Just when will the sun shine again?

Posted on January 26, 2018 by Guthlac

January is in many ways the worst month of the winter.   We have had all the head excitement of the Christmas period to help us through the shortest days.  Now we have nothing to help lighten the the grey heavy skies. Deep joy.

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Old dog new tricks…

Posted on January 22, 2018 by Guthlac

If it is Monday then it must be time for my latest art class and I was genuinely surprised, no that makes me sound arrogant,  but certainly informed.  Not by the class itself but the discussion about art history.  It all revolved around my understanding of the influence of Titian on Hans Holbein the younger.  I have always thought that Holbein was far more of a Northern renaissance artist artest rather than one how came under the influence of the Italian renaissance and in particular Titian .   Well after the class I went away and hit the books and   it turns out that Titian really did have far greater influence on Holbein than I thought.   So that made the class worth while (it is always satisfying to learn something new). If only the same could be said about the painting  as it stands – however I have next week to improve things – lets hope it  does the trick.

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Hibernation

Posted on January 21, 2018 by Guthlac

Still got a bit of a Diego Velázquez vibe going on at the moment…only just a little though.   Mid January is a real bummer.   All around where I live there are storms, blizzards and frosts yet here we seem to get mainly …well how to describe it?   Grey.   Now don’t get me wrong I really don’t want bad weather here nor anywhere else for that matter but January whether does seem to be depressing.   Today we started with snow and now it is just melting into a mush which only makes things greyer.   The only good thing to mention about today is that it has 2 minutes extra light than yesterday.  I don’t like January.

 Certainly not a stairway to heaven.

 

 

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Today Mathew I’ll be called….

Posted on January 15, 2018 by Guthlac

 

If it’s Monday then it is time for my painting class.   This was my version of Portrait of Juan from Pareja by Diego Velázquez.   As a painting exercise I’m quite pleased with the result but as a copy of the original?   I’m really not at all sure whether there is much validity in that question as this was an exercise exploring a limited tonal range – in this case between black and white rather than making an absolute copy – for one thing this sketch was made in just under two and half hours using acrylic paints – neither restrictions I am sure were placed on Velázquez!   Equally the large photocopy I was using was deliberately degraded to make the exploration of the tonal range easier.   And of course there is the simple fact that Velázquez was a genius painter and I’m not.  Given all these caveats I’m pleased with what I produced.

It is not the first time I have attempted to copy Velázquez.   These are from a few years ago but nonetheless I’m pleased with the results.  These of course were created using Brushes on the iPad rather than paints.   This has lead me to ask the very simple question:  Why do I create these images?   Well the simple answer is because they give me great pleasure and satisfaction.   I have no real desire to do anything with my art than to improve and satisfy myself and given those narrow goals I think all of these paintings work in their own right.

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Or not to be.

Posted on January 14, 2018 by Guthlac

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To Be?

Posted on January 14, 2018 by Guthlac

 

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I would like a place I could call my own….

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Guthlac

It is January so that means I get my watercolors out…not sure why that is but there does seem some strange correlation.

 

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Ley Lines….

Posted on January 9, 2018 by Guthlac

A new year – a new course.   Oh the joys of adult education – worn out equipment and cheap materials.   Actually things aren’t as bad as that but it did mean that I was stuck with a drawing board with lines of paint or masking tape stuck to it which can be seen in the final drawing.   I could have taken steps to overcome this but for reason I won’t bore anyone with I didn’t.  Instead I decided to embrace to the defects – which most of us have to do most of our lives so I guess it could be argued that they add a certain allegorical truth to the drawing….Perhaps.

 

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Formidable cool…

Posted on January 7, 2018 by Guthlac

 

New year new challanges

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No One Knows….

Posted on January 1, 2018 by Guthlac

I think I must becoming more bar humbug as a I get older or is it just  that I don’t care anymore who knows what I feel about something or another (My family will probably rightly point out that they have had to suffer this for years but that is another story!)  Last night I went to bed at the usual time only to be woken by the midnight fireworks.  ‘Happy New Year’ they cried out.  ‘Rejoice’ they said.  But I have been on this earth too long and seen too many things to know that for many of our fellow citizens the new year is something not to rejoice but rather to fear as it is a continuation of the hell they have been living through.

So if you get something out of celebrating the New Year then I’m happy for you.  I don’t and if you want to say bar humbug to me then please do.

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