Rainbow Warrior - 46 Day four of exhibition

Progressing well...I thought I might finish today, but it's going be tomorrow now (or Thursday) . I've begun work on the swifts which you can see in the picture below...I love swifts and always look out for their arrival in the first week of May. I want to have a cloud of them flying across the sky behind me...I need to introduce a few more varied poses to break up the uniformity of their flight pattern. 

Below you cans see how the whole composition is working...I quite like the fact that it contains a photorealistic self portrait but stylised other elements.

today I had a nice surprise when a customer bought one of my non-hyperpointillist artworks. A line drawing in Ink,I'd created it for my fist Willington Arts Festival back in 2007 (I think). It was sold to someone I didn't know. always a good feeling to sell an original! :)

During this afternoon it rain a little, a visitor to my exhibition told me that there was a lovely Rainbow...so since I was working on Rainbow Warrior, AND I was wearing the jumper featured in that picture I snapped a couple of shots. I love rainbows (especially in one of my 'happy places')..that's why I'm grinning like an idiot!

Rainbow Warrior - 45 (nearly finished!)

 Apart from the cold, I really enjoyed my time at the day three of my exhibition in Cromford.I only had 33 visitors during the day, so this afforded me the opportunity to spend a good chunk of time working. I made a practice version of the figure you see here. (She is carrying the Moon )....before I felt able to work on the final version on the actual drawing. As the second to last piece of the composition, it was import and I didn't make a mess of it at this stage. Tomorrow I may very well finish....my final addition to the picture is a wavy flight of swifts in the sky....snaking their way from left to right. I'm really looking forward to doing that, as it's been an element I've planned from the very beginning, and will bring this project to an end.

Rainbow Warrior - 44. Cromford Exhibition day 2

 I had an interesting day at my exhibition...I've been learning some lessons too. The last time I exhibited at the Arkwright mills gallery in April, it was the most financially successful exhibition i've ever had...and was guilty expecting this one to get off to the same start as the last one did...how wrong I was....and therein lies the lesson. I never take for granted the uniqueness of my gift/ talent...and although I have a pressing need to earn money like never before, I still have to bring myself back to the main point of why I do what I do. The simple reason is that how can I not?....It is a deep need...an aching need at times to create images that express what, who and why I am...the things I have to say, the observations I make about myself and the world I try to make sense of. The fundamentally makes me happy and fulfilled. Showing my work and connecting with other humans is a big part in the whole process and knowing that having seen my work and how I work, many many individuals leave with a more enlightened view of art..themselves and the world around them makes me incredibly happy and humble. It might seem a little false to say that financial benefit is a nice bonus in that process...but recieving the fruits of my labour in financial terms is also a big part of what I do.

Sadly this element is often and usually the last to be forthcoming. So today it was very good to reach the amount of earnings that means the gallery hire is now accounted for.Excellent!

Here is the current state of Rainbow Warrior...I've worked well on it today and all being well, I should finish it this week! (apologies for the rather yellow tone of the photos, this was the reaction of my camera to the fluorescent lighting)

Rainbow Warrior - 43

Took down my exhibition today, I usually find it to be a sobering experience...and today was no exception...the rain fell making it awkward loading the pictures into the back of my car. Returned home and unloaded, spent the afternoon working on Rainbow Warrior. I find it interesting and a challenge to create something which essentially doesn't exist...I do admit to using resource photos found online, so a photo of waves is helpful , but essentially I'm making things up as I go along.So that's something I enjoy and I'm proud of. Today and this week I'm trying to move this piece to finishing...it's been a long time coming, I started this picture in March...so much has happened since then.

Hello...long time. Time to catch up.

 Ey up! It's been a while since I last posted. I've now reached the end of my three week exhibition in Derby. Was a privilege to be asked and welcomed during the time by 'Furthest From The Sea'. An organisation that I will be involved with further I hope. despite the fact that I only sold three prints during my time there, I've enjoyed being in such a wonderfully historic and beautiful building.

I've posted below a series of six minipics produced over the last week or two, they're not great photos, but I hope you get the idea...they are each 10x6.5cm. and once framed , I'll have them  for sale in my upcoming exhibition at one of my favourite venues, the Arkwright's Mill in Cromford Derbyshire. I now have a few days to prepare for hanging my work next Friday.



Two finished minipix and Rainbow Warrior progress.

Time seems to fly by between posts here these days. I do apologise. At time of writing, I'm at the start of a three week solo exhibition in my home town of Derby. Furthest From The Sea are an arts organisation representing Musicians, poets, comedians and artists in the Derby area. Based inside the Victorian Market Hall in the city centre, there are studio facilities and a performance/ exhibition area. Something which has been lacking in our city.

There is so much more to write about FFTS, but suffice it to say, I'm incredibly grateful to them for inviting me to show my work....lovely people! Anyway, in anticipation of the show, I've produced a couple of new minipix...here's the finished Crow and a new piece finished yesterday imaginatively entitled 'Blue Tree Cold'. In my mind, I'm producing one of these each day, in reality I've not. Still...there will be more in the coming weeks and I'm not short of ideas.

 

Below is the progress on Rainbow Warrior, today I worked on the smoke from the train, the sky and the lighthouse on the island. the colour reproduction here is not good, in reality it's a lot warmer. I'll be away for a couple of days, but back in the gallery on Saturday, I'll try to include a series of photos showing the gallery then.