Start of a new financial year 2017/2018

Worked on standard sized landscapes , 52 cm sq ,this week. They seem so small after the 32 inch square pieces. My palette has changed to light, ice cream kind of colours, which I am happy with, but the paintings seem a little more abstract than usual and a lot about colours as well as a landscape. Happy in paint though.

I do paint and reaping old images. I love that, reusing older paintings.I often start off by mixing colours on the actual painting to be then put into a plastic pot. Yum. Love mixing the colours, love the actual physical mixing of the colours, rather than any colour science. I like randomness and can often not repeat a mix. I like that uncertainty.

Paint mixes on the board

A timely mix . Acrylic on board. 52 cm sq.

A distant space. Acrylic. 52 cm sq.

A gentle season. Acrylic. 52 cm sq.

Colours of land and sky. Acrylic . 52 cm sq.

Just been massively interested in displaying the paintings and how different they look on different colours. Even how different they look on the same colour in different parts of the room.mmm

Paintings going this week to Silson gallery, Harrogate.

So this week also , I had decided to make the commitment of a daily sketch throughout 2018. I love to paint. I love to create but then sometimes ,out of necessity , I haven't enough time. I don't like ( as much ) many other aspects of being an artist...the delivering of paintings....the networking....the business side....the organisation......I thought that by doing a sketch each day, at least I will be able to do exactly what I want on that day....so no limits of subject matter / medium.....these are the first few ( thought I would catalogue them on. Pinterest, just for interest....I often work on appear but then don't do anything with them only put them in the plan chest / drawers....because I never like them framed....so this little project will help me with addressing that dislike of framed work .mmmm.

These are a few of the sketches. Tonight's job is to catalogue and list them on Pinterest. Why ? No answer at this stage....perhaps to accredit them with some importance.mmm

Poem lines . April 2018.

So, continued with the Poem line series this week. Filled the walls in the Art lounge once again with 32 inch sq canvases. Enjoying he e paint at the moment but the process is very wet. Lots of spraying and dripping. Still caught up with cerulean colour, although it's not in my landscape at all. Will definitely use different colours this week to stop this kind of obsession with the cerulean blue.

With these, it is kind of putting down the paint instinctively and intuitively and watching for something to come out of the mixing and laying down of paint.

I am still interested in abstract images.....is there any painting that's a complete abstract ? Not sure on that....does an abstract image require an element of dispassionate observation to just be about the colours or the lines or the edges or the paint ? Thinking out loud and not sure of the answers.....

I know that I have also been influenced by seeing a distressed wall at Emmaus, where i run an Art group.They are turnng an old scrap shed into a kind of display space and when they cleared out the space, the walls looked amazing.....but of course, for them to have got like that, there must have been water and damp.mmm. Will continue to try and see if I can't somehow incorporate that into my paintings .

Far Away. Acrylic on canvas. 32 inches sq. This one is all mid toned, so shouldn't work, but it like it just as it is.

Texture of far away . Acrylic on canvas.32 inches sq.

These two mid toned pieces displayed on the chimney breast.words that come to mind when I look at them....calm....reflective.....subtle....hidden....they massively change when the light changes in the  room. Fascinating.

above and below, I did last week, but I have carried on the blues.

A cerulean feeling. Acrylic on canvas. 32 inches sq.

The three cerulean ones displayed in the Art lounge. They feel very uplifting paintings. Interesting.

This was the latest , again 32 inches square. May well work back into it, not sure of the green. Although I hadn't put any green down, there was paynes grey still wet on the canvas when I put a mixed gold down. He ho.

Poem lines March 2018

So, continuing with the poem line series, 32 inches squared, acrylic on canvas. Creating paintings to fill the spaces in the Art lounge that had gone to Hope gallery, Redbrick Mill, Batley. It's lovely to be able to create paintings for my own space. No pressure.

' My air.' Acrylic on canvas, 32 inch sq.

This was the first. Worked on it intermittently throughout the week. What's it about ? Well, a lot of things really , colour, space, air, maybe the feelings that I experience in my landscape. The sublime ! Well, sometimes as an artist, you only know what they are about somewhere down the line.....

We have been looking at abstract painting in the Art group that I run and that makes me revisit abstract paintings. I think of my own paintings, in the main, as contemporary landscape paintings with an element of abstraction. I think of them as not completely abstract but rather based in the real world, my landscape of woods, hills, moors, water, weather. Love it . Love where I live in the Saddleworth hills.Bleak sometimes, wild sometimes, comforting at others.

' Cearuleun air,' acrylic on canvas, 32 inch sq.

I do paint intuitively and am aware that certain elements come through and appear time and time again. Strange isn't it ? But that the creative spirit for you. I think my own mood affects my colour choice but I am also aware that I do get caught up with certain colours at certain times. I am so into Cearuleun for the moment but it's not really one of my Saddleworth colours...it feels like it belongs to a warmer climate. And sea appears ! 

The two seem to be related. It seems like the first one was an arrangement of colours that almost settled itself into the second. If I take the images out of it, the first one seems vertical and the second horizontal. The palette is the same in the two so I think I will try to keep more to grey in the next ones. Maybe I will have exhausted my interest in Cearuleun, hopefully.

Poem lines

So,this week I have been home alone, on retreat in my own home studio. Family all away, just me and the paint. I wanted to create  some larger landscape pieces, 81 cm sq. to continue the series of, ' Poem lines.' ( I called them Poem lines because the words that sprang to mind when I painted them felt like lines of a poem. )

These pieces came about because I felt that the Art lounge was feeling a little serious with all the Urban ones. I wanted a lighter feel , so there was always going to be an element of lightness to them. What am I trying to do with these landscape pieces ? Well , I wanted to capture a little of how I feel in the special places that I have in my landscape. The feelings of peace , profoundness, calm that can sometimes overwhelm. I am so lucky to live here with my hills, woods and weather on my doorstep.

The paintings followed on organically from each other and now, at the end of my week, I have hung the six canvases in the Art lounge ( back room .) They are harmonious as a collection but that works for me, especially since I know they will be off to Hope Gallery, Redbrick Mill, Batley on Sunday....I maybe will have to paint some more !

A landscape element of paint. Acrylic. 81 cm sq.

An atmosphere of colour. Acrylic. 81 cm sq.

A clear day. Acrylic. 81 cm sq.

A distance in paint. Acrylic. 81 cm sq.

Moments of landscape. Acrylic on canvas. 81 cm sq.

An aerial landscape. Acrylic on canvas. 81 cm sq.

Art lounge chimney breast.

Art lounge wall

These paintings were painted on primed canvas. I put down a coat of umber mixed with black first , let it dry and then worked intuitively on top. The brown/ black underpainting does give a weight to generally high key paintings, even though the brown/ black doesn't show through.

Return to my landscape

It seems forever since I painted the landscape, got truly caught  up in the Urban stuff. But I have a complete week now in the studio so can have a massive paint. Can't wait. So, when I paint I don't  channel other artists but it's kind of like as you go along your journey , the images that you create or the marks that you make remind you of other artists past and present. That then takes you back into looking at their artwork, helping you with your own. It's massively useful to look how other artists create their work, make their marks, use their colours.....providing you sing in paint with your own voice and not someone else's.....this one , in parts , felt a little like an Egon Schielle landscape......I love his landscapes....research.....

52 cm sq. acrylic on board. ' A warm evening in my umber landscape. '

52 cm sq. landscape, ' A soft, cool Winter that envelops my studio.'

I collected some words as I painted ( when I. Say I collect the words it means I just jot down he words that come into my mind as I paint.)

The paint seems stiff and unhelpful today

Rusty landscape fingers

Blend to bland

Gentle, pastoral landscapes

Search for the colour

I like the making marks, the marks that you accidentally make during the course of a painting that with your Artists eye you decide to keep ...

A soft cold winter that envelops my studio

Had a lovely day in paint

 Love the paint

Can you tell when an artist loves the paint or when they try to master or dominate it.....don't we all do  both at times ?

' An umber day,' 52 cm sq. acrylic on board.

This was a rework of am earlier one that didn't work for me today. I glazed burnt umber over some  areas and a rich gold that I had mixed over others. I often use Daler Rowney, system 3 paint and I love their burnt umber.....so warm and transparent.

' A Spring song,' 52 cm sq. acrylic on board. Another rework of an older one. Loved this one today....will I still love it tomorrow ? ... Had a feeling of. Elle Packs work.....research......

Urban marks ( 6)

So, reviewing the Urban Marks....I am up to number 28. So the series has grown steadily, without me having to force it. Love these Urbany marks.

urban marks , acrylic, 12 inches sq.Definitely can see the influence of the artist Mishiul Choudhury . Love his urban stuff....he has a lighter, brighter palette than me. 

Urban marks no 26 , acrylic on canvas, 12 inches sq.

A few repaints later with this one. Finally like it ....TODAY....I had stretched the canvas over the box. Love how the drips and runs soak into the canvas....remind myself of Felicity Keefes work , which I love.....she uses washes rather than glazes, thin mixtures of runny paint that she seems then to tip onto the painting. Love it.

Putting primer and gesso onto boards. Boring but necessary. I put primer on first and then a good few layers of gesso , maybe around 5 or 6 with a light sanding in between coats. I have done quite a few just on the board, rather than make the box . I have done this on a few but it's then a pain to make the back of the box onto the painting. He oh, you have choices to make.

Displays of urban marks and My North painting displayed in the workroom. Putting them up on the wall helps keep them safe.

Display of four in the Art room. Massively realised this morning that in different places in the rooms the paintings look massively different. The light, the colour on the walls, the way you look at them , all changes.

More urban marks displayed in the Art lounge.

I am up to number 29 in the Urban marks but 8 have been reprinted ....or will be ....so that's 21 out of 30 , 2 out of 3 ! Not bad really.

My North second series

So , this week I have returned to visit my small ,' Northern ,' images......' Memories in paint,'........have had a lovely week in paint but have found this time round I am more critical of the images that I produce....perhaps inevitable.....these are this weeks that have made it through the first round ( there were lots that didn't ) ...I was undecided about whether to title them or not....I wanted the images to be ambiguous and open to interpretation so felt that the titles had to reflect that, obviously , so , different from the first series where I had been very specific about the titles of the images.......the last couple of days, I had wanted to lighten my palette ....often the Northern stuff is dark and gloomy in colour and tone....

These are all 15 cm sq.

No 1 ' Space.'

No 2 ' Parktime.'

No 3 ' Sunday holiday.'

No 4 ' Holiday.'

No 5 ' Textures.'

No 6' Street layers.'

No 7, ' Flecks of colour.'

No 8, ' Street layers.'

No 9, ' Alleyways.'

No 10, ' Faded.'

No 11, ' The future.'

No 12, ' Whitsuntide.'

No 13, ' Time.'

No 14 ' Summertime,' a favourite today.....but that's often because it's the latest I have painted.....mmmm....it will be a different story tomorrow !

All the ones to date. It's helpful to put them up together to see if they fit together as a whole, see if there are any emerging patterns / shapes/ recurring themes.....

Each time I paint, I do set off with a little challenge to myself....in the early ones, I had tried to leave bolder brush strokes alone and still showing.....later this week , I had wanted to alter my palette and bring in brighter colours....with some success...

A relatively modest collection of Golden fluid acrylics. Love them for these smaller pieces. They glaze with the golden glazing liquid but are naturally opaque. Love them ( well today )