Painting: Music is an art but......

[Chris Newman]

I thought it would be nice to revive the old thread where people with an interest i creating their own Artworks could chat and share their thoughts.

As before I still put some of my paintings and a few photos on a troovi site:
http://www.troovi.com/4T6IzepwP3SB
Excuse the amateur quality of photos of my paintings. I hope to get a friend to retake them soon.

I have prefixed the old title to make it clearer to newcomers what the thread is about.

[salymap]

lovely to see the old thread revived Chris. As someone who followed your and Hornspieler's paintings and pix with interest I wish you every success. Do people realise Troovi is free and a wonderful home for their
efforts to be widely seen.

salymap

[Curalach]

Good idea Chris. I need to get a painting finished before I get distracted with anything else but I will post soon.
I have, however created an album in my profile which anyone can look at. One picture in it so far.
This means that we don't need to use Troovi or any other external source to discuss paintings here.
Cheers, Iain

[Chris Newman]

Great to see some old hands back on this thread.

Personally, I enjoyed my Friday "Art lesson" with Steve my tutor. I am now on my third Venice scene. Since I started the lessons I have loosened and sped up. Where pictures took me weeks they now take days and I am doing much more drawing (both sketches to prepare and with the brush prior to creating the actual paintings).

Really enjoyed the Andrew Graham Dixon programme on BBC4 "The Art of Germany"


http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode..._Divided_Land/

and again on BBC4 "The Art of Cornwall" with Dr James Fox (he doesn't look old enough to be a doc)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...t_of_Cornwall/

Just about to watch the BBC4 film about Dave Brubeck: I much enjoyed him a couple of years ago at Basingstoke with the LSO.

Cheers
Chris.

[Lateralthinking1]

Chris, I like your paintings and hadn't heard of the website. Thanks for the tip - and I will also mention it to others I know who will be interested, Lat.

[Flosshilde]

I am doing much more drawing Chris.

Drawing more - both as sketches for ideas & as an end in itself - is something I need to do as well. I did a week's drawing course at the Glasgow School of Art this summer & the tutor said that she makes sure she spends at least 20 minutes a day drawing - sometimes the same object for several days & sometimes a new object. She said it's useful to see how your drawing improves over time. Needless to say I haven't followed her advice - no discipline, that's my problem.

[Paul Sherratt]

What are members striving for when they put pencil and paint to paper etc ?

[Chris Newman]

An interesting thought, Paul. Until 18 months ago I only really had time for painting stage scenery. I doodled and drew caricatures but really anything smallscale in my world happened 50 years ago at school. Until two years ago I would have said my main interest was singing in opera. Being a rather shy person I found I enjoyed exploring other characters and came to like the "Roar of the greasepaint and the smell of the crowd": I was very happy being a romantic hero or comic villain on stage. Then came some heart trouble and a pacemaker so I started walking to exercise the thing and at first my lodger accompanied me for safety. He likes sketching and on one tea break he thrust a pad and pencil in my hands and said "Who can do the best sketch of this view?" Of course, his was much better, but I rose to the challenge and a few weeks later bought some watercolours. I found them hard and unforgiving. I have always liked the appearance of oil paintings but could cannot stand the fumes. The lady in my paintshop suggested acrylics. They were seventh heaven for me as I can paint like oils with them.

What am I striving for? Eighteen months ago I would have said perfection and neatness. Back then my pictures were painstaking and tending to photographic. Now those qualities have become the least of my aims. I strive to paint (or draw) what I see. That can be what I see with my eyes but increasingly it is what I see in my mind. I guess I am just beginning to become more creative rather than merely a copycat. Apart from the pleasure my new hobby gives me I find I love challenges and paint difficult subjects where I move components to get better compositions than before. I particularly enjoy painting reflections on rivers, wet pavements and so on. I suppose over the last few months my pictures have become more impressionist, but I am beginning to draw abstract things. I hope to paint them soon.

Those are some initial thoughts. I guess until you posed the question I have rather taken painting for granted as something I like to do. I will think on it. Thanks, Paul.

bws
Chris.