And The Cat Came Back ….

This was the very first painting I did with The Cheese And Wine Painting Club on Facebook, way back in May last year, a few weeks after the painter Ed Sumner started it up to relieve the boredom of the first lockdown. Two lockdowns and almost a year later, it’s still going because the pandemic is still with us. I was really nervous doing this copy of Matisse’s Cat And Goldfish as I hadn’t done any painting since my first year in art college back in the 1970s. My first attempt took me ages as I didn’t have any confidence in what I was doing, although I liked the finished painting. But I thought I’d try it again, now I have had 9 months of practice and done nearly 40 paintings. I’m much more confident and it’s going faster than first time round. I did more than half of it in under an hour a couple of days ago and I think I’ll have it finished tomorrow. Here’s a timelapse video of it so far.

 

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left and to see the complete image.

Inspired by drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

FINISHED!

I finished the flowery fake van Gogh today. When I first started copying van Gogh’s works I was surprised by how complex they are. There’s a sort of image that he slapped the paint onto canvas in thick slathers, which he does, but there are many more layers and subtleties than I’d originally thought.

He also uses a lot of linework in some of his paintings, which shouldn’t surprise me as his drawings are composed of masses of lines and marks. I’m a big fan of his drawings. These irises are quite stylised and I think they look like Art Nouveau, a movement that started around the time that Vincent died. When I started doing these fakes with Ed Sumner’s Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Facebook, I thought we’d only be in lockdown for a few weeks, but it’s been nearly a year and I’ve done not far off 40 paintings so far.

 

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left and to see the complete image.

Inspired by drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

The One White Iris

And more work on the fake van Gogh painting of irises today. I did a lot more to the flowers, adding some paler blues to the petals and putting in the one white iris. Then I switched to burnt umber and van dyke red, mixed with white, to get a few shades of reddish brown and stippled away at the foreground. Tomorrow I’ll be doing some finer details on the irises – van Gogh used linework in a very modern, graphic way, and paint in some stems and that should be it!

I’ve been painting along with the Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Facebook every Friday. It’s run by painter Ed Sumner and we copy a great painting each week. If you fancy dropping by for a look, next week we’re faking a work by the Fauve artist Andre Derain – more here.

 

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left and to see the complete image.

Inspired by drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Further Flowery Fakery

Now that I’ve finished my Family Zoom painting, it’s back to finishing the fake flowers I started with Ed Sumner’s Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Facebook a couple of Fridays ago. The original is a van Gogh and his work is really complex and multi-layered. Today I focused on the greenery and marigolds in the background, the spear-like leaves and a bit more dappled colour in the foreground. Plenty more to do, lots more colours to stipple on tomorrow. There’s more work to be done on the irises too.

If you fancy joining in with the Cheese and Wine Painting Club – or just want to drop in and see what happens, next week we’re faking a painting by the Fauve artist Andre Derain – more here.

 

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left and to see the complete image.

Inspired by drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

#Caturday (And #Doggyday)

Here are the family pets from my big painting “Eighteen People, Two Dogs And A Cat”. I painted from screengrabs from our Zoom weekly family quizzes. I tried to keep the paintings close to the actual images as they appeared on the computer, all sorts of weird things happening. My cat looks a bit mad – but that’s nothing new. Each individual painting is quite small so many of the images are just a few brushstrokes.

I did the painting on a recycled canvas. Over the years I’ve tried to get to grips with painting – and failed – so I have a few canvasses in the attic ready to go. It’s nice because there’s some interesting colours and textures already on it.

 

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left and to see the complete image.

Inspired by drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Back To The Paint Club

Back to Friday lunchtime Cheese and Wine Paint Club with Ed Sumner on Facebook today. An abstract landscape this week, not my type of thing if I’m honest but I learnt a lot about applying and layering paint. I used Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic onto a small stretched canvas, using brushes, palette knife and fingers.

 

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left and to see the complete image.

Inspired by drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Finished!

Finished! My second original painting since I did Foundation Course at Swansea Art College way back in the 1970s. I’m calling it “Eighteen People, Two Dogs And A Cat” and it’s based on my family’s weekly pandemic Zoom quiz, which has been helping us to stay in touch and to stay sane, if I’m honest. I’ve been improving my painting skills weekly with Ed Sumner’s Friday Cheese and Wine Painting Club on Facebook. I’ve done 35 paintings so far and built enough confidence to get on with something original. So it’s back to paint club tomorrow – maybe I’ll see you there? It’s free or a PayPal donation for those who can afford it.

 

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left and to see the complete image.

Inspired by drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Working Upside Down

My Family Zoom painting is nearly finished but I was getting a bit stuck with the final touches so I turned it upside down, and the source photos too. Sometimes, when you’ve been working on an artwork for a while, you get to a point where you can’t see the wood for the trees and that’s where I was. Leonardo da Vinci recommends looking at the canvas in a mirror to see it afresh. Taking a digital photo can help as well. By working upside down, I was able to ignore my familiarity with the subjects and focus on the colours and shapes in front of me and their relationship to each other. I find it’s a really good technique for getting accuracy.

 

 

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left and to see the complete image.

Inspired by drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Looming Large ….

When I look at the big picture, it doesn’t look like I’ve done that much today, but I’ve been concentrating on the details of the little panels, working up layers and layers of translucent and transparent Liquitex acrylic paints. I don’t have much more to do now, a bit more work on some of the faces, the pets, and strengthen the black borders. Then it’s done. Maybe tomorrow? I’m trying to keep close to the images on the screengrabs from our family Zoom quiz, where there are some quirky things going on – people looming large, spooky reflections in the mirror, a pink and green dog ….

 

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left and to see the complete image.

Inspired by drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.

Never Any Trouble, Until Now….

My family Zoom painting has 18 people, 2 dogs and a cat and mostly it’s been not too difficult to do, but one or two of the images have been very challenging. This young relative has been exceptionally hard – I’ve really struggled. The angle of the camera, the lighting, the definition, the position of the person, all have an effect on the image and make it quite distorted.

The first couple of tries on canvas, using Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic paint, were way off so I switched to paper, charcoal and gouache to play around and try and get it more accurate. Each reworking gave me a better insight into where I was going wrong.

The gouache study still wasn’t right but I thought I’d done enough to get back to the canvas.

And that’s where I am now – the one on the right – almost there. His eyes are a bit funny still, and his right eyebrow a bit skewiff, but I’m confident I can sort it out tomorrow. The funny thing is, this young relative is so sweet, he’s never been any trouble ….. until now!

 

A Chance To Own One Of My Artworks

I have some small screenprints for sale, inspired by my drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artifacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

To buy my work on the Swansea Print Workshop site please click the image to the left and to see the complete image.

Inspired by drawings of the taxidermy collection at Swansea Museum. I have given these antique artefacts a modern twist by combining them with images of rubbish – old fruit nets, bubble wrap and plastic – highlighting the problem of human pollution and how it affects wildlife.

20 percent of the cost of each screenprint sold goes to support Swansea Print Workshop, which receives no public funding.