Not dead

Teacher training really scuppered my blogging for a while. Here I am once more, with a just-completed oil painting of a drinks can. I'm pleased with the top of the can and the ring pull, and the lettering isn't bad. Hopefully the time I have this month will let me get some more paintings done, and I can finally realise my goal to enter something into an exhibition.

Overground Arts Fest, July 2012

Saturday can only be described as a day of pure happiness. I went along to the Green Backyard at 10am for the Overground Arts Festival, now in its third year. Luke Payn, one of the organisers, had invited me to be one of the guest artists there. Basically they get artists from all over to come along on the day and paint onto a wooden board. Most people there were graffiti artists of amazing talent, but there were some painters and collage-ers too. I’d been allocated a nice, un-intimidating 4’x4’ board, and I’d decided to do a grid based composition featuring one of my favourite things in the whole world: hand-drawn typography.

For those of you who don’t know or who are maybe reading from a far-flung place, The Green Backyard is a beautiful piece of land in the centre of Peterborough, and it is home to a number of amazing projects, like sculptures, allotments, a pond, a bee mound, free-range chickens, green energy, live music, art… the list goes on. It is run tirelessly by a father-daughter team as well as volunteers. Oh, and our city council would like to get rid of it. And replace it with a coach park.

Yes, you did just read that right.

So, outrage is plentiful round here at the moment, especially on a day like this one, where the sun beats down on delighted English people who have endured more than two months of sodden misery thanks to a mischievous jet stream. Why would the council want to get rid of such an amazing, popular community project? Especially as in the past Peterborough has led the way in green living, so I thought. In bleak economic times, a place that encourages sustainability and companionship, and shows us an alternative to consumerism must be a good thing, surely? If you want a coach park, can’t you dynamite Liquid or another ghastly nightclub?

Sigh. But the mood on Saturday was peaceful, and happy, mostly. I did have a strop mid way through my piece – the sun was beating down and I hadn’t had a beer yet. The colours were looking mucky and the brushwork was looking clumsy. I was on the verge of packing it all in, unfinished, and flopping on the grass with a drink, when someone cheerily approached asking me if they could buy it. I cheered up slightly. Five minutes later my neighbour who was also painting a board came over and asked if she could buy it. ‘I know exactly where I’m going to put it,’ she said. I cheered up a lot, and pushed onwards to finish it. Just who will end up with the final thing I don’t know, I didn’t pay for the board so it’s out of my hands. Here it is, all finished.

Oh, and in other news, I’m fully signed up to start a PTLLS (Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector) in September, which I can do at night around work. Very, very happy. Nothing like learning to shake life up a bit!

Peterborough Lions - complete

So, the lions are all done. It took a total of three whole weekends, two afternoons off work, about one hundred bottles of innocent smoothie ( I kid myself that they can replace proper fruit and veg), three flasks of hot water, many many teabags, six paintbrushes, fifteen tubes of paint, one special black pen and a roll of masking tape.

I loved it so much, but it would be a lie to say there were no challenges. I love painting but I don't get to do as much of it as I'd like. And when I started painting, it soon became clear that if I carried on at that pace, the lion would never get finished in time. So I had to adapt, and become looser, more chilled in my approach.

I don't normally use black. I believe when mixing, it kills a colour, and I'd rather find another way to achieve darker colours. BUT, in this instance, nothing was helping me acheive a clean, clear distinctive outline, until Stuart leant me his black pen, and a big obstacle was overcome. It sped up the process and allowed to get the look I wanted without faffery involving tiny paintbrushes and lots of swearing. Thanks Stuart!

I'm an illustrator at heart, and my work has a friendly, colourful look to it, which I suppose people must like if I get hired now and then. But I had to overcome some insecurity about my work: Would people like it? Will they get it? In the end I just have to do what I can and let people decide for themselves. My work isn't especially cool or profound, but hopefully I've given Peterborough a vibrant, energetic piece that people will want to walk around and explore. Let's hope so anyway.
Peterborough Museum were really accommodating and I loved pretending this magnificent venue was my studio for three weeks. Stuart and Cain were great neighbours too and I loved seeing them decorate their lions, not being familiar with spray art I was suitably awed.

So, the lions will welcome the Olympic torch when it comes into Peterborough tomorrow (3rd July) and then mine will be on display for a year. If you're local, come and enjoy them. If not... enjoy the photos.

Sunday afternoon watercolour

These pesky short days are frustrating for painting... might have to ask Father Christmas for a daylight lamp...

Weekend painting and goals

Here we are again.  I love weekends! These are oil paintings on cardboard. Also if you look carefully you can see my two glasses I painted, cool or what? Should I hide the paintings for someone to find?

I've set myself two goals for 2012:

1. Exhibit some of my work
2. Change jobs

Whoop! 

More weekend painting

I painted some ACEOs today, finally I've stopped wishing to do more and have actually put wishes into action. I love painting British birds, but I would also like to paint some more exotic, unusual birds, or at least birds not native to my country. So I had a go at a bluebird, but I had a hard time doing the vivid colour of its feathers justice.
It feels good to be painting again, but I've become so rusty at watercolours, and they are so easy to mess up. I think also painting on a small scale is harder for me than on larger pieces of paper.

In other news I received my purchase from Bobbins' Destash on Folksy - for just £2 I bought this scrap pack, and I can't wait to start sewing with it, hopefully I can show some of my creations by tomorrow. Have a look at their shop - their prices are very reasonable. I also bought this Hungry Caterpillar fabric from Hobbycraft which is going to become a cushion for my friend's two-year-old son, who has Hungry Caterpillar bedding (jealous).

Pub first though I think...

Interview - 12th September 2011

Welcome Michele Webber

I'm really excited this week to be interviewing Michele Webber, artist and illustrator from Suffolk. Michele has shops on Folksy and Zazzle where you can buy her prints. She is also a world class blogger, showcasing her formidable talent and offering advice for artists, with wit and wisdom aplenty. To people like me who seek to develop their art further, it's a very valuable resource.
     Last night I was trawling Michelle's various sites for images to use for this interview, and I had a hard time choosing from all the beautiful work. Her mastery of her medium is enviable, and her talents don't stop at painting. Enjoy reading about how she started, her workspace, and what inspires her. So without further ado...


Michele, tell us a little bit about yourself.
I am 44 and live with my partner, 16 year old daughter and an adopted serial killer cat called Gimlet in Sudbury, Suffolk. I grew up in London, and the only thing I cared about as a child was reading books and drawing pictures. When I abandoned school at 16 I had vague ideas about becoming an artist, but was firmly talked out of it by people who knew better. In the early '80s, unless you were really academic girls were just channelled into caring professions or secretarial work. For years I gave up my art dreams, worked in offices and a selection of boring jobs. Although I gave up drawing, I was still very artistic, making clothes, jewellery and trying an enormous amount of different crafts. At age 34 I became overnight a single parent to a seven year old and found myself with no money, property or career. Something just snapped and I literally had nothing to lose. I was going to be an artist, and wasn't going to listen to anyone who said I couldn't do it (which was rather a lot of people).

As well as art, you also do commercial illustration. How did you get into that?

When I first went back into art, I attended one of those free seminars run by the council, where you could get advice from a practising artist. She told me straight away my style suited illustration work and encouraged me to go down this route. Years later, the first company I illustrated for contacted me out of the blue, they just phoned me up (which sounds like luck, and it was to some extent, but I like to think we make our own luck). This led to occasional projects for a design company. It has been great to do illustration work and I enjoy it, but I would never do it exclusively. People have romantic ideas about doing illustration work but the reality can mean long hours, ridiculously tight deadlines, loss of copyright and of course there is far less artistic freedom involved when working to someone else's criteria. I am very happy to include it in as a part of what I do.

What inspires you and why?

Artistically I am inspired by lots of different things. Natural subjects, birds, flowers, seashells and simple things that make me happy to look at. I love folk art and patterns too, these often find their way into my mosaic and printmaking practice. Although artists are supposed to ban all thoughts of commerciality, I am afraid in the real world I need to make money, so its a balance between what sells, and what I like to paint, I aim to combine the two quite happily. I teach others to paint, and am often inspired by the work they produce. I give them a subject, and they just knock me out with their take on it, and I go home thinking "Wow, I want to paint that subject now too." 

Those of us who follow your blog have marvelled at your lovely new studio. How's it going in there?

I am pleased to say it is absolutely fabulous and has far exceeded my expectations. When we built it I was sad that I couldn't afford brick, worried that wood wouldn't be warm enough, dry enough to store my works on paper or cold (I detest cold). But now I literally would not change it, there is not an ounce of damp, it is a lovely warm, organic place to work. Unfortunately I spend far too little time in it producing artwork, but the reality of a job in art is a whole lot of admin, the classes I teach take up a particularly large amount of time. Its still a billion times better than working in a stuffy office though, and after years of struggling on the dining room table, I am incredibly grateful to my boyfriend who built it for me. His faith in me as a person is unwavering and every day I seek to live up to it.

What's lined up for the near future? 

I am currently working on some large paintings for a local exhibition, some prints for a printmakers exhibition and organising a first joint exhibition in October for myself and my frankly terrified Saturday class students. Having reached the point where I have so little time to produce new work, I am now starting to market prints hence my latest venture, my shop on Folksy. I intend to find new venues to market prints and cards over the next year. Doing the illustration work has opened my eyes to the possibility of marketing more illustrative products too, and I hope to do more stuff aimed at children. I am also working on a line of prints which will fit into standard ready-made frames, which I hope will lead to more sales. I am also hopeful of teaching a once a year painting holiday in the Mediterranean sometime in the near future. Plus world domination obviously.

And finally... Rich Tea or HobNob?

I am afraid I am slightly wheat intolerant so I will have to abstain :-)

Thank you Michele Webber for such an great interview. Once again I encourage you all to visit her shop and her blog. Please do comment, follow, and get in touch if you would like to be interviewed.

Copyright for all images in this interview belongs to Michele Webber, and images have been used with her permission.

Weekend painting

It is with some shyness that I show some of my paintings today, possibly because tomorrow I am publishing my interview with the extremely talented Michele Webber, who puts me in the shade. Her paintings are breathtaking, as is her website and blog... but more of that tomorrow. I have picked up the watercolours again after a long time away from them. Here are some of the results:

I've shown the way I work with the painting of the Great Tit, above. I started with a light pencil sketch, then I filled in the body with the lightest background colours, paying careful attention to the highlights. When that dried I could start filling in the darker areas. It was great to see it slowly come to life, I had lots of fun with these. Not sure what to do with them, they could make good christmas presents. The other bird is a Pekin Robin, found in parts of Asia and Africa. Although when I looked it up, it seems much more colourful than the version I drew from (I worked from a bird book).

One of my faults when watercolour painting is being too heavy handed, my pictures often become too dark, even though I avoid black. I'm also guilty of rushing, not changing my water often enough and not cleaning my palette enough, but today I was on my best behaviour. I do have some bad examples of today's work to show you, but I'm far too cowardly to include them. Maybe I could do a feature on bad work in the near future...

Carly and I walking over stones, Cromer 2011

Headingham, Essex

This is an oil painting I completed recently for a friend. It is a street in the small town of Headingham in Essex.