APRIL 1- 12th 2020

Who will be first to send something in April?

I had only just sent the email asking for more work and what should drop into my inbox but this drawing from Ruth!  Brilliant!

1

Ruth says she found some liquid graphite pens in her case and as she enjoys drawing produced this.  She said she wondered if it looked stark but didn't want to cover her lines with colour.  I think it looks great with just the sunrise (or sunset?) behind the trees.  

2

Susie sent me this photo of a birthday card she created for her daughter (which saved her visiting the shops).  I thought it was so innovative and I asked if I could put it on the blog, she agreed but commented that "it is hardly art".  I did reply that Andy Goldsworthy used (should have said uses) leaves, petals, twigs, snowballs (do google him to see his work) 

but later I started thinking "What is art?"   Is it something different to each of us?  Were the cave drawings created as art/decoration? 

Let me know (by email, please) what you think of as art and I will collate your responses onto a separate blog.  Could be interesting?

Susie's daughter Lucy has created a fabulous "Animalphabet"  That is all I am going to tell you but you can access it here https://www.lucytweedie.co.uk  do have a lookI know you will love her work 

3

Larry's latest painting is of the River Lugg at Kingsland, based on a photgraph he took whilst out cycling before the lockdown.  He asks whether this could be considered an "impressionistic landscape"?  

I looked up impressionist landscape and it says, amongst other things:

" Impressionist works characteristically portray overall visual effects instead of details, and use short broken strokes of mixed and unmixed colour to achieve an effect of intense colour vibration" 

"Realism is what we see and Impressionism is how we see"

"The impressionist artists were not trying to paint a realistic picture but, an impression of what the person, object or landscape looked like to them."

"They wanted to capture the movement and life of what they saw, with an accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities"

Of course the artists in this time 1867- 1890ish  were mostly painting outside and in oils and they painted very quickly, so in some respects I guess the answer to Larry's question would be no, but he has certainly caught the light on the water and in the sky and his loose depiction of the leaves on the trees implies movement, and for me it certainly captures the feeling of the day, so that would be a yes!  As it is the first entry in this category I think we should call it impressionistic, but what do you think? 

4

This is a painting by Janet, a friend I met at a Vicki Norman workshop who is very new to oil painting.  She says it is an image she found on the net of a view in Scotland.  The foreground is heather and she used a palette knife as she was unsure how to paint it.  I think it works really well with a moody sky and a great sense of distance.  

5

John is busy copying a photocopy of a work by an American artist Frank Duveneck  1848 - 1919.  If you are stuck for something to do this can be a good way to practise.  I have a friend who studied at St Martins London and as a student she did this by visiting the London galleries.  We have to make do with the internet or books but it is still very useful to study composition and the way different artists apply the paint. Our pigments are different to those used in the C19 so don't worry too much about slavishly trying to match the colours, let your  painting tell you what will work.  John sent me photos of the photocopy he is using and his progress to date, I think he is doing well.

6

This one is from Bob.  He says he has been doing a bit of digital tinkering on sketches in an old sketchbook but decided that some proper painting would be more appropriate for the blog.  This is a still life in pastel.  He arranged the group in front of their lounge window and the fruit trees are in the garden.  The hop kilns are an "add-in".  He says the picture dates from his early days at the Ludlow Art Society when they painted subjects set by the committee.  

How nice to see a still life (I particularly love the modelling and colour reflections on the jug)  and I never knew Bob used pastels, pretty good with them too!  How about some more older paintings, Bob?  And how about some from the rest of you, too?  They are too good to be put away and forgotten and they might just stimulate our creative juices!

7

John has now completed his copy of the Frank Duveneck painting and I think it is great, it has such a great sense of the outdoors it is hard to believe it was not painted "au plein air".  I have spoken to my friend who studied at St Martins and I have got it wrong (whats new - mouth open foot in it!)  St Martins students never copied paintings but students at the Royal Academy did, provided they did not copy at the same size.  However, she agreed that a lot could be learned from doing it.    

8

Lesley M has finished her watercolour of an old, dilapidated sawmill.  She was worried about the number of trees in the picture and had been loaned  some Matthew Palmer foliage brushes that she intended to try. She says that she is not particularly happy with the picture but she does quite like the trees, so the brushes may be a good investment.  I know Matthew Palmer works mainly in watercolour, I wonder if the brushes would work in any other medium? They certainly give a good effect of light early spring leaf.

Well done, Lesley.

Lesley also had difficulty cropping the photo, which can be very tricky, and can mean losing a major part of the picture.  I hope I have made it OK for you Lesley, let me know if I have deleted too much.  

If possible try to make sure that the image does not need much cropping.  Check  that the camera, phone or tablet are parallel to the picture.  Sometimes I prop up the picture on a table and take the phone/camera down to the edge of the table so that the lens is exactly opposite to it.  You can also lay the picture flat on the floor, John uses a mount around it to keep it flat, which is a good idea, and stand over it with the camera/phone looking down on the image.  Before you open the shutter look very carefully at the edges in the viewfinder, try to make sure they align with the edge. I frequently get it wrong and it can be very frustrating. I am not a photographer so does anyone have any other tips?

9

Bob has sent me another lovely still life in pastel.  He says that he hopes members might be encouraged to try drawing with soft pastels and adds they can be good for portraits as well as still life.  Does anyone do portraits?  If so can we see them?

10

I didn't want to be left out!  This is definitely a work in progress.  It is the edge of our new shed, which is about 50 feet long, with the road in the bottom right corner of the photo.  It shows what was the (grass) verge as it was left by the builders, bottom left, and my tools.  I am concerned that the farm traffic (and others) will just run onto the rough ground and hit our investment so thought that perhaps if it looked pretty, and cared for, they might not just drive on it?  I have sown it with wildflowers which prefer poor soil so I am now waiting to see what happens.  Vince who has done the groundwork for us wanted to put good topsoil on top to make it look neater but having sown the wildflower seeds I thought best to leave it to nature.  It doesn't usually disappoint even if it isn't exactly what we had in mind.  

11

These are from Lesley C, she says "just a couple of pages from my sketchbook, one showing quick sketches of the Somerset Levels in February and the other done on Sunday of the wild daffodils in Wyre Forest"  These are just lovely and it is what we all should be doing;  sitting outside and sketching.  If nothing else it would be good practise for when we can get out and about and paint outside.  Do you think it could count as exercise? 

12

Here is another sketch by Lesley C of the wild daffodils in the Wyre Forest (Lesley lives in the Forest).  She told me today that she spent a couple of hours sketching the cherry blossom in the orchard a couple of days ago and then took a photo.  She says the photo does not compare to the sketches and that there is no way a photo can replicate just sitting there for a couple of hours sketching particularly in this weather.  So there is no excuse for any of us, we are all lucky enough to have gardens and to be able to get out and sketch, so let's do it!

13

Here is one to definitely make you laugh.  A photo from Lesley C called "Kevin ready for shopping" it shows her husband Kevin having fun.  He says he didn't actually go shopping in it but he says it was incredibly hot to wear.