Art in Action: Will be there again this year.

Titles

Working steadily, quietly through the day on a large piece to take to Art in Action. I want to try and catch the last light of day or the first light of day in the feathers of an owl's wings.

How much does a title change the way a painting is seen.

I could call this:

Huntier

or

Barn Owl

or I could call it

Hushwing, Bellvoice.

Or I could call it 

Soft Wings Silence Song.

It needs gold leaf, moongold I think. I will work on it a little more then finish it at Art in Action in July. Until then it will sit in my studio and I will watch and wonder, if the owl gets a meal, if the wren escapes to sing another day.

Facebook, foxes, inspiration and owls.

Many people criticize Facebook. It has its problems, doesn't always work as it should, reminds me always that I have a fat belly ( thanks for that facebook! every time I look at my wall! with it's specially chosen facebook adds). At the end of the day it is free.

And I have found that from facebook I have been able to connect with other people who are sometimes like minded, sometimes not. I have been able to make a closer link with my peers. I have found a supportive community of people and there have been times when I have been inspired by facebook, for example when Kathryn Evan's son Archie said that while he believed in faeries he didn't believe in foxes because he had never seen one! The result was the painting of The Strawberry fox.

 

Sometimes I feel challenged by the opinions of some people, often I find links to beautiful things, always I find that my time becomes tangled in the world of others and very often I find inspiration, so, my thanks to both Jane Hill and Richard Mabey. Jane posted a response to something I had written.

"from Richard Mabey's 'Nature Cure'. The book I was reading this morning, a description of seeing a barn owl at dusk: " it was winnowing the grass, threshing it for food. i could see the last light from the west shining through its wings, marking out the dense primaries from the almost translucent trailing feathers. it seemed at that moment to have four wings, two in the day and two in the night...."

 It reminded my that walking and watching and sometimes standing still and watching is good for the soul, and has drawn me back to the depiction of owls.

 

Other things I have done with facebook:

bought books recommended by others,

sold books,

sold paintings,

met people,

cemented friendships,

learnt things, 

wasted time,

talked nonsense,

argued,

invited people to events and exhibitions,

seen things of beauty.

Things that are beautiful.

New green growth on a stunted holly tree, sharp leaf spikes, coloured deep green.
The skin surface of the sea swaying and wind wrinkled.
The smell of sunshine on wild ponies.
Sea campion, white, delicate.
Bluebells on the cliffs by the sea, their colour bleeding down, dark marine, into the green stems.
Honeysuckle.

Gold

Walking to try and clear my head and saw seals, buzzards, red fox, stonechat, ravens, fulmar, linnets, skylark, martin, swallow and swift, foxgloves, tormentil, marsh orchids and bluebells. Rich.

Trying to tidy up my desks, my room, my head, but instead I am wandering around other people's creative spaces on facebook.

 

Walking to work: sunshine and seals

Kitsune: Or, the daughter of the Winter Queen and her fox.

Last night I ran away from the house and sat in my van by the sea and sketched, leaving children watching Harry Potter. Peace. I think I must take after my grandfather who would retreat to the chicken shed with cake and talk to the chickens. My van is like a mobile shed. The sunset beautiful, pale moon gold with big waves.

Today working away and sometimes it goes well and for moments I enjoy what I am doing but most the time it just won't look like the image that lives inside my mind. So I take a photo, to look at the piece in another way. And I think.

 

Dragons and Horses

A long list of things to do was interrupted by visitors today. Tea in the garden with hot crossed buns and apples for the four footed, then off they went, although they found the dragon van to be a curious creature.

 

Wild and windy, washing on the line and walking. Blue bells and the silver sea. And in between everything, painting and thinking.

A Short Winter Love Story revisited.

Playing with paint and sketching and film. To see the film of making the painting have a look at my youtube channel.

14.58 minutes of working, gilding a cheetah