I thought I’d share this close-up of my painting to show the impasto brushwork around the seated figure. Don’t forget to click to enlarge!

I’ve just completed this large oil on canvas piece. I stopped earlier than I normally would as I sometimes overdo things! This is my new policy. A piece is never really ‘finished’ you just stop at an interesting point! This follows on from my ‘Solitary Figure’ investigations made from my trip to Bruges at Spring Bank holiday. I wanted to evoke the memory of the man complete and content in his own solitude in this wonderful place. I have been relishing the peace and quiet to paint. However, the old folks bungalows are being retiled opposite our house and the noise as the tiles are taken off the roofs has been incredible in my little studio. So you never really achieve peace. I managed to see a kind of beauty in it all though. The tiles made rippling waves as they fell off each roof. There’s a message in all this. Once I accepted the intrusion I could find it had it’s own fascination even though I hadn’t asked for it. We’re never really alone are we? Maybe this man was for a little while. Except he wasn’t was he! I’d noticed him and this is the result! You can see the prep work on this blog and I’ll post the stages of the painting as it developed next.

Here’s the poster for the exhibition coming up in September with Artipeeps based on the Nine Realms in Norse Myth. I made my painting ‘Freyjr’s Disappearing Necklace’ in response to the Vanaheim realm. You can see part of it on the poster. Can you spot it? The exhibition is a collaborative venture with poets, musicians and artists responding to the realms. You can read all about it on the posters. Don’t forget to click to enlarge!

Here are some shots of the necklace painting ready and waiting for exhibiton for Artipeeps Norse myth show at Hanse House Kings Lynn Norfolk England on 12th September and for the days following. I was really pleased with the frame it looks like dull polished leather. There’s a shot of it in the picture-framers and one on the wall at home.

Just finished preparing my new canvas for my painting based on the ‘Solitary Figure’ explorations shared on this blog. I found little raised bubbles where I hadn’t quite stretched it enough so painted the back with plain water and let it dry naturally. That certainly did the trick and I’m really pleased with it, all the imperfections are gone. So watch for developments on this blog as the painting progresses. I’m going to use oil and went to get more liquin medium and distilled turps today. Gathering, gathering. You can see a before and after shot here!

This drawing was the first piece of art I have made in a couple of weeks. Have been feeling a bit strange after retiring and finding it hard to approach my own work. My photographer Kevin Roberts gave me some A4 art papers to work on, and I was looking through an old sketchbook from 1999 and a little study of the cobb at Lyme took my attention. It was made on the spot one very blustery Boxing day on a holiday there. I thought the lines were beautiful and would get me back into making marks. This is the result together with the original sketch. I have some big ideas for a painting based on my ‘Solitary Figure’ studies but am not quite ready to approach it. I’m being very gentle with myself and I know that I will get there. Have faith folks!

I made these scarves  goodbye gifts for my department as I have retired from my art teaching job after a very long time. I enjoyed it, but it has taken me away from my ‘Solitary Figure’ investigations, and what with the retirement event and being tired am finding it difficult getting back into my own stuff. However, it is really all my stuff! I used older drawings and paintings as inspiration for the gifts. I stretched the silk scarves on a frame and drew the images with Gutta resist on my easel so the scarf was upright. Then I worked flat and  floated dyes on there. My friend Mo who I did Fine Art with at Leeds advised me as scarves are her speciality, and she has made me two beautiful ones. These ones I have made are one offs as I wanted to make gifts that incorporated my mark making and colour. Anyway, here are some shots. Don’t forget to click on them to enlarge and see things in more detail.

I made this study on paper in the early evening of Tuesday, my day off. I didn’t think I’d be able to paint as it was stifling in my little studio even with the window fully open. It got better later on, and with the lighter nights I was able to do this slightly smaller study of my man on the bench in Bruges. I wanted to make him a little more decipherable again, and move the composition over a little so there were fewer buildings suggested on the opposite side of the canal. I’m keeping the sweeping brushstrokes representing my movement behind the man and over the bridge as I looked back at him. Don’t forget to click on the images to enlarge. One is of the whole piece and one a crop, not two paintings.

I made this further study in response to my investigations of a man sat reading in solitude on a bench in Bruges. This time it was more about the feeling I had walking past him and looking back. He was totally still absorbed and content. I don’t think I totally got this feeling in this figure so may do more studies to try to capture that. The curve of the brushstrokes in the foreground really represents my movement through space giving another dimension to the whole experience. This feels like another stage in the journey that is not over yet and could become a painting in the summer.