Silver

 

 

Went to Sunny Hunny yesterday, by way of celebrating 25 years of blissful marriage. Fish and chips, a stroll on the beach and then a look at local artist Shirley Carnt s' exhibition in Brancaster Staithe.

 



 

We found Bircham Mill, which is really delightfully quaint and makes delicious scones, but I remember camping there twenty+ years ago on a painting weekend. Can't believe how the trees have grown and it would seem they don't take campers anymore, but not a lot else has changed. 

 I used to paint watercolours then......what a neat little painting. Sorry the photo is wonky, the painting isn't!

 

Glorious day! 

Progress

 

Well, what's to say.........it will be a masterpiece..........or not!

Untitled (as yet) 16" x 20" Oil WIP

 

After a wipeout, when I placed the head too low on the board, I then got off to a good start, initially finding the overall shape.

 

I then went in again to find more definition. There is no discernable reason for opting to go the underpainting route, I got out brush and paint and started, not a lot of thought involved at all.

I know I want to make a good job of this, having obtained permission from  the owner of this fine profile, to paint it. L.W. Roth, of Out on a Limb fame, is also painting this portrait of herself. Thanks, Linda, the photo is magnificent.

Tiddling

 

 Today, I have been tidying these to submit to the Eastern Open Exhibition, which is the biggest local exhibition, with £2000 + prize money there for the taking!

 

 

WA - Collection

 

Back to the West Winch Art Club after the summer break, and oddly, the brief was very specific............Collection, please choose one of the following...buttons, mushrooms, nails and screws or liquorice allsorts! As you can see, I didn't do much painting and neither did anyone else. Lots of chatting and catching up to do.

Nude Too 12" x 14" Oil

 

 

 

I retrieved another life study from the rejects pile and played. I'm still on the limited palette, which is favourite, but I did cheat a bit and use two reds, transparent oxide and cadmium.

 

Nude 12" x 14" Oil WIP

 

Inspired by Terry Miura on his blog Studio Notes, I continued a life study I started in Hertford. Still too tight, and did she really have such a big head?! Or maybe her neck is way too thick?  I think I may be getting the hang of this!

 

 

For comparison!

Pam 16" x 20" Oil Salvage

 

En route to the scrap heap, I had a change of heart. I think this may turn out alright. Have to ditch the chalky white, though!

Heading for the finishing line........

 

 

Boatbird   20" x 16"  Oil

aka Annie 

 

 

 

 

Put Your Hat On   24" x 18"  Charcoal

 

 

Probably still not there with either of these.

Shetland Trout 16" x 20" Oil

Annie 20" x 16" Oil

 

 

I am so excited....I found a page on Facebook for my old school, Wellingborough High School For Girls, and there was a photograph of people I knew! This is Ann Carey, nee Hardwick, who was my best playmate at infant/junior school! To know how exciting this is, I shall tell you that when I first got a computer, 20+ years ago, the first thing I did was sign up to Friends Reunited and look for Ann, together with two other girls I was especially close to. To find her now is magic, we had a good chinwag, next thing ...meet up! Can't wait.

 

I have also friended (is that a word) other folk from my class back then and it is so fascinating to find out about their lives. Ann, it would seem, has been following me around the country, so not only shall we have schooldays to chat about, but also various locations that we both know! 40 years to catch up with!

Pam 16" x 20" Oil Progress

Pam 16" x 20" Oil the start

 

I did get back to the SP today and, with no clear idea of my intentions, ended up with mud, so very conveniently I 'forgot' to photograph it.

 

With paint already on my palette, which explains the weird colour, I began the next one, which will be my dear sister-in-law, Pam. I should really be preparing for an exhibition in a local shop at the end of the month, for which I have promised three paintings!

Wiped!

 I vowed that this blog would show my work, warts and all! I got in a mess with this I wanted to paint with thick juicy paint and not my usual, barely there, miserly scrapings. Well, I made mud! So I scraped it all off. But, wait, not such a disaster after all, we have a good base here.

 

So I got my fingers onto it and pushed the paint around, ready for another go tomorrow. ( wish I hadn't done that, actually.)

Shetland Trout 16" x 20" Oil

Shetland trout...no doubt! 16" x 20" Oil WIP

 

Initial block in of local colours and placement of shapes.

Low Water 16" x 16" Oil

 

Just covering an old painting and it started to look like low tide at Blakeney. I shall quite likely paint over it again tomorrow.

Stan - more progress

 

I only got an hour of painting today, and spent it fiddling with a small brush and tiny scrapeings of paint! Oh well...tomorrow the masterpiece.

Stan 20" x 16" Oil Progress

Tiddling ...again.

Tiddled this, but not finished as I've run out of fixative. I love working with charcoal, rubbing, scraping, scratching, layer upon layer, until I get the desired result.

So I blocked in the next project, a portrait of Stan, who happens to be the husband of the previous lady, Merle.  Not good....yet!

 



Put Your Hat On Sketches 24" x 18" Charcoal

Day Out 20" x 16" Oil

WA - Carry on from last week.

Sharon, after Sargents' Lady Agnew wip

Roy, after Sargents' The Earl of Dalhousie wip

 

I started to paint these to go in the dining room of my Victorian house....we have lived here for 4+ years! They don't quite fit a 1960 bungalow in the same way!

Anyway, I still want to finish them and made good headway today, with the likenesses. Me and my man when we were young...seems like yesterday.



Relative Thought 16" x 12" Graphite

WA - Summer Holiday

 

Brancaster Day Out   10" x 12"  Oil

 

I don't think we wore our Sunday best dresses to go to the seaside. I only remember the adult size, stretchy when wet, blue swimsuit I had. We would set up camp for the day right up under the cliffs, eat sand sandwiches, and NOT appreciate the beauty surrounding us. Now I now that Brancaster is awesome! 

JOHN Graphite In Progress

 

I had an urge to be neat and tidy, today. Several times I had to reign it in........but we shall see where this goes! This is...or will be.....my wonderful brother-in-law, a golf freak. 

Houghton Hall

 Today I went to Houghton Hall. They have put together an exhibition to show exactly how the house would have looked when it was built, from 1722, for Sir Robert Walpole  . Paintings have been borrowed back from the Hermitage Collection.

While I was exclaiming 'wow' at every painting, Roy was inspecting the doors, frames and furniture. And the floorboards.

I have a particular interest in Grinling Gibbons carving, and there was one piece on show in the rooms of the exhibition. His portrait above a fireplace had the most amazing decorative surround, an intricate wreath of flowers, bugs, etc. Too bad you couldn't really get close enough to appreciate it, and someone had gilded it!....bet Grinling is turning in his grave.

 Not allowed to take photos inside I found a few things of interest outside. The avenue stretching as far as the eye could see.

 The deer in the park.

 An idea for my own garden! Love sculpture.

 It was way too hot to seek  out all the sculptures, which was the plan, but this fascinated me. WATERFLAME  by  Jeppe Hein. How?

 

Loved it all! Do go, if you get the chance, there really is something for everyone.

Life! 16" x 20" Oil

WA - Wimbledon

 

What else! I remember deciding months ago, that I would only work in watercolours on Wednesday afternoons. That went out the window very quickly, with a difficult subject. I find watercolour difficult because you have to get into a completely different way of working or the painting very soon becomes mud! I have enjoyed toying with them again in the past two weeks but next week the subject is Summer Holiday....oils, I think!

 



Tiddling

I went to Hertford for the life drawing on Saturday and had a wonderful day, as usual. I was not happy with the days' work, however, so spent an hour today just doodling. Feel happier with these now. Go here to see how these looked this morning.