Finished - 'PWM'

'PWM'

Ink on paper 45 x 32 cm.

Well, here it is. I've just completed the final act which is the signature.I love the final moment when I rub off the pencil to reveal a shining white name.That marks the finish.

PWM - 44 . I must go down to the sea again...

There are a pair of Gold finches twittering in the willow tree as I write..the patio door is open and it's a lovely mild spring day...it's a lovely day . Here you can see my work on the sea continues...gradually darkening and strengthening the colours...You can clearly see that I've darkened the area to the right of the candle holder as opposed to the rest which I'll do after I've written this.I favour the darker/richer colours of the blue and green ..there's a sort of tranquility about it.

Here's a nice close up..try clicking on the image for an even closer look!

PWM - 43 All at sea

This is my second go at posting today..don't you just hate it when you spend your time composing a carefully crafted piece of prose only to have the server not publish it?...aagghh!!!Anyway, here's hoping this one works!

I set about the sea today..not knowing which method would give the best effect, I decided to lay down a basic blue and 'suggest' waves...hen start darkening it with other colours later. below is a small selection of photos showing close ups of the work in progress.

Here I'm using blue to define the horizon line...in my original sketch I had the sea being quite dark.

It's easy to make a light area darker than the other way around, so I'm opting for a fairly light layer of blue...I suppose it's a little 'grounding' which is a term in painting where you lay down a base colour for an area to eliminate the white glare of the canvas/paper....

The candle holder needs attention now..It is a metal structure and has a sort of shallow metal pan for the candle to stand in..the underside is reflective so needs to bear the correct light and highlights to make it look realistic...join me tomorrow to see what happens next!

PWM - 42 The answer to Life, the Universe and everything.

I've done little work today, by choice. But I had to spend a little time strengthening the clouds and adding a little red to the horizon. If you compare today's and yesterday's you might see what I've done.

PWM - 41

The clouds are now in place and I've added a little yellow ochre to the horizon. the next job is to darken the clouds near the top of the page and add a little red and more blue.I wanted clouds behind the area that is the glow from the candle as it helps to accentuate that glow..it's odd, but it actually looks as if there is a light there rather than plain paper showing through.

All being well, I should finish during the next week!

PWM - 40 Clouds are gathering

You should now start to see things quicken as I've all but finished the sky..now I can at long last begin on the clouds. Here I've placed a few rough shapes in the top left hand corner..they will be darker eventually, but you will begin to get a sense of depth to the sky as i introduce clouds further down to the horizon.They will also enclose the composition making it feel more intimate.

I'm also quite pleased to be able to add a clever little widget that enables visitors to translate my text into another language ( See top left hand corner of this page!!).It's limited to 8 languages..but i think that's pretty amazing!!I know that sometimes 'Babel Fish' translations can be a little loose..but if you speak any of the featured languages, I'd love you to try it out and let me know how accurate it is!Just click on the flag of your choice and wait for the translation to appear.

finally;I'm interested to know if this blog is displayed on your computer in the way it was intended..ie; you can see all the content without having to scroll across the page.Please let me know. I'm actually considering a bit of a makeover soon, so things might change anyway.

Thanks for visiting..see you tomorrow!

PWM - 39

It felt good to carry the blue over to the other side..you can see a line extending from the crown of the left me's head..this is the layer of purple which i'm in the process of laying down from right to left..over that will be green and then more blue....lots more blue.

PWM - 38

As you can see..I've refined the stars and continued the sky over to the far left. The photo is a little misleading..if you look to the very right of the sky area, you'll see that it appear a lot darker than the rest..in the flesh this is less so. However, a certain amount of over working will have to be done to the sky once the clouds have been put in.

PWM - 37

Despite the mind numbing process of blue and more blue, I'm enjoying seeing the effect the sky blues has against the profile of the me on the left..there's a definite sense of light there which I'm pleased with.I took this photo this afternoon ..I've done more sky and reduced the size of the stars to give a more realistic appearance. Today I passed the 155 hour mark which I think makes this the most amount of time I've ever spent on a picture...I'm estimating another 20 - 30 hours should see me very near if not at the end.

PWM - 36

I'm getting closer to what I had envisaged with the candle. I've also introduced a lot of yellow to the horizon..i need to continue this up into the sky and add more blue...not very far to go now! I've begun to think about what comes next. It will have to be a few Small pieces that I can sell at the exhibition in a few weeks time.

PWM - 35

Well..perhaps the progress isn't as stunning as you hoped..? I've spent the time filling in the sky which now I see it here, it's not as even as I thought..however, there will be clouds to add in later...The candle is causing me a few headaches..the reference photo I took was against a dark background, so the flame bleached out the surround...obviously this is against a lighter backdrop, so I've taken a bunch of photos to give me the desired effect...you'll notice a difference when I've done it!The family arrived back safe and sound from their little break in whitby. Here's a rare photo of my two boys William (left) and Sam on board a little boat going out for a sight seeing cruise.

PWM - 34

I've begun work on the glow around the candle..getting this right will mean the light on my faces is appropriate..

Although I'll let you know nearer the time, I've been accepted as an exhibitor at the 'Willington arts Festival' I will be selling prints of my work there and demonstrating my technique (!). To that end, i shall be taking a couple of trips there to photograph locations for 'minipix' that will make affordable gifts.This will be the first of two festivals..the other is in September at Wirksworth in Derbyshire. I have also confirmed a joint exhibition with Derbyshire Artist Wanda Brookes for June at the Cromford Mill (which will be my third year of exhibiting there).

So lots coming up..and I'll let you know dates as they approach and a full report as it happens!

PWM - 33

Up until 1998 I worked as a Resettlement Advisor at a local project for homeless people. I spent my day advising those who had housing related problems including being homeless and roofless. what many people don't realise is that being 'Homeless' doesn't necessarily mean they are a 'Rough Sleeper'. Being Homeless also accounts for those who live in temporary accommodation like bed and breakfast establishments and hostels for the homeless.
All a very long way away from what i do today...and a very long way from the job i originally did during a previous employment with the same homeless project. Yes folks..I was the Cook!! I'll never forget trundling home of an evening and asking Jan what the recipe for apple crumble for 30 people could be..There was of course plenty of room for me to be a bad cook..I did after all have a captive audience of very hungry homeless people. Which made it all the more painful when even they refused to eat my Egg Curry one day....it was a real shame because it was a lovely shade of yellow.

PWM - 32

Around 4 hours work on this since yesterday...you can see how slow progress is!. Looking at my work sheet, i can see that I'm entering the sixth week on this. Boring for you the viewer, but a challenge I suppose along the lines of a marathon. I have mentioned the works 'time consuming' and sometimes 'Tedious' but don't let me fool you..I feel very privilaged to be able to devote so much of my time to this.

PWM - 31 Look to the skies

Now begins probably the most time consuming part of the composition. The Sky. My aim is to create a deep mix of blues with clouds and stars. Having practised the various colour combinations elsewhere, I've opted for layers of 5 colours. Below you can see from left to right: Mid Blue as the basic layer,the purple, and then green on top of that.There will also be yellow and red introduced at a later date. the difficulty lies with trying to form an even transition between the light and dark areas.

PWM - 30

I heard this story on the popular Channel 4 words and numbers quiz show 'Countdown' the other day .

A man and his wife are shopping at the local supermarket..as he pushes the trolley along the isle he notices a special offer: '12 cans of Beer £8'..so he picks a case up and pops it into the trolley.
"What do you think you're doing?" his wife asks.."we can't afford to buy that!"...So he puts the case of beer back on the shelf . A little later down another isle, his wife picks up a jar of beauty cream..£16. She puts it in the trolley. "If we couldn't afford my beer, what do you want a jar of that for?" says the Husband. "Well..it make me beautiful" says the wife. "Well, 12 cans of beer make you look beautiful too dear..and they're half the price!"

PWM - 29, Choices

So, moping around a bit today..I've come to a bit of a stand-off..what shall I do with the background? I've decided on the candle in the rather ornate holder that my friends Alan and Sheridan gave us a few Christmases ago, to go in the middle.All along I've had the idea that I'd do something in blue..I don't know, it just feels right. And somewhere deep inside I feel a need to have some water in the picture..i dream of the sea most nights, i love the sea, yet it never gets into my pictures. I copied out two prints of PWM and used colour pencils to sketch in a couple of backgrounds. the top one is obviously the sea. I'm not asking for you to make the decision, but i just want you to be able to to see a little more of the process I go through when composing my pictures. It's odd that even after 112 hours work, i still don't know what I'm going to do!

Join me tomorrow to see what I've decided upon!

PWM - 28 Sorting my head out.

I've spent the day so far sorting my head out! If you compare it to the photo in yesterday's post, you will see the suble changes I've added...including the glasses at last!!

PWM - 27

I'm running out of things to say that might be interesting about this picture...I continue..it is my life my occupation, my passion..I will not stop until I get to the end.

I was reminded the other day as to why I call this blog 'Dancing for Beginners'. Have you ever wondered? Well,back in 2006 when I was considering starting a blog, Jan and i had just begun Salsa Lessons..for those of you who don't know what Salsa is, it's a name given to a type of multi tasking that only someone with six legs, an IQ of 175 at least and the patience of a Saint and the fitness of an olympic gymnast could ever hope to master.In other words..it's a style of dancing. now having dancing and a natural leaning towards rhythm already in my blood , I considered this particular pastime would be relaxing, fun and would help Jan and I have a life apart from our children and meet new people. how wrong could i be?..I found every fibre of my body aching, my mind in a whirl as I tried to comprehend the moves that my body just refused to attempt. But given time, weekly visits to the classes and time on the slippery floor of my kitchen practising the moves..I finally had it..

Looking back , I wonder why I was so confused..it all seems so natural...I think dancing is a metaphor for life..we fear, we avoid taking the 'steps' because they seem so difficult. but given a good teacher and the knowledge that those around you are also in the same 'boat'..it suddenly seems easier..broken down into manageable steps..practised and tried again and again till the steps were right...

OK, so life doesn't always give you the time to practise..it throws it all at you sometimes..and it seems all you can manage is to duck out of the way as "The midden hits the windmill"..but hey!..NO ONE expects you to get the steps right first time..some times we have to take lessons..let others show us the way.

That's why i think of my life as that...Dancing for Beginners..I'm rubbish at it..but then again, so is everyone else...but let's learn together..eh?

PWM - 26

Spent the day working on the arm and table area..fairly tedious stuff compared to yesterday. I now see that I need to deepen the contrast yet again on the t-shirts...in fact you can see on the left figure that I've started adding red as a layer like I did on the other figure. It's a case of continually balancing the contrasts as I go along. I've reached 107 hours in total today!