The Broken Boy & The Smooth Girl

Had an unexpected painting day today…well some of the day…Jack was off school due to the snow, so in between snowball fights and Xbox’ing I’ve managed to finish off this painting…

Progress...

Blocked in the main colour of the second figure tonight…spent a LONG time, just sitting looking at it…might be the drink, might have been a profound moment of thought…who can tell the difference…anyway, VERY pleased with the way it’s going at the moment, not sure quite how well the end result will turn out…not actually too worried about that either…am learning a great deal from the process of painting it and currently think I’m onto ‘something’….will be VERY interested to see what you all think of the final picture…showed the first stage to some other people today and was surprised by the fact that they didn’t know exactly what it was a picture of…Seems VERY clear to me, but I guess it would be as I’m painting it…I actually really liked the fact that they couldn’t tell what it was supposed to be…I like the idea of the viewer having to do a little work to discover the meaning of the painting…

First proper post of the year

Started on this today - “The Broken Boy and The Smooth Girl”.

I was telling Lorna on Friday night, how I liked the freshness of the sketches I’d been doing, letting ideas form directly on the page resulted in some lovely flowing lines…but when I’ve transferred those sketches to paper/canvas for final painting, some of that magic in the lines is lost, the spontaneity is lost…

So, I’ve worked this up today directly onto some watercolour paper. I had a rough idea of what I wanted to paint thematically and an idea for the materials I wanted to use (watercolour and then ink lines over the top), but no plan for the composition.

I’ve spent around 3 hours working up the drawing, building different sections at a time, constantly rotating the paper, reworking and reworking. Then I spent a couple of hours working on the first figure.

As I’ve mentioned before the aim with this is to form a bridge between the watercolour landscapes and the allegorical acrylic pieces I started last year. I’m planning on doing a few of these over the next couple of months and then the one I like the most I’ll enter at the RA…off to an interesting start I think :)

a new year

Once again a long gap between posts. Christmas and then away for new year and now I’m working full time for a couple of months, so quite busy…but all that is really just an excuse for laziness…or not quite dancing with the artistic muse, something like that…I haven’t felt like painting for the last month or so…haven’t actually done much of anything…vegetating you might say…maybe I’m just worn out…

Anyway…here are a couple of scribbles I’ve done recently, some ideas for the RA summer exhibition (this years theme is ‘Making Space’), some just ideas from songs…nothing thought through, just a scream of conscious via the pen…one or more might develop into something interesting…or they might all end up in the bin, time will tell…

I’ve been thinking about trying some of these more allegorical ideas in watercolour and ink…I’d like to build a connection between the watercolour landscapes and the style of ‘The Golden Key’ painting I did…I want to introduce the ink over the watercolour and the swirls to add strength to the designs and give me more control over figurative elements within the picture…I don’t have enough control with the masking fluid to depict figures…

I find myself starting the year torn between exploring the swirling/golden key styles further or returning to the traditional methods to present ideas…subjects and themes can easily cross styles…and there are pros and cons to both artistic directions…but which one is the best use of my feeble time…any thoughts? :) x

"The Parents" back at home

Here I am with my painting in the Royal Academy!...albeit out back in the storage area :) (thanks to Ian, for the inspiration for taking this pic ;))

According to the handlers who fetched it out of storage, this was their favourite picture in there…So someone likes me :)…perhaps next year, a few of them will be on the selection committee ;) Then again, they might have said that to everyone…or it might have been the last one in there, but either way, it was nice to hear :)

Went for a lovely wander around the embankment after picking up the pictures, ate too much, drank too much …saw this sand sculpture and lots of buskers, jugglers etc, sat in the sun talking about arty things we might all do in the future… all in all had a lot of fun…swore next year I’d take a smaller painting though…but I doubt I will :)

The Man from the RA he say…

No…not this year alas…So it’s 2-0 to the RA…will have to think of something truly spectacular for next year...

I’d already seen the article in the RA Magazine on some of Tracy Emin and Humphrey Oceans selections and they were certainly ‘different’ from my entry, so I wasn’t that surprised that my painting wasn’t selected…but there’s always a moment of “Why don’t they like me..." Still, onward and upward, there’s always next year and next month I want to enter one of the swirling watercolours for the RWS/Sunday Times Watercolour competition…so let’s see if that fairs any better…Good luck to everyone else that entered the RA, I know there are a few of you out there that read this :) and if you don’t get in this year, try again next year…I know I will :)

Toast !

Spent a little time tonight, thinking about what I might do for the RA Summer Exhibition. This years theme is ‘Man Made’. There isn’t a great deal of time before this needs to be done, so oil is out and it can’t be anything as complex as the ‘Empty’ idea from my last post…

I got a copy of the complete works of Leonardo Da Vinci for Christmas…thank you Santa :) and in there are some drapery studies that look absolutely stunning, as soon as I saw them I thought I’d have to try and have a go at something similar…so I’ve started from there…some artistic looking drapes…Thinking about how I might weave the man made element into this, I though of ‘displaying’ a man made item on the drapes…something you might not expect to see centre stage…my initial thought was to use a laptop…perhaps with a Leonardo painting on the screen…

I was thinking that a contrast between a fairly realistically painted man made item in the centre and very loosely painted ‘arty’ drapery background could be interesting…the looseness highlighting the man made nature of the painting itself…

Then I started wondering about what other man made items I could use instead of the laptop…a pile of bricks…some mechanical device…a toaster!....I should point out I was thinking about this while stood in the kitchen, blankly staring at the toaster…as you do…a toaster…with some bread in the top…the toaster is modern, chrome, reflective, a good contrast for the drapery…and the bread…a VERY old man made item…old and new, man made…and not usually placed on a pedestal in such a way…

So there you go, the ultimate man made item…toast…!

A brilliant idea…or completely barking??? I need to sleep on it…what do you think ?

:)

Now avaliable in Pink...

Did the first print on the next card tonight, just the lower right corner, where the flower is...I'm doing a run of 100 of these, so I'm now sat here surrounded by flowers...which is nice...

I also masked up the Jack portrait, ready to try splattering some paint onto the bubbles...will post a pic of that once it's done.

Am also working on a new still life, in a similar vein to the pears one ( I didn't get into the RA summer exhibition by the way...still, there's always next year...), this still life involves flowers in bondage!!!...no, really...will post a scribble soon, so you can see what I mean...

And, I'm thinking of doing another large multiple self portrait...the ideas for that are coming together, I need to collect together a few props and then take some photos and do some sketches...again, will post something once it's fleshed out a bit...

and then it was done...and...

Took off the masking fluid and added a couple of extra marks today, all done now and ready to be framed. I'm pleased with the water in particular...Hopefully it'll go down well when it goes on exhibition at the Farmoor Reservoir in late May, I'll post the exact dates nearer the time...

Here's the painting I'm entering for the Summer Exhibition at the RA, just before I wrapped it up in bubble wrap... As always, it'll be an exciting time waiting to see if it's accepted. On the one hand you dream of getting in and on the other, you try and tell yourself it'll come down to getting a bit lucky with the judges, if they don't like your particular style, that's just bad luck, doesn't mean there's anything wrong with your art... No big deal, just one of those things, no need to feel rejected if it doesn't get in...but deep down inside, I really want to get in...:)

I need to take my painting forward and something like this would be a great boost of confidence...:) Anyway, I'm delivering it Tuesday afternoon and we'll hear back by the 1st of June...so time will tell. Good luck to all those other artists entering and if you didn't enter this year...start on that painting for next year...:)