Tag: #watercolor

#1535 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, Plymouth Sound, StonehouseLeave a comment

Funny things can spark a creative patch. For me it can be a deadline, a creative itch, or a commission, but this month I am aware that my creativity is directly linked to an ‘artistic difference’

I have been mulling over my comments and the comments of others.  I am in the happy place of being content in agreeing to disagree. Now, my happy place thinking may affect decisions I make about which arts organisations I join in the future, but it may not.

But for now I am glad my painting mojo has returned with some lovely energy.

These two people on the beach are not having an argument. They are inspired by the many memorial benches I pass on my daily dog walks. The combination of names on benches who have enjoyed overlooking Plymouth Sound are  not always traditional couples,sometimes they are friends, neighbours  or colleagues. Names however come and go in fashion. Some pairings may never be popular again. Were my parents to have had a memorial bench it would be dedicated to Joy and Keith. One set of grandparents would be Gladys and Leonard. Or in a different marriage Gladys and Reginald. Not pairings I expect ever to be fashionable again.

This couple sit, overlooking an unchanging seascape. I sat them on wooden deckchairs to enhance the timelessness of the scene. The figures are androgynous and could be any two people of any gender or age or race. Most importantly they could be Edith and Herbert, Sharon and Tracy or Amir and Tulip.  Just two people enjoying the view any time since 1886 when the deck chair was first patented

I needed a bit of space to add the quote. So the painting needed a good gap where not much was happening.

The artistic difference was based on a statement that ‘real artists’ don’t use digital manipulation tools that could be considered to be on the slippery slope towards AI .

As part of my creative process I use digital manipulation on occasions, but also get painty and dirty just like any other real artist.

Here my initial sketch and the subsequent watercolour have been digitally combined.

Firestone Bay at Low Tide © theoldmortuary

Later on I may work into the watercolour with pen and ink to get a similar appearance. 

I do rather love the effect a minor disagreement has had on my creative thinking and more than happy to agree to disagree with’real’ artists. Real or not I have been hard at it today.

Detail of the finished piece. I am undecided about my ultimate presentation. As above with lots of space in landscape format or tighter cropped in Portrait.

#1504 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, France, SerendipityLeave a comment

There was never a plan to paint yesterday.

#1503 theoldmortuary ponders

Tennis Club admin, rat eradication and emails were my target for the day.

Pest control took a little longer than planned and a Summer rain storm soaked me through. For reasons that I can’t quite put a finger on I decided that a rain storm was exactly the moment to paint a sea pool in a heatwave.

I am physically painting a lot less this year, and yesterday was an absolute joy. This painting is a mixture of traditional water colour and water colour pencils.

Water colour pencils are my quick/ holiday/travel medium of choice. A pencil case and a sketch book take virtually no space in a bag and water is always easy to find.

The other travel tool is my smart phone. Digital manipulation  can sometimes rescue a failing painting. The Sea Pool at Conleau did not need rescuing but I did have a little half hour of tweaking.

To be honest I dont think these digitally tweaked images have a huge amount of value. They give me the slight AI ‘ick’. But looking at them gave me some ideas on how to improve my painting. They offer a different perspective. Just one digital manipulation pleases me.

A much simpler less vivid image. Not at all Conleau in a heatwave. But certainly a nod to the 1930’s history of the emergence of Conleau as a tourist destination.

Digital dabbling is a great learning experience and I can do it on my phone whenever there are a few spare minutes in a day

But nothing beats creating art using my hands and art materials. Who could possibly pass up sharpening pencils. Such a satisfying task.

#1272 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art1 Comment

I can never be sure where a book will take me and this one is no different. But the project for today is unexpected.

Drum roll…

Turner did not use white paper or canvas, his whites are created by white paint. Which I am slightly averse to. True Whites in my paintings are usually gaps in the paint. Today I will be soaking paper in cold tea and drying it in the sun, for a more random 250 year old look.

These slightly mad little experiments are unlikely to make it into the public domain, even at a Turner inspired exhibition, but the way colours react in different circumstances is fascinating to me.

But none of this is where this book has taken me in the last few days.

While I was busy doing a job not involving art. I was on a parallel and self guided path of art appreciation and dabbling with watercolour. Until I decided to give art a more academic and educational  space in my life by committing to many years of part-time study doing a Foundation Degree and then a Fine Art degree. While still studying the essential science stuff for my career.

Without much research I started the journey towards a degree in Fine Art, imagining that I could immerse myself in the world of artists from Turner to the Impressionists. Not to be. Without due diligence I had signed up for a Contemporary Fine Art Degree. One of life’s awkward moments, regrettable at the time, but the fees had been paid. Turner and the Impressionists slipped from view, pushed out by Rothko and Grayson Perry and many late 20th and 21st Century artists*.

*This was the best learning experience ever, so glad I made this error.Contemporary Art really stretches thinking, and thinking makes for great pondering.

This last couple of months has been the first time I have been truly back with the older generation of artists for 20 years.

The things I did not know about Turner are manifest. In the last few weeks it has been easy to find Turner locations on the Devon/ Cornwall  border. But unknown to me my London life was very Turner centric. The number 3 bus from Crystal Palace to Oxford Street is like a Turner Experience. If only I had known when it was my daily commute.

I took this quite a few years ago because life was mimicking art.

©Pedro Poyatos

https://www.saatchiart.com/poyatos?srsltid=AfmBOoqlBPpGody31sBnGfvkHpSZvIQoErt2Gd3VhHHeUw74brUQqcj2

Which brings me to a brand new-to-me artist.

Books really do take me on extraordinary journeys.

A ponder for another day, Turner and my daily commute. For now though I am tinting paper with Tea Bags…

#1118 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn abstract photographyLeave a comment

Colour is my thing. Sometimes when I frame a picture the snippets from the chopped off edges are so jewel-like and precious that I can’t bear to throw them out.  We are in the midst of a slow, deep tidy and reorganise of the studio space that trebbles up as a snug/play room and exercise area. A practical person would throw these inconsequential bits of scrap into a bin. And I may still do so but two of the strips had the words Hearts and Minds typed on them. The typed strips ran in two directions which made me think about warp and weft and set me off weaving paper for absolutely no reason.

The first weave, above,  was entirely random. But the second gave the words more prominence.

Typing and watercolour work well together. The watercolours are easily accessible in the new storage but the typewriter is put away until we get some more storage. But maybe weaving words and colours could be a new project. But will I be diligent enough to throw the scraps in the bin?

Who knows where this will take me?

#827 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Art for sale, Plymouth Sound1 Comment

I am a mucky watercolour painter. I am also a procrastinator, so sometimes I see disaster as a lovely excuse for a tidy-up.  Yesterday afternoon I discovered something messy had occurred in my watercolour storage box. Despite needing to get on with a painting I set about resolving my disaster. Meanwhile, outside, my home city of Plymouth was dealing with a much more serious potential disaster.

BBC News – Plymouth WW2 bomb found in a garden, detonated at sea. Read link below.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-68385962

Not an everyday driving job. ©Cyberheritage

The outdoor potential disaster had given me a few daylight hours to start a new painting. All waterfront areas were closed to the public, and many local roads. No trains, busses or ferries. The perfect excuse.

Paints all tidied up. My models were arranged.

And I began the painstaking task of painting and printing a cup of mint tea resting on a bistro table, standing on a tiled floor.

I think there is a delicious irony in painting a cup of calming mint tea; while not 500 yards from my home a bomb weighing over 1,000 pounds or 500kg is being towed out to sea.

Daylight failed me, eventually and I have not managed to finish. Just the dregs of the tea have been painted into the cup. Two disasters resolved successfully.

One day later and the job is done.

#553 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, SerendipityLeave a comment

I am a mucky painter. The only time my studio desk is tidy is when I am a procrastinating painter. Yesterday’s victory over the admin for entering an exhibition gave me time to do all sorts of life admin and a spare hour, to start another painting. The chance, I realise to talk about light quality.

Late afternoon light.

Thankfully this is proper paper so the blotting paper battles of the last couple of days are over. I rarely paint at night but I wanted to get a push on this one. The next picture demonstrates why I need to get a daylight bulb.

Artificial light, no natural light.

My studio faces west but our back yard is painted a brilliant white. So early morning, reflected light extends natural daylight from early spring until October.

Early morning light.

And then finally, although this picture is far from finished the positive impact of a mount.

Sunset Storm WIP

I realise there is not so much pondering here so far,but the blotting paper debacle did, in a crisis, teach me that I can prep paper with Alcohol inks. I gave that a little whirl on this painting which is a doodle really. I over-did it but the marshmallow clouds are exactly what I was aiming for.

More scruffyness

#375 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn SerendipityLeave a comment

Today is another cupboard tidying day. Writing a daily blog can be a little like waiting for paint to dry, and between cupboard tidying there has been a little paint drying @theoldmortuary. I had rewarded myself with some new watercolours and inks following good artwork sales at a recent exhibition. One of my procrastination tactics is always to create a colour chart of new paints to the collection.

I have not actually bought 19 new colours. My order was lost in the post and the vendor very kindly added quite a few extra pans by way of an apology. Not colours I would have chosen but very lovely additions. The inks were a slightly different proposition. The trouble with artistic procrastination is the sincerity with which it is included in the creative process. I realised I did not have the correct dilution fluid for the inks but persisted with making a colourchart. Substituting gin to extend the flow of the ink.

Gin may make creativity flow, in moderation,but it does nothing for ink, in moderation or excess. Despite urgently needing to get down to some real art,my colour charts amply filled my available free time.

Procrastination 1- Creativity 0

Procrastination does not only apply to creativity, as I write, this largely non-essential blog, another cupboard lays empty. Stuff taken out, but not yet sorted into keep or charity shop piles. Blog and colour charts the enemies of productivity!

Procrastination 1- Domestic Admin O

#242 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn art, Colour Squares, StonehouseLeave a comment

Another locally sourced colour square has been created today. This one is a corroded corner of a closed corner shop.

As I traverse the local streets it is very obvious that the time of day and weather conditions really affect the tiny colour snapshots that I take with my camera phone. The old corner shop catches the sun beautifully in the morning. The corner shop is fondly held in the heart of this community. When we moved here it was on the downward turn and did not immediately grab our attention and then just like that it was closed and then, not so long after, floral tributes and messages of condolence appeared. Rather incongruously a large sun hat with the words ‘ On Cloud Nine’ appeared.

Not having been part of a community that loses a much loved character and very popular shop there is a sense of dislocation and puzzlement at what we may have missed. Anecdotally I am aware that we missed a much loved shopkeeper called Ann. Everyone says what a wonderful person she was and what a hub of the community the shop was. There was definitely a sense that something locally important had been lost. The hat as an act of remembrance puzzled me. On Cloud Nine usually denotes someone who is extremely happy. Perhaps the hat was reflecting the character of the departed shopkeeper. Cloud nine is actually a very specific type of cloud. The etymology of Cloud Nine makes nothing clear.

Etymology

The origin of sense 1 (“a state of bliss”) is uncertain; however, the following etymology has been suggested:

The first edition of the International Cloud Atlas (1896),[1] which defined ten types of cloud, described the ninth type as the cumulonimbus which rises to 10 km (6.2 miles), the highest a cloud can be.[2]
Compare cloud seven (“state of complete happiness or euphoria”),[3] which may have originated from confusion of cloud nine with seventh heaven.[2]

Sense 2 (“a state of fantastic or impractical dreaming or thinking”) may be due to a confusion between sense 1 and the phrase head in the clouds.

So, on this occasion, pondering has made me none the wiser. A sun hat embroidered with the words ‘ on cloud nine’ is a very unusual object to place as an act of remembrance on the steps of a closed corner shop. I suspect it will always remain a mystery to me, but I will ponder it often when I walk past.

#238 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Firestone Bay, Serendipity1 Comment

Finally, yesterday I was ready to ditch any form of wetsuit and just swim. Unencumbered by a lengthy dressing and undressing process. Summer has arrived in my swimming life. The day had been a collection of small domestic positives, admin and chores achieved and dog walks in the sun. One of my walks located some old friends, the white cows who normally sit on the green are having a rest and possibly a spruce up in one of the local secret gardens.

A small tin has also arrived. A reward to myself for selling a few pictures recently. The topics of the exhibitions I am entering later in the year need a more earthy feel than recent works, so I bought some earthy colour watercolours hand made from natural minerals in Pennsylvania just to start off my thinking process.

One of my evening swimming companions took a fabulous panoramic shot of Firestone Bay. The colours in my little tin would also work quite well if I attempted a sketch here one evening.