Credit cards

Back at my art class and trying something new again. This week we were painting with credit cards, pushing scraping and dragging the paint around. Took me a while to get used to using this cumbersome little bit of plastic but I think l started to get it in the end. Using the card and a loaded brush dragging it over the paper worked well, wearing gloves is a good idea as it does get a bit messy, some finishing touches with a brush and some enjoyable splattering; I think it worked out ok.

 

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Senses

I have been working on and off my senses project painting over the summer, started with a few sketches my first attempt didn’t  really work, inspired by my visit to Upfest and all the wonderful urban paintings I had another go, this seams to happen a lot with my pictures, anyways its about done now.

Spent some time working out how to paint some of the elements, its been a good learning picture.

 

Candy floss pink

Spent a wonderful day painting with Chris Guest in London. A first for me painting all day from a model, picked up a new approach to painting , a few tips on materials and how to mix candy floss pink. All in all a good day.

Thanks to Chris for his instruction, I have gesso and board ready to have another go. Just need to find me a model with candy floss pink hair.

 

UPFEST

Just been to Upfest, a street art festival in Bristol spread out over the town, packed with artist doing their thing, had to dodge the British weather but still got to see some great art. Another thing to add to my list of things to try.

 

Stop to sketch

Up to now I have never made time to sketch while on holiday , this year I set out to change that making a little time to stop and sketch.

After you get over the strangeness of getting your sketchbook out in public, making time to sketch and not to just grab photographs, makes you more aware of the place even if it’s not always captured in the sketches.

Got to get into the habit of doing this more as it’s more personal record of the places you visit, I am sure they will help me remember if I want to make paintings later.

 

BP Portrait Awards 2017

The standard of work in this exhibition is tremendous; I always come away appreciating the skill and talent of the artists. I have taken a few pictures of my favourites to add here.

It is a competitions so you have to select your own favourite, mine was (Rhyming slang for worth nix) by artist Janne kearney

 

 

 

 

 

 

Benchmark

I have been trying my hand at painting for about 3 years now, so I thought it might be  interesting to go back to the beginning and attempt another version of an earlier painting.

I have always liked this portrait by photographer Ronald Vogal who kindly gave me permission to use his  photograph as reference.

I have use oil paints on canvas as apposed to Acrylics on paper but still I am pleased with the marked  improvement in my technique.

I am certainly looking forward to trying this benchmark again in another 3 years.

 

 

Sixth sense

I have been working on my art class summer project Senses.

I had the idea of creating 5 tarot like cards one for each sense, trying to add a little twist to each illustration Sight being blindfolded  in the dark and Smell being roses and something rotting in a bag, I guess you get the idea.

The sixth sense is just suggested by a downturned card and the tarot.

Thanks for dropping in.

 

 

America after the fall

Had a trip down to sunny London to catch the exhibition at the Royal Academy “America after the fall” before it all finished to make way for the Summer exhibition.

Took the audio guide to learn about the pictures how they fitted into the exhibition and some background on the artists, My real reason in going was to see Grant Woods American Gothic, it was a great surprise to see his other work especially Daughters of revolution which I thought was as wonderful picture full of satire and hidden meaning.

Come to my Senses

Just finished a short term at art class, closing for the summer.

This term we looked at the senses  and the parts of the body we use for them ears, noses, eyes, lips and hands looking at the anatomy and how they fit into the face really good  stuff, if like me you like faces.

we  made  some 3D heads from dough, morphed animals into faces and faces into animals, sketched each others bits and looked at cartoons and how the artist simplify the features to capture expression.

I have planned two final pieces to complete over the summer,  one painting which I have  posted my sketch here and a set of 5 tarot cards covering each of the five senses and  hinting at the sixth.

Thanks for dropping in.