White Ladies - finished.

White Ladies ( 2011)
61x36 cm
Finished at last..taking a total of 179 hours and 40 mins it's been quicker than recent pieces. It almost never made it off the 'launch pad'...or should I sat the sketch pad ? If you remember I had about three or four restarts at the beginning...so in truth, what you see here was not my original intended composition. But that is ok because I can just carry forward  the original concept and allow it to surface again some day....which you can be assured my Tennis Girls keep doing!

What's it all about  here you asking? I'm very mindful of the fact that when I'd completed 'three Graces' last year, I promised to let those who asked, an explanation of the symbolism behind the graces and their characters as opposed to other objects in the composition. I did start writing and found that it was a growing piece of writing (which i'm not all that good at!) which soon became overblown. what I can say is that all my pictures are a kind of auto biography/therapy session. Each picture I produce addresses aspects of myself that I am progressively becoming more honest and bold at expressing.If I were to explain that as a child I often played dress up and always chose to be the lady..and that for most of my childhood I wanted secretly to be a girl, it would make me sound stupid and open myself to ridicule...instead I chose to depict myself as two tennis girls looking longingly at the beautiful creatures of my admiration...you would therefore have some pointers as to the often personal and vulnerable nature of my symbolism.

I live with the reality of my work  in a constant battle between the exhilaration of openness and admission...honesty and expression, and the fear of rejection, ridicule and damnation....and to be honest, the fear often outweighs the exhilaration.

Perhaps you understand me, perhaps you know someone who has had similar circumstances...perhaps more likely you now look upon me as a sad self obsessed fool. Either way...I know where most of my issues stem from and I'm confronting, dealing with and learning to live the fact, and the heritage that brings...which to be honest, makes me a stronger and richer individual. thanks for listening, and look out for the next picture which will take shape here!

White Ladies - 54

Still not finished..you can see the bottom left hand corner needs attention...i've added texture to the snow and Crows shadows on the rest of the picture. I've had a few interruptions today ...not all unwelcome, but still taking me away from work. Unavoidable i'm afraid.But I can confidently say (famous last words eh!?) that i'll finish tomorrow....and i'll endeavour to provide you with good resolution photos, for some reason you can't see the dots very clearly on this pic...oh well...see you tomorrow!

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One, possibly two more days to go on this now!

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 Continued with the crows..it's actually quite difficult to give them all individual stances...so I've repeated quite a few of them reversing their positions at times. I've now only got the far left quarter to complete which all being well will be done tomorrow. however I'm now having my attentions vied for by a book about the Cancan I ordered at the weekend. 'Cancan' is published by Cancan Publishing. Written by David Price, it is probably the most detailed and researched book on the history of and social significance of the dance.If you have any passing interest yourself , it is a must read and is the only book exclusively on the subject available! I'll write more about it when i've finished reading it!

 As I worked this afternoon, I looked up and saw this fella sitting on my neighbour's roof...I like to think he was just keeping his eye on me to make sure I made a good job of drawing him!

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 I still reckon I'll finish this picture this week..although work time was reduced today due to school runs and making the evening meal. The birds are looking surreal...I quite like the fact that non of them is trying to take flight as the train passes. The ground is of course supposed to be snow covered..when i've finished the birds, I'll put shadows and detail into the snow.There are a few little details that need sorting..for instance the ribbons holding the tennis girls ponytails. i'm sure there is plenty more that could be done, but as someone said, "when you start to look for things to do, then it's time to finish".

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the wind blew strong in our region  of England today, gusts were measured at around 50 - 60 mph...and as I looked out of my bedroom window whilst sitting at my desk, I saw what looked like scraps of black material, pieces of clothing ripped from their washing lines to scud across the sky.  It was in fact crows in flight.I imagined that they'd struggled to fly against the wind but abandoned all effort and had lain back to let the wind carry them where it would. I decided to put crows in my picture.

 Here you can see me working on one of the crows. I love their quizzical stares and their arrogant strutting.The irredecent sheen of their glossy black feathers make them look like oil slicks on legs. I shall continue the crows across the rest of the page

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The sky is more or less finished now...the lighting for this photo isn't good because it makes the left side appear much darker the the right. But i'm fairly happy with it..the right sense of foreboding and menace is coming through. tomorrow I shall take the day off...at least as far as this picture goes...I shall work on sketches for the new picture which so far has three of four major ideas vying for attention.Maybe i'll publish a few, but then maybe I won't. either way...this picture is rapidly approaching it's finishing period. Next week should see it done!

White Ladies - 48

 I'm coming to the final stages of work on the the sky now.I've worked on the planets and at the end of today's session, I'd completed most of the large planet on the far left of the scene...you can see a lighter area upon which I still have to work....some of the planets you'll probably notice are lighter than others...this is something I will go back to and equalise when they are all finished.

White Ladies - 47

I've managed to work well again today. This is good in itself, but other things have gone well too. I'm planning a party for my birthday in November and ideally (as readers here will know!) I wanted a troop of Cancan dancers. Well thanks to a friend who suggested them, i've just had confirmation that the Vanessa Millar School Of Dancing from Belper in Derbyshire can dance for me! The next good thing was a good friend of the family advertised on Facebook a two seater sofa for sale...we've been looking to replace a sofa too, so tonight we went and managed to fit it into the back of our car (albeit with a certain amount hanging out of the back!). So all in all a good end to the day I would say!

White Ladies - 46

I wrote yesterday about my working hours and my aims to have pen on paper for 5 - 6 hours each day. Yes, this is something I'm able to do  because above all else, I have the opportunity to do so. It's a situation that I am incredibly privileged to enjoy whilst at the same time causes deep frustration knowing that I'm not the one 'out there' being the bread winner and provider for my family. Of course that role is fulfilled by my wife Jan who is pursuing a job she enjoys greatly and has the added bonus of paying the bills.

My children are growing up, one of whom now lives away from home whilst studying at university. My other son is nearly 16 and my daughter is 10...so they're past the time of needing 100% attention.Of course this leads to other related problems when Jan is away working,( which is fairly often and becoming more so) I think I've written about what happens then enough times! I'm prone to bouts of depression and I have fairly low confidence in the commercial side of my work.So this I battle and when things are good...I work to jmy hearts content within the boundaries of child care and running a home. Currently I'm enjoying my work.

White Ladies - 45

 Thank you for the kind comments! I seem to have hit a bit of a groove work wise at the moment..my aim is to spend between 5 - 6 hours each day dotting and the remaining time to sketching/research and blog stuff. I've been no where near this aim recently, but now I'm pushing on quite well regularly hitting my targets each day. The main reason is the development of ideas and images for new work....nothing spurs me on more than the impatience to start a new piece!! I'm therefore spending time on a couple of drawings for new compositions which excite me and fulfill all the goals and concepts I strive to realise....watch this space!

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From now on, I shall always feature a full photo of the entire picture as well as focusing on the work of the day. Quite a few people have suggested a time lapse animation showing the process from beginning to end. My technical abilities don't reach that far, but if someone knows how to do it, I'd be glad to let you have a go!

White Ladies - 39

Been off doing my other little job of role playing today so have not had the time to work my usual hours. However, work on the planets continues ...expect plenty more...!

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We have planets!

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Have begun work on the sky...detail on engine steam to be added later.Adjustments to skin tones/shadows also at a later date.

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I've had some absolutely wonderful comments about my work over the past few days.I've been through ( as most artists do) a period of self doubt and lack of motivation, so to have the encouragement of readers here has meant the earth to me. I know what I'm producing is probably not technically my best work, but the issues I'm addressing come from a depth of emotion and this means making myself vulnerable.

White Ladies - 35

It's my photograph that's sloping not the train! I'm enjoying work on this today...it's not as quick as I'd hope because of the research and attention to the carriages...I can't wait to work on the sky which will alter entire atmosphere and bring out the lightness of the tennis girls.