Affordable art

 'Horse Ball 1' for sale on Etsy

It's been a long time since I had any artworks for sale at roughly £25 ($39) - these are small sweeties,  4 inches squared, in 6 inch square bevel cut mounts.

TOPIARY 1  (SOLD)

  This topiary one is my personal favourite. Anything with a house in!

 

Wheelie Goose 1 (SOLD)

Although geese run a close second. The next week is going to be spent working on one of those 'proper jobs' which I'm not able to talk about yet. But which is very exciting! 

 

 Kitten 1  (SOLD)

Unicorn Nocturne

No time to sit quietly under the stars and think beautiful thoughts; things to do, felt to stab, paintings to finish, paintings to start, book-job to get on with. Thought for the day - needle felting - please don't anyone let the Government know how much fun it is and how addictive. They would either ban it or tax it.

Unicorn Nocturne £60.00 mounted, from Etsy

(four cats and bad needlefelting habit to support...)

Blue without you

At the risk of becoming boring...I started, so I'll finish. Wishy washy part 2.

Once the final background layers are dry and to my satisfaction, I pop a clear wash onto the body, leaving some areas clear. I was once told that I was 'lucky to be able to draw stuff what comes out of your head' (or words to that effect) but the fact is that without having had an art education, and done my fair share of tedious still lives, I wouldn't be able to depict the 'stuff in my head'. You have to know how light falls, how to make a body appear heavy and slumped, and you have to know it well enough to paint it when your subject not in front of you. In many ways, a still life would be easier. So the reason for leaving dry parts is because I want the paint areas to have different surfaces, even though the ear and the tail will be the same colour - to make the character more believable as an object.



I also use several sized brushes and when I am painting I will often have two in my hand, one for the wash work and a slighly smaller, finer pointed one for getting up to the edge - rather like chopsticks.




Here I've floated the body colour - a manganese/cobalt/indigo blue mix - into the clear wet, and am tipping it this way and that, adding more colour and making sure it dries evenly - and that the darker bits of paint are where I want them. I also want the light areas to match up to the lighter parts in the background - so that the light from the window really appears to fall into the room and over the elephant. Seems obvious when written down, but it is another little way of making the picture 'real' to the viewer.



The finished and dried result. I was really pleased with how the nicely granulated paint works on the body, it did all the work of defining the body. So for once I left it alone, and held off bumping it up with pencil work. On the back leg join you can see where a patch of indigo has separated from the main mix, which is why students are told not to mix colours. And is precisely why I do. Because I like the effect.



And from then on it is simply a matter of finishing off - a bit more painting, some coloured pencil work to define the shadows - the deepened indigo/black serves to visually 'push' the body even more to the foreground. I cut it off on or near the gummed tape...as this is how I sell them. It gives the buyer the freedom to have as little of the image or as much as they prefer, when it is finally mounted and framed. If I were framing this for exhibition I would leave as much as I could, to emphasise the empty, lonely feeling.



But as I am getting this made up into a card too, I have a trimmed size for my own use.

'Blue without You' - SOLD

And that's that - one painting. And a cracked cup.

Sophy higher than the Moon

Will she fall? Will the trapeze snap? How far is the floor? We can't see it. Is there a safety net? I don't know...life seems precarious sometimes.

'Sophy higher than the Moon' for sale at Etsy

Big wigs and hats

So, with a distinct lack of commercial work on and with the workhouse looming, I've taken off my sensible commercial hat and put my please-myself-indulgent-artist beret on. This one fits better. After a couple of years mainly doing other people's work, it's been odd getting back into my own little world, but once I'd dusted the shelves and aired the rooms, it was very nice to be home.

I find increasingly that sitting at the studio table doesn't do it for me as far as inspiration goes. Like many creatives I tend to get the best images as I'm drifting off to sleep or half dozing in the small hours which is bad news if I can't struggle awake to scribble a few notes. (Like, most of the time...). Now I have given up making myself sweat at the desk for hours and if it's not happening I take myself off with sketchbook in hand and go for a wander. I have a sweet little new Moleskine - like kittens, you can never have too many - and it has concertina pages. I love this: it's like a frieze, and in at the end will be a continuous sheaf of primary sketches. It was a present from Maya, so it was almost like taking her with me when I took it to the woods the other days and sat on a little bench under the birch trees. And look who emerged from the end of my pencil...

I seem to be having a Thing about 18th century wigs...they turned up in two of my latest paper cuts...

So, back to painting - for all those who have asked me about when I have anything for sale, I am now back in the driving seat and producing work to sell. The little Moleskine sketch was worked up and has now been sold through my Etsy shop. It's a bit larger than A4 in size, and sold without mount or frame (I figure people have their own ideas about how they like stuff presented on their walls). I am very taken with her boudoir wallpaper, and if I could have this in our bedroom I would. It's called 'The Invitation' and as usual, I'm sure there's a story in there, but it's for someone else to find. Oh yes, and it comes with a few free Red Flannel Elephant cards too. Bit like a Happy Meal but without the plastic toy.

'The Invitation' - SOLD

I cannot tell you how it is good to let my imagination go again - I somehow feel - more me. If that makes any sense.