This is just a quick post today, to keep you up to date with what I have been painting- Flash. So have a look at my latest 16 by 20 inch acrylic composition. To be honest, I am getting really comfortable with this size of paper. To explain ,it’s not so small as to cramp my gestural style of painting. And also, it’s not so large that it seems a bit of a chore to cover all the canvas with paint. Hopefully, you can see what I mean . In addition, the paintings are done more quickly. And I do enjoy finishing off a piece in roughly three sessions. But sometimes I like to take my time and develop a piece gradually. Perhaps, it’s a sign of the times that I am too restless to commit to anything that will take more time and concentration. I wonder if anyone else has felt that the Covid situation has altered their art practice?
Artist’s Inspiration for Flash
The idea for this piece literally came to me ‘ in a flash ‘ ! Suddenly , I saw some red, zigzag flashes on a beautiful, blue sky. Apparently, there was also some kind of ocean wave or strange sort of rolling landscape underneath it all . So , I just picked up my paintbrushes and started ! I must make it clear that I don’t create all my abstracts in this way. Actually, I might write a post all about it soon – so stay tuned ! Click here to see more abstracts, intuitive or otherwise !
Flash
Please don’t forget, all of my art is for sale at reasonable prices. This painting is acrylic on paper, 16 by 20 inches . It’s unframed and without a mount. I’m selling it at £60 plus shipping. And I’m based in the UK. If you feel like treating yourself . So, go to the Contact Me page and send me an email for more details.
We spent a glorious morning sketching at Wentworth village yesterday. And I wanted to concentrate on the tower of the Old Church. As you can see , the sky was a brilliant blue and cloudless for a couple of hours. However, I don’t think I captured the full effect of the brightness of the colour with a quick watercolour sketch. ( about 20 minutes ) . But I was pleased with my attempt at painting the soft, glowing sandstone. In fact , you can see a more detailed description of a sketchcrawl at the old church here . That’s when I sat in the shady churchyard and painted the gravestones and a monument. It’s great to be going out plein air sketching with some of my art buddies again .
This is just a quick post to show you my latest acrylic semi – abstract painting . You might remember that I have recently ‘ gone large ‘ . That means that I have started painting on bigger canvases and sheets of paper . In fact , this composition Flowers in the Rain is 16 by 20 inches on good watercolour paper
Going Large with Flowers in the Rain
You might think that this isn’t very large . But , you see I felt sort of blocked earlier on this year with all the worrying things that were happening. So now , I feel a bit more relaxed and I am revelling in using paint freely on bigger supports . And , I do hope you can see that joyfulness in this flower picture.
Flowers in the Rain – a close up of the beautiful yellow begonia .
Interestingly , I was fascinated by the soft , folded petals of the large bloom that I indicated here . In fact , I got so carried away with painting it , that it grew larger and larger !
Flowers in the Rain – detail of a deep purple pansy glistening in the rain .
To tell the truth , my main inspiration for this piece was the way that the drizzle intensified the colours . The leaves and flowers in the rain were sparkling with light ! I even allowed this to spread onto the fence panels in the background. Of course, they were really a dullish brown . If you want to see some more paintings of lovely flowers, just go to my gallery here .
All my paintings are for sale at reasonable prices. I’m selling this painting for £50 , including shipping in the UK . It’s 16 by 20 inches ( which is not too big , or too small ) . The piece is unframed , so you can choose your own frame . And I think that most people prefer this . If it really calls out you and you need to have it , just send me an email by using the form on the contact page
The lovely people at the Skelmanthorpe Community Library Gallery have given me the opportunity to display my work on their Facebook page here . I’m the featured artist for a fortnight with one of my online exhibitions ! They are doing their very best to support and showcase local artists during the pandemic . I’m sure that as soon as it is safe , the gallery will be open again. Until then , we can enjoy taking part and also looking at other artists’ work in this way .
The Piece Hall – in my online exhibition
A detail from The Piece Hall watercolour sketch
The Piece Hall is a very famous site in Halifax, West Yorkshire. It is a Grade 1 listed building . It was the place where handloom weavers sold their pieces of woollen cloth in the 18th Century. As you can see , the building itself is very beautiful . So I couldn’t resist standing on the first floor balcony and doing a small watercolour sketch . Afterwards , at home I used the sketch as a reference along with a couple of postcards to create this larger piece . But , I worked fairly quickly and tried to keep the plein air feeling .
A Reworking of an Old Acrylic Painting – now in one of my online exhibitions
Coffee and Cake
Perhaps you have seen this acrylic painting in one of my blog posts . Or , if not , you might want to go and have a look at the story behind the picture here.
A Spring Painting in one of my Online Exhibitions
Snowdrops
I painted this acrylic painting just after Christmas, earlier this year for the Springtime in Yorkshire exhibition at Skelmanthorpe Gallery . But of course , as it was due to open in March it was cancelled due to the pandemic . So , it was a great chance to show the picture in my featured fortnight on the Village Art Facebook page in one of my online exhibitions. It shows a figure ( my husband actually ) on a cold day in February, admiring the Snowdrops in the big rockery at Wentworth Castle Gardens . This is a beautiful place where we quite often like to walk.
Art for Sale
All of these paintings, along with eleven more , are available to see on the display on Village Art Facebook page and to buy . If you see anything you like , send me an email , using the form on the Contact Me page
The Lockdown Art Exhibition
Family
And , finally , I was so pleased to be included in this Fronteerlockdown art exhibition on Instagram. This is my intuitive abstract and I’ve called it ‘Family’. You see , Fronteer are a husband and wife team who promote the arts in Sheffield see here. You certainly ought to look up the whole exhibition on Instagram if you can . It’s top class and , if I’m lucky , I might be included in the real life show selection as soon as it can be staged in their Gallery. I’m keeping my fingers crossed ! That’s all the news on my online exhibitions for now , but , I’ll keep you posted !
We have been working very hard in the garden for a few weeks now . The summer season is in full swing and the crops are growing furiously in this weather . The glorious sunshine and lots of rain have certainly helped ! There’s lots of inspiration for painting plants.
Taking a Break – Painting Plants
Drawing Runner Beans
I don’t often find time to take a break when we are up at the allotment . There are always so many chores to do at this time of year . But , I couldn’t resist it any longer and I just had to draw the tangle of leaves and flowers twining their way up the garden canes ! As you can see in the sketch above , I did a working sketch of the runner beans . To explain , the sketch is a quick record of the scene – about twenty minutes. And it is intended as a reference for me to use later when I have time to do a larger painting.
Drawing Runner Beans – a close up
My Notes on Painting Plants
Hopefully , you can read the notes that I scribbled on my drawing here . They are just reminders of the colours for when I paint the bigger picture . I do also take one or two photos , but the memory of actually drawing this first will be more useful to me . I did observe the shapes of the leaves and flowers quite carefully too .
Tangled vegetation
Spring Flowers
I have been quite fascinated by tangled leaves and flowers for a couple of years now . In this mixed media painting of flowers in a windowbox above , I tried to show the crowding of the plants in a small space . And the painting at the top of the page is my impression of how I felt after a walk in a wood in early summer last year. There was a real jungle of growth and I just had to spend some time painting plants . So much inspiration and so little time ! ( see more abstract flower paintings here )
Runner Beans in Colour
I took ten minutes later on in the day to add some watercolour to my runner beans . To be honest , I haven’t decided yet whether to turn this into a semi abstracted composition or a design . Stay tuned to find out !
We went for a lovely walk last Friday at Worsbrough Mill .The day was very hot , so this shady spot was just perfect for open air sketching . I always carry a small sketching kit when I go into the countryside . For me , sketching means using watercolour with perhaps a simple pencil or pen sketch first . But quite often I draw with the paintbrush to get everything into position and then , the best bit , add the colour .This took about twenty minutes .You see , the idea is , not to produce the best finished sketch you ever did , but to make an on the spot record of the scene .
Outdoor Sketching Kit
It’s quite simple really , I fill a medium sized pencil case with a few pens and pencils , plus an eraser and a sharpener . Then I take my little watercolour set . It has twelve colours and the lid of the case is my palette. Three brushes is enough , I find . I use a little plastic travel bottle with screw top for water . The sketch books I take are mainly decent watercolour paper , two different sizes : 10 by 7 inch or , my favourite, 8 by 5 inches .This is quite small , I know , but then there is a good chance of getting the painting finished .
Open Air Sketching at the Res
This is a simple phone snap , nothing fancy , just something to record the scene . I can also refer to it if I decide to use this little study and paint a larger picture of the subject in watercolour or acrylic .
A Shady Spot
The reservoir as Hokusai might have painted it .
The Great Wave at Worsbrough Reservoir
There’s a long story attached to this painting – for all the details , seehere . But the short version is : this is my favourite beauty spot re-imagined with ‘The Great Wave ‘ appearing on it . It’s my tribute to the great Japanese artist Hokusai ( 1760 – 1849). Just to end on a lighter , more whimsical note !
Why do we do open air sketching ?
Good question .Firstly, I love the freshness of my work when I paint with the subject directly in front of me ( not from a photo ) . Secondly , finishing it quickly like this improves my drawing skills . And , of course , it’s really enjoyable !
Last week I was inspired by the combinations of colours that I saw in the summer flowers I was planting in our window boxes . Pink and red caught my eye and I worked with these to create an abstract flower painting . I had been talking to a friend online about simple printing . So I had a go at relief printing some leaves . I used the easiest , non-tech method ! After coating the back of the leaf with acrylic paint , I pressed it gently on to the painting , using a sheet of clean paper to protect everything from my painty fingers . Then I experimented with the amount of paint I used and the pressure I applied to get different effects . I also made a second print with the same painted leaf and the resulting print has quite a faint , dreamy quality that is very pleasing . The possibilities are endless ! I quite liked the result .
Windowbox Flowers – mixed media
You might have seen this mixed media piece earlier on in the year. I just loved the colours of the Spring flowers back in April or May .For this abstract flower painting I used watercolour , pen and coloured pencil.
Another Abstract FlowerPainting
This watercolour painting is one of my own favourites , Sweetpeas from the Allotment. I liked it so much that I chose it for the poster to advertise my solo exhibition back in January at theSkelmanthorpe Gallery in West Yorkshire. You can read all about it in this posthere .
Sweetpeas from the Allotment
Actually , I have realized just recently that I prefer doing an abstract flower painting now , rather than in realistic style . So , watch this space for more experiments !
All my paintings are available to buy at reasonable prices . For more information , go to the contact page and use the form to send me an email .
I’m very proud of this painting – let me explain why . It’s been about six or seven weeks since I felt like painting anything bigger than a small journal page. To be honest , after finishing off a large acrylic abstract begun before Lockdown and then creating just one more ( because the idea wouldn’t give me any peace until I did , see here ) I found that I could only work in a small art journal given to me as a gift . It was an absolute godsend . I could use it to make me feel calmer , and , also to express some of the feelings that I couldn’t say in words , as in this one .
Bunch from the Allotment – watercolour
Back in the studio
However , I really missed painting and , this Monday , I dragged myself to the ‘studio ‘ ( just a small bedroom really ) and , once I started working , I couldn’t stop ! A break through ! It was glorious- painting all day . I’ve decided to work larger now , I was feeling too cramped , trying to work too small so this piece is 16 by 20 inches , on paper . I completed it in two sessions of an hour and a half, on the same day . This abstract composition has been rattling around in my head about four weeks or so . So now it’s finished , I can relax .
Break Through – detail 1Break Through – detail 2
The colours are dynamic and vibrant – they make me feel positive and buoyed up . I don’t think you will be able to see the small , subtle details and texture – perhaps you can see them better in these close- ups .
I hope you enjoy looking at my paintings – all of my artwork is for sale at reasonable prices. There are lots of interesting examples of acrylic abstract painting on my Gallery page too.. If you want to know more about prices and so on , go to the Contact page and send me an email using the form.
I started this week’s art journal mixed media piece with no particular subject in mind , except that I wanted to create something light and colourful. Then , without planning it , I sketched out the under the sea scene in watercolour and afterwards added collage. The corals and plants are in fact drawn from my imagination . It was done quite quickly and then I thought about how to make the fish really stand out from the background . So I decided that collaged paper could be the answer . I have seen so many great ideas on line about creating your own collage papers . So l took a sheet of cartridge paper and scribbled some black lines with a marker pen . Then I used a simple template for the cut out fish and arranged them in a pleasing shape . And I have some collage paper leftover for another project !
A School of Fish
I hope you feel a bit cheered up by my whimsical under the sea scene – it certainly lifted my spirits !
A bonus picture – Sunflowers
Supermarket Sunflowers
A quick sketch in pencil and watercolour in my tiny sketchbook. I finished this in about fifteen minutes – ( almost ) instant art . See more flowers in mygallery .
You might think that I created this acrylic abstract composition during Lockdown this year . I say that because it definitely would fit the theme of loneliness and isolation . In fact , I have painted a few with similar themes recently . Perhaps I’ll gather them together into a post one day soon . Anyway , I did this as part of a series last year on the problems of modern life as a woman ( but that’s another story ). And , what I really wanted to talk about was the way this came about . It is an old acrylic painting repainted !
Old Acrylic Painting – Pink and Green Abstract
Pink and Green Abstract
This is how it began ! In fact , this old acrylic painting was my very first proper abstract ever – painted for an on-line group on Facebook. It did get quite a few likes , but I was not really very pleased with it . So I decided to try to create another painting out of it , using the same colour palette and some of the same shapes . Of course , I can achieve this much more easily with acrylic paint than with watercolour or mixed media . Because the paint has great covering capacity .
Halfway
This is the halfway stage – the composition is just beginning to emerge. Then I started thinking about the way some women today are not allowed to move around freely . And this image of someone staring wistfully outside definitely seemed to fit my theme .
Woman at the Window
I hope you enjoyed reading about how I used one canvas to create another by repurposing an old acrylic painting . It was an interesting experiment . If you did find it interesting , there is another post I wrote not too long ago, where I describe the same process . Just click on the link here . And you can see more pictures about Modern Woman in my Gallery-People here .
Story Pictures
Do you like looking at Story Pictures ? I love creating them . Some people like to have the explanation to think about , some prefer to make up their own idea of what the painting is about . What do you think ?
All my one-of-a-kind artwork is available at reasonable prices. Contact me by email for further details , using the form on the Contact page .
This time , I’d like to show you three new abstracts where I was painting in red plus a couple of other colours.
The image above is the latest page in my art journal ( 9inch square ) – a mixed media piece using collage, watercolour , pen and coloured pencil . It was quite instinctive . However , the only idea I consciously brought to it was using a restricted palette . I think that red and black go very well together and I added greys to get some mid tones into the design . The white you can see is the paper showing through . To sum up , I feel that the mood is loud , upbeat and , possibly confrontational. Can you see any images in this ? I know I can, but I’d be interested to know what your interpretations are.
This abstract is in my Gallery – Abstracts – along with lots of other interesting paintings . Click on the link here
Painting in Red and Blue – Mixed Media on Paper
Sinking
In this one , as you can see , I paired red with blue and added black for more emphasis . And you’ll see collage , watercolour , pen and oil pastel. The red is subdued in places and the blue is quite pale . The atmosphere here is more uncertain , confused and , because of the suggestion of deep water , more sinister. It’s definitely Lockdown art ! I love the way that my feelings come through in the work – but I only realise it later .
Painting in Red and Purple
The last image I want to show you is my ‘ Hell on Earth ‘ acrylic painting on a 2 foot square canvas . As you can see , I chose red and purple colours mainly . This was actually done in response to a challenge from an online group that I belong to : paint in red and purple and orange. To be honest , this is a colour combination I wouldn’t normally choose . But I was quite pleased with the outcome . The subject matter , a ravaged landscape , really sets the scene. And the red and purple help to give quite an eerie feeling to the atmosphere. As you can see , working with a restricted palette leads me to fresh ideas and inspiration which is always welcome !
Hell on Earth
All of my one-of-a-kind artwork is for sale at reasonable prices. If you see anything you like , email me for more details , using the form on the Contact page . It’s Affordable Art !
More Blog Posts
Don’t forget to check out my blog more often – I’m writing two posts a week now and you might not want to miss out on anything !
I painted this picture back in April – I was just longing for some relief from the worry and grief I felt at the height of the pandemic. I’ve waited quite a long while before showing it but perhaps now is the time? The Light at the End of the Tunnel -is there some now ?
Artist’s Inspiration for ‘The Light at the End of the Tunnel ‘
The idea for the painting came to me quite instinctively . I was walking through a small park , enjoying looking at the tree blossom and the new growth on all the plants . And I suddenly thought about how vulnerable we are to illness or viruses . So I decided that the figure should be naked to symbolise the defenceless feelings a lot of us have had , during this pandemic . I also pictured him in luxuriant foliage . I was , no doubt , influenced by the scene in the garden I was walking through !
Light at the End of the Tunnel – acrylic painting
I think I was gradually working towards this idea . Just have a look at this mixed media journal page I created in March this year , to cheer myself up. I called it ‘ A Brighter Day ‘ It was very intuitive , but afterwards I realised it was a picture of hope , breaking through like a glorious sunrise .
A Brighter Day – in acrylic
My ‘ Progress of Mankind ‘ Series
And the other stage in the process was , of course , my ‘Paradise ‘ painting . Here I portrayed the Earth as a wonderful , unspoilt world in the trilogy that I created for a commission proposal earlier this year.
Paradise
You could say that ‘ Paradise ‘ was Part 1 , then ‘ Hell on Earth ‘ Part 2 came next , followed by ‘ Free Spirit ‘Part 3 . You can see the whole story in this post here . But now I can see that ‘Light at the End of the Tunnel ‘ Part 4 comes next in the story . I’ll show you Part 5 in a little while . None of this was planned . But I realise , with hindsight , that my intuitive inspiration was steadily moving through these past events and helping me to cope . I wonder if anyone else has noticed any effects on their art practice ?
Light at the End of the Tunnel – acrylic on canvas .
As I promised ,here is the finished version of the mixed media pigeon . I first drew this in pen . Then I added thin watercolour washes , and next I strengthened the colours with more washes . And , finally , I added detail with coloured pencils .
Mixed Media Pigeon Spots Something with her Beady Eye !
She’s Spotted Something
As you can see , I like leaving all the construction lines in . To tell you the truth , I actually started this piece off as a doodle , so there are plenty of lines . And then I decided what the drawing should be ! ( see more bird art in this posthere )
Feathers and Foliage
Actually , I find that the coloured pencils are ideal for soft feathers and grasses .
I sell all the art on my website at reasonable prices . For example, this mixed media piece is 9 by 9 inches square in watercolour , pen and coloured pencil on paper and it’s priced at £25 including shipping in the UK .So , it’s Affordable Art – if you want to treat yourself !
I thought I’d just take this opportunity to showcase an acrylic painting once a month and offer it to you at a reduced price – art for sale ! You see , I have done quite a lot of artwork over the years . And , as a result , there are paintings everywhere in the house , just waiting for a new home to go to !
Anyway , this is an acrylic painting on paper , sized 16 by 12 inches . It’s unframed , without a mount , and sold as you see it . The colours are just very slightly brighter in real life . My camera didn’t pick up the vibrancy and richness of the colours, I’m afraid .
I painted it last summer when I was exploring the technique of painting over an existing finished painting . I created a semi-abstract composition using the same colour palette and atmosphere, if you like .Unfortunately , I didn’t keep a record of the original acrylic painting in this case ( see another example of this technique here )
As you can see , I was very interested in all the wooden objects in the cafe . For example , the window frames , the spokes of the chairs , the panelling and the floor boards. I also concentrated on the textures of the pretty tablecloth and the woman’s pink fluffy sweater . I expect you have already spotted the cup and the dainty , iced cake !
Coffee and Cake – a detail
Art for Sale
Would this painting look good in your kitchen ? Or perhaps in your lounge , something intriguing to look at as you enjoy a cup of coffee and a delicious cake or pastry . I wonder what she is thinking about ? You could choose a frame to match your own decor . I’m offering it at the bargain price of £40 including shipping – I’m based in the UK . Please contact me for more details by sending an email on the Contact page here .
This is a painting of a bunch of flowers that I quickly gathered from the allotment one day this week . It’s painted in a loose watercolour style and I can’t really call it a sketch. Because I spent about an hour and a half on it. It’s in my Lockdown art journal where I can be a bit freer and experiment ( play , really) .
I tried to use more water in the paint and let it flow around . I like using a technique called ‘ wet-in -wet ‘ when you load up your brush with fairly runny watercolour paint and paint it on top or right next to wet paint . Then watch what happens ! Sometimes the effects are quite pleasing . And then I exaggerated and worked into the bits that looked effective. I must confess that I’m not so experienced with this medium . But working in an art journal gives you the freedom to try things out , without worrying about ‘ spoiling anything ‘ .And I have noticed that I have used my journal to paint in loose watercolour style on several pieces.
Watercolour Detail 1
As you can see , there’s Sweet Williams , euphorbia and verbena in there . And also a ferny sort of plant with delicate heads of pale yellow flowers . But I’m not sure I know what it’s called . It probably planted itself !
Watercolour Detail 2
At least now I have more time to paint when I feel inspired – instead of putting it on a to-do list ! See more flowers in my gallery .
Loose Watercolour Style
Flowers in Watercolour – painted in a loose watercolour style
This is watercolour on paper, a page in my art journal , about 10 inches square. If you want to know more , email me using the form on the Contact Me page . All my work is for sale at reasonable prices.
All now be revealed ! You may remember , a few posts ago , I showed you two large , abstract canvases which formed part of a series of three . A triptych of acrylic paintings Here, as promised , is the final painting .
Free Spirit
I entered these three large canvases as a proposal for a commission at a local stately home, to be displayed in the private chapel , inside the big house. Unfortunately, I was not successful on this occasion , but I was really inspired by the idea and I thoroughly enjoyed the process of entering.
Part One of the Triptych of Acrylic Paintings
I was reflecting on the state of our modern world , right at the beginning of the lockdown . So I thought about the idyllic world mankind lived in , before industrialisation . And I painted this intuitive abstract to show an unspoiled planet , visualized as a sort of tropical paradise. For more details and close-ups of this painting , see here
Paradise
The next chapter in the story also came easily to me .I must have been feeling quite pessimistic and I portrayed a burnt-out , desolate world with a huge , red sun Perhaps there are hints of global warming here ?
Hell on Earth
I suppose I must have been thinking about the excessive consumption and the way modern civilisation exhausts the Earth’s resources. I showed this painting in a virtual exhibition on Instagram – see @rotherhamroar . It’s our Washing Line exhibition !
For the final part of this triptych of acrylic paintings, I thought about how the paintings were to be displayed in a church .This is a place where people could sit in quiet contemplation , perhaps hoping for a peaceful resolution of their troubles . So I tried to portray this as a spirit soaring free , away from all difficulties . I think that I also used the motif of the kite to symbolise that feeling of wanting to escape from the ‘ virus ‘ problem. Obviously, this is a feeling that a lot of us have experienced lately . But I painted it instinctively and it must have come from my subconscious.
Free Spirit
I hope that you enjoyed looking at my Isolation Art. There are actually two more large canvases that do take the story forward , when I think about it . But that can be saved for another day .
Mixed Media Abstract Composition – Bird man by Margaret Hall
This is my latest mixed media experiment an abstract composition using collage, acrylic , watercolour and oil pastel . In fact , there’s even some marker and pencil in there – although the pencil might be a mistake as it is too shiny. I wonder , do you happen to know how how to apply a few sharp , precise marks over mixed media layers without using pencil ? Because I’d love to know . Anyway, I don’t really know what I’ve painted here . It was quite instinctive really . But I think it has something to do with wanting to escape from the anxiety and threat of this virus ! And it’s painted on brown paper which I bought at David Hockney’s Gallery on a trip to Saltaire ( more of that later ) .
The toned paper in this case is a rather nice brown paper. You see , I have admired other sketching friends’ drawings on brown paper sketchpads so I bought one . However, I don’t really like the effect of acrylic paint on this paper . Perhaps it was the colours I chose . But they don’t seem to have the sparkle that I like when I use white paper.
Sketching on Brown Toned Paper – the Hockney Gallery Connection
Patterns seen at the Museum
Now for the interesting par – I bought this sketchpad at David Hockney’s gallery at Saltaire . At the time , I was taking part in an Urban Sketchers crawl back in February. Maybe you remember my post all about it . Anyway , we spent the morning in a small brewery/pub and I sketched the brewing equipment in mixed media . As you can see , I used pen , pencil and watercolour . See my blog post here
The Brewery – Urban Sketching
To be honest , it was great fun – perhaps one day soon Urbansketchers Yorkshire will be able to meet up again .
David Hockney’s Gallery at the Saltaire World Heritage Site, Shipley , near Bradford , UK
A view from the gallery window across to the allotments and the model village
Salt’s Mill is actually a complex of woollen mill buildings established by Titus Salt . Also , he built the model village alongside it in the 1850’s . In effect , the village included neat, tidy terraced cottages , a church and a Sunday school . And then there were allotments , a school , a park and much more alongside the river Aire . Really , it’s quite fascinating, so go and have a look if you get the chance .
The downstairs floor of Salt’s Mill shows an exhibition of earlier Hockney artwork . Do you know, David Hockney was born and brought up in Bradford , just down the road from Saltaire .The downstairs floor is also where you can find the art shop where I bought the toned paper sketchpad . And , upstairs there’s a museum room about the history of the factory . But the star of the show is the David Hockney Gallery. In fact , it now displays some recent work from the Spring exhibition of locations in East Yorkshire . This , of course , is where the artist used to live . Enough said , just have a look at the fabulous pictures !
The Coming of Spring in Yorkshire – 2011 in David Hockney’s Gallery
By David Hockney By David Hockney By David Hockney By David Hockney
Our First Visit
The first time we visited the gallery was thirty years ago . And we were lucky enough to see the large drawing that David was sending by fax across from California ! The drawing was arriving piece by piece. Then the very large drawing was re-assembled from pieces of copy paper and displayed on the wall . This was revolutionary at the time . I love the way this artist always enjoys using the latest technology to create his work .
These ‘paintings ‘ are all actually prints of iPad drawings and I think they are absolutely stunning ! I hope that you have enjoyed my little exhibition review .
An Intuitive Abstract Composition in Pink and Green
Paradise – an abstract composition by Margaret Hall
This is the first painting in a set of three that I mentioned a couple of posts ago .And I called this one ‘Paradise ‘ . I think I must have imagined a tropical scene or a scene in a jungle . The colours I was drawn to – luscious pinks and vibrant greens – definitely fitted into this theme . I tried really hard not to paint anything too figurative and realistic . But when I stood back from my easel, I saw suggestions of a bird , an insect , perhaps an animal, flowers and leaves . So I realized that I was going to make this this acrylic abstract composition semi-abstracted not purely abstract . But that’s ok. To be honest , I often find that my paintings decide what they want to be . And , sometimes without a lot of input from me ! I even turned this one upside down several times to paint it and the motifs still appeared ! I wonder if you can see any signs of life in this jungle ( as well as the luxuriant foliage , that is ) ?
Paradise – Birds , Flowers and an Insect ? – details from my acrylic abstract
A Bird ?An Insect ?
I believe that the term ‘ paradise ‘ has its origins in a word which meant ‘garden’ , a place with lush growth and plenty of water , a place where you could rest and gaze upon a beautiful scene . When I painted this , I was thinking about the story I was telling in a series of three canvases for a commission proposal : this is the first one ‘Paradise ‘. And the second one ‘ Hell on Earth ‘ was shown in a previous post in May here and it carries the story forward .. All will become clearer soon when I reveal the third part !
I wanted to show you one of my lockdown art journal piece , a mixed media abstract, now that it is finished. I had seen a few great ideas online using masking tape to divide up paper or canvas into sections. Then you paint an abstract composition, remove the tape carefully and admire ! Well , I couldn’t find the tape , so , rather than waste time looking, I quickly drew some strips with pencil and rule .Then came the fun part . I treated each shape as an independent unit and just painted instinctively. I will admit to having used a limited palette of colours , but no other planning took place . On this mixed media abstract , I used all sorts. For example, watercolour , acrylic , collage , pen , pencil , oil pastel .
Mixed Media with Collage
A collage sample sheet in acrylic paint
I really enjoyed using all kinds of media on this piece mixed media abstract – first pen , then lots of watercolour . It might be a bit difficult to see in the image ‘ Fragments ‘, but at this stage , I glued on some cutouts of collage samples I made using leftover acrylic paints ( like the one above ) . After that , I couldn’t resist using coloured markers and oil pastels ( and a bit more acrylic in the strips ) .
Fragments of Landscape
What did I think about during the process ? Well, stained glass , glimpses of landscape through a window and colour experiments . But , to be honest, it took on a life of it’s own and I just painted intuitively . It’s quite small , about 8 inches square and I think it’s time I tried this on a much bigger scale . I wonder , do you ever experiment with mixed media work ?
Actually , I did a few mixed media pieces in my isolation art journal – you can see them on my Instagram account – @margarethallfineart or click on the button right at the very bottom of this post.
I was quite pleased with this colourful flowers in mixed media piece that I did in my art journal – I used pen ,watercolour , oil pastel, pencil and collage. It was inspired by the beauty of the Spring flowers and colours I could see all around me . I also tried to pay attention to the shape of the design too – a first for me . It cheers me up when I look at it . I hope you like it too !
You’ll find more paintings of flowers in my Gallery ( Still Life and Flowers) here
