' this is my urban, ' 52 cm sq. Acrylic on board.

So, thinking about Greyson Perry ( again ) and his quote about ideas that he describes as furry creatures....' You have to be nice to the first one that comes out of the Forrest, otherwise the others might not follow ! ' true , true, true....

These are the words that came....

The colours of my childhood

There was green

Carry on the search in the paint

How do I get these houses looking like houses without putting any definition in

There is a need to get the chimney's straight

But this is what I saw

Mill, wasteland,warmth , space, homes

Crofts not wasteland

Spaces with treasure ( spindles were treasure )

Loved it

Where has that gone

Community

I remember it sunny

This is my urban

I like the fact that it could be a tree or a building

So, being kind to the picture, I liked.....the feel of it....it could be a couple of places where I played as a kid.....I liked the charcoal lines....I liked the colours........I am trying to drown out the voice that tells me what I don't like ........just keep going this weekend , painting different sizes, anything to do with ,

 ' my urban.'

' why was the space behind the railings more interesting than the space in front.' A3 paper

These weren't wastelands....these were treasure lands. A3 paper

Flats . 15 cm sq.

Flats 2. 15 cm sq.

It comes back to the mills. 15 cm sq.

Desolate 15 cm sq.

Brick spaces. 15 cm sq.

Yesterday had a go at creating a , ' Spring, ' painting. Not good. Continued with that today. Still not good. Only liked a few of the 15 cm sq. Ones from Saturday....he ho....try some more....

Above...this was 52 cm sq. Fitted in an old frame. Mmmm. Unsure yet.

 Below.... This was my husband Dave , playing in the backs when he was little, around 1957. The terraced houses were back to back, so Dave remembers that the Mums kept the backyard gates open so the children could play in the backs whilst the Mums did their housework.

Below was my first attempt at drawing Dave. 15 cm sq. Mmm try again.

Below.... Did a pencil drawing , covered it with water based varnish then when that was dry, put down a couple of glazes of colour. I liked the effect...it reminded me of when they used to put colour on a black and white photograph. Try some more. 

Much prefer the 15 cm pieces. No interest in creating the larger ones and don't like the ones that I have done !

Well, these haven't set me on fire....but we will see tomorrow.....to be continued....

My North

This week has been a continuation of Northern paintings. Interesting ( well, to me .) Never would I have guessed that I would have the creative drive/ urge to make, ' Northern paintings.' I haven't really liked the term.... I am not into a lot of paintings that come under that heading ( although I like Chris Cyprus and David Coulter.) They are about a time gone by, a time of cloth caps , mills and dark streets, that just don't represent my North of today. My North is warm hearted, friendly, community, ok poor and lost in some areas, high Asian population.....no cloth caps, few mills, an Art wasteland ( apart from the odd artist )..and not so far from green spaces, hills, walks, countryside, sheep,villages, community.....I could go on.

So, to make a little challenge to myself, I thought I would pick a word or phrase around  the subject of my North and paint 10 small pieces in response to that. It's a must for me to vary my creative practice and approach. So the first 10 are about , ' black mills.' Don't ask me where that phrase came from, I am only the artist.i used the black sumi ink and acrylics on photographic paper. On the surface the ink and the paint stick immediately you put it down.

Words that came out whilst painting...
I like an ambiguity
My mills were almost replaced by similarly looking blocks of flats.
The sumi ink rewets
Why were they called, ' pea soupers.'
Some chimneys were bigger than others
With the black sumi ink comes a gravitas
Even the grass was brown
Some of the mills were a warm brown
The sumi ink has such an earthy smell
I don't remember the mills looking black
Some of the mills loomed
There was always grass around the mills, full of treasures , like spindles
As I paint the black mills , more memories return

As I painted , I was very aware of Greyson Perry's programme from the night before, ' All man. ' This week he was in London, in the city, with the bankers, looking at masculinity. One of his pieces was a giant pot phallus , covered in money, placed to mirror all the phallic style buildings out of the window. Was it the same for the mills ? Were they all built by men ? Of course they were, only men
had the money.

My town of Oldham has a very Industrial past, but hasn't seemed to manage to find a role in today's world.I still hear it said that it's heyday is the time of the mills.Mmmmm

Black mills 1.

Black Mills 2.

Black mills 3.

Black mills 4.

Black mills 5.

Black mills 6.

Black mills 7.

Black mills 8.

Black mills 9.

Black mills 10.

As I wrote this blog, I did feel a sadness about parts of my town that seem unhappy in today's world. I think back to images of the mill girls ( Dave's Mum was one, in the mill she went to work, I think from 14 .) Although they worked long hours, were exposed to cotton dust, and could be said to be exploited, they were always laughing.) That's changed. I carried on with the mills, ' grey mills this time. '

Grey mills 1

Grey mills 2

Grey mills 3

Grey mills 4

Grey mills 5

Grey mills 6

Grey mills 7

Grey mills 8

Grey mills 9

Grey mills 10

Grey mills 11

Numbered them wrong ..oh dear...try again.These were studies. Instant paints. Loved the process but don't love the studies. Will see tomorrow. 

I remember the North

First then....lived with last weeks display .....which I liked last week.....but.....over the week it has made me feel like it was almost an information board ! Like a display in lots of visitor's centres that I have been in , in different parts of the world. Interesting ( well , to me , ) So it made me think I could tell people about me.... First off then....

I remember the North ( working title )
I grew up in the sixties, but actually, the sixties never got to my Oldham ! It was like Lowry streets. Lots of terraced houses, lots of mills, lots of family living close by. Lovely childhood which, as a young adult, Radio 4 Women's hour told me was the poorest town in the Northwest of England ! So, these are my rememberings.....

I remember it always being sunny.
I remember popping tar bubbles on the cobbled roads.
I remember making tar balls.
I remember the smell of petrol that we had to be rubbed in to remove the tar at bedtime.
I remember playing out from dawn to dusk.

I remember the coal pit hills. A forbidden place, all the more exiting for being forbidden. I never understood how my Mum knew I had been playing on the coal pit hills. Loved it.

I remember my landscape of houses and mills.

They took down the chimneys first, dismantling Oldham.

From the mills to the hills. I still live in Oldham ( one of the poorest towns in the uk ) but I live on the outskirts now, in the hills ( one of the top ten places to live in the uk )

Memories are of grey. .

Whichever way you looked, there were houses and chimneys. Loved it.

I remember the pea soupers ( fogs and smogs ) that enveloped us in ochrey grey.

I remember the streets being wide and long, empty of cars, waiting to be played on......

I love grey to this day.

So, maybe I will do some more , ' rememberings, ' but maybe the muse might have buzzed off. We 

will see tomorrow.

This was today's daily walk painting, finished at 9 o'clock tonight. The light and the walk were special tonight. Acrylic, 33 inches square. 

So, second go at creating my Northern memories.....All 15 cm sq. Acrylic and sumi ink on photographic paper. The sumi ink makes the paint kind of dirty, just like coal dust would do.

I remember the chimneys being so tall.

I remember a landscape of houses and chimneys.

I remember a lot of horizontals and verticals , not many curves.

Sometimes you couldn't see the chimneys for the pea soupers.