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.

The Cat Looks Bonkers

I’m really cracking on with this big painting now. I hope that a couple more good spurts of activity should get it finished. I concentrated on getting some of the finer features in their place and doing a bit of work on the three animals. The cat looks bonkers. Nothing new there.

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.

Faking Friday Flowers

It’s faking Friday again with Ed Sumner’s Cheese and Wine Painting Club over on Facebook. I so enjoy these weekly sessions that Ed has been running since the first lockdown in March 2020. I’m learning loads about painting as well. This week it’s a van Gogh, one of his paintings of irises. It’s using a lot of paint (Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic) but that’s van Gogh for you. I’ll need to do a couple more hours over the weekend to get it finished.

 

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.

In The Pink

I’m having a bit of trouble with a couple of the faces in my big family Zoom painting so I’ve been doing some studies in gouache to get more familiar with the images. I don’t necessarily need to do a “finished” painting, it might be something quite basic, I might get to grips with it after relatively few brushstrokes. I don’t think I need to do any more to this one, I feel more confident going back to the big painting 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.

Animals In My Window

Two cats and a mandrill. #thegreatbigartexhibition2021 started recently, encouraging people across the UK to turn windows, balconies, gardens … whatever … into little art galleries. The first theme is animals – here are mine in my bay window. The yellow cat and the mandrill are fakes (Matisse and Rousseau) I painted with Ed Sumner’s Cheese and Wine Painting Club here on Facebook and the “Stay Safe” cat is my very own Sparta Puss. If you want to be part of this art exhibition, you can find out more from Firstsite Colchester

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.

Connecting family

I did some more work on my great big “Family” painting today, based on our weekly Zoom quiz. We’ve been doing it since early in the first lockdown and we’re connecting family in South Wales, North England and Australia. And our pets 😀 I did some more work on people’s features, and also did some quick studies in gouache of the faces I’m having problems with. I’m finding it hard to clearly see what’s actually there, rather than what I expect to be there, because the computer screen is seriously distorting some of them .

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.

 

17 People, 2 Dogs And A Cat!

I carried on with my big painting today, working in more of the building blocks of the images. Some of them are pretty spot on but some are really difficult to do as I can’t get my head around the distortion caused by the computer screens and I’m falling into the trap of painting what I think is there, not what is actually there. I’m getting better at it though. I didn’t stop to think how big a task this would be when I started but today I added up all the figures – 17 people, 2 dogs and a cat. Talk about throwing myself in at the deep end. I’m using Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic paint onto stretched canvas, with willow charcoal to sketch in the details.

 

 

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.

 

Practising The Weird

I decided to do some little charcoal studies onto paper for the big painting I’m working on, to practice the images before I commit them to canvas. There are lots of heads in the painting which look a bit weird because they’re on a computer screen. According to Husb this causes wide angle lens distortion. The lighting makes strange colour effects and differences in clarity are caused by high or low definition on the various computers. Problem with this is I keep wanting to draw what I think is there rather than what is actually there. I keep thinking “Oh, that doesn’t look right” but when I check back to the original, it is right, just weird. 

 

 

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.

Sketching The Details

I started sketching in some of the details onto my underpainting today, using willow charcoal as it’s easy to wipe off when you make a mistake. At this stage I’m just getting the features more or less in place rather than getting a perfect likeness because that’s going to be done later, probably the last thing to do. Not only are the colours weird but some of the faces are distorted too. This is fun, I wasn’t expecting to be enjoying painting so much.

 

 

 

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.