This is a new painting I am working on alongside ‘Don’t Be A Dick’ which is nearing completion. As with ‘Don’t Be A Dick’, I am interested in painting local, recognisable, sometimes iconic scenes as a backdrop to my usual trademark female figure. So for Cape Town, we have the House Of Machines cafe with its eye catching Dont Be A Dick (no apostrophe!) and the bright red walls of the State Of The Art gallery where I show my art (http://stateoftheart-gallery.com ) to set off the girl with her ubiquitous mobile, a statement of our times. So it is with ‘Bristol’s North Street Blues…’. North Street is the lively, vibey street where I live, home to cafes, bars, independent shops and of course the street art festival Upfest held every year when graffiti and street artists descend on North Street from all over Europe to paint their distinctive scenes. I am particularly drawn to this recent street art which appeared and I decided to place my model in the front of part of it, sliding by in a bright red dress, oblivious of the scene beside her. Again, possibly a statement of our times. Hopefully, when this painting is…
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My son takes great exception to the fact that there is no apostrophe in the lettering in the cafe window featured here. He thinks I should put the apostrophe into the ‘Dont’. Normally I would agree, but the lettering doesn’t feature in the original, and as I hope this painting will one day soon hang in the gallery opposite the cafe, I feel it must reflect what the cafe shows. Sorry son….. The gallery is the red building reflected in the cafe window and is State Of The Art on Shortmarket Street in Cape Town (http://stateoftheart-gallery.com ). Drop in if you are passing, especially on First Thursdays when loads of galleries stay open in the evening on the first Thursday of the month in Cape Town. So much great art to see. I am getting down to the detailon this piece and should start pulling it altogether next week. Really becoming one of my favourite artworks. Painting large works for me. If you are in Bristol UK at the moment, go along to a great restaurant off Millenium Square which is showcasing an exhibition of art by Clifton Arts Club. I am showing some of my art there and…
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This is a larger piece which I am hugely enjoying. Beginning to pull it together now and making the composition work. Because of its size (80 x 80 cm) which is large for me for an oil painting, I am breaking it down into four quarters and working one quarter at a time. In an orderly clockwise direction. Or at least that was the intention ….. What REALLY happens is that I start mixing some fabulous pink or blue or vivid red paint on my palette, begin putting it on said quarter and then my eye is drawn to a completely different area where I think that colour would work as well. So off I go, and my neat plan is screwed. However, the advantage of this is that the colours are really drawing the picture together and if you are looking at one part of the painting, your eye is then automatically drawn to another, different part of the work. Clever stuff, eh?! This piece, as mentioned in the last blog, is for the gallery in Cape Town (see previous blog for details) and I am now gearing up to paint similar works for the Bristol gallery (again see…
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