Enough room to swing a paintbrush

Its been a long time since I've looked at properties to buy, and over the years the basic requirements change. Having said that I'm a long way off looking for a retirement bungalow! Artists never retire, they just slow down a little. And I'm far from doing THAT!

So, having searched through the windows of estate agents in the area, and on the internet, I was able to decide on the first of two places that looked like they might hold some promise for me.

The first one was a pretty sounding cottage in a pleasant village a few miles north from where I live. I arrived with fresh anticipation and a feeling of excitement. But on viewing the outside of the property wasn't quite sure where the estate agents description of courtyard, outbuildings and garden started and ended. It turned out that the "outbuildings" were an outside lavy and the tinest garage I've ever seen - enough for a mini, maybe. Hardly the stone built artists studio that I had envisaged!!!!! It turned out the cottage was tiny too, and there was a weird set up with the garden that meant that the neighbours downstairs windows totally overlooked the cottage garden, so if I'd been sitting out there sunbathing, we'd have had nothing between us but a sheet of glass and a knowing look!

So, that was a no no.

On to the next one............

Also in a pleasant village a little south-west from where I live. I had high expectations of this one. It was a 1960s detached house in its own garden and it had a study which was bound to be useful for me. I arrived, and could see straight away that the owners weren't gardeners. No matter, I don't mind designing and creating my own artists garden, I've done it before and can do it again. So, into the house, Ooooooouuuww what's THAT SMELL....????  Try and overcome the smell that greeted me as I was shown the "study" which had an overpowering stench of something that seemed to have crapped in there a long time a go. Nevermind, on to the lounge, and it was there that I met the dogs. Ah, the reason for the smell maybe? The lounge was ok, the dining area was ok, the downstairs toilet was ok, the utility room was a mess, soap powder everywhere. The kitchen, usually the pride  and joy of any house was .......well..................foul. The outside door didn't open because of the junk piled up against it, the cupboards might just be ok if they were thoroughly scrubbed, twice, before I'd want to put anything in them. But the floor tiles would definitely need to be taken up and replaced as they were black with grime and undeterminable dirt (the dogs again?). Ok, on to the garden, overgrown with grass and a desolate elderberry tree in the corner, the main features being the enormous shed dropped randomly into the middle of it and the dog shit decorating it. MMm...... ok, what's upstairs? Three small bedrooms, one containing guinea pigs (more smells to add to the rest!)  and a bathroom that I wouldn't have been happy using until a whole bottle of bleach and every cleaning product I could find had been used on it over a three day period.

But none of this mattered. Not the fact that every carpet would have had to have been ripped up and replaced. Not the fact that every surface needed a damn good clean and paint. Not the fact that the kitchen AND bathroom would have had to have been ripped out and replaced. Not the fact that the garden was overgrown and neglected. No, it was the fact that there was no where to paint. No where except a tiny back bedroom. With a funny smell.

THAT was the reason I didn't want to buy it.

Now, WHAT WAS thaaaaaat smell.....................................??????

Tumbled down and put out to dry

The  art workshop I attended this month was for "cottages" in line and wash so since that is both a subject matter I like, and a medium I always enjoy using, even though I hadn't done it for a while, I was happy to go along and see how the day progressed...........

Line and wash is a lovely way of depicting a subject matter, especially landscapes, as the drawing and painting work beauifully in conjunction with each other, complimenting and enhancing. Some artists paint the landscape first, then put on the pen in a loose way, but this time the tutor explained that she draws out the image in a neat way, and uses that as the backbone to her painting, but not necessarily painting within the lines, because that makes it look like a "paint by numbers" image, which is not considered creative.

I liked the way she taught - it was of the "here's what I do, this is how I do it, this is what you can do,  now get on with it" type. Which meant that we weren't all sitting there watching her for two hours and then all having to do the same picture together which stops me being creative and "doing my own thing".

She'd also brought the source material with her, which helped greatly. There were  images of pink roses around windows, nah, not for me. Images of pretty Cotswold cottages in their primped finery, nah, too perfect. Welsh cottages nestling under pine trees, mmmm.... a bit more like it. Cornish fishermens huts at Prussia Cove - now that's more like it, but I've already painted those exact same cottages already, so what else is there? Ah..................this one, now THAT is exactly what I like - a broken down stone cottage with half the roof missing. Perfect! There was a dry stone wall infront of it, and a clutter of farmyard gate, an old wooden pallet leaning against the wall, all of which didn't enhance the picture, so I'll take those out, and just paint the rest. So that's what I did. I started drawing, and loved the image, the broken tiles sliding down the roof, the skeleton of roof timbers silhouetted against the sky, the mismatched chimneys, the creeper on the barn, and the darkened doorways. I was using some Saunders Waterford paper, as the tutor had recommended. I rarely use it as I find it too much like blotting paper, so had taken some that I already had stuck to a drawing board from the last workshop I'd attended that required it. It had been a year ago, but paper doesn't go off, does it?

Well, actually, yes it does, I found!

The minute I started applying the paint I knew something was wrong. The paint didn't flow, the paper was just sucking it up, and the whole image just looked amateurish, because the paint just sat there. Weird. I've never had that happen to me before - and after thinking about it and asking others at the workshop, the nearest I can think is that the paper had dried out. Ok, I've learnt that as a lesson, lets try it all again after lunch and count the first picture as a practice piece.

Armed with a new piece (of the same paper, but some I'd had stored in a bag in a cupboard rather than exposed to the dry air of my studio) I tried again. Redrew it all, and with baited breath, mixed my paint, and dipped my brush in to do the first wash. Fine. Absolutely fine. So it WAS the paper that was off. How strange.

And here it is, the picture I completed on the day. I'm really pleased with it - its got lots of light and dark, the shadows are part of the focal point, there's tone and texture, interest and chracter. I've shown it here in its entireity on the board, and haven't even got a title for it yet. I may cut it down for the mount and frame, and I may add a few more darks perhaps in the corners of the doorways. I'm not fully sure yet. Sometimes I have to leave a picture for a while and decide if it needs any more doing to it to improve on it.

I love this type of picture. Most people at the workshop did the pretty pink roses around the window, but not me. I much prefer the drama and contrasts in this subject. Its got loads more character!

Northern lights and frozen fingers

I feel refreshed. And hopefully, refreshing! :)

The reason? The weather, in part, and the stunning sights of North Yorkshire, the other part!

Bloody hell, its been windy this past week in Yorkshire. Windy enough to blow ALL the cobwebs away, for the seabirds to be flying backwards and for a short walk along the beach to be considered a daring feat that takes you 20 minutes to walk in one direction and five minutes to walk back, with the wind pushing you! It's been what I call a lazy wind - too lazy to go around you, it goes straight through!!!! Even with many layers, thick padded jacket, scarf and gloves!!!! But.... it was sunny too, so that was a real bonus, and meant that I could get some excellent photos. Because photos don't show the cold, just the scene.

I've been to Yorkshire before, but not the North Yorkshire coast, so was enthralled with the thought of going. Because, I know sooooooo many artists who have been to a certain part of it.... and stood in a certain place.... and taken photos of what they can see.............. and produced some stunning paintings of it........... and I wanted to go too!!!! I wanted to see what they had seen. And fulfil myself as an artist, so that the next time someone showed me a painting they had done of that place, I could nod and say "Yes, I've been there too!". And I think as an artist, that's important. I don't take holidays that entail lying on a beach gaining a suntan and reading a good book, I count my "holidays" as working breaks, going to places that I can learn some more to help me expand as an artist. Whether its to see artistic sights, or going to a place of learning with lots of good art galleries. And Yorkshire was no exception..............

Achingly beautiful countryside, very pretty in the early spring light, spring lambs frolicking around their mothers, short dull green grass, dry stone walls, bright yellow daffodils nodding gently in the breeze (or wind!) watery sunlight on bare bark, the branches of winter trees silhouetted against the deep blue of a clear sky, chocolate box stone cottages with finely manicured gardens, the purple of aubretia a blaze of colour against the walls, achingly beautiful village streams shining in the bright sunshine, as they flow continuously next to the main street, the hills rolling on, the barren moors awesome in their majestic beauty, the purple clouds high above, the heather a dead dull brown at this time of year, the gorse a blaze of yellow against the far hills, the deep valleys in shadow, and in the distance the blue of the sea stretching out to the horizon, as you draw closer and follow the rise and fall of the land, from cliff to perfectly flat sandy beach, rocks and rockpools of fossilised stone, and the sea full of white caps from the wind, the white foam pouring endlessly onto the beach, as the wind catches the ripples it makes and textures it in frantic pattern, and the golden sand whips along the flat beach in ghostly patterns of swirl as it rips past on its way to the sea................

You can tell, I was very taken with it!!!

But, every scene was one I could have painted. Endlessly! So many subjects to paint, so much to take in. And that's why I took a camera. To record it all. To capture the sights, so that I can capture the image at some point in a painting..... So many paintings I could paint.........

Here are a few of the views, so you can see what I'm talking about....

And the scene that all the artists I know have stood and seen? Its here.... in Staithes...... I had to climb up high to find it, but its all there, the quaint red tiled and blue slate roofs of the fishermen's cottages, the boats, the beck as it flows to the sea, the soaring cliffs and the bright blue sea in the distance, incredibly picturesque, isn't it? And thank goodness the sun was shining on it..... even if I did have to wear my thermals to get to see it!!!!! :)

Tidying up ready for the big one

I've been working on the pen and ink Christmas card design of the three kings this week, and fighting the urge to incorporate a naked woman among them, as per the suggestion I've had from a couple of irreverent and naughty friends!! Not that there's a deadline on it until the end of September, but it needs doing and I'd rather to do it and get it out of the way so that I can concentrate properly on the Fantasy Fannies/Pussy Portrait set of paintings that have been put on hold since last September. I really don't like having had to put them to one side, as they're really very important and special to me and I think they will be to the women in question who I'm painting in such an intimate way - I'm itching to get working on them, and am very excited at the prospect of doing them. But unfortunately, a lot of things have been stopping me getting on with them, but now the way is clear, and I can start work very soon! YAY!!

As well as that this week I've re-vamped another old painting - a third! (I'm on a roll!) and am again delighted at the end result that a bit more paint, and lots more knowledge, can revitalise a mediocre painting into a special one, worthy of hanging on a wall. This one is a vanilla painting of some old fishermen cottages at Prussia Cove in Cornwall that I originally did a number of years ago. Its along a quiet and secluded dusty track to the sea and the cottages were ideal to paint - really very picturesque with their old stone walls, rusty roofs and bright blue peeling paint! I went over the paintings with bright Windsor blue, and dramatic burnt sienna, and added a touch of violet to the shadows, as well as added detail and splatter to the mass of foliage in the foreground and the thatch of the first cottage roof. I also cut down the painting to a smaller size than the original, which makes it a more interesting and exciting composition. I'm really pleased with it now, even though its not a greatly exciting subject matter (for me!). Maybe it will be for someone else.

And this week I received the phone call I've been waiting for - the woman who had the dog portraits painted for her husbands birthday was delighted with them, and so was her husband, fortunately! She kindly rang me to give me the feedback of his reaction, which was all positive and good. She's also told all her friends about the paintings I've done, and sung my praises so maybe I'll get more commissions through her. At this rate, I'll be better advertising at Crufts rather than the erotica shows!!! Can you be an erotic artist AND be good at dogs? Don't answer that, I think I'm gonna regret asking that question!!!!! LOL