Everything's coming up Rosies!

So the secrecy is over, thank goodness, and I can finally share the portrait I was commissioned to paint of the beautiful Rosie - rosiedestructor

She's painted on a roughly A4 sized deep-sided canvas, so a little smaller than some of the other things I've been making recently, but that kind-of adds to her charm.  Also the dimensions of the canvas mean that she can just as easily sit on a shelf as hang on a wall.  The photo I was working from (stolen from her Mum's facebook page!)  was just perfect, and I think she's come out as almost a vintage looking painting because of it.

Here's the birthday girl Loops (check out her facebook page, she makes some really cute geeky crafts).

And here's Rosie, given pride of place beside her (rather spectacular) wedding photo:

Totally unexpectedly toning in really well!

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In other news!  I'm in the process of trying to set up some life drawing classes, so I've had a bunch of scantily clad folks showing up as new friends on facebook - please don't be alarmed if you start coming across them, I haven't started swinging, it's all strictly professional!

I've been trying to find different avenues to increase my reach on social media too, in the hopes that eventually I might start reaching folks who want to buy my work.  It's a different world, when I think of how there was one really fancy computer suite at my secondary school which had maybe 20 Apple Macintosh computers with tiny screens.  Is this what old feels like?  Oh dear, maybe!  I'm learning to hashtag, lol!

I've also applied to a local arts charity for a place on a professional development course - I'll see whether I've gotten in tomorrow.  If not, I've got a couple of ideas to work on (and I still need to finish my wee French Bulldog), so I'll just keep on whatever!

Also, next Saturday is Art in the Forest, so my friend Emma and I will be camping out somewhere for the day being creative al fresco.  The open view of the exhibition will be on Saturday night at Artspace Cinderford (I'm not sure what time), so if you're free it'd be awesome to see you there. 

Sarah xx

A Portrait of the Artist

I so wanted to be finished with my landscape this week, but instead it's on the naughty step.  It's fine, the composition is good, the work I've done I'm happy with . . . it's just doing my head in!  So it's in time out for a bit whilst I refill my enthusiasm reservoirs.

I've also ordered some finer paintbrushes online which will help with the fiddly bits, the lack of which is probably a part of why I've been feeling frustrated.  There are just so many grasses, and the ferns are so delicate, trying to make a good stab of it with a slightly too wide brush was leaving me feeling clumsy and making it feel like hard work.  I'll come back to it when they arrive.

That's the naughty step, on the wall behind me.  (I do love having a play with image editing apps!)

So in the meantime, I've started another dog portrait:

It's a French bulldog this time - they're such characterful little creatures.  The colour I've put on is a little too yellow I think - it needs to be more of a very pale brown - but I can soon sort that out.  I haven't had an open mouth to deal with before either, but I'm enjoying the mechanics of it!  Not sure what to do with the background yet - I think I'll go a bit more abstract and unfocused as the face will be quite detailed, but I don't think the cloudy grey is quite right.  !sigh!  This is so much more fun though!

Taking myself seriously! Yikes!

It goes against the grain somewhat to take myself seriously and promote what I do - I feel embarrassed, and it feels somehow cheesy and crass to mention that I make things which I think are worth buying . . . gaaah!  But I know I'm good at what I do, and if I want to ever make some sort of a living out of it, I've got to get over myself and just DO the things!

So this week I set up a facebook page to promote my artwork.  My intention is to try to do a WIP (work in progress) Wednesday - so I'll upload an animation of whatever I'm currently working on - and a Throwback Thursday - to gradually add in a selection of things I've made over the years without just doing a massive photo-dump.  I'm hoping that gradually I'll build up a good gallery of photos so folks can see what my work is about, and can easily message me from there if they'd like to commission or buy something.  I should probably start thinking about some sort of digital watermark . . . hmmm . . . ok that can be my next project!

I ordered a set of business cards too, and had great fun with a QR code generator, making links to my facebook page, blog and e-mail address.  I really hope they're at a good enough size and resolution to read properly from the business cards, or else I'll just have printed a pretty design on the back!  Ah well, I'll find out soon enough!

On to the art then - I've been working on a landscape this week (in portrait format, whereas my recent portraits have been in landscape format - nothing like being consistent!), from a photo I took earlier in the spring.  I feel like I'm maybe halfway through working on it:

It's a bit larger than my most recent paintings, and it feels like harder work.  Because there isn't an obvious single subject, I need to bring the whole canvas up to a similar level of detail, but at the same time because of the similarities in colour and tone between the foreground and background, I feel like I need to work across the whole painting at the same time.  I think I'm getting there for the most part - I've blocked in the darkest points now, so it'll be nice and dark in the shadows behind and between the foreground detail.  The little stream seems to read as water (I was worried that would be the tricky part), and the lumpy muddy bits on the path are helping with the perspective.  I'll keep at it and hopefully finish it this week.  I suspect I'll love it more as it comes together - there's something magical about the moment when you fix a little something in a painting and a portrait looks back at you, and suddenly it seems like more than just paint and canvas - will there be a moment like that for a landscape?  I hope so.

My other artwork for the week was a mad last-minute dash!  After school on Wednesday, one of my friends asked if I would be able to make a banner for the school ahead of the country dancing competition on Thursday night.  I love a challenge!

The fabric and the iron-on insects (which represent the different classes) were already bought, so the idea was to have the school's name in the middle (thank goodness for Tesco's sand-play letters - I've used them as stencils so many times!), and a pond at the bottom sort of as a reason for the insects to be there.  Putting the school at the top was my own silly idea, making extra work for myself!  The paint wanted to bleed into the fabric when it was too wet, and didn't want to stick much at all when it was too dry, so it ended up being a bit of a frustrating job especially around the lettering.  I think it turned out quite well though, considering!  There are lots of little bits I'd have made a better job of if I'd have had the time, but then I'm the queen of procrastination myself so maybe a bit of pressure was the best way to get it done.  My friend did some very clever hiding of a couple of my mistakes with the iron on bugs, and the hemming and making of the frame were down to them too - they did a fantastic job, so now the kids have a banner to carry just like all the other schools. 

Commissions for banners also welcomed, so long as I've got more than one evening to complete the work!

Advertising myself! aka "Anyone want a FREE painting for their public space?"

Last week I'd been told by a couple of folks that they couldn't access this blog.  I'm not sure what was going on there! I've sent a message to the help team, but I can't see that they've replied, or where they ought to have replied to . . . so whilst I figure things out I'm just going to keep blogging in the hope that it'll sort itself out somehow (or that I'll figure it out).  Many apologies if this has affected you, dear reader!

Over the last few weeks I've completed a portrait of Eva, a gorgeous rottweiler who lives at our village pub, The White Horse Inn in Soudley.  My cunning plan is to get paintings into as many different places as possible, to try to advertise the fact that I'm here and I can be relied upon to do a decent job, and hopefully by doing this I might get some more commissions coming in.  So here's the FREE bit:

If you have a business and would like a beautiful original artwork on your wall, then for the rest of 2018 I will be happy to complete an up to A3 sized commission for you free of charge.  In return for this you would agree to keep the painting in a space where your clients would see it, and to keep a small stock of my business cards and force them on all your customers pass them out to any interested parties!

I can do pet portraits, or any kind of animal you would like.  I also love figurative work - people - portraits - realistic or imaginary.  I can paint any kind of still life - anything you fancy!  I don't have a lot of landscape type work in my portfolio (it's not usually a subject I'm drawn to), but I'm working on a landscape right now so I'll hopefully have something to show on that front in another week or so.

Anyway, enough of the self promotion stuff!  It feels so awkward!  On to the art!

Eva!

I'm so pleased with her!  It's really interesting to figure out the right shaping and volume to describe how her head works, if you know what I mean!  There are so many little parts of this which, when added, suddenly made the parts around them make sense - her fur looked wrong until the collar was put in, the curve of the front edge of her ear needed to be right, the shine on her left eye . . .

I did a little animation of her progress on my phone (I love these!)

I've given Eva to Suzanne & Mike at The White Horse already, and they have impressed on me several times how happy they are, and I'm so relieved they like it.  I mean - I knew I'd done a good job, but she's their baby so theirs were the opinions that were important.

I guess I just need to get some business cards printed now!

It's Life, Jim, But Not As We Know It.

Friday - time to blog, and I've got arty things to share!  So here goes:

A little while ago - mid way through March, I think - I booked to do a life drawing day at Tewkesbury Art Studios , which unfortunately had to be cancelled at the last minute due to the model being unwell.  The reorganised date was on Sunday of this week so, rusty but excited, off I went with my friend Louise.

I'd not been to this venue before - it's a bright airy studio space in an industrial building not far from the town center.  It's run by a lovely lady called Jane, who provides several different arty workshops for folks of different abilities.  The life drawing was an untutored session, so there were six of us drawing and painting I think including Jane, one life model, and no-one hovering over my shoulder making me feel self conscious!

We started with several short poses to get us into the swing of things, then an hour-long one, and an hour and a half pose after lunch.  It's been such a long while since I've worked directly from a model, but I'm really pleased with what I managed to achieve:

This was the hour-long pose - worked with white and Payne's grey acrylic on a cardboard sheet.   I like his hands and arms, and I feel I captured his face quite well in this one. There are a couple of things which are a little out of whack, but for a quick painting using the cardboard as a mid-tone (which therefore makes it difficult to correct mistakes), I'm happy with the end results.

This was the longer afternoon pose - on a cheapy hobbycraft canvas in black, white, and Payne's grey.  This pose looked easy, but there was a cushion under the model's hip as they were trying to get a slightly twisted pose, which put his legs out of balance a bit and made it hard for him to stay completely still.  I always like a position like this - looking up the body at an unusual angle throws things into different perspectives.  I think I caught the basic shapes quite well this time - I love how his foot came out, but I don't think he'd mind me saying that I appear to have shaved a good 20 years off of his face!

I have to say, working in a room with other artists was a lovely thing.  I felt capable, and as if I belonged - what I was doing stood up well within the range of work that was made on the day, and though we were all at different points in our artistic lives, conversation was easy and there was a lot of mutual interest and respect.

I've made a good start on my commission, and the commissioner has seen progress shots, and seems pleased with how it's going.  I'm hoping to have it finished over the course of the next week.

I've been trying to think of different ways to advertise myself, with a view to hopefully generating some more commissions, and so for my next project the very lovely folks at our village pub The White Horse in Soudley are going to have a portrait of their beautiful rottie Eva which will hang in the pub once it's done.  They've kindly hunted down a wee selection of photos to work from, so I'm excited to get started on that!

Perhaps I'll start a series - Pub Dogs of The Forest!

Goals: Level 1 (YAAAAAYYY!!!)

This week's progress report is marked by something special - a commission!!!!  WHOOP WHOOP!!!

A friend (not telling you who!) has commissioned a painting (not telling you of what!) as a gift for a friend of theirs (not telling you who!).  I am all full of seeecrets, lol!  And possibly a little giddy at the confidence that's been put in my abilities, and, well just plain chuffed to bits to have been asked.

I think it's not giving too much away to say that it's going to be a pet portrait, and so to put me in the right frame of mind to get started, I did this at art club this week:

working from this photo of our dog, River (which was on my phone at the time and therefore quite small to be working from)

There's quite a lot about this drawing that isn't quite right, particularly in the angle and volume of her head, but I was quite pleased with how her body and legs look - I think I got the angles and foreshortening quite well. 

I've been thinking about squaring up next week, just to see how it feels to use that method.  I feel that I'm doing reasonably well without it (and it feels a little like cheating), but then I watch art competitions on tv and everyone's using their tablets to square up and working from the flat image rather than from life . . . and I can see that it makes getting the skeleton of the drawing correct faster and easier, so perhaps it would make for a better end result?  I'm not sure . . . is it just pride that's holding me back?  Ah well, we shall see!

I've also spoken to a couple of people who are asking about drawing classes.  I've never seen myself in a teaching role, but I'm wondering whether it might be a gap in the market that I could fill . . . there's a wee (new oil tank sized) gap in our finances just now which could certainly do with being filled, so maybe it's worth having a think about!

***Any and all commissions welcome!!!  Just give me a shout!***

Until next week -
Mippitt xx

Promises, I'm keepin' 'em!

Ok - second Friday in a row.  Yeah - get me with the reliability!

So as promised, the arty stuff first:

This is the finished drawing, and here's last week's for comparison:

So, I finished off I's hair, fixed B's mouth, and just generally worked on getting the shading deeper and putting more contrast in where it was needed.  This was all worked over 3 art club sessions (about 6 hours, give or take some chatting time).  I wish that I'd taken more photos along the way!  I'm thinking that blogging will help me to see what I've done a lot more clearly.

In other crafty news, I went to Wonderwool Wales last Sunday - a bit of a long drive, but I had friends with me to keep me sane!  It was fantastic as always:

And my (smaller than usual) haul:

The spectrum of mini skeins which I've already wound are sock weight merino from Moonlight Yarns (https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/moonlightyarns )  - those are for a secretspecial project which I might share details of after it's been gifted - the middle two skeins are a merino nylon mix from Siobhans Crafts (which unfortunately doesn't have a website noted on their labels) in Unicorn and Grey Rainbow, and the final skein on the right is "All of Time & Space" in Merino Tencel sock from Temporal Spin (www.temporalspin.co.uk) - you can't see it very well from the photo, but there's a darker rainbow flash at the top of that skein - Whovian yarn!  How could I resist?!!

I also finished a jumper this week, but it's turned out to be a complete tent (even on my currently oversized frame), so I'm going to fix it.  Luckily it was top down and the top part and sleeves are lovely, so I'll rip it back to just under where the waist shaping stopped, add some more shaping and lengthen it without the increase in needle size etc.  I'll share photos of that mess when it's fixed!

So . . . that was still more crafty than arty I guess, so between now and next week I'm going to set myself the goal of spending some time in the shedio sorting out a better working area (and then doing some WORK in it!).  Let's see how that goes!

S xx