Monday 27 July 2009

Making art fun!!!


As some of you know, my art forum runs a periodic 'Picture Puzzle' where a number of members paint sections of a painting, which is then assembled to make one composite picture. Our latest one, Number 9, has just been finished and looks great. Thanks to all the members who have contributed.

As we start to look around for a subject for our next puzzle, I wonder whether it might be feasable to allow artists who are not members of the forum to join in. If you are interested, let me know.

Saturday 11 July 2009

Song Thrush


Last week, a very good friend came to visit. The weather was absolutely fabulous as Britain basked in week-long heatwave hitting temperatures around 32 degrees. Although we went out to see a few local sites, a great deal of our time was spent in the garden. We were eating breakfast on the patio, enjoying a midday snack in whatever shade we could find, and wining and dining into the evening. But the biggest joy was this Song Thrush who would arrive in the tree tops whenever we ventured out, and would sing his heart out for hour after hour.

Though not the sort of subject I would normally paint, I can't wait to have a go at painting this shot.

Tuesday 9 June 2009

Sad or angry?

I have a keen interest in trying to take photo's of birds in flight. I think it's the challenge of getting the shot that appeals to me. Sadly, I'm not very good at it. My Sony DSC-H9 does a pretty good job of zooming in with it's x15 optical zoom, but focusing is a major challenge. Birds invariably fly faster than the auto focus can lock on to them. I've tried setting the camera on manual focus but then you've got to be extremely lucky as to whether or not a bird passes at the predetermined distance. Small apertures to maximise the depth of field only serve to slow down the shutter speed and high ISO settings introduce image noise. As a result of all of the above I have scores of blurred, out of focus, under-exposed, noisey near-misses, and no worthwhile photo's to be proud of. That said, that is the challenge, and one day I shall catch a bird just right and the hard work will have been worthwhile.

This is one of the best I've taken so far. I don't know if this Black Headed Gull is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders or if he's just pee'd off with my camera in his face everytime he flies past. Whatever the reason for his misery, this photo is worth keep for his expression alone .... photographic merit seems irrelevant somehow.

Friday 5 June 2009

Crooked Spire


I've been wanting to do this one for ages. I painted it in watercolours in October 2008, and have been keen to have a go at a Pen & Wash version.

This is the famous bent spire on the Church of St. Mary's and All Saints in Chesterfield. There are many legends and folklore tales about the devil and virgins that attempt to explain the reason for the spires unusual shape, but the most likely reason is that the joiners used unseasoned 'green' timbers and these warped after a few hundred years or so. It is suggested that the plague had wiped out the experienced craftsmen of the area and that untrained novices completed the construction unaware of the need to use seasoned timbers. The warping was probably helped by the massive weight of the lead tiles that were used for the entire spire.

Thursday 4 June 2009

Bolton Priory

Despite its name, this semi-ruined priory is nowhere near Bolton. It's at a small place called Bolton Abbey near Skipton in Yorkshire. The priory is in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales on the banks of the River Wharfe. It is a beautiful setting that is just screaming out to be painted. A rippling river with stepping stones and small sandy inlets, meadows with cows and a sky full of wild birds. I was also fortunate enough to be there on a warm sunny day. I've never felt comfortable painting plein aire, but ever a scene could have tempted me, this one could.

Though I had two attempts with watercolour I couldn't get the 'look' I was trying to achieve. I think the strong sunlight and bold shadows has teased me into over defining the shapes and structure. I have certainly been too bold with the greens, and they detract from the main subject I think. As a result I decided to have a go without colour, and produced this pencil drawing. Though I personnally feel a subject like this needs colour to show it off at its best, the pencil sketch does seem to convey more 'mood'.

Monday 11 May 2009

Architectural Portrait

I am developing a keen interest in painting buildings and was delighted when I was approached recently to do a watercolour of a new office unit being built in farmland locally.
When I visited the site to take some reference photos and get a feel for the place, I was immediatley struck by the lack of background. As with most modern industrial units, this one is very box-like. Smart, but featureless and without character. Sure, I could have painted a box with blue sky above and green grass below, but I wanted my painting to be a 'scene' in its own right, and say something about the area it's located in.

The only solution I could think of was to shift the viewing point to raise the eye-level above the height of the building. This would allow me to 'steal' background from the distant landscape. This was my first experience of this sort of thing and I found it much harder than I'd expected. I thought it was just a case of raising the horizon and adjusting the vanishing points. Well, I guess it was ... but to raise it by the right amount, to give some background without making the building look all roof, took quite a few practice sketches. And without a photo to copy, placing the doors and windows in the right place tested my knowledge of dimishing space to the extreme.

There are things I might do different next time, like possibly using 3-point perspective rather than the 2-point I used for this one. But I'm glad I decided on an angular view showing the front and a side. I think a straight-on frontal view would have made the building look flat and the painting look too symetrical. So, overall I'm not disappointed with the result. I've made a 'painting' out of a structure and shown the surrounding countryside, which says more about the building than the reference photo ever will.

This will make an interesting addition to my 'Architectural Portraits' site as it's the first Industrial building I've painted.

Tuesday 5 May 2009

Bluebell Wood

Well, that's not its real name, but it is a wood full of Bluebells, that's for sure. Last Sunday my wife and I went for a stroll through the woods and the carpets of Bluebells were so dense, the air was laden with their scent. Since the few Bluebells I have in my own garden were at their best I was expecting a good show of flowers, so went well prepared with my camera. I've posted one of my shots here, but there are several more on my website at www.jwjonline.net/Bluebells/.

To my delight, there were many white butterflies enjoying the Bluebells almost as much as I was. Though they were, in the main, camera shy, I did manage to get a couple of decent shots, which can also be seen on the web page.