The end of the Royal and the beginning of a new one

Now I've finished the oil painting of the Royal Crescent at Bath I can get on with something that is long over due.... something as important as painting, and exhibiting, and promoting myself as an artist...

And that's updating my website. Its been long over due whilst I sort out my life and get sorted in my new home. I've been in discussions with my webmaster and he and I are in agreement of the best way forward for it. But it probably means finding a new template for my new website. He showed me one last night that seems to be ideal, although until its all set up and running I can't fully tell. But, it is only the basis of the website, and I can personalise it as much as I want or need. But I also know from past experience that it also takes a lot of time and effort to get it up and running. That's ok, I don't mind that, as its my advert for the world and to the world. And if it makes the art more accessible, and attractive, and sells more of it, then that's got to be a good thing, surely. I've not put my prices up in three years, but they will be going up in the very near future...... so, before that happens, and before I update my website, please take a good look at it, and if there is anything that catches your eye that you want to purchase, let me know as soon as possible!  www.jackieadshead.co.uk



Earlier this week I had an unexpected surprise in that the people I bought the house from called in to see me. I knew he was calling in to pick up something from me that he needed urgently, which had been delivered to this his old address as modern technology doesn't allow for some address changes to happen quickly for some daft administrative reason known only to them, but I hadn't expected both of them to come, and was delighted to see them, and delighted that they wanted to both come and see me. I welcomed them in with a hug, and a kiss, and over cups of tea and coffee, showed them my artwork hanging on the walls, and the new painting I've finished recently, and finally got to be hanging vertically on the wall whilst it dries. They admired my taste in art, and we talked of many things. It was good to show my new house (their old one!) to them, and to show what I've done so far. Still a lot more to do, but it'll get done in time.

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I watched the Royal Wedding this morning and loved the pomp and ceremony of it, the sense of history that England is so good at. It made me smile, and feel proud to be English, and to celebrate the start of the marriage of Prince William to Catherine Middleton. I was very taken by her poise, her elegant looks, her relaxed demeanour, but her sense of duty for her acceptance into the Royal family, and being married to a future King. But, most of all, as I sat and watched her, I wanted to draw her, and put all of it into a painting of her. She is truly beautiful.

April light, saints alive and time travel

It's been a strange weekend.

It started when the Vikings came to town.

They seemed a nice bunch of lads the night before when they'd been supping ale with the locals and dancing on the village green. They'd brought their own tents so it wasn't far for them to stagger afterwards, so that they'd be ready for the big fight on Sunday. They might have been a motley bunch, but they were dedicated to their craft, and put on a good show and since it was Easter Sunday, they did their own version of arising from the dead without any discernible wounds to show. St George was there as well, along with his trusty steed - except it was a she, not a he - St George that is, which was a little odd, but no one seemed to mind much. The dragon turned up as well, I'm not sure what sex that was,  but I must say, that after watching enough sword and sorcery movies over the years, I was expecting something, a little more, well, scary, really. Something with real teeth, and claws. Or at least some smoke. And not a painted cardboard box head, and a green blanket for a body, and the legs of two guys underneath, in shorts. But still, it was good for the village, and fun for the kids, and everyone seemed to turn out, so a good community spirit for the big weekend combining Easter and St Georges Day.

I was happy to have the weekend off from painting. Well, actually it became a good DIY weekend, and some long awaited jobs got done around the house, which will make my life easier in the long run, and I'm all for that.

So, that left today. A bank holiday, and nothing planned. No friends to see, no day out planned. And certainly not taking the car anywhere near the sea since the roads are always gridlocked on days like this. But the sun shining brightly as it has done for the last three weeks, and the day beckoning me out.....

I needed a walk. Somewhere without bank holiday crowds, or the need for a vehicle.

I left the house with camera in hand, just in tee shirt, jeans and walking boots, and headed out of the village, into the late afternoon sunshine, following a route I've done many times since I moved here. Along past the old cottages, past other houses large and small, and up along the side of the road out and up the hill, and it was at that point that I veered off to the left up a footpath, new for me, following it until it crossed another, and then became a bridle path, and then came to another. I turned right, up the hill, and stopped at the side of a blue bell wood, the flowers full and delicately scented in the warm April air, the light low through the trees casting diagonal shadows through the long grass.  After a moments pause, to admire the interplay of light, I carried on along the wide dusty path, seeing a small cottage in the valley below me, and coming to a jumble of an ancient farm ahead, the path veering off again to the right, and across a small field, and over a stile, and diagonal over the next meadow to the hedge, and then I could see where I was headed as I recognised the familiar road again. Too soon to head home yet though, and I turned right along a bumpy track and dissected the path I'd followed about forty minutes earlier and this time went down the hill, along the dusty track towards the edge of the large bluebell wood. I didn't want to enter it, as I shall save it for another day in the near future. I wanted to see where the track was leading me, it went on, beckoning me at each turn, drawing me on, the sunlight on the ground interspersed with shadows from the trees and hedges at the side of the pathway. It was wide enough for me to walk easily, and I carried on, and on, taking photos as I went, of the trees, and the light, and the bluebells. There were many other interesting paths off on either side, and I will happily investigate them on future walks. But today, was about this dusty walkway, and where it went....

Onwards, into the sun..... the time gently wore on..... the countryside lush and green on either side...

And as I turned a bend, I came across one of the things that I had least expected. If I'd expected anything...

Bison.

What the f....... ! Er, what are yooooou doing here.......?

The bison just looked back at me, with the blank stare of being used to being there, and not as perturbed at seeing me, as I was of seeing them. I stood for a while, since I don't recall seeing them in the flesh before, and then I carried on with a smile, aware that the next field was full of deer, and amazingly the one after that was full of lamas. Where on earth have I walked toooooooooooo?! I know it was a long walk, and a long track, but still, not as far as the Americas, surely!? LOL

I had to turn back at that stage, unfortunately, and leave that question for another day. It was getting late, and I noted the time and headed back the way I'd come, taking loads more photos as I went, in raptures over the low light, and the sunlight back lighting the leaves through the trees. Wow! I want to paint all of them, I am sooooooo inspired to paint everything I see.......!!!!!!

The magic of the weekend wasn't the dragon, or St George being a woman, or the fighting vikings coming back from the dead, or even finding bison where you least expect them in the middle of the English countryside.

No, the magic, for me, was the light, low and bright, through the leaves on the trees....casting its magic for an artist to see!

Royal Crescent at Bath - past present and future

When I was first asked by David and Martyn to paint a large picture for them, I was more than happy to accept. I would far rather do commissions than exhibition work, because then the client gets exactly what they want, and I tailor the painting to fit their needs. and I do this by listening to what the client wants. Sometimes its a short request, sometimes it's a longer one.

The brief was to depict them both walking infront of the Royal Crescent at Bath, on a windy Autumnal day, their three dogs with them, and the parents of one of them off to one side accompanied with their dog, and the sisters and their husbands of the other standing some way back in the background. As well as that, there would be the brother of one of them and the mother of the other, both up in the clouds to show that they are no longer with us, but are close in heart, mind, and soul. The colours of the painting were to match the particular colour scheme of their sitting room, and preferably weren't to have much green or blue in it, which made it somewhat interesting, as half of it is sky, and a good third of it is grass! As well as that they wanted the painting to be dramatic, and not be lost against the strongly patterned wallpaper of their lovely period house. It was to be in oils, and show movement as the wind picks up the leaves and blows them across the grass. And there were to be eyes in the trucks of the trees, showing happiness.

Ok, all of that is possible.

It helped greatly that they sent me a large selection of photos to work from - of themselves individually walking infront of the Royal Crescent at Bath, and of their dogs, and the other people in the painting. They also kindly sent me some pictures of the room where the painting is to hang, so that I could bear that in mind for the positioning of the colours and edges of the painting. Its on a block canvas which is 3 inches deep, so it will stand nicely against the patterned wallpaper and not be lost against it. I was to be working with browns, creams, plums, purples, reds, silver, white, and black.

So, I knew who I was painting. I knew the setting where I was painting them. I knew the palette of colours I was working to. I knew the size of the painting (31 x 47 inches) and that it would be in oils.

But, to start with I wasn't sure how I was going to show the wind.

And then, it dawned on me. I would paint the wind as an entity all of its own. In silver, since that was one of the colours requested.  The wind would start high up on the right hand side of the painting, and swirl around and across the painting, swirling around the people in the foreground, depicting love from the beloved people in the sky, and movement of the wind as it swirled the leaves in the picture as well.

I started with a simple pencil drawing, and that went on to another pencil drawing which is the first picture I am showing here, and that is the image that was transferred onto the canvas and then I started the acrylic under painting of garish colours you can see in the second image, to give the oils a depth of colour. And only then I was able to start the  oils proper and that evolved eventually to the finished subtle painting as you see it here. Its had many hours of work put into it, and I am delighted with the result. There is a lot of texture in the paint, particularly in the silver of the jagged wind, and the oils have really lent themselves to the movement and texture of the grass and leaves and some of the clouds. If you click on each image you can see far more of the detail in the pictures. There are a lot of colours even with the limitations of the palette, and a feeling of distance through the aspects of the wind and clouds. I love the bright red of the shadows of the foreground around the main figures, and the curvature of the Royal Crescent. There is a large Wow factor about the painting, for me, and its certainly a conversation piece pulling loved ones together. And I absolutely adore the wind! It's racing across the canvas, in a rush to be on its way.  The whole painting is a landscape, and a portrait, a surreal, spiritual, realistic, abstract painting that pulls a lot of my talents together to create something that is totally unique, and special for the people it is intended for.

The painting is entitled "David and Martyn at The Royal Crescent at Bath - past, present and future". And the photo here really doesn't do it justice, but whilst its drying and I can't move it upright for a better photo, this is the best I can do. But when you're standing infront of it, you can see the nuances of detail, the texture in the paint, the movement in the wind, the leaves as they whisk across the grass, the details in the faces of the people, and the animals, and the feel of the place depicted, and the Autumn day as the clouds scud across the sky.