Darker Artwork

A number of years ago I went through a period of drawing much darker drawings and the same with the paintings I was doing.  

There was lots going on in the background which caused this, or that made my emotions react in this way, but these are some of the things I produced.

I think that when my emotions are going a bit wild in a good or bad way, then I do my best work, and when im flat in any way, whether just moseying along, or flat through exhaustion or emotional overload, I can't create anything really, and what I do looks forced

 Painters Block

I know writers always talk about writers block as the sudden stopping of inspiration to write, and how debilitating it is for them, and how it isn't linked to anything particular - but just happens.

Well, there is definitely something called Painters Block and that's me right now. So I'll just talk about some of the amazing art stuff I saw at Latitude last weekend, not painting related per se, but art and literature definitely.

It was a great festival this year and is the first time Ive been in nearly 10 years, so I was a but uncertain about the whole thing, going there on my own completely, as previously Ive been with a group of people.  But it was a good laugh. The neighbours in the camp site were a laugh, and the facilities the best Ive ever seen, with toilets and showers clean, usable and the water hot at any time I went to the shower.  Queues for them were long but that only meant a 40 minute wait, which wasn't horrendous.

The camp site was about 1km from the main entrance, so I got a lot of walking in this year (50km in total), which was a good counter to the excellent food that was on sale.  Not too expensive either.

This is also the first year I have watched more in other tents than the main arena or the music tents, watching a lot of literature, poetry, podcasts and discussions by authors.  I found that really interesting, especially the podcast recordings that were done on  site.

I think that the most interesting one was by a charity called Tender, who work in schools, amongst other places, to support teachers and kids in acting for healthy relationships, dealing with toxic masculinity, and worse within classes https://tender.org.uk/). 

The other session I really enjoyed was Luke Wright who is a poet from Essex Ive seen before but this was really enjoyable. ( https://www.lukewright.co.uk/).

Musically I saw Sting, Fatboy Slim, Elbow, and others but I think by favourite was Pale Waves who were just right for the afternoon, prior to the Euro Finals which was shown on the large screens in the site, and watching the Lionesses beat Spain in the final. That was such a fitting ending to the festival for me, and I ended up heading back after Elbow, and enjoyed a relaxing drive back, relaxing in my own bed that night.

Will have to see how I feel about going next year....

Now to hope that the painters block goes away soon or the half done canvases will just gather more dust

 Elephants   

When I first started painting, I went through period of painting elephants, a lot.  They're one of the most majestic nails on earth, extremely intelligent, caring, loving, powerful and sweet and their skin is so expressive, which is one of the reasons I like painting and drawing them.

I took photos from books and the internet and used them to paint and learn how to paint them. They didn't always work, some are terrible, but in the end I think some of them turned out OK

My first ones were these

My later ones look a bit better, I think

Its the eyes I love, and the way the skin creases and cracks, showing the shadows and light in contrast

Slow period   

Im in a bit of a slow period in terms of painting. Ive been fiddling with abstract things, but can't really concentrate so not posting a lot. Im also a bit becalmed with my website build and Etsy, but hang about, Ill get them all working again soon

that was why Ive been distracted as well.  

 Weekend work

I’ve been painting various things in parallel, which sort of describes the level of my attention span…

I tend to revert to wave paintings when I am not impressed with something, unless that’s the intention, or my head is not quite there so it helps it settle.

The heart one is entitled

“Look at what happens with love like that”

It’s dark, its raw, its bloody, its not quite whole - but is amazing

 Current work

Ive been working on a large painting of quiet water, in acrylic. 

Its evolved and isn't quite right, not by a long way, but its slowly getting away from what I don't want towards what I do, with the canvas

Lots of layers in the water, lots of reflections

it is a large canvas and taking time to paint, which is also helpful as its making me stand and focus, which isn't something I find easy.

Maybe painting is the answer to a chaotic life  ?

 Etsy Site up and running

This made me very happy being able to get my head around the intricacies of setting an Etsy site up - I know you will likely see this as a simple job, but I overthink so it takes a tad longer

It looks better than I thought it would and just to ensure its got some form of brand, Ive got a load of merchandise as well

and a whole load of boxes for shipping.

Now just to get someone to buy a painting.......