Friday 29 March 2019

See no evil.






‘Tread softly’

Oils on canvas 



This week I read this...


“Failed works of art and even disappointing passages, 

particularly recent ones, can haunt and disarm your current work



History, when we admit it, often holds the evidence of failure. 

You need to get rid of the evidence, both mental and physical, 

by putting prior failures to the wall or shredding them. 



“See no evil,” is the motto. 


Look only at what you consider your better stuff. 

Otherwise, the stealthy voice of inner doubt will get a hearing”.



(Taken from ‘The Painter’s Keys)

26 March 2019

www.painterskeys.com



Armed with this sensible advice,

I have had a studio cull...

It was a satisfying experience.


I have got rid of the ‘evidence’.

Tomorrow is a fresh start.

New canvases are on the easel.



Fortunately I have a few paintings left.

This is a favourite.




‘Turquoise trails of timeless flow’


Oils on canvas 


Subtle colours reminding me

of the East Coast Marshes.



Until next time...

Thank you for visiting.


To read more about my painting journey 

visit my website...


wildartdesigns.com





Wednesday 20 March 2019

Freedom.




Setting myself free...


Here is a quote by Georgia O’Keefe







This is important...
Worrying about what other people think
about my art would be destructive.


Another way of looking at it is this quote from Jackson Pollock...



My studio is full of work in progress.
Many pieces will be worked and re-worked
until I am satisfied with them.





Here are two little studies completed this week.


‘Fresh Insights’

Oils and cold wax on 8 x 8 inch panel 




‘New Sensations’

Oils and cold wax on 8 x 8 inch panel 




Until next time...
Thank you for visiting.

To read more about my painting journey,
visit my website...







Monday 18 March 2019

Life



Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?


(From a poem by Mary Oliver).


Thought provoking words...
I shall give it serious thought.





‘Twilight fades the blue’


A picture of marks.
This painting has taken several months to make.

It began life as a landscape.
I set it aside for some time before I had the urge to 
take it in another direction.

For me, this is an exciting time.
I am destroying to make room for another.

Here is the first picture...




Gradually the painting changed as I worked.
Several weeks passed before I made the final mark.


The lower pale blue mark 
was applied today...quickly and firmly.
No time for dithering.
Confidence was essential.                               






Here is another picture which went on a similar journey,
beginning life as a simple light coloured landscape. 



‘Ice on Fire’


Two marks are the focus of this picture.
Dramatic red with a pool of pale blue.

In both paintings I have included the 
frame as part of the picture.


Returning to Mary Oliver’s question about life...

I want to be wild,
and not be too precious about 
making changes along the way.



Here are 12 little paintings.

They will be available to buy at the Craft Fair 
in Lincoln Assembly Rooms on 14 April.



A collage of 8 x 8 inch oil panels.




For more about my art journey, 
visit my website:




Until next time...
Thank you for visiting.

Thursday 14 March 2019

My way of working.



My aims....


I do not want to illustrate or pre-plan.


I want to free myself from literal representation.





‘Sail away for a year and a day’


Oils and cold wax on 8 x 8 inch panel. 





I might describe the pictures as a visual language 

of my working process.


A personal form of self expression,


...drawing on my world of imagination.




‘In the cool of the day’

Oils and cold wax on 8 x 8 inch panel. 




The finished piece might reflect 

vignettes of memories


...of fleeting glimpses.







‘A blackbird sings loud and clear’

Oils and cold wax on 8 x 8 inch panel.




My actual process is complex


and I do not want it to be explained.



It needs to be a visual thing.


Each painting is different.




‘Shimmering blue and darkened sky’


Oils and cold wax on 8 x 8 inch panel.




Whatever I do will be a self portrait...

of who I am and how I think and feel.


My own personal story.





These paintings are on 8 x 8 inch panels

Oils and cold wax medium 


£ 40 each


Visit my website for more

small paintings and details of availability.



http://www.wildartdesigns.com




Until next time...

Thank you for visiting.

Sunday 10 March 2019

March Madness


In like a lion...



Our weather is quite contrary this year.
A warm February and now a complete contrast.
Snow showers, gales and cold.


My pictures this week are cheerful and full of colour.
They are going to a group exhibition tomorrow.


‘Hand in hand at the edge of the sand’

Oils and cold wax medium 
16 x 16 inches on box canvas.
In a hand painted wood float frame.




‘This I saw on an April day’

Oils and cold wax medium 
12 x 12 inches on box canvas 
In a dark grey float frame 



‘This I saw in an April field’

Oils and cold wax medium
8 x 15 inch panel 
In a hand painted wood frame 




‘Out in a tranquil bay’

Oils and cold wax medium 
10 x 12 inch panel 
In a hand painted wood frame 



I subscribe to receive emails from The Painter’s Keys.
In December 2018 I read an article by Sarah Genn 
who’s father Robert wrote a list of points 
for making a good painting.


Two of these are below...


Gestural Momentum 


— Never underestimate the power of a few bold strokes. Then, leave your strokes alone.



Artistic Flair 


— Have you added something that is uniquely and bravely yours?


(Robert Genn).  

www.painterskeys.com



These are 2 valuable ‘nuggets’ of advice.
The first is something I am trying hard to remember 
when I am working.   There is often a temptation 
to fuss with a ‘bold stroke’ which can lose impact.





These two details from my pictures show
bold strokes which were spontaneous and free.

I was careful to leave them alone.
Not easily done, I might say.  


The second ‘nugget’ to be brave and unique 
is my personal journey....
I am a painter and I make marks.


Here are marks I made quickly and intuitively 
without much thought...they happened 
as I ‘sculpted’ the oil paint with a knife.  








To keep these ‘bravely mine’ I do not have any 
reference tools in my workplace.
No photos or sketches precede my pictures.

I do not copy anything.
The marks evolve as I work.

If I like them, I leave them.
Otherwise I scrape the paint back.

Plenty of scraping happens in my studio.  




A detail from another painting...

More marks and scratchings.
I like the subtle grey shades of blue-greens.

Here is the whole picture.
Pure imagination with a watery feeling.



‘Turquoise trails of timeless flow’

Oils and cold wax medium
20 x 20 inch box canvas. 


Titles...

Someone recently asked how 
I give my paintings their titles.

I have a book of ‘words’.

Words from poems and stories.
Just things I see written which appeal to me.

From these I choose a few words which seem 
to say what my picture is about.  

Sometimes I change the words around and jumble them up.
It’s all a bit random.


I saw this quote somewhere which
made me smile...




Visit my website for more of my story 
and available paintings 



Until next time...
Thank you for visiting.




























Visit my website for more of my story 
and available paintings 

www.wildartdesigns.com

Monday 4 March 2019

Adventures in colour.




Colour and imagination...





‘Before anyone is awake’

The magic of dawn in a wild garden.



Colour and shapes...

These two quotes ‘say it all’.  



I found that I could say things with colors and shapes that I couldn’t say in any other way—things that I had no words for.

—Georgia O’Keeffe



The world about us would be desolate except for the world within us.

—Wallace Stevens




My garden studio is my painting world.
Here I make pictures from inside my mind.




‘Sound the trumpet, Spring’


Today I have been making ‘reclaimed’ works,
using previous paintings as a base.
Oils and cold wax in layers build up the story.  


I have swept aside the shadows of Winter 
to embrace the colour of Spring.

These two cheerful pictures tell a story...
of making new things from old.


Until next time...
Thank you for visiting.









A collage of recent paintings.

Visit my website for more of my story 
and available paintings