Three in Progress

I've been working on three new paintings this week. Well more than that if you include the several drawings and paintings I attempted at our Life Drawing session on Tuesday.

Each of the pieces has been troublesome, I don't know why. I suppose I expected them to be easy and arty and to flow off the brush! It must've been my frame of mind - dissatisfied with myself.

I've taken photos of the 'work in progress' as I often do, to help me think about them; but I'll only show you one of them here because it's the only one that excites me.

And that's the key. I have to be excited about a piece to feel as if it's worth finishing and showing.

Seated Woman (Unfinished)

The Fabulous Challenge

It might seem as if I haven't been painting much lately, if you look at the dates on my blog posts, but I'm an artist, writer and maker - and making was dominating a good deal of my time during December and the early part of January. Obviously I made a few small gifts for special people but there was one big challenge that I took on, the client thankfully saying there was no hurry for it to be completed by Christmas, nor for the finished garment to be a pristine item of perfection. The challenge was to design and make a leather shirt from five supplied skins.

  There were a number of constraints in using this fine, light coloured leather. I couldn't use pins; I couldn't tack things into place before sewing; and I couldn't go wrong because every hole from the needle would show! It was a godsend that my trusty old sewing machine actually seemed to like working on the leather and presented me with no tangles, missed stitches or problems with tension.

I used a contrasting colour of thread and made the stitching an integral part of the design, based on a favourite denim shirt - I built the sleeves from scratch as the original had none. The client wanted slits instead of thick cumbersome cuffs so they looked good with the stitching.

And here is the finished shirt. A work of art!

Experiments are the best!

Here are some of the latest pieces I've been working on.

This is called Ribbons of Waves and is just being shelved until I decide whether it's finished or not.

This little painting is oil on card and reminds me of something like '39 Steps'. It seems to be keeping well, given that it was an experiment.  Experiments are the best!

Ready for an experiment with sky and clouds, perhaps.

And here is the underpainting, the beginnings of an oil painting of a view from Morrone: one of the hills near Braemar.

Plans

I'm a bit shocked to realise my last post here was 22nd December as it feels like only a few days ago... I have moved on, somewhat, of course, painted more (might show you soon) and have a few plans for the year beginning to take form in my head. As an artist I have always needed to have something creative 'frying in the pan' so to speak, even when the artistry was more of the writerly kind; and dates, deadlines, appointments with myself have always been important hurdles to aim for.


I'm old-hand enough to know that it's useful to help make things happen so I've booked myself another slot for a display in the library 'shop window' for September 2011. I'll plan the exhibition to make more of the space and ensure the paintings on offer are the right size and style to appeal to buyers whilst ensuring I adhere to my artistic integrity and enjoy the doing.

I have several other ideas and plans up my sleeve and would love to join up with other people to exhibit in some unconventional and exceptional ways, so if you've any thoughts - get in touch! 

This year I want to further explore the abstract genre whilst hitting on the stunning beauty of Scotland's sunshine, sea and sky. Hmm, not much to expect then.