The first progress capture for a Brushes Painting
After much correction this nude is starting to take form. It is part of my prep work for the next life drawing sessions…I want to try and do a much better fist of things than I did last week. One of the ways to do this is to practice – hence this Brushes painting.
OOh lover boy…
Oh we all have them…days where you just can’t get going. Days where everything is such an effort. Well today is one of them – yesterday everything was so easy – today..well that was the case until I watched another from the wonderful series What do artists do all day. This episode was about the one man show that is John Byrne. The man is clearly a force of nature and I suddenly felt the need to make an image of him.
I have made images of him before and every time it is rewarding. I’ve now finished and suddenly all the energy has washed away but whilst working on this painting I felt alive – now I’m feeling my age. Still the good thing about all this is that I know tomorrow it will be different again. Oh raindrops keep falling on my head.
She really sweet the kind of girl you’d want to meet…
I don’t think I could put it better…this is just what I need to reinstall my faith in my own ability. I ohhh ohhh ohhh…
Another hours or so working on this this morning…she is starting to take shape.
Well she is starting to slowly come together…but I think I’ve done enough for one day.
As a means of proving to myself that I actually can still do it I decided to make a painting of a similar pose as the art life drawing last night. Needless to say the type of images I found when searching for Nude Woman Sitting weren’t how the model sat yesterday. Eventually I found something with is a rough approximation to last night.
Of course I can take my time with this which is not a luxury I have at the life drawing sessions. Also the model won’t keep moving which is a bit of a bonus!
Last night I had a pretty horrible experience. I went to a life drawing session and for my sins I decided to use my iPad instead of more traditional materials and methods. Well this caused quite a stir, not in any negative way, but rather a stir of interest from the other people attending. Now whilst it was nice to get the interest after a while I found the whole thing wearing and slowly my ability flow away. In the end the drawing I made was awful and I must admit I felt like giving up this whole art business. I know I know this was a total over reaction but that is the way I am.
Digital Painting Based on the Idris character
This morning after a good nights sleep thing didn’t seem anything like as bad. Yet I felt I needed to do something to try and purge the negative feelings so I sat down and created this painting, which I really like. Suddenly I believe I have a some talent, even if it isn’t ever apparent in group sessions all though as I write these words I have to ask “so what?” Digital painting gives me a real buzz and I think I finally starting to develop a style which is beyond just copying. Pip Pip.
So it is now a few days after the vote in the House of Commons not to get involved in whatever might or might not be the American response to whatever did or didn’t happen in Syria. For my part I suspect that the Syrian government was involved in some way – as to how official that involvement was I haven’t got a clue. The use of chemical weapons is appalling but that really isn’t the point here. The point of my objection to this whole sorry mess is that we don’t understand what the hell this is all about and for the west to stick their size 12’s in would only make matters worse. It certainly won’t ‘send the message’ that we want.
Yet already some of our armchair warriors are trying to rewrite the vote in Parliament. Things have changed they argue, we now know more…perhaps we should have another vote… All of this is nonsense just as the original red lines were nonsense.
Just to show how complicated things are I would ask that you read the following article.
Now I don’t know any of the circumstances as to what actually happened and whether the hyperbole used in the article is actually correct but if there is a red line in Syria why not Iraq? I’m sure that is what many of the people who hate the west so much will be asking and at times it is hard to argue against this.
War is horrible. I’m of the lucky generation who have not had to face the horrors of war unless I chose to. I do believe that there are red lines that once crossed violent action must be taken, with or with out international agreement. I just believe that you really need to know what you are trying to achieve and are willing to fully commit to it. If not then don’t try and mess around in things that you have no idea what the outcome will be.
I hope this is the last time I feel the need to write about this whole sorry mess. I hope and pray that some sort of solution comes to the ancient and wonderful country of Syria. I don’t believe that will be soon and will only happen when the Syrians want it to. It won’t be helped by tossing a few missiles or bombing a few targets by forces that don’t really know what they are getting themselves into.
| “…Britain has done great damage to its reputation as a reliable ally and a robust defender of liberty…” so thundered the leading article in The Times this morning. It seems that Britain is now not able to pretend that its view matters. So we should all feel a great sense of loss because the British parliament has spoken and stopped a Prime Minister going to war, sorry limited military action.
At the moment there is great hand ringing about damages to the special relationship with America. However, when you look at this relationship it would seem to be special only on one side, ours – the British. To the Americans I suspect it is an important diplomatic one but when push comes to shove the one thing that matters to the American’s is their own interests and not the ‘special relationship’. In other words if it is not in American interests then they won’t do something. I am sure that there are many areas that the American/British relationship is very close but hardly ‘special’. An example of this would be the level of evidence needed to extradite suspects from one country to the other. The level is much higher on the American side when compared to the British. If the relationship was ‘special’ then surely both levels would be the same – we do, after all share the same legal processes based on Common Law. As for permanently damaging the relationship I would just say Vietnam. In the 1960s Britain refused to be part of that nasty little war even though great pressure was put on them. We had, after all, still had some interest in the South Asia arena yet Britain never got involved. Some how the relationship survived – mainly because Britain was America’s unsinkable aircraft carrier against the USSR so were excused Vietnam. Again, the special relationship meant what was in America’s interest. So today Britain sits in a diminished position in the world. Apparently we have lost some of the power of our voice. What we say no longer counts or perhaps what Britain has said counts more than is thought by the people who think we should still be a world policeman. Just perhaps when the dust has settled it will be seen that it was the voice of common sense because as yet no one seems to be able to explain why a few tonnes of explosives will make any difference in a civil war of many kilo tonnes – in fact as I write this the headlines of the New York Times have flashed saying that support is slipping at home for such military actions. (When you you read the articles it is not easy to miss that the American people are just a sceptical as the British yet their President wants to fire a few missiles to save face and because “something must be done”. They do raise the interesting point about what will the American’s do were the Assad government to use chemical weapons again) This action appears to be more about politicians feeling they need to do something to save face. No one thinks it will change anything in the civil war, other than kill a few unsuspecting people who had not moved away from the likely targets (ordinary people) and the symbolism will probably make matters worse. Given this view the all of a sudden the vote in the British parliament has got a voice in the world and just perhaps that voice is the one of sanity against bombing people for no real purpose. There is already too much of that going on at the moment anyway. Sent from Yahoo! Mail for iPad |
So today was a big field trip day – well actually it wasn’t quite but almost. We took a day out and just happened to visit sites that were of interest to my historical research. Yes I did suggest we take a day out and yes I did suggest where we went but honest my wife enjoyed herself. Really??
So the first stop on this magical mystery tour was Tutbury Castle – a wonderful Norman pile over looking beautiful rolling Staffordshire and Derbyshire countryside and the River Dove. Beyond the Dove in the distance are the peaks of Derbyshire Peak District. So long as you look north and west the view are pretty good. Look east and you see a large Toyota car factory and Ratcliffe Power Station and the A50, which runs along the valley is hidden in its own woodlands. So the views mainly are pretty good.
The view from the castle dow to the Nestle factory
The Norman Motte at Tutbury
Now it is perhaps not the most scientific way to judge whether any establishment or attraction is any good but I always use the Gluten test. It is very simple. You go to the cafe or restaurant and ask “What have you got that is gluten free?” If the person serving looks at you like you are speaking in tongues or simply dismisses you with “We don’t do gluten free” – If I have that response then the place isn’t worth the trouble. However, if the response is that they have several products or, better still, the chef will ensure that what ever you word is gluten free then you know the establishment is worth considering.
Tutbury Castle I’m sorry to say failed with the person in the little coffee shop come restaurant looking blankly, shock her head and said, “We don’t have anything gluten free.” I was ready to walk out but wife said it was alright as she had brought a gluten free snack bar with her.
So bad marks to Tutbury Castle. It got even worse when you walked around the place. There were no signs explaining many of the features. Occasionally you would get some half worn out notice but most of the features were just blank. Now I’m sure if you bought the guide this might help but we had already paid to get in and the least we could expect are informative signs outside by each of the features. Fortunately, I was able to bore my wife rigid with lots of details but she likes to read about these things and not just listen to me…she gets plenty of opportunity to do that!
So Tutbury castle is interesting if you already know what you’re looking at and also know about it connection with Mary, Queen of Scots, this is where she was caught smuggling messages in beer kegs from nearby Burton on Trent. It was also a stop off on her last journey to meet the executioner’s block.
After this we went to the National Trust property at Sudbury Hall. Now the National Trust is one of the best organisations for accommodating people who need to have a gluten free diet and Sudbury was no exception. What hadn’t taken account of was that it has a museum of Childhood and so the place was really busy with young kids running around the place.
However, few of the children were being taken around the hall itself and this was it usual mix of history and amazement at what people with too much money will spend it on. The main stair case at Sudbury is a riot but totally over the top.
After this it was across the Needwood Forest, passing Loxley, always associated with Robin of Loxley AKA Robin Hood (although South Yorkshire probably has a much better claim) and Chartley Castle, another place where Mary Queen of Scotts had been incarcerated and then back home.
All round a grand day out, even if Tutbury Castle spoilt things somewhat, and I’ve got loads of new information to sift through for my historical research.
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