Lockdown 10 (almost a fortnight since the last one)

And what have I been doing since?

Finished the June ‘draw every day’ gallery and started July.

Edlington Woods 1

Edlington Woods 1

Edlington Woods 2(primrose)

Edlington Woods 2(primrose)

Started some new paintings and finished some others. I’ve got two series on the go at the moment, one is a series of Edlington Woods paintings, details of the floor mostly, and the other is a series of collared doves and pigeons in the garden.

Collared Dove

Collared Dove

I’ve continued work on the five/six Balby garden sculptures, trying out finishes with oils and gold leaf with varying measures of success.

Balby Garden 2 (in progress)

Balby Garden 2 (in progress)

I’ve also continued to work on the VR piece, ‘et in arcadia ego’, a journey through a series of gardens with photographic memories inserted withour explanation. This piece was put forward for the Cast theatre scratch night initiative in Doncaster. The tentative working title gives the clue to my intentions. For me the beginnings come from Poussin by way of TS Eliot’s Four Quartets, but rather than the merely elegiac I want (now) to look back to Sannazaro’s original interruption of the idyllic retreat with a dark dream that forces you back to reality where things have inevitably changed.

The last thing for this post is that the piece was accepted for the Scratch Night, so it should be going online somehow, as a work in progress, to draw comments from a panel of arts professionals.

ACE announced that the Lottery Project Grants are returning on the 22nd of July and Barnsley NHS have been in touch to advance the organ donation memorial.

Lockdown Nine (the most bored week so far…)

This gallery has the continuation of my ‘draw every day’ attempt, so far I’ve managed every day since the 6th May

and now through June since the 6th.

I continued with the scyulptures, making six maquettes last week.

These are using the cast plaster rocks and the steel rod. I managed to submit for the Cast ‘Scratch Night’, that might be interesting (if I get it) and continued working on the ‘et in arcadia ego’ models.

I finished this painting.

Still life with fox jaw, lemon and dried rose

There is now a set of five of these,

each 10 inch square, oil on board, an attempt to relearn painting by drawing directly with paint onto the board. The middle one is in the Doncaster Art Fair competition on line and I’ve got my fingers crossed.

I’ve tried gilding the first of the small sculptures, that and painting being the next step, and it looks like this now

 ‘Balby Garden No5 (June 2020)’ plaster, steel rod, paper; 1’x1’x1’6” approx.

‘Balby Garden No5 (June 2020)’ plaster, steel rod, paper; 1’x1’x1’6” approx.

 ‘Balby Garden No5 (June 2020)’ plaster, steel rod, paper; 1’x1’x1’6” approx.

‘Balby Garden No5 (June 2020)’ plaster, steel rod, paper; 1’x1’x1’6” approx.

 ‘Balby Garden No5 (June 2020)’ plaster, steel rod, paper; 1’x1’x1’6” approx.

‘Balby Garden No5 (June 2020)’ plaster, steel rod, paper; 1’x1’x1’6” approx.

Still thinking about the VR work and how to build a structure to house the experience. Also varnishing BGNo5 and finishing the others.

Still difficult to focus thoughts on the work as its impossible to get away from it!

 

Lockdown Seven (another lazy post)

Update on the #draweverydayinmay2020

I kept going until I had 31 days worth, and I’ve drawn on the two days since, the link takes you to the completed gallery.

So this is a quick picture post as I went protesting on Sunday when I would normally have written a post.

Tuesday I started a painting and worked on the first garden in the VR world that has a working title of ‘et in arcadia ego’

underdrawing

starting tthe painting

Glover Street Yard

On Wednesday I ran and then worked in the garden. I spent the afternoon getting frustrated with the VR – it’s always about adjusting the scale to make the world realistic. (as an aside I bought a copy of MakeVR to try to build quicker but discovered that my kit isn’t upto it, it works so slowly it defeats the object of using it.)

Thursday I carried on painting and modelling.

Under painting

I carried on painting on Friday

Friday painting

On Saturday I worked on the model, changing textures (sourced from old family photographs)

Glover Street Model

The I finished the painting and entered it into a competition locally – online so maybe not just local – I had to submit a photoof me in the studio alongside it.

The artist in his studio [old codger]

The finished(!) painting looks like this…

withered rose