Grey 11

Again, still in greys this week and empty, quiet landscapes. Thought this week that I will do a series of , ' Quiet landscapes.' I like the concept...I like the greys...I like the thought of the research around quiet landscapes.Mmm something to look forward to...

Still having major problems with the lighting of the works...the times that I have been able to photograph paintings are the times this week that the sky has been grey, grey, grey. Lovely to me as an artist...hopeless to take photographs outside of the paintings ! He ho...

These are this weeks work...I am actually trying to move slightly out of greys ( I definately get addicted to certain colours and then subconsciously pick them all the time....it requires a strong act of will to get out of huge colour addiction ! He ho

Thinking about quiet landscapes...which artists ? Fred Cuming, John Felsing, Lena Armstrand, Rachel sudworth, Sonia Stanyard....research....when I look at some of mine , I see a quiet landscape in some of them....what do I think of these this week, quiet, calm, reflective, introspective, grey......

33 inch sq. Acrylic on board, ' A space inbetween a landscape and a mood.'

 52 cm sq. Acrylic on board. ' A grey with prettiness.'

52 cm sq. ,' a quiet drama.'

52 cm sq. , ' A lightness of feel.'

A very poor photo of the Art lounge... I am putting up the ,' Quiet lanscape series as we speak.'

Oh I remember looking at Thomas Aquinas Daley's landscapes,' painting Natures quiet places,' gorgeous. Research and go small to enjoy them and try and complete a series then close it and onto the next !

Grey 10 and sketch of bella

We had to have our Jack Russell ( with attitude ) put to sleep on Wednesday. She was so ill, so quickly. This sketch was from a photo taken last week on her walk. I did it on primed Mdf , medium acrylic and tears. But it did give me some comfort to sketch her and put the sketch near the fire, her favourite place ! Phew

Of course my inner artist tells me I could have done it better but it has caught something of her , so leave it ! It is automatic that my upset is played out in paint, my natural means of expression.

Managed also to paint, ' A quietness, ' acrylic, 33 inches square on board. Still in greys but bringing in gentle colour. Reminds me of Fred Cumings palette...research. I love the paint ! 

Studio tidy up ..trying not to paint

Trying not to paint in order to clear out and tidy up in the studio. Failed on the 7 day painting task ! But will have to get my act together tomorrow because we are working in oils in the Art group on Wednesday.

I have invested in led lights to help the clarity of my photographs. Phew. I painted a wall white following the advice and tried the photographs. These are they. We will see.

Had a 52 cm sq painting framed.

Have to tidy up ! Too many piles of stuff !

Back to woodwork and making a frame . Will post the results tomorrow.

52 cm sq. Acrylic on canvas. Trying the new led spotlights.

An older distilled landscape.

One of the a Mills and hills series, 15 cm sq. sumi ink.

32 inch sq. Acrylic on board.

52 cm sq. Acrylic on board

Lots of work tomorrow !

Grey 9

Sunday....the weather has met my paintings...such mist...love it...taken photos on the dog walk and going to paint from them this week....had been nominated for a 7 painting challenge by David Sharpe ( gorgeous tonalist painter ) so thought I would take the opportunity to paint something this week that I wouldn't normally paint ( I might fail on this , but this is today's thought) like buildings, cars, dog.Mmm. We will see.

These are the photos of the walk

Trying to redo the Art lounge in greyscapes....

These were three 33 inch square pieces

This was yesterday's piece that I worked back into this morning....kind of gentles it

Dog nearly singing her fur in front of the Art lounge fire

Decoupage frames from this week....decoupaged with old paintings ....like them

Is is any wonder I paint trees....Art lounge view !

Grey 8. s

Still in grey but have tried not to paint this week in order to reflect on last year, which hopefully leads to a little more planning next year. As an artist I am quick to pick up the paints / go in the studio/ start another new project.....and very slow to do all the other stuff of being an artist ! .....finishing off projects ( like the My North project ) marketing, planning , tidying up etc !

So, I am not supposed to be painting landscapes....I promised myself to try and finish the.  ' my North,' project he ho though...just had to do the Friday night practice and am still in grey. The Friday night practice is just painting without pressure, knowing that I might well paint over all of it tomorrow !

So, still in greys, whether it's finished or not , I have loved this piece...I have been using varnish mixed with the acrylics to help get the glazes...that's worked and produced quite a lot of texture too. I have used charcoal powder dropped onto wet paint...that's worked too....and a favourite tool is a printmaking tool, I think it's for etching, I just scrape into the surface. I am painting on Mdf, canvas is never much use for me...my painting process is too vigorous .

I like an ambiguity in apiece but that's harder in a bigger piece, you generally need more detail ( that said, think of Joh Virtues big skyline prints- research them again...Through the piece it became more important to try and achieve some edginess....my pieces , although I love the , often tend to bland , that , I think , is because I blend a lot.

I returned to this one today and loved it once more. It's absolutely wet through ow though and I can do no more until it's dried out by tomorrow....it would be beneficial to work on more than one at a time but I can't seem to multitask in paint !

' A grey skyline,' 33 inch sq. Acrylic on board...maybe unfinished...