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.

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'.

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.

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.

Weeds ?

Weed: a plant considered undesirable, unattractive, or troublesome, especially one growing where it is not wanted, as in a garden.

Okay, I can't disagree that some 'weeds' will grow where they're not wanted, such as in the middle of a lawn or in the cracks between paving slabs, but how can we say that these wild flowers, as I prefer to call them, aren't attractive.

The 'blue grape-like berries' of the Grape Hyacinth ( Genus Muscari), rampant clusters of Daisy's (Bellis perennis) and the humble Dandelion (Genus Taraxacum), don't look hugely impressive when we look down on them from our great height, but when we go to the trouble to get down to their level, which few of us do, and take an interest, we see a completely different side to them.

The spherical globe-like flowers of the Grape Hyacinth look more like clusters of grapes when seen from a distance, but their unusual shape and delicate appearance hardly fit with the rugged, tough-as-old-boots reputation of a weed. And how delicate is the 'Clock' of a Dandelion when the flower has finished? Touching it makes it disintegrate into a thousand seed heads. And the Daisy barely gets a second thought other to complain about it making a mess of the lawn.

Perhaps it's time we stopped calling these Wild Flowers 'weeds' and gave them a place to grow. A place they are wanted.

Lucky find

In September 2001, just days after the horrors of 9/11, I flew out to America to spend a week in a log cabin with an e-friend I'd never met before. Our holiday was one of trecking through the woodlands of West Virginia and, as a momento of our holiday, my friend gave me a rather marvelous walking stick. It was carved and painted by a traveller who passes through the area from time-to-time.

On the day of my flight home I was concerned as to whether my stick would be allowed on the plane. The recent events had made the authorities review the whole situation with regards to luggage. Fortunately, all was well and my stick and I parted company as it headed for the cargo hold and I headed to the lounge bar.

After I'd landed at Gatwick and made my way to the Luggage Collection point I was thrilled to see my stick rolling around between some suitcases as the carousel bought it ever nearer. There seemed like endless delays as I waited for the rest of my luggage but finally I headed towards the station ... a backpack on my back, a suitcase in one hand, and my treasured stick in the other.

It had been a long flight. I hadn't slept much. It was now 4:00am in the morning and I was exhausted. There was no direct link to a rail service that would get me back home so I knew I had to navigate to various stations as I made my way homeward. I jumped (dragged myself) onto a train heading towards London and found a seat. Soon I was getting off at a station I'd never been to and my next task was to find another train heading my way. I placed my suitcase and stick against the subway wall, and removed my backpack to find my map. After several minutes studying it, I put my backpack on, collected my suitcase and headed off in search of the trains.

My ramblings along the Subway tunnels took me past many platforms, but none that really helped. It was getting busier now and there were more and more people in the subways, though they seemed to know where they were going. Suddenly, I found myself outside. I did the only thing I could and headed back into the labyrinth. It seemed hopeless as I wandered back and forth, unable to find an official I could ask ... no ticket office, no platform attendant. I was so tired now and really couldn't imagine myself walking for much longer. I needed that train.

As I moved along the subway with more and more people around me, my eye was caught by a stick that someone had obviously left propped against the wall. As I neared, I realised it was painted ... and hand-carved. Strewth!!! It was MY stick. This must have been the place that I checked out my map about half-an-hour ago.

I picked up my stick in a state of amazement that it was still here and hadn't been purloined by a passer-by. The very next platform I came to was the one I needed and, after a short wait, I was soon sitting on a train. A couple more changes, a few more hours, and by 9:00am my wife was collecting me from my local station.

It was probably just my tiredness that caused me to head off in the wrong direction without my stick, but was it? If I had turned the other way, and found my train immediately, where would my stick be now? Did I get 'lost' for a reason ... or was I just very lucky that the subway that morning was full of honest people? Whatever forces were at work that morning, I am so very glad that me and my stick were reunited. I shall treasure it always.

Matt Dillon

No, not the 60's hero of that great TV Western 'Gunsmoke', but the name of this Tabby cat.

Matt Dillon belongs to .... correction ... a good friend of mine belongs to Matt Dillon. One day, Matt wandered up to my friends home and decided he liked it. We have no idea where he hung out before that and assume he may have been living rough in a semi-wild state. Whatever his past was, he soon adopted my friend and has made her home, his home. He has already shown the local hound who the boss is. When she was telling me the story a few weeks ago, I couldn't resist the urge to draw him and she kindly sent me a photo to work from.

Comparisons

If you've never trod the valley,
You can never see the heights,
If you've never walked in darkness,
You'll never see the light,
If you do not climb the hill ahead,
You can't look round the bend,
If you're never really lonely,
You'll never need a friend,
If you've never failed, and failed again,
You'll never try your best,
If you've never suffered sleeplessness,
You'll never know true rest,
If you've never stumbled through the clouds,
You'll never see the blue,
If you've never suffered grief or pain,
Real joy won't come to you,
For the one calls forth the other,
As onward we must go,
Don't ask me how I found this out,
Let me just say "I know".

Spring is here

What a wonderful time of the year. The deadness and drabness of winter is being pushed aside by the young fresh youthfulness of spring. Buds on shrubs and trees, bulbs throwing up their green shoots, many of them now adorned with flowers. I'm a great lover of Snowdrops and am blessed with many of them. They have been in flower since the beginning of January and still look good even now. Crocuses are flowering to bring the first colour into the garden. What joy!

In the SERPs

No, not State Earnings Related Pension Scheme for those of us in the UK but Search Engine Results PageS. As my previous post explained, I have made a new website. It is barely 3 weeks old but today I received my first visit from someone who found the site by doing a Google search. For those who don't know, getting a new site indexed and listed by the big search engines can be a very long process. To have had a result in just 3 weeks from conception is something I'm very, very happy with.

I've followed through on my idea to promote the painting of homes. I'm unsure whether to call it "Home Portraits" or "Architectural Portraits". The latter is a mouth full but does open up the service for offices and other non-residential buildings. I'm running with "Architectural" for now, but may well change it as the site develops. This photo is of my latest "Architectural Portrait".

Many of my paintings still have to be displayed on the new site. I'm currently trying to get the format, design, layouts right. Once it's all laid out and working I will start uploading my work by the bucketful.

A Moth to a Butterfly

Artists must all start as beginners and they must all end up as experienced (unless they quit along the way). Whether we like the art of an experienced artist has nothing to do with how long he or she has been painting. It is entirely to do with whether or not we like the image that has been produced. It occurs to me that there is no fixed line between the beginner and the experienced artist. One has been painting a short while and the other a long while ... but the point at which a beginner metamorphosises into someone with experience is vague and undefined.

Though I promote myself as a beginner, very recently I was approached through my web site by someone wishing to purchase one of my paintings. This has had a huge impact on me, so much so that I have realised I cannot call myself a beginner any longer. An artist with much still to learn maybe, but not a beginner.

To cement this notion I have decided to shed my 'beginner' coat and fly out into the big wide world as 'an artist'. This is a difficult transition for someone such as me who holds a low opinion of his own work, but it is a step I feel I must take at this time.

Accordingly, I have purchased a new domain to give me a platform from which to present my work to the viewing audience. Initially called "Art by JWJ", the domain name is www.JWJarts.com. Though I will display for sale a selection of my work, I am also keen to pursue one aspect of my painting that I especially enjoy ... painting buildings. So one of the first services I shall offer is that of painting peoples homes for them.

The new web site is nothing more than a holding page at the moment but I have a complete design, layout and features in my head just waiting to be coded. How long will it take for Google to find my new site? How long before a search for "watercolour of my home" finds my site at No.1? How long before I get my first enquiry, and my first sale? Who knows? Maybe those things will never happen but if I don't give it a go, I'll never know.

Year round flowers.

Throughout the last 12 months, as and when time has permitted I have taken photo's of some of the flowers in my garden. I've posted a selection to my web site on a page called "A Year in My Garden". I'm very pleased with some of the photo's but several are not as good as I would have liked. Still, they demonstrate very well the diverse range of garden plants and the main point that I was trying to make which is that it is not too difficult to ensure that there is a flower in bloom every day throughout the entire year.

Though my December shots are none existant except for the conifers, I have to tell you that the Mahonia shown in October and November remained in flower right through December and is only now loosing it's last remaining flowers.

A whole new year has begun with the faithful Snowdrops, but this year they were pushing through the soil in mid-December and the first of the flowers were beginning to show for Xmas. I intend to take lots more photo's this year and put the best of them on my web page. Here we go again .... can't wait. :-)

Support for Beginners

Regulars to my blog will be aware that my art forum runs a periodic Picture Puzzle. This is where a picture is sliced up into a dozen squares and a variety of artists are each given one to copy. The dozen newly painted segments are then reassembled to create a unique composite painting.

A while ago, one of my forum members attended a masterclass being run by Fiona Pearts and Terry Harrison. During that course, the member talked about our forum and what it is trying to do by way of encouraging beginners. As a consequence of that discussion, both Fiona and Terry kindly gave their permission for us to use any of their pictures as material for our various projects. Having a 'proper' painting to copy rather than the usual home-produced photograph lifts the puzzle to a new level.
We are all very grateful to Fiona and Terry for their generous permissions.

The current project uses a painting by Terry Harrison called "Winters Day" and is shown here. Come back often and watch it taking shape.

Castle Door

Time is getting the better of me and I'm not posting anywhere near as often as I'd like to. Regrettably, this also means that I'm not getting any time for painting or drawing. Some time ago I returned from a holiday in Wales, with a camera bursting with photo's to be painted. Recently I returned from a week in Yorkshire, similarly laden with images to be transposed to canvas. Mind you, I did make time for this 'quickie'. It is an old wooden door in the wall of the ruined Knaresborough Castle. That is a fine old building. Completely in ruins, but beautifully kept with manicured lawns and some beautiful surroundings. The views out across the valley to the viaduct crossing the River Nidd, are nothing less than spectacular. It was the sort of place where you just can't put your camera down for a second.

Are you an Artist?

If so, my forum for Art beginners needs YOU!!! In my mid-fifties I unexpectedly discovered a modest ability with regards to drawing and painting. That's another story that I won't bore you with here. But my new found 'skill' (using the word very loosely) caused me to wonder how many others had latent skills that weren't being used. I created my web site and a forum for beginners, like me, who wanted somewhere to show their efforts and get helpful and supportive feedback. That initial goal proved fairly succesful but I think we are suffering with a bit of a catch 22 problem. It's a forum for beginners, and so has nothing to interest experts. On the other hand, the beginners get little feedback because there are no experts. That is where YOU can help. If you fancy offering help, advice and guidance to beginners then you could make a big difference in my forum. We run drawing and painting projects to test our skills and drag us into trying new things, and we display our efforts altogether on a single web page. This allows us to learn by comparing our efforts with those of our friends. (See this recent Painting Project). As a small group of novices we do quite well, but I can see how much better we could do if we had some experts amongst us. I feel that more beginners would join if there were experts on hand to teach us, and more experts would join if there was more going on. The forum is like a snowball poised at the top of a hill .... if we could get it rolling it would gather momentum and size quite quickly. Come and join us, and give the snowball the push it needs. Art Forum for Beginners

Anyone can paint!!!

It is true. Anyone who can use a pen to write their name has the skill necessary to make shapes on paper. To what extent we can make those shapes into recogniseable images is another matter. But the mistake a lot of people make is in believing that painting is only enjoyable if an image is recreated to near perfect proportions. That is nonsense. Regardless of the quality of the final result, there is a huge amount of pleasure, enjoyment and self satisfaction to be found in the making of a painting.

My own first painting efforts were awful but, as you will see by following that link, I learned a great deal from each of them. I also discovered that feedback and encouragement from others made a huge difference both to my progress and my enjoyment. Like everything in life, we do tend to enjoy things more when we're sharing them.

And this is where a Beginners Art Forum can pay such dividends. My forum consists of just a few beginners and novices with no true experts. I have spent time in art forums consisting of hundreds of active members, all of whom are extremely competent, and it can be a very intimidating experience for the beginner. Now this isn't the fault of the forum or its members. Most of them are extremely friendly people. But it is very hard for a raw beginner to proudly show off their latest masterpiece when everyone around them is already extremely competent and all-knowing. To show off your latest endeavour amongst a very small group of people of similar standard is far less intimidating and far more enjoyable and encouraging.

To inspire. That is one of the objectives of my forum. We have ongoing painting and drawing projects designed to encourage you to learn by comparing your own efforts with that of others. And fun projects such as our Picture Puzzle which are not to be taken too seriously at all. What do you mean, you wouldn't be able to paint a square for the puzzle? Bet you could!!! Some of the squares in that puzzle have been created by non-painters who joined in just for the fun of it. Honestly.

So if you've ever fancied having a go at painting, please consider joining the forum. Though we are not experts, we help each other along very nicely and there is not one member who won't tell you how much progress they have made just by being able to share and join in with others of similar standard. Encouragement, enthusiasm and enjoyment are there in abundance in a non-threatening, non-intimidating, warm and friendly environment.

If you want to know more before registering then please use the Contact Form on my main site.

Painting is a relaxing, enjoyable and rewarding pastime regardless of how good the end result. Have-a-go today.

No longer babies

Well, here they are, caught basking in the orange glow of the setting sun. They sit together in my Pear tree, comfortable in their 'togetherness'. Are they brothers, sisters or one of each? LOL ... although I have to admit, whenever I look at them I can't help but think "Laurel and Hardy". Whatever they are, they have been a joy to watch and I feel most privileged to have been able to observe their start in life.

Leaving the Nest

JOY OF JOYS!!!

I looked in on the nest this morning and saw .... MUM!!! Then something moved a couple of yards away, and that's when I saw the youngster. Trying to walk along a branch, moving his wings much as tight rope walker uses his arms to keep his balance. I didn't want to get to close for fear of scaring him, and climbing my usual tree would have surely done that. The blasted sun was behind him, which made photo's difficult but, thanks to Spot Metering, I managed this passable photo of the young Pigeon contemplating the height of his perch, and the hardness of the ground below.

The movie, though small and dark, shows the awkward and clumsy manner he moves around, much like a human baby taking it's first steps. Tentative mini-flights from one branch to another, with tricky landings that almost have him toppling head first off the branch. I also love the way he sits on the branch 'twitching' his shoulders up and down almost as if practicing to fly in his mind.

I could have watched for hours but I was already late to the office, so had no choice but to leave mum and her youngster to their adventures. No doubt there'll be no sign of them when I get home this evening. I would have loved to have stayed long enough to try and record his first flight, but it wasn't to be. It's been a fascinating few weeks watching this chappy grow from an egg and I feel very privileged. I intend to make a web page on my site about the Wood Pigeons to which I shall add more pictures and video

Only One

It's almost over now. This evening I looked out and the nest looked emptier than usual. Though it was nearly dark I grabbed my camera and went aloft. Sure enough, there is only one baby now. Looking very sad and lonely (though I suspect that's just me attaching a human emotion to a bird).

As he/she looked out forlornly over my neighbours garden, I fired off a few shots. The result is far from good as I had to use maximum aperture (f4.5 on full zoom) and maximum film speed (ISO3200). Still, it is one of those shots I'd like to have regardless of it's quality.