#402 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, TravelsLeave a comment
River Liffey in Dublin looking towards Temple Bar.

I suppose the picture above would be fairly typical of a night scene in Dublin. We only visited the infamous Temple Bar once, always preferring less busy options. This was the view from our airbnb. The illuminated Viking ship was quite a draw for ultra late night shenanigans. Friday night was packed with working people celebrating the weekend to the max they were only chased away at dawn by road sweeping vehicles and street cleaners. Saturday night bustled with jubilant Irish rugby supporters celebrating a win over Australia, trumpeters at 4 in the morning was both jubilant and joyful, curiously melodic when leading happy chanting. Sunday night was calm. Every daybreak marked by the sound of road sweepers making the city pristine.

All this is a bit of waffle to make our night tours of back streets more interesting. Dublin has so many historic back streets, untouched by redevelopment that it is like walking in a city 300 years ago. The streets felt safe but there was a recurring theme that I felt compelled to sketch from memory.

Nearly all back streets held the same night time characters. Chefs on their phones, taking a break from cooking with a cigarette and a sit down. An inebriated man taking a piss in a pool of light. I decided to do my first sketch with Charcoal, a messy few hours later. I had the beginning of something that had the flavour of all the back streets we visited. I just need to find a way of getting more colour in.

The chefs face needs to be blue and the peeing man needs to look more drunk and there should be some essence of coloured lights just reflected on the brick work. A project for next week.

#401 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Street Art1 Comment
Stickers add to the palimpsest of Street Art

After two days of Tamar Valley art @theoldmortuary is going to double- back to Dublin for a quick whizz through some street art. Dublin being Dublin there is also some great wordage included. Starting with the Love Wall on Love Lane.

Check out more work from Anna Doran below.

http://www.annadoranart.com/

There was not exactly a plan A or plan B for our trip to Dublin. There was one fixed item on our itinerary but the rest was left to chance and the weather. As things turned out the weather was perfect for just wandering the streets. Our wanderings for Saturday and Sunday were about 20,000 steps each day divided into two sessions, longer daytime adventures and then after a rest an after dark trip out.

Sometimes the quest for good coffee and baked goods brought us an unexpected extra of street art.

Alongside great coffee, cardamom buns, fuel for more walking and a sticker pole.

https://www.properordercoffeeco.com/

Other street art was more commercial and directive.

But street artists also get in on the act.

We found a lot of work by Oriel.

Too much lovely street art to share it all here but this James Joyce quote on Harman Street sums up our two day visit.

http://www.signsofpower.com/info

#400 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Drawn to the Valley, Drawn To The Valley ArtistsLeave a comment

Finding Joy in Gunnislake.

Finding Joy in print.

Joy is a friend and model for the artist and printmaker,Annette Wrathmell. Annette was doing a lino print workshop at Face Value the current Drawn to the Valley exhibition at Gunnislake in the Tamar Valley.

Joy was the subject matter for the print demo but she also appeared in an oil painting by the same artist.

Annette started the demo by showing her early sketches from which the link cut was created.

Annette explained how she creates light and shade with her specialist cutting tools.

What really thrilled me was the accuracy with which Annette carved into her lino. I superimposed one of her prints on a head shot that I took of Joy at the demonstration. The fit was almost perfect.

As luck would have it Joy was wearing the same earrings, which enabled me to register. the two images easily. It was a small jump to add some digital magic to this image.

Annette is a very charismatic printer who shares her knowledge easily. Her audience were inspired to get on creating Lino prints for themselves. That seems like a morning well spent. I have shared her artists profile below and a link to her website.

Annette Wrathmell

Mixed-media, Oils & Acrylics, Pen & Ink, Pencil & Charcoal, Printmaking

I left the world of science to embark on a Fine Art Degree and found my home in printmaking. A world with endless possibilities and not unlike science open to experimentation. Etchings and the more painterly carborundum prints led by natural progression to painting and I now use both in response to the many subjects which inspire me.
A keen walker, I love the landscapes which surround me, the Cornish coast, Dartmoor and the trees and forests in the Tamar Valley. I have also spent many summers in Greece and wherever I am always carry a sketchbook and a camera. Many of the sketches are of people and consequently another interest is portraiture. However life is full of interesting sights and ideas and it’s wonderful to be able to explore anything that comes my way to incorporate into a painting or a print.
I am a member of Drawn to the Valley artists’ collective and take part in most of their exhibitions and annual Open Studios.

Annette Wrathmell

#399 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Drawn To The Valley Artists, SerendipityLeave a comment
©Annette Wrathmell

It was a flat-cap kind of day at an exhibition in Gunnislake today, and not because of this excellent print by Annette Wrathmell.

Mark Fielding was giving a portrait sketch demonstration and his sitter was Andy Spry.

Andy is a daffodil grower with over 300 varieties of daffodils nurtured in his fields. Mark is a member of Drawn to the Valley and a well known portraitist. I was keen to watch Mark at work but my attention was caught, not so much by the sketching, as by the easy conversation between the two. How often, if ever, do you get the chance to watch the natural ebb and flow of a conversation between two people who have not previously met. I had thought I was there to witness one thing but became absorbed by something else altogether. The conversation between the sitter and artist was fascinating, sweeping from Daffodil varieties to the legacy of local artist Robert Lenkiewcz. Mark Fielding, was once his pupil. On the way the conversation touched on the hands of working men.

Andy talked about the wisdom of generations of flower farmers.Mark shared some of the wisdom of Lenkiewicz.

The tone of the tone.

The colour of the colour.

The shape of the shape.

It was a flat cap kind of day.

#398 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn TravelsLeave a comment

Sunday in Dublin found us going unashamedly touristy a trip to the Guinness Storehouse Experience followed by Dublinia a museum dedicated to Viking Invasion and Medaeval Dublin. There was, perhaps, some over-optimism in achieving anything after a trip to the Guinness Brewery.

Local street art suggests the slight unfocussed effects that might occur after drinking a Guinness.

Not to be outdone by street artists I took a suitably unfocused photograph of one of the pony and trap taxis that are on hand to spirit well imbibed visitors back to the city centre.

The Guinness experience will get it’s own blog in the fullness of time.

The Viking experience was somewhat overshadowed by our slightly enhanced sense of humour, maybe the fault of a perfectly poured Guinness direct from source.

The exhibition was billed as immersive with sound and smells of the period. There were no discernable smells unless damp tourist exactly matches Viking fragrance. The only sound beyond the chatter of damp tourists was a regular quiet groan. The exhibition was hugely interesting, perhaps a little dated but we learned a lot. The groaning grew louder with no obvious source until we discovered a Viking taking a dump and preparing to wipe his bottom with lichen. Either lichen is the very devil on tender parts or the Viking diet was not conducive to smooth elimination. Either way we were very amused by it.

#396 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Travels1 Comment

First steps in Dublin lead us to an Irish/Italian Cafe Bar serving homely food in cosy surroundings. Two bottles of Jameson* later we tuck into food that smells and tastes like our mothers made it.It being Friday night our habitual back street wander took us into cobbled streets alive with the sounds of boisterous fun being had just out of sight. A few men leaned on walls for support as they splashily dampened their boots with misdirected urine. Dublin is new to us, but not. Dublin feels like a mythical, hidden suburb of New York or Chicago. A concentrated, vivid place full of young people. Two of them stopped us in the street to take a selfie, perhaps thrilled that people over 40 had joined them in their night-time place. Too soon our travel weary knees called us away to a sofa and curative cups of tea. As we slept the night noises of Temple Bar kept going until they were chased away by the dawn chorus and road sweepers. Tweaking Dublin back to perfection after a bachanalian night just beyond our windows .

* Jameson bottles used as water carafes @theoldmortuary would barely function after two glasses.

#395 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Serendipity, Travels1 Comment
Starfield Library, Seoul.

We are off on an adventure to Dublin. A trip, to possibly the most beautiful library in the world. We have been to some fabulous libraries and bookshops so the bar is already set quite high. The serendipity of the picture above could not be allowed to pass. The picture of a gentleman, not reading his book was in a temple. The same day I found this contemporary man, not reading his book in the Starfield Library, Seoul. I will let you know how the comparison goes.

Star field Library, Seoul

#394 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Art for saleLeave a comment

A busy day in the beautiful Tamar Valley helping to set up an art exhibition has given me no free time for a blog today. There have been some amazing pieces of art delivered, and I will share some stories from there next week once the curators have worked their magic.But one picture caught my eye today. When I moan on about greige weather I should remember that not all greige is dull and tedious. Sometimes it is as beautiful as this painting.

Late evening Dartmoor by Paul Kemp

#393 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Art for sale, SerendipityLeave a comment

Art Exhibitions don’t always play to my strengths. Face Value which starts on Friday, naturally calls to Portrait painters. I love painting portraits, I just don’t do it very often. This is the only true portrait I have submitted. ‘Fred’ is a fondly remembered school friend. He is a singer and can sometimes be found performing in Neds in The Hague.

HOME

For the rest of my submissions I took myself off in a wordy direction. The border lands between Devon and Cornwall are home to some of Britains few remaining areas of Atlantic Rain Forest, quite a stretch of ‘Face Value’ but I painted a portrait of the forest floor in October.

The third submission is faceless and undervalued. The Tamer Valley is famed for its important role in the Industrial Revolution. Mines from this area exported minerals all over the world. The mines and the miners who worked them are celebrated all over the Tamar Valley.

Rarely mentioned are the women who worked in the Mining Industry. Bal Maidens we’re consider to be low skilled, manual workers. In this painting I have designed a commemorative Stained glass Window to honour the women who played an essential role and rarely get a mention.

And finally a tongue-in-cheek image. Landscape with Coffee stains. Mugs of tea and coffee are a regular sight in the studio. There is nothing more irritating than putting a mug down on expensive paper. Today I just thought a bit laterally, saving face and getting good value.