last post alert - discontinuing blog

Dear all, I have made the decision to discontinue this blog for many reasons.... but do not despair, as all art related posts will continue over at my homely blog @ www.thehomelyplace.blogspot.com. I would love for anyone enjoying this blog to stay with me over at the homely place!

Victoria and Albert museum

I went to the V&A on Sunday with my daughter - it was her first trip there. I was hoping she would be inspired by original art and crafts, which she was, until she started finding the items in the shop more interesting than the museum.

I bought these 2 pattern books to help in my inspiration for pattern design:

Peter Godwin

Peter Godwin has recently exhibited in London and Sydney. He works with egg tempera on board or hemp with stunning results. His works are dark interiors, often including masks, an owl and patterned curtains, all set inside his studio. These are familiar objects which he paints again as his perception of them changes. The paintings are reminiscent of old master works - the traditional still life, his choice of subject, his settings - but his use of composition and execution are more like drawings, etched into the egg tempera base. His paintings are a stage with a theatrical dramatic theme, which the viewer is invited in to watch. The choice of colours are unusual but work perfectly in the paintings. Incidentally, when I was a student at the National Art School, he took a couple of my classes - the most memorable being painting, when he brought in a rabbit carcass from the butcher and hung it on a board for the class to paint. Mine turned out terrible!

Interior with Highland Shield and Owl

Breton's Closet

Interior with Highland Shield

Cabinet with Shells

Blue Curtain II

Red Screen/Curtain I


images from defiance gallery

lazy

I'm afraid I've been a wee bit lazy about this blog ... I can only post on it when I'm actually looking at lots of art for inspiration, and at the moment there's too much going on to be able to focus on painting or looking at art at all for that matter. I hope to be back in action again soon with more inspiring art and new ideas!

to all my blog readers

L.S. Lowry

L.S. Lowry is one of my favourite artists, since growing up with a print of one of his paintings in our house (see last painting). I still haven't been to the gallery in Salford where a lot of his work hangs, but saw one painting in the Tate many years ago which blew me away. He is such an important artist in terms of capturing the atmosphere and industrial landscapes of past times. His style is reminiscent of many British 'naive' painters of the 20th century.

VE Day Celebrations

Industrial Landscape 1955 oil on canvas

In Clitheroe

The Canal Bridge

Clifford's Tower

Factories, Lancashire

The Fever Van

Canal and Factories 1955

Street Scene, Pendlebury

Industrial Landscape (Ashton-under-Lyne)

This painting has special significance for me and possibly is the reason I like Lowry so much.... it was on the wall of the stairwell of our house for most of my childhood, so I looked at it several times a day as I went past. I used to stand and study it trying to imagine the landscape for real and what it would be like actually being in the landscape. Seems to have had a lasting impression!

images from tate, national galleries of scotland, manchester events guide, national museums liverpool

Ganesha

This is a Scandinavian-inspired Ganesha that I designed over the weekend.