Jewel's Arty Blog

Tenby Harbour 5

2012-01-28T13:08:00.000-08:00

I am more or less at the end of my Tenby Harbour scene now, after adding some boats and the front wall with foreground detail, plus a few more leaves to the tree.

I took lots of photos while I was there. The next painting might be St Catherine’s Island, which is off the Tenby coast, and this will be done in pencil with perhaps crayon to add some colour. This is because the art group’s next project will be pencil drawing – occasionally we have a project that involves using a particular medium rather than on a particular subject. For example, in the past, we have had pastels. I hope to have at least two Tenby paintings ready for the Easter exhibition, and will also be adding this one to my art website (link at top of page) to sell for about £35. This next one should be done fairly quickly, as I find pencil is a fast medium to use, partly because it is so controllable and also you do not have to wait for it to dry.

The other group members continued to progress with their work this week, Karen, her large tiger painting, John his Irish terrier, and Elizabeth, a Scottish loch scene. Sue has plenty of bird photos as her husband is a keen birdwatcher (the feathered variety) and likes photographing them. She was working on a painting of an owl with a border.

Full of Beans

2012-01-25T02:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I went along to a “Creative Coffee” event held by the Creative Greenhouse, a local organisation for people employed in art/design and other creative industries. Usually their events are held at Nottingham or Chesterfield, but this time we met at Bolsover, which is easier for me to get to, so I went along and met a few other arty bods and the man who runs the organisation, Paul Hough. There were about 12 of us there, which was quite a good turnout considering that it was a cold and rainy day. We met at “Beans” café on Station Road, and I noticed that that Karen Smith, the owner, had lots of artwork from different artists displayed around the premises. She said that this was there to help her make a profit, and it did enhance the appearance of the place too. It is quite a small café and there wasn’t any space left so I didn’t ask if I or the art group could have a display. In the video below, Karen tells you more about the cafe.

The Greenhouse has existed for many years, and had received European grant funding until last year. This was then withdrawn but after this, Paul was employed by the local council for one day a week to continue his work. He has applied for Arts Council funding, which has been granted subject to certain conditions. Paul gave us an update on how things were progressing, asked us what guest speakers would be beneficial to us. It seemed that one on social media and websites would, so he is hoping to organise something on these lines. The tourism officer from Bolsover Council was also there and told us that the Olympic torch comes to Bolsover on 29^th June, and there will be a festival for about a month after that, so there may be the opportunity to show or promote our work. I’ve asked to be kept informed about this, as the art group would probably be interested.

Among the creative people there were two artists based at the nearby Harley Gallery (which I mentioned last week): one was a sculptor, who is planning to create a “green” wall for the District Council, ready for when they move offices to the old Chesterfield College site in Clowne. The other was Sarah Godfrey, who specialises in printmaking. Above are some examples of “monoprints” (one-off prints) produced by people taught by her, and here's a link to her site. http://www.nontoxicprintmaking.co.uk/

Tenby Harbour 4

2012-01-21T07:50:00.000-08:00

I am on the fourth week of my Tenby Harbour picture. I have completed the houses at the back of the harbour and the roof of the lifeboat rescue station, added the beach using Naples yellow mixed with a bit of grey to tone it down, and have begun the tree on the left of the picture. The next stage will be to add the boats, which at the moment, have the Naples yellow colourwash over them. I often have to wait until a wash like this dries completely until I can see the pencil marks under it. It is, however, easier to do it this way than to paint the boats then go around them with the beach colour. I can faintly see the outline of the boats and will be doing them next.

At art group this week, Elizabeth was beginning a new painting, of Scotland. Kevin suggested putting in some “carrot people” to add interest. “What’s a carrot person?” I asked. He showed me by sketching some little dark figures which could be distant figures on a painting – and yes they were carrot shaped, with the tufts on top being the head. You could do a dog too, he said, “Would it be a sausage dog?” asked Elizabeth, keeping with the food theme. Meanwhile, Gill had completed her owl and was drawing a glass of water for practice at drawing shapes, Karen continued with her portrait of her mum and John with his Irish terrier pastel. Sue was nearing the end of her painting of chickens.

Two of our members had entered for the first ever Harley Gallery open exhibition, but unfortunately only one had been accepted. The one who’d been accepted thought that some of the “reject” work was better than what was on show. All paintings had to be entitled something beginning with the letter “h”, which was a bit restrictive. I didn’t enter, partly because I didn’t have anything that begun with that letter at the time. The Harley is a on the Welbeck estate. It used to be a gasworks when first built, and has beautiful architecture which it would have been a shame not to preserve. http://www.harleygallery.co.uk/

This week, I have a new link, to the website of Corinne Lee-Cooke, a local freelance illustrator. The link is on the right, but to save you having to scroll down the page, here’s another: http://www.coroflot.com/violetlake

Christopher Atkinson and Adrian Holt

2012-01-18T02:54:00.000-08:00

For this week’s update I am featuring the work of Christopher Atkinson, who joined Artists of Derbyshire (link above) a few months ago, and Adrian Holt, who enquired about joining but then created his own site http://www.adrianholt.com/

Devonshire Arms in midwinter

First of all Christopher. Christopher lives in the Bolsover area and has been painting for a number of years. He is inspired by Ashley Jackson, whom he has met, and whose site is at http://www.ashley-jackson.co.uk/. He learned to paint from Matthew Palmer, a local professional artist who runs classes in the area, as well as painting holidays and even his own TV series "Paint along with Matthew Palmer" on Sky 166 (Matthew’s site is at: http://www.mattartist.co.uk/). Christopher mainly paints in watercolours. I notice that many people seem to start with this medium. Although it is not always the easiest to work in, the paint dries quickly and you don’t need any special equipment. He likes to paint local scenes and landscapes from within the county.

Gold Hill - original of this and Devonshire Arms available to buy on AOD (link at top of page)

Adrian Holt is a ceramicist (potter) who produces pottery animals, bugs, and figures, which seem to have an African influence, as well as masks, in a similar style. His landscapes remind me of quartz and Blue John formations and can be hung on the wall (Blue John is a stone unique to the Peak District). I like his pots best, and they come in a variety of original shapes and colours, the colours vary according to how they are glazed. Adrian sometimes works on projects in schools, and you can see photos of him doing this on his website (link at top of page).

I see from the Arts Derbyshire website that Adrian has an event on at the moment at Glossop, where you can learn to make a coiled pot. See their website for more details http://www.artsderbyshire.org.uk/

Tenby Harbour 3

2012-01-15T10:30:00.000-08:00

The painting is slowly taking shape, with the latest houses being of muddier colours after last week’s pastels, as some of these are in the shade. It is very detailed work and I am using a magnifier to get it as neat as possible.

This week, I have applied to exhibit at a Creative Greenhouse’s spring exhibition in Nottinghamshire. I’ve been a member several years now and thought it was about time I took part in one of their events. If successful, I will hear by mid January, but, according to the bumph, the closing date is also mid January (16^th), so I shouldn’t have long to wait.

Snow bunnies

At art group, Maggie had completed a painting of a fantasy woodland scene with nymphs and a carved wooden tree, and Sue was working on some cockerels, while John continued with his pastel dog. Jim, had returned after several weeks’ absence, as life had been busy for him. He showed us a beautiful painting of snow-covered woodlands, with light and shade depicted faultlessly. I wish my “snow bunnies” had come out as well as that. Jim’s painting had been done from a better photograph than mine, though. “It’s my show winner,” said Karen as group members gathered round and complimented him.

Karen herself was working on a painting of her mum, also a group member, who died late last year (see my post “Tribute to Madge” of November 2011). She was using an old photograph as Madge had been quite glamorous in her youth, and I have a feeling the painting will be a present for Karen’s dad.

Last week I mentioned the Idle Valley Nature reserve, but little did I know I would get to visit it so soon. That evening, as it turned out, I was there with the family, for an astronomy evening, as was group member John and his wife. My role was as chief babysitter, and it was of course too dark to observe any wildlife, but I can confirm that the visitor centre is warm, and very child friendly, with a small kids’ area next to the café, where the toys and books kept our little one entertained for quite some time in between a star gazing walk and looking at Jupiter through various people’s telescopes.

Tenby Harbour 2

2012-01-10T13:06:00.000-08:00

It's beginning to come to life now

This week, I have started to add colour to my Tenby harbour painting, beginning as usual with the sky. I always try to work top to bottom and left to right, to avoid smudging. I’ve made the sky bluer than on the photo, and the buildings seem to be coming out a bit brighter, but they may become less so when they have the darker harbour wall in front of them. I need to find my Naples Yellow, last used on the Welsh sunset painting, to do the sand.

At art group, there was talk of a trip out somewhere for painting on location, and John suggested the Idle Valley Nature Reserve. His wife had been there and he commented that it had a good tea shop, which seemed to be a selling point for Gill. Some years ago, I used to go horse riding there when it was a quarry, and parts of it are still used for this purpose. This link gives more details on the nature reserve: http://www.nottinghamshirewildlife.org/news/item/idle-valley-in-pictures

Elizabeth has completed her painting of Mexican hatchling turtles making their way to the sea. It is a special memento for her to remember her holiday by, but was a difficult subject to paint, particularly for trying to convey a sense of depth, there being nothing much in the foreground. Her next painting will be from a photo I’ve given her of some mountains with flowering foliage in front, which will hopefully be better from the depth/perspective point of view. Karen was working on a large montage of three tigers, a painting she had put on one side for some time since she began it, and had now brought out again. Gill was painting an owl and Kevin a close up of a human eye. Barbara had chosen a particularly difficult subject – some rocky land interspersed with greenery, while Maggie continued with her nymphs.

Montage of tiny images of some of the group's work

I have been putting together a slide show of the group’s work, for use at our Easter exhibition. For the past 2-3 years, we’ve had a continuous show on a laptop computer, but last time someone suggested putting the name of each painting on it. I’ve therefore done this for 219 paintings from several members, adding their initials to each one. I’d originally planned to create a video of the paintings with soundtrack, but it seems a slideshow is much quicker and easier to do. We will also be able to use a stereo system when we hire the room so there’s no need for a soundtrack. Now, if someone wants to buy a painting after seeing it on the slide show, they will be able to identify it more easily.

Tenby Harbour 1

2012-01-06T13:37:00.000-08:00

The scene is set - even our dining room table was a work of art

Christmas was busy this year, with a big family gathering at our house, and all the usual indulgences. To help walk it off, we went for a stroll around Creswell Crag. This is an ancient limestone gorge, with caves that were inhabited thousands of years ago. The visitor centre was closed but the Crag itself has a public footpath and we were able to take a walk around it. It is a place that has often been depicted in paintings, and indeed has some cave paintings from ancient times. These are a long way inside the caves and cannot be viewed from the outside. I’ve been on a cave tour, when Church Hole Cave was open for us to view the carvings of animals, like a primitive art gallery. This website gives more information and photos of the artwork. http://www.stone-circles.org.uk/stone/creswellcrags.htm

I have kept the pencilwork light, so apologies if it is difficult to see

With Christmas and New Year over for another year, I was back at art group last weekend, where I began my Tenby harbour painting. I have been trying to make the pencil drawing as accurate a reflection of the photograph as I can, to give the best possible basis for painting on top. It doesn’t look much yet, but expect it to come to life when colour is added. I have kept the pencilwork light so that it won't show through the paint.

At art group, we all chatted about how we’d spent Christmas, what presents we’d had and whether well received or not. It felt good to get out of the house again, and to have a conversation with people outside of the family. John was working on a painting of a terrier, and Karen on one of some ducks in water against a dark background. Sue was doing a painting of cottages in the Hunstanton area, while Maggie was working on more fantasy elf-type figures.

I’ve now added my recent Tree of Life to my selling site, link at top of page. The price is £35, which includes p&p to anywhere in the UK mainland (I can also export).

Completed Tree of Life - and start of Tenby Harbour

2011-12-30T08:02:00.000-08:00

Have completed this - now time for something to remind me more directly of Tenb y

Almost the end of another year, and I have now completed my Tree of Life painting and am able to show it to you. It should be making an appearance on my selling site (link above) within the next week.

After a couple of weeks’ break from art group, I am getting ready for my next project, Tenby harbour. Tenby has a pretty harbour, which is also unusually large just to have been used for fishing. It size makes me think it must have been an important area, and from a quick web search, several centuries ago, it seems to have been used for importing goods as well as fishing. If I had had more time, and there had been less tourists around, I would liked to have painted it while I was actually on location. Painting on location is not something I’ve tried recently but Kevin at art group sometimes does, and he’d wanted us to have a group field trip a couple of years ago to a local beauty spot. The idea never got off the ground, mainly due to lack of toilet facilities in the area, which put many of the members off. I wonder whether painting scenery from real life makes the perspective aspect easier or harder than using a photo.

Pretty - yet big at the same time

I am looking forward to this painting taking shape over the coming weeks and hope you will join me for updates on its progress.

No snow, no go

2011-12-27T14:43:00.000-08:00

On the left, the actual kennel, on the right, the size I was expecting when I began.

Firstly a warm welcome to any new readers who have found this blog over the Christmas break, particularly new readers who are reading this via Kindle. There was no art group this week, as many of us would have been too busy with family commitments, so instead I finally completed the knitted dog kennel I’ve been making. Regular readers will remember that this was much bigger than expected and had taken me several weeks to make, often working late into the night and getting up early in the morning to make sure it was done. There were over 36,000 individual stitches in it, plus the dogs and bowl (with bone). I used several layers of cardboard to reinforce it, and embroidery wadding to pad it out with. I think the 3 year old recipient was pleased with it, and I sincerely hope he will enjoy playing with it.

We have had rather milder weather than this time last year, with no snow whatsoever. Although last year’s weather was more than a little inconvenient, it did at least give me some inspiration for a Christmas card or two. My better half is interested in the theory that sun spots affect the weather, and at the moment, there is not much activity, but there is due to be some in late January/early February, so it will be interesting to see if any snow falls then. Watch this space.

I have spent the past few days surrounded by family, and the nearest we have got to any creativity was when one of them created this “Stonehenge” in cheese for a buffet yesterday. If any of you have seen the spoof film “Spinal Tap”, it reminds me of the miniature Stonehenge that the dwarves danced around to hilarious effect, after a misunderstanding with the set designer as to the size of the monument.

I should have completed my tree of life painting by the next update, and am considering doing a Tenby harbour or island scene for my next painting, as it was very picturesque.

For now, I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas and would just like to wish you all a Happy New Year in advance.

Prelude to Christmas

2011-12-21T15:29:00.000-08:00

I have almost reached the end of my Tree of Life and will feature the completed painting as soon as it is done. Some small details need a bit of attention.

Last weekend was the art group’s annual “fuddle” – a local dialect word for party, and everyone had to take along a food or drink contribution. My contribution was a “healthier options” trifle, for which I used tinned fruit in juice, using some of the juice to make up a layer of Hartleys no added sugar (two sachets) jelly, surrounding the fruit. There were only about 20 calories in the jelly, so this layer was relatively healthy. On top of this was no added sugar instant custard, again 2 sachets. This was topped with “Elmlea Double” a cream substitute, and around half the calories of normal cream, according to the carton. I used one carton, but it could probably have done with two. I also added some flaked almonds, instead of anything sugary, toasted first for extra flavour. I worked out the number of calories and it came to about half what a normal trifle would be, with no difference in the taste, although a bit lighter than a normal one. If you are planning to make your own version, I recommend letting the custard cool down a bit before you put it on the jelly. My jelly melted when I put hot custard onto it, so I ended up with a pink layer instead of it looking a proper yellow colour. Nevertheless, it proved quite popular with the other members, many of whom try to eat healthily, and these quantities made enough for about 8-10.

Gill brought her trusty cheese scones, Barbara home made mince pies and John his lemon cake “with a Caribbean twist” – he likes giving things a twist, as he calls it, and had substituted the lemons for limes. Some sandwiches and sushi completed the ensemble, and we all tucked in and enjoyed one another’s cooking. Yum. I think we should do this more often.

The bottom layer of this fountain sort of oscillates round.

I took the opportunity of visiting the Winter Gardens in Sheffield this week. This large wooden and glass structure building was opened in 2003, with a hotel on one side and the “Millennium Gallery” on the other. The exotic plants looked a bit small to begin with, but several years on, are beginning to get more established, and there are a couple of interesting water features installed. This one goes round and round, and there is another similar one nearby that stays still. I couldn’t see anything to tell me who they were made but , but I’d guess that the Millennium Gallery had a hand in commissioning them, as they like to collect and feature work from different local artists. Here’s the link to a site that tells you about the Winter Gardens anyway. https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/out--about/parks-woodlands--countryside/gardens/the-winter-garden.html

My little son loved the outdoor water feature with large silver spheres at the back of the gardens.

We were interested to see how city living seems to have really taken off in the Kelham Island area, and the museum and small brewery with the “Fat Cat” pub and brewery shop seemed to stand as solitary relics of a bygone age. I’ve been to past Christmas fayres at the museum, and they are always well worth going to with many crafts and a great atmosphere. Today there was nothing Christmassy, but I was able to give my son an idea of our family’s distant past, as we are descended partly from people who lived in that area and worked in the steel industry over a century ago. http://www.simt.co.uk/kelham-island-museum/plan-your-visit

Although the bus service from Mansfield and therefore, Clowne, has been cut to one every two hours this year, I still like to pop over to Sheffield from time to time, especially as it was my stomping ground for a few years.

10 years of Persistence Works

At Persistence Works, the resident craftspeople were celebrating the end of their 10 year exhibition today, and I went to see how my friend Heather was getting on, as she moved there earlier this year. It wasn’t an open studios event and was held only in the foyer, so I wasn’t able to see her, but I hope to feature some of the work she had on show in the next week or two. I didn’t photograph any work as I would have needed to ask permission of whoever had produced it, and those people whose work I liked were not in the room at the time, but I hope they had a successful event anyway and wish them well. http://www.artspace.org.uk/

I bought my young son some candy floss from a stall at the German-style Christmas market on Fargate, and the last relics of it are melting on the desk as I type this, rather like a small frosted pink glacier. This may be the nearest thing we get to snow this year as the weather is predicted to stay mild this Christmas, which means we should have no difficulty travelling to see the family, or them t us, and that suits me just fine. So it only remains to wish all readers a Merry Christmas and hope you will rejoin me again soon for more art and craft related fun.

Northfields

Ridgeway

Finally, I am sharing with you a few photos of houses with Christmas illuminations, something for which Clowne is well known locally. There are less now than there used to be, as crime from visitors deterred many would be illuminators, but there are still many homes which join in with the Christmas spirit with these colourful displays. Hope you enjoy these, anyway.

T'was the week before the Christmas holidays ...

2011-12-13T03:24:00.000-08:00

… and I was at art group, beavering away and hoping to complete my Tree of Life painting before Christmas itself. It’s well on its way now, and just needs a bit more work, including black lines around the edges of all the colours, for that all-important stained glass window effect. It hasn’t photographed very well – the royal blue still appears uneven but actually looks quite smooth in real life.

Altogether now .... "aaah!"

My other little masterpiece has been a white small dog, which I am knitting for my small nephew. It comes with a kennel and another small black dog, to keep it company (if I have time). Again, I am hoping to get it all completed in time for Christmas. I am working on the kennel base, which involves casting on 43 stitches then knitting 144 rows, of which I’ve completed 24. This in itself took over an hour. The base makes up about one-sixth of the kennel itself. The whole thing is about 2-3 times bigger than I’d expected it to be! It was only meant to be a stocking filler. Hope he enjoys it after all the effort I’m putting in. The pattern comes from Woman’s Weekly magazine, my mum saved it for me. Unfortunately it is not on their website, but they have lots of other free patterns, such as a Peppa Pig toy, Hello kitty jumper etc. http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/fun-win/galleries/24830/Free-knitting-patterns

At art group we have our annual “fuddle” this weekend, and I have decided to make a trifle, but (inspired by the healthy options muffins that were a hit at the Easter exhibition) it will be a low fat, low sugar one, as so many of our members have to restrict their fat or sugar intake. I am using no added sugar jelly crystals, tinned fruit in juice, topped with no added sugar custard, and Elmlea double cream substitute. Some flaked almonds may be making a star appearance on top. If this works well, I might make it for the family at Christmas too, although there was some opposition to this idea from the “better half” last night, as he wanted a full fat one.

I’ve been trying to find a suitable container to take it along to art group in, but all the covered bowls I could find (either to buy from local shops or to order on the web) were much too small. The trifle will need to serve up to 10 people and I will be carrying it to art group - a 10 minute walk from where I live. I wanted something about 9” diameter and clear-ish preferably plastic, so it’s lightweight, with slanting sides and a lid for the top. Tesco sell one that looks like that but is a fraction of the size. Amazon do a set of covered bowls, but the review told me that they were “much smaller than expected” - there’s a similar set available on e-bay. But I don’t need a set of little ‘uns, just one large bowl. Come on, some enterprising manufacturer, lets have a bigger covered bowl! With Christmas postal delays, I may be too late anyway, so I have opted to use one from home that is opaque – not so good from the presentation point of view, but it will have to do. I wonder what delights the others are going to be rustling up.

Tree of Life 2

2011-12-09T02:22:00.001-08:00

I am a couple of days late with this week’s update. I hope nobody minds as I have been doing some important work on my art selling website this week (link above). Amongst other things, I have added a new painting, Canadian Rockies, and also one of the artists, Sue, has put some new work on, in place of some of her previous work.

After my foray into the cartoon world, I have returned to my Tenby visit-inspired Tree of Life. I wanted to make it more colourful than just the usual brown tree shades, so as an experiment, am painting it to look like a stained glass window. If this doesn’t work, I can always go over the colours in brown or black. Some of the paint will have to have a second coat, particularly the royal blue on the trunk.

At art group, our usual meeting room at the cricket club was being used for a Christening party that afternoon, and towards the end of our booked time, grandparents arrived to drop the food off. There were canapés and enormous, delicious looking gateaux. It made me hungry - too bad I had to go shopping afterwards, before making my way home to beans on toast.

Some of the party were interested in what we were doing. One granddad in particular noticed my tree of life and told me that he’d learnt to paint trees using wire “wire wool?” I enquired. No, apparently, just a piece of wire, and you build the paint up in layers. I’d never heard of painting by this method before. A Google search under “painting trees using wire” came up with all manner of information on creating wire trees for train sets and sculpture, and even how to kill a tree using wire, but nothing on painting with wire. Anyway, I did find this article on how to paint trees in the normal way, in case anyone is interested. http://painting.about.com/od/landscapes/ss/paint_trees.htm

Cat Christmas Cartoon - and John Atkinson Grimshaw

2011-11-29T05:53:00.001-08:00

This week at art group, Jim showed us a painting he’d done, of a snow covered lane with trees gradually disappearing into the distance. “I’m inspired by John Atkinson Grimshaw, who used to paint Scarborough in a similar style”, he said. Atkinson Grimshaw was a Victorian painter who was well known for his depiction of light and detail. Very little is known about his life, but several of his children went on to become artists. Having looked at this article on Wikipedia, which tells you more about his work and gives two examples of his work, I have to say that Jim’s painting was very much in Grimshaw’s style. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grimshaw-NightfallThames.jpg

Elizabeth was painting some baby turtles she’d seen on holiday. She told us how small groups of visitors were handed tiny, newly hatched turtles to release onto the beach and watch as they waddled away into the sea to begin their new lives – or more likely, be eaten by other animals. “Did you race them?” I asked - I would have wanted to bet on whose would be first to the sea. Apparently not. The turtles swim thousands of miles and only one in a thousand would return to the place where they hatched. It’s a serious business – and according to Elizabeth, a stirring sight, reducing some of the holidaymakers to tears, not gambling.

This article gives you more information about baby sea turtles :http://www.seeturtles.org/1403/baby-sea-turtles.html

The art group are gearing up for Christmas. We won’t be meeting on Christmas Eve, and will have our “fuddle” (a local dialect word for party) the weekend before. I am wondering what culinary delight to rustle up this time. Pasta and rice dishes haven’t proved popular in the past, so it may have to be the reduced fat exhibition muffins, which were such a hit. Also, some members like to give others a Christmas card that they have designed and produced themselves. Last year, they had to make do with one from Wilkos, but this time, I am in the middle of designing a small cartoon of our small but fast growing cat. Perhaps I’ll do some for my son to give his classmates too as he quite liked it. You can see it at the top of the page.

Announcement for a local craft demonstration event

2011-11-24T09:58:00.001-08:00

Just a quick update to announce a craft demonstration evening at Clowne Infant School, Ringer Lane, Clowne, on Tuesday 29th November at 7pm. Wreath making, soap making and more. Tickets £3 from the school office, open Mon-Fri, 9am-3pm.

Canadian Rockies and free printable

2011-11-23T03:25:00.001-08:00

I will be adding this to my selling website (link above) this week

Last week, I completed my Canadian Rockies painting and took it along for the art group members to view and comment on. As everyone seemed to like it, I am not going to change it now.

At art group, Elizabeth completed a dramatic looking mountain. Her landscapes usually look cool and calm so the strong colours of this painting were a departure from her usual style.

"I can help you say thank you"

Christmas preparations are probably well underway for most people now, and in just over a month, the whole thing will be over and we will probably be thinking about writing some thank you letters. I recently designed my own thank you note when I ran out of them. Now I’ve put it onto Flickr as a free printable, for everyone to download and use. All you need is a sheet of A4 paper to print onto, then fold it to create a small “card”. Although it says on Flickr that it’s copyright, I haven’t changed it to “creative commons” because I live in England and we have different copyright law to America, so all I will say is that the design is mine and I am happy for you to print it off and use this as much as you like, but if you use the design in anything you publish, please attribute it to me. My Flickr widget is further down the page on the right, if you want to reach it this way, or follow this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/artistofderby/6383150691/

I have included instructions on downloading and printing the card, and would like to know whether people find these helpful to use. If the card is popular, I might put other ones on in future. So let me know, either by a comment on this blog, or on Flickr.

Cartoons

2011-11-15T05:20:00.000-08:00

This week, I’ve tackled something I’ve often wanted to do but didn’t know where to begin. I didn’t think I could do cartoons, until I was helping my small son draw something in a book he was making, and bingo! The pygmy mouse lemur that I drew happened to look a bit cartoony. That inspired me to have a go at doing our cat.

You can see more of the results over on my Kizzie Cat blog), but here’s a little picture I did at last art group, it still needs tidying up, but she looks quite sweet with her present. I commented to the other members that doing cartoons is not for the faint hearted, you have to “go for it” and dare to put pen to paper. I have also found that it’s best not to put too much detail in either.

At art group, Karen had been painting a snowy mountain top using a palette knife to good effect. She had used light brush strokes to suggest detail on top of it. Sue was working on a realistic looking scene from Wales, Maggie a few more elves or nymphs, and Kevin another watercolour landscape. Gill had completed her garden painting, using a photograph of a real garden, photographed through an ornately carved window frame. This gave an attractive “frame” to the painting. It was one of her first goes at doing something that wasn’t still life, and had worked well for her.

John proudly showed us his framed picture of a group of apes he’d drawn in chalk pastel. Next to it was a framed picture of the black poodle-like dog he’d been working on for the past few months. Hayden was busy creating the colourful background of his next painting.

More next week.

Tree of Life

2011-11-08T08:57:00.000-08:00

I’ve put my Canadian Rockies painting on hold for now. It still needs a bit more tweaking. You’ll be able to see it once it’s done.

I have begun my Tenby project painting, inspired by a visit to Caldey Island, off the coast of Tenby, where there is a monastery and a“tree of life” stained glass window in the chapel. It is a round window, and I’ve got a round canvas to use for it.

The paper is cut out in the shape of the tree, and I have begun to put the background colour on the canvas. As last time, I am using acrylic, because it dries more quickly than oils. My tree of life will have some darker colours around the edge, and perhaps be more dramatic than the Caldey Island one.

At our art group’s last Easter exhibition, I put some paintings on the laptop computer, on a continuous loop, in the refreshments area for visitors to look at while they have their cuppa. This year, I am planning to use a video of the exhibition with paintings from each of us on the end. The name of the painting will be on each one. I can then upload it to You Tube and the group’s new Face Book page for all to see. People have started bringing photos of their paintings in to add to it. I have also been considering what soundtrack to use. “Stairway to heaven”, said Sue, when I asked her if she had any requests. Well, she might just get that for her section, wait and see.

Tribute to Madge

2011-11-02T04:53:00.000-07:00

Regular readers will remember that Madge, one of our members at the art group, had been ill recently, and, sadly, I have to report that she passed away recently. This week’s post is a tribute to her and her artwork.

Madge was a respected member of the art group for about five years, but had actually been painting much longer, as she began when she had a young family, as a way of keeping them occupied.

Years later, she found joining our group helped give her more confidence in her painting. She helped out at all our exhibitions, even when in poor health, and offered her opinion on any subject under the sun, if asked. She liked to paint landscapes and recently helped me with my Canadian Rockies picture when I was trying to depict the subtle colour tones of the mountains. Our group will miss her but have happy memories of her. Above is one of her paintings for you to enjoy. Her daughter, Karen, also a group member, created a website for them both to show off their paintings - here's a link to it: http://www.wilkinsonart.co.uk/

Any readers who would like to remember Madge are welcome to leave a comment on this post.

Review of the year

2011-10-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

Nearly there!

I am approaching the end of my Canadian Rockies picture now, and will be making the left foreground a bit paler and yellower, to make the train stand out.

Just a quick mention for the Barlborough art group's exhibition at Barlborough Methodist Church School Room, on November 26th, 10.00-4.00. Paintings by local artists, refreshments and tombola.

My time blogging for the Derbyshire Times is coming to an end tomorrow, so I would like to take the opportunity of thanking them for giving me a link from their website for the past year.

Rabbits in the snow

And what a year it has been! Here’s some highlights.

Looking back through my archives, this time last year, it was about to get much colder and, when it did, I used the snow as inspiration for three new paintings.

Christmas arrived, with lots of arty goodies for me, including a special flattenable water pot for travel. Back in January, I used pen and ink technique back in January, to produce silhouettes of trees from the lost gardens of Heligan. I featured local amateur artist Zoe Edge’s abstract paintings, and began an abstract triptych myself. I helped my son make a dinner plate sized ladybird from paper mache for his school competition. I was very proud of our efforts when it was done, but once he brought it home, he wasted no time duffing it up until it was unrecognisable.

Easter brought Clowne and Barlborough art groups’ annual exhibition, where my cakes at least proved very popular.

A day trip to Hunstanton gave me the opportunity to photograph and draw the local lighthouse through the gateway of a ruined chapel in front of it. Our new kitten arrived in May, and I immediately put her to good use as a model for my pastel pictures.I reviewed the Humber Bridge farmers’ and craft market, before beginning my Canadian Rockies picture in August.

Humber Bridge Market

I reported on the Robin Hood Festival, and crafts there and in the Welsh coastal town of Tenby, where I went on holiday. I brought back about 6 photos for the group to use in a project on Tenby, and this takes care of my next painting – or two.

Portrait of Kizzie as a kitten

If you have enjoyed reading and want to continue to follow my progress, you can subscribe for free by clicking the “subscribe by e-mail link (right, under Kizzie Cat).

Potter's Wheel at Robin Hood Festival

St Catherine's Island, Tenby

Art group antics at the exhibition

More Tenby - what's not to like?

Thank you to all readers, old and new. I have enjoyed writing for you and hope you continue to follow me and the art group, plus the many other artists and craftsmen I feature.

The few and the many

2011-10-18T22:50:00.000-07:00

I have continued to work on the foreground of my Canadian Rockies painting. I want the train to stand out, so am keeping the foreground colours muted and not adding any trees (there are trees on the original photo).

At art group, one of our members had been ill and Gill, with whom she is friends, was visiting her. “I thought we’d have a whip round then I’d go to Tescos for some”, she said. We are only a small group and were a bit thin on the ground anyway, so Maggie said, “lets use some of the club funds”. “Don’t go to Tescos”, I chipped in, “I’ll fetch some from Blooming Marvellous, she’ll do you something really stunning with cellophane and a bow and card for the same price. Plus, you’re supporting a local trader.” I was going to Tescos anyway, so I set off there and then, calling in at Blooming Marvellous on the way to order the flowers and picking them up on my way back.

Some readers may remember the advert for Impulse body spray “When a man you’ve never met before gives you flowers.” Funnily enough, Impulse is something I normally wear anyway, and I felt as if I’d been in the advert as I returned to art group brandishing a large mixed pink bouquet.

On the art front, Maggie was continuing to work on some elves, Elizabeth (our landscape queen) had been working on a mountainous scene from Tenerife, and Gill had begun a view of some oriental gardens seen through a window frame. This was something a bit different for her, as she likes to do still life paintings, i.e. close ups of groups of natural or man made objects.

Last week, I mentioned that I have a new smart phone. This week, the word on Sky news was about smart phone hacking. Rogue networks set up in public areas with wireless internet access such as internet cafes. These networks can hack into your phone and steal your passwords then do all manner of naughty things with them. The advice was for everyone to change their passwords, and not use 3G when out and about in case a rogue network picked up on your phone.

I wonder what is done about this type of crime when a hacker is caught and sent to prison. The authorities need to be certain that the offender does not have access to a mobile phone while in prison, as they could still continue with their dirty deeds. According to Sky news, internet crime is a problem on the same scale as illegal drugs, which in turn, is the same as the tourist industry. I will just have to stick to using my phone for phone calls and photographs until there’s a better solution to this problem.

One thing is for sure: we can't let the few spoil it for the many.

Here's to the future

2011-10-12T03:29:00.000-07:00

I have been playing around with the greenery on the mountains on the right, but blending it towards the left hand ones, so that the colours are more in line with the mountains behind them.

I’ve added a “base” colour to the foreground, and will be trying different shades of green on top to see what looks best. I mixed it to match the grass I could see outside, but at the moment , it “jumps out” too much. I remember having the same problem when I painted a room at home what I thought was a delicate shade of lemon yellow – it was fine in the tin but on the wall it just looked too loud and had to be toned down with lots of white. Kevin at art group thought it best to put the emphasis on the train, so that’s what I’m trying to do. It has taken time but I am “getting there” as the old British Rail advert used to say.

At art group, several members were absent and I had a whole long stretch of tables to myself, while the others sat in twos over the other side of the room. “I will have to change my deodorant”, I said.

Past

At home, I have bought a new smart phone. It is the same size as my previous one but does so much more. My old one was less than six years old, but was only good for phone calls, texts and taking tiny photos the size of the postage stamp. On holiday recently, a smartphone would have been useful, for the apps. Apps are short for “applications” – a tiny computer programme. There are many different ones and they can be used for things like, creating documents or downloading newspapers or music – even astronomy – such as following the International Space Station as it crossed the sky earlier this year. I would recommend the BBC programme “Click” if you want to know more.

Present

This new phone will have access to all the Android apps, both free and paid for. It will take good photos, and I can use it for e-mails and surfing the web, to an extent. I can update my blogs with it too, in a basic way, so I don’t have to miss a week if I am away on holiday. I’m moving the phone number from the old one to the new, and then I can start on my new mobile adventure. Here’s to the future. I am getting there.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-05T03:25:00.000-07:00

Display items ready to go

Part of the display

On Saturday, instead of going to art group, I put on a display of members' work at the local church (St John's) in Clowne.

Tenby Project begins

2011-09-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

I have nearly finished my Canadian picture now. I just need to add some grass, trees and bushes to the left hand corner, and the water and reflections need more work.

Several of the group have given me paintings to show at the forthcoming open day at St John’s church this Saturday, 1^st October. I will also take some leaflets along for anyone interested in joining or finding out more about the group, and publicise the website and this blog and the cat one too. If any readers want to meet me in person, I will be on the cake stall that day. I wonder if anyone will approach me after reading this. I have made some carrot and orange muffins, which were very popular at the art group’s Easter exhibition, and frozen them (they freeze well).

Carew Castle - Sue and Maggie's chosen subject

At art group, Maggie and Sue had begun the Tenby project, both painting Carew Castle from the road side looking towards the tidal mill. Maggie has given the sky her classic "dark and moody" treatment, reminiscent of her Cley Windmill style. I have also sent the photos to Jim and Hayden, our newest members, and will be interested to see which of the group try painting Tenby – it’s a very photogenic place. I suspect Sue or Maggie might even try more than one painting on a Tenby theme, as they both work very quickly.

Rockies and Roses

2011-09-20T05:59:00.000-07:00

I am continuing to progress with my Canadian Rockies picture. I’ve added definition to the trees in front of the mountain, but it needs more so I will add some other shades of green to them too. The reflection in the river looks a bit challenging but, luckily, I like a challenge.

At art group, Kevin was working on the third meerkat in a meerkat triptych. John continued with his latest dog chalk pastel picture (with velvety looking fur), and Maggie had completed her gold leaf tipped geraniums by adding a shallow stream of water in the foreground. Some of our group are putting a few paintings on display at the St John’s church open day in Clowne on 1^st October. The paintings will mostly be sold in aid of the church, and it is also an opportunity to publicise the group to new members.

This week, I am featuring a local business, “Celtic Rose”, which is based in Chesterfield and sells needlework materials including complete kits and charts (which can be bought as downloads or e-mailed to the recipient). I happened to be on a course at the same time as the owner, who then tracked me down and asked to put some of my designs on her website to sell as charts. Two of my pictures have been made into kits, hence the mention. I was very pleased to see my designs on the website, and it made me feel proud that someone liked them enough to make use of them. Here’s hoping people will buy them, and here’s the link anyway: http://celticroseneedlecraft.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&category_id=817&Itemid=27

Also worthy of a mention is Chloe Adlington (elder sister of Olympic gold medallist, Rebecca). Chloe is from Mansfield, Notts, and her blog is about weddings and is called “Adore by Chloe”. She is a former business development manager turned wedding stylist. This gives her the opportunity to use her creative side, which she enjoys so much. According to the Chad (the local Mansfield newspaper), she has worked very hard to build up a following of 14,000 readers per month to her blog, spending 10 hours a day at the computer. For any readers getting married, or even if you aren’t, it is a beautiful looking and informative blog, and she updates it at least once a week. At the moment, she has been shortlisted in a competition run by Cosmo magazine and needs votes, so I am off to vote for her. http://www.adorebychloe.co.uk/adoreblog/

A bit "Woolworthsy"

2011-09-13T06:49:00.000-07:00

Back at art group this week, Barbara, who is married to Kevin, was back from her travels and voluntary work, and it was good to see her again after quite a long absence. She was working on a painting of the Lake District, while Kevin himself was painting another meerkat, to complete the triptych he’d started some time ago. Maggie was putting the finishing touches to her geranium with gold leaf.

I have continued to work on my Canadian Rockies painting, this time, adding more detail to the mountains and some background colour for the trees in front. The photo I am using is rather bright, and the painting itself was beginning to remind me of the sort of thing you used to see in Woolworths years ago. Readers of a certain age will remember the “child with teardrops”, but sometimes there were also landscapes too, in Woolworths (or that type of shop). I have therefore had to tone the colours down.

The interior of Fairytale Bridals - the proprietor is organising a charity wedding fair on 2nd October
Note the artistic window dressing, especially the windowsills

This week, I would also like to give a mention to a forthcoming charity event at Clowne. It is a wedding fair, and I am told by the organiser that it would also be of interest to anyone organising a party or other event. It is in aid of “Elastic FM” a new community radio station for the area, being set up jointly by Clowne Enterprise and the Heritage school. It is on 2^nd October at 11.00-4.00 at Clowne Community Centre. There will be free face painting, and a prom dress is being raffled. Also Elastic have a page on Face Book, for which they would like some “likes” at and at the moment you can win a Dell tablet just by doing that (UK readers only). Their page is at: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Elastic-FM/283236495023764

More news next week.