9 Skies

When I opened out the huge canvas with all the different skies painted on it, the sight was quite breathtaking. I wanted to hang it up outside! There were some visitors here at the time and they pointed to the skies they liked best, then changed their minds ... it was great fun.

For the moment it will be tucked away but at a later date I might try adding the silhouettes they cry out for - a bird here, a steeple there - but for the moment I'm happy to have just experimented and be able to use the results in skies for my paintings in the here and now.

A Memorable Quote

"God works through the artist to open His children's eyes" ~ Cyril Hamersma

Sky 5

Skies are delicate, subtle, gentle, translucent, iridescent. Acrylic paint does cope with them but a heavy, gritty support to paint on really is not conducive to conveying the soft brilliance that moves above us all the time.



This sky was never going to be what I wanted it to be but it was a useful experience to create it. I decided to stop here rather than add more paint as we can all see what sort of sky I'm after.

Sky 4

I had a headache yesterday UNTIL I did some painting and within minutes it had gone away, as if washed out of my bloodstream.



This sky was urgent and necessary, to restore my faith in my painting after yesterday's naive output (and other work hampered by many interruptions). It hasn't completely worked as a sky but was a very useful experiment.

I also started another experiment on a small canvas which I might show you when all the stages are photographed.

New visitors might like to note that if you follow my blog and comment (say hello!) I will send you a free e-book entitled "I Wish I Could Be Artistic". It's very liberating and good fun.

Sky 3 - Some you Win....

...some you lose. Sky 3 isn't much to look at but it was magnificent in the sky! Clear blue, very simple; with a pale grey, pink-lined cloud hovering gently like a balloon.



It was my day off and I was so lucky with the weather. I drove down the coast to visit some of the other artists' Open Studios. I knew I couldn't do justice for this simple sky but experimented on the rough canvas surface with some pastels followed by fixative, then acrylic paint.

Looks like it was done by a three year year old but that's nothing to be ashamed of!

Sky 2

NEOS visitors are arriving in a steady flow so that I'm able to talk to them individually, which is good. I'm also getting plenty of breaks in between, giving me time to get on with painting and today's sky was a lovely, messy experiment. The lady who turned up while my hands were still mucky from this one said, "Oh that's lovely," - meaning the painting, not my messy hands.




Although the photos don't look too good, this exercise is a great experience in experimenting to find effects that I might use more seriously on 'proper' paintings at a later date.

Paint a Sky a Day

I've run out of canvases & boards and run out of space until I sell a few paintings so my project for the nine days here in the studio for NEOS is to paint a Sky a Day. It was recommended by the 19th Century artist Sir Alfred East Sir Alfred East and I'm doing it in 9 separate rectangles on a mural-sized canvas screen I made ( a while ago) to hang from the staircase. Every work of art is an experiment and each of these will be no exception!



The constraints I felt immediately are: working on non-stretched canvas means the creases will dictate some of the texture; it's hard work covering it as it's more absorbent (less well primed than professional canvases); cumbersome to handle and even more prone to the problems I have in my room with the light - too much or too little.

And I thought this would be a GENTLE challenge.

Signs and invitations

It uses a different part of the brain to have to think about signs and advertising instead of actually creating artwork, although both are creative skills. My stronger half, i.e.,my husband, put his mind to my Open Studio challenge and has created a sign to go outside the house. I can put posters and pictures on it to entice people in, and change the display as often as I like. It is waterproofed and can be put in place each day and taken down again but is firm enough to withstand all weathers.

Look out for my sign! I am No. 179 in the NEOS (North East Open Studios) brochure where you'll find my opening times.

Dancing with Colour

I am delighted to have a new follower who is so likeminded she could be my sister - doh! she IS my sister. I am proud to refer you to Impasto Studio and, especially if you're an artist, pick up her hints on working with paint. Like me, she learned a lot from the wise and prolific Hamersma.

Fran Hillman is a talented and committed artist in her own right and is the co-author/artist at www.thetreasuretree.co.uk , an interactive, animated teaching resource. Great fun for adults too! (And beautiful.)