Taking Shape

This is my third week working on the shed, and I'm super chuffed because its beginning to take shape. I never thought I'd enjoy the challenge of a landscape - but there's something very compelling about creating a sense of place. Will need to work up the earthy foreground and the green patch/horizon next session, adding the reeds which should lend the composition a dynamic, vertical element. First I need to invest in a 'rigger' brush; a slender, sable brush that will allow me to treat the reeds with the delicacy they deserve. Basically, there's lots left to do, but I've broken the back of this badboy. Other news: plans are underway for my next screen-print, one which will hopefully find its way onto a t-shirt. Think Slush Puppie, gone wrong... I just love channelling the 80s.

Bed-bound

The much dreaded lurgi caught up with me this week, keeping me from Heatherleys for 3 days. Having gone through the (very unattractive) motions of flu, I was able to leave the confines of my room for the first time yesterday. Swaddled in full arctic gear, and dosed up on Beechams, I made my way to work (I'm a part time bookseller) - let me tell you, I tore it up! Cabin fever does wonders for customer service it would seem... Can't wait to get back to school on Tuesday now - my unfinished shed is calling, and Allan has promised to bring in a stuffed seagull for me to paint. Gotta love taxidermy. Seeing as I have nothing in the way of new work to post then - having been quite the absentee - here's a very poor quality photo of a sketch I did recently. I hadn't thought of doing an oil 'sketch' before (I associate the medium with slow, sustained work), but I thought I'd give it a go after being bought an oil sketchpad for my birthday. A shell provides the subject, as you can hopefully tell, and this took under an hour. Just a little something, not fantastically fleshed out; but I rather like it!

Fruity Patooty

Pineapples and watermelons provided today's jaunty subject matter. I decided to take a different approach from usual, starting with all the big shapes, finding the main areas of light and dark etc, before working up the detail (I usually get caught up in the minutiae too soon). And in a way it paid off (it's certainly the most sensible order of approach). My pineapple's a little plastic - in my defense, they are CRAZY ass fruits to paint - but I'm super pleased with the melon. Juicy.

Shed (aka Ode to a Brick Wall)

After the success of last term's brick wall, I've moved onto another textural project. From a box of source material bought in by Ian, I chose this snapshot of a dilapidated shed (taken in Peterborough, don't you know) a week ago. I though the flaking paintwork, rust, foliage etc would pose an exciting challenge. It's very much a working progress - as with the brick wall, I'm taking my time on this - but here's a sneak peak of two week's worth painting. This is my first attempt at a landscape in oils, and I'm really enjoying it (I was apprehensive, nature-phobe that I am). Popped into the library in the last half hour of today's lesson, to look at Stanley Spencer's work for inspiration. His English garden scenes are wonderful, striking a fine balance between the illustrative and the painterly; I'd like to capture something of his delicacy and surface treatment with this work.

It's Alive!

Inspired by a Euan Uglow painting we were shown last week, Tash (friend and protegee, hehe) requested tomatoes for today's still life. And tomatoes there were. In abundance. Allan and I decided that the fruit on the far right of my canvas has a life of its own. Sad tommy or angry tommy, we couldn't come to an agreement. Either way, its 'physiognomical'! On a positive note, I managed to up the thickness of my paint today which made a great difference.

Artichokes

Another foodie study (Allan promised me more cakes but alas, there were none). My paint isn't quite thick enough - I seem to be regressing on that front. But it does have a certain quality I like.

Victory!

Yeehah! After months of labour here's my finished screen-print, keyline and all. I'm seriously chuffed with the end product. Bits and bobs don't align perfectly, but overall I think it packs a punch. Maybe I should complete the suit...