Art
I’ve always enjoyed art and creative things, not uncommon to find me as a child drawing.
I got as far as doing A-level art, but then focused on the more job-practical science with a Physics and Chemistry BSc. Skip through the years and those creative attributes keep surfacing. This section shows some of the more recent efforts. After a career in the technicals of IT it’s a life-plan to reconnect with those artistic threads again.
This post catalogues some of my art projects and hopefully reminds me to finish projects. “Real artists ship”
Acrylic flow painting is a painting technique that manipulates runny paint to create its effects. The results can be spectacular, abstract and a bit uncontrollable.
The local U3A recently held an exhibition of members interests and crafts themed on “Autumn”
so I’d set myself the task of contributing using the acrylic flow painting technique.
This exhibition at the National Gallery in London brings together over 75 paintings by Monet to explore his development by focusing on his paintings of buildings and monuments.
This was actually started last summer (‘11) in the early days of joining the art class. Thinking I just needed to get back into using a brush and paint and...
Recently checked out the “I woz ere” exhibition of George Shaw at the Herbert gallery, Coventry. Once a local lad, Shaw was a 2011 Turner Prize nominee. No pretentious nonsense...
Clearly timed to coincide with the Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery, this informative BBC documentary on iPlayer traces Leonardo da Vinci’s career as artist and engineer. The dramatised scenes...
It’s often commented at the art group that I do a lot of detail in my paintings, which is probably true. So for this oil painting I wanted to do...
Following the local exhibition of Piranesi prints I thought I’d see if I could tackle the style in oils. This attempt is based on Plate XI Central Hanging Lantern (second...
This is an oil on A4 canvas and is loosely based on a photo taken during a visit to the Lake district. Trying to capture the boats without having to...
In this layer the shadows and mid-tones are done with a very thinned out burnt umber. I made a thinner with 1 part linseed oil and 5 parts turps substitute...
This layer is a neutral wash over the canvas. It like carpet underlay creating a basic background tone and colour. If you don’t want to faff around waiting for things...
Since I’m interested in the painting, not drawing still life I’ll trace onto the canvas from a photo. There are a few ways to do this including buying transfer paper....
This series of pages is about a painting using the Flemish technique. I was introduced to this technique by our art groups ‘old master’ and it involves creating the painting...
The nearby Warwick arts centre recently hosted an exhibition of prints of Piranesi’s prisons and in my usual style I’d left it till the last few days to pay a...
A bit long and rambling, but absolutely fascinating. Waldemar Januszczak gives a radical take on the Sistine chapel in this channel 4 film. Januszczak is possibly one of my favourite...
Watched the first episode of this series on Titian. Really watchable, enthusiastic tour of some old master paintings explaining what they did and why they were so good.