Urban boxes 4

Another week gone ...these Urban boxes are a lot slower ( obviously ) than doing the work on paper. He ho. Need to make some more boxes which of course slows me down. That's not neccessarily a bad thing....it makes me take my time and go in the direction that I really want , rather than just responding to each piece on a daily basis.

This one started off with the phlourescent pink that we used in the Art group this week as a base layer. I didn't really the phlourescent paint but it does give you something to almost work with or 

 Fight against. Strange to think in such terms.

Using the Golden liquid paints allows a lovely glaze using the acrylics .But it wasn't exactly what I was wanting. I am sure I will paint over these but for the moment they are allowing me to build up the number of urban boxes. Some are more of a landscape image.

Again , using the liquid acrylics as a glaze.

Went back to the black and white work, rather than using colour. Preferred this work....today....keep going.

Again black and white with an addition of burnt sienna mixed with black. Although , for this project of urban marks, it felt a little cluttered , I didn't dislike it. Keep going.

I am nearly half way to the 30 in numbers but not in finished images that feel, ' right.' There's only a handful that do feel, ' right.' 

Reminded myself what it was I did want by re reading the blog.....I wanted ....

An urban feel

Simplified compositions

Finished pieces without frames or mounts

Limited palettes.

Try to keep that in mind with the next ones....but also be aware that it might well take me a lot longer that 30 days to do the 30 urban boxes !

Urban boxes ( 3 )

Had a poor week in paint ! He ho. I think it's often what happens when you start a new project, in this case the urban boxes and it goes well initially. Then there's a swing the other way and I think it's because as artists we feel under pressure to produce a painting as good ( in your own judgement ) as the last ones. Mmmm. In a way as Artists we do put blocks in front of ourselves, often no one else puts them there. Mmm. To overcome a block maybe the last thing you should do is NO painting. But for some reason , it's easier not to go into the studio , or to go in and do nothing. Added into that this week , I was trying the Golden liquid acrylics and that seemed exciting but a little daunting.

I did try the acrylics but they didn't go well for me. I have toiled over these two pieces and will surely paint over them on another day. This piece was 6 inches by 12 inches. I had made a frame out of wood on the back and about 12 coats of gesso later tried a print start with the gelli pad and acrylic paint. Didn't work so well , so have had loads of goes at it with the fluid acrylics. The acrylic soaked right into the gesso, nothing like the paper.

Urban box no 7. Acrylic on board.

Urban box no 8 . Acrylic on board, 12 inches sq.

I started with random golden fluid and put down acrylics on top. This type of intuitive painting is , for me, about putting the paint down and watching for something to appear, preferably a mill or an urban scene.

What did I want from these ? ......shapes....feelings.....colours....memories...

How did I do.....ok

What did I like ? The shape and size of the pieces, the fact that they are finished pieces in their own right and don't have to be framed,the colours, some shapes.....

Where could I go next ? Continue with the fluid acrylics, make some more boxes, don't be too hard on myself....be a bit more definite about the shapes to include......

Urban marks on boxes (2)

So this week was the start of a next 30 day challenge. Urban marks on boxes. I was trying to get the urban marks to work in a more robust piece of art....often with the work on paper, I don't do anything with it, I stack it.....I often don't like them in frames and I don't like them behind glass....but yet as a surface in themselves they are often fragile and vulnerable.

It's been completely different working on board or cotton covered board. I needed to make the boxes first of all which is a feat in it's own right. Some , I covered in cotton, others primed in gesso and then acrylic.that massively slows down the Art.....not neccesarily a bad thing. With the paper ones I could create one a day but the boxes are a different matter, slower, more space inbetween each coat of paint.

Above....boxes in various stages. I had the Mdf cut into 12 inch square pieces at B and Q. Lovely man that cut them and I came home and got going.....but when I am making the frame for the back, I use the pieces of board to mark the frame wood....hence I hadn't noticed until I had painted each piece and come to hang it up completed, that each piece is a slightly different size....just an eight of an inch here and an eighth of an inch there....It will mean that I cannot hang the paintings butted up to each


other...I will have to leave a space !

The first 6 on boxes, 12 inches sq. Hung in Hope Gallery, Redbrick Mill, Batley. Love the hanging...I wouldn't have hung them in a vertical grid but I like it..

Urban box! ( working series title, need to look at titling this series  ) no 3 Acrylic on board. 12 inches sq.

Urban box 4 Acrylic.12 inch sq.

Urban box 5 Acrylic 12 inch sq.

Urban box 6 .Acrylic, 12 inch sq.

The first ones hung in the Art room. Maybe they are too close together, they maybe need more space between them. Will work on that.

Love these at the moment. Where I live ( which is my muse) the centre of my town is in the distance, urban, gritty , poor town. I live on the hills, the glorious landscape of woods and hills that surround me. In a way, I am trying to marry the two aspects of my landscape. Big ambition, we will see.

I am aware that I am using the acrylic paint in a way that it's not designe to be used...very thin washes and glazes which dilutes the pigment. So, have ordered some Golden fluid acrylics today, which, they tell me, has the same concentration of pigment in a liquid form. Looking forward to that.

Urban marks on boxes ( 1 )

So I have massively enjoyed the urban marks on paper but aware that I often don't do anything with my work on paper....I often don't like the work behind glass or have any idea what frames to put the work in.

So, the next step is to try and put the work in a more permanent , more robust form....hence these pieces this week. They are 12 inch square boxes , some have cotton stretched over them, some not.

The aim is to explore , in acrylic, these urban marks with an abstract twist in blacks and umbers. ( I made a lovely colour from mixing paynes grey and burnt umber. ) maybe I will try the 30 day challenge again, a box a day......

Above. Love the....umber ness....the drips...the simple shapes...the squareness....the layers....how could I develop it ? ...try a different format....try bigger...

Above..Trying to avoid brush strokes in acrylic is so much harder than oils....

Above.....it does seem more like a landscape , but for the moment that seems fine...it was a landscape previously but I have made it darker. I did put on some mills and houses but just ended up wiping them out ! 

Above shows the sides of the boxes. Love em with painted sides.