Artist Showcase

It is time for me to update my Artist Showcase again. Though normally a facility taken up by my forum members, on this occasion (as some of you have figured out) the 'victim' this time as a good blog-follower friend of many of us, Barbra Joan Araneo.

Most of you will already be familiar with Barbra Joan's work through our blogs, but if any of my visitors are not familiar with her, then please visit my Showcase and see her fine watercolours and stunning pencil drawings for yourself.

As always, if any of my blog followers would like to be showcased, please use this contact form to get in touch.

More than just a game.

Once upon a time, my Father taught me to play Draughts.

He explained the moves,
forwards not back,
diagonal not straight,
jump over a piece to take it,
get to the other side to be King'd
then become all-powerful and move all ways.
And we played our game,
our one-sided game,
as I floundered without strategy or purpose.
He did his best to let me win
but his task was hopeless.

And time passed by ...

And we played again, my Father and I.
I had an idea of what I was doing but lacked skill.
It was no longer annihilation.
Bless him he tried to let me win.
Sharp intakes of breath accompanied with
eyebrows raised as if to say "are you sure?"
"You'll regret that"
"Not the best move you can make"
as he did all he could to steer me towards victory.
Yes, I won but he worked hard to accomplish it.

And time passed by ...

And we played again, my Father and I.
I was confident in my strategy,
yet play as good as I could
his skills were greater than mine.
No false victories now.
No quarter spared.
No hints given.
Man against man
and the better man won.

And time passed by ...

And we played again, my Father and I.
It was close.
Very close.
Sometimes he would win,
sometimes I would win.
Single Kings chasing each other,
trying to win,
trying not to lose,
trying to avoid stalemate
yet preferring it to defeat.
Two opponents equally matched.

And time passed by ...

And we played again, my Father and I.
He was confident in his strategy yet
play as good as he could
my skills were greater than his.
No false victories now.
No quarter spared.
No hints given.
Man against man
and the better man lost.

And time passed by ...

And we played again, my Father and I.
He had an idea of what he was doing but lacked skill.
Not annihilation but close
as I tried to let him win.
Sharp intakes of breath accompanied with
eyebrows raised as if to say "are you sure?"
"You'll regret that"
"Not the best move you can make"
as I did all I could to steer him towards victory.
Yes, he won but I worked hard to accomplish it.

And as time passes by ...

I hope we will play again, my Father and I.
Could it be that I shall need to explain the moves?
Forwards not back,
diagonal not straight,
jump over a piece to take it,
get to the other side to be King'd
then become all-powerful and move all ways.
And shall we play our game,
our one-sided game,
as he flounders without strategy or purpose.
I will do my best to let him win
but will my task be hopeless?

Playing Draughts with my Father is more than just a game.


Written with deep affection for a great man.

Miniature

In some ways I'm disappointed with this latest painting as it's a bit too 'rough and ready'. On the other hand, I'm quite pleased with the overall effect as it is only 3" x 2" in size. I don't know if there is a generally recognised size that defines 'miniature' but if this doesn't qualify, it's certainly very small.

I found working with watercolour quite interesting at this scale as there just isn't the same scope for running out the water. It was all to easy to just deposit a drop of paint on the paper and find it bound by its own surface tension. Working drier than normal seemed to be the best way.

The other problem I had was actually seeing what I was doing. I have to take my glasses off to see things very close up but I was copying this painting from a reference photo on my computer. I can't see my computer monitor very well without my glasses and I couldn't see my painting properly with them. So most of the time I had a brush in my right hand and my specs in the left.

It was another of those things I wanted to try, and I enjoyed doing it. Might have a go at something smaller next.

Portmeirion

My plans to spend more time painting took a set back, both because of unexpected events offline and, of course, the crash of my web sites which took several days to reinstate. However, I've finally taken up pen and brush to do this Line and Wash of Portmeirion in North Wales.

Portmeirion was a very small settlement until 1925 when it was aquired by architect Clough Williams-Ellis. He soon began building and converting cottages, and many were found in other locations and transported brick by brick. Williams-Ellis wanted to prove that architecture didn't need to ruin the landscape but could be sympathetic with it, and you don't need to be there long to see that buildings and landscape are in perfect harmony.

Portmeirion is most famous as the setting for the 1960's TV series "The Prisoner" starring Patrick McGoohan. The unusual shapes and colours of the buildings create a surreal and idyllic environment.

Winter blues?

Not me! Here in the UK (he says, bearing in mind that our cyberworld is truly global), we still have a lot of winter to get through, and in some area's the worst of the snow and bad weather is still to come. It's all to easy to stay indoors in the belief that spring is a long way off. 

Having just spent a delightful couple of hours in my garden, sucking up fallen leaves and clearing away dead and rotten foliage from deciduous plants, I couldn't help but notice the signs that spring is coming. Some trees and plants just seem too impatient to wait for the better weather. 

With the birds whistling and singing, and buds forming in the Lilac's and Ribes, the rebirth that our gardens experience every spring is already clearly evident. The Verbena's have already formed clusters of small flower buds and their dark green leaves look just a little less weary than they did. 

I found Ladybird sheltering on this one so carefully took her into my greenhouse where she'll be much warmer. She'll repay me later when all those nasty aphids try to make my young cuttings their home.

The Snowdrops have been busily pushing up their new green shoots since Christmas and the first of the flower buds are now visible. Another week should see some of them opening, and a couple of weeks from now, they will be in their element. As usual, I will be out there with my camera, getting down in amongst them.

So whereas the first half of winter is about watching our gardens die off into hibernation, the second half is about awakening, new growth and the promise of a joyful spring just around the corner.

Old Fishing Boat

Probably my favourite medium, certainly at this time, is soluble pen. I just fancied doing a quickie sketch and was trying to think of a subject when a friend posted a photograph of an old fishing boat on another forum. The biggest problem I have with sketches like this is leaving them alone. I see lots of pen lines and brush strokes that cause me to think "why did I do that?" and there is this massive urge to pick up my pen and try to correct things. I think the technical term is 'fiddle'.

977,656 and counting

That's the present number of 'hits' I've had to my main web site to date. It means I am only a couple of weeks away from receiving my 1 millionth hit. Phew!

Of course, in internet terms 1 million isn't a huge number. Google eats up millions by the bucketful and there are lots of sites out there that would think nothing of getting a million hits over the course of a few days, weeks or months, but at my end of the spectrum ... the small home-made hobbyist site, it's a different matter.

I built my site in order to encourage people to have-a-go at painting. I've never professed to be any good at it, but it's very enjoyable nonetheless, and that's the message I want to send out into the world wide web ... that it's great fun no matter what level you're at.

My main site is now only one of many I own. As a result of feedback I was getting from my site I set up an Art Forum to encourage beginners to at least try. I made a site called "Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra" introducing 5-10 year olds to the instruments of the orchestra. I receive much mail from readers of my "Fuchsia" pages, and I've incorporated another of my hobbies by including photographs of my year round garden. I've set up a separate site as a platform for the sale of my art, though I'm not sure I will continue with that.

An exciting feature I added a while ago is the "Artist Showcase" where I like to showcase the work of a chosen artist. I'm presently displaying the work of one of my forum 'beginners' and this gives me a buzz because this lady, in the autumn of her years, dare not ever have dreamt that one day her paintings would be seen by other artists, let alone lots of them from all corners of the globe. And I'm equally 'buzzing' over the fact that one of my blog followers is the next artist in the frame and their Showcase will be launched around the end of the month. Which follower? Well you'll just have to wait and see.

But for now I watch my stats eagerly as I try to predict exactly when I will hit that landmark first million. Who will be the person who makes the one millionth hit? Will it be someone we know? Watch this space!!!