Fowl play

I really struggled to get under the feathers of my subject for this painting. I guess if I'd taken more resource photos of the chicken it would probably have made life easier; instead I found myself scratching around for pictures on the internet to rescue the situation. However, with some perseverance, and alteration of the position of the legs with the aid of another photo (of a completely different chicken), I think I've got there in the end.

Why did I choose to paint a chicken? Well, I'd just noticed of late that chickens kept cropping up in conversations, magazines and on the telly. People around me seem to be either keeping chickens, considering keeping them, or knew someone who already did. Perhaps it's all part of the trend towards self-sufficiency – the good life. Even the coups – sorry, 'chicken houses' – are pretty fashionable these days too, for example, check out the rather ergonomic-looking Eglu 

Anyway, I've plucked up courage to show you how this painting was resolved. That's it, no more puns, I promise.

photo of chicken - no feet

Sketch of chicken

Chicken one

chicken two

chicken three - new legs!

chicken - final (30cm x 25.5cm)

I said I'd keep you updated on how I am doing with donating my sabbatical paintings to local hospitals – the objective being to get them into a hospital for the benefit of patients and staff. Well, rather frustratingly, my first attempt at altruism in my life seems to be making little headway at present. My emails to the relevant person at Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust have gone unanswered and so have the phone calls.

Not to be defeated I thought I'd contact a charity called Paintings in Hospitals (PiH), which has 50 years' experience of loaning pictures to hospitals, to see if they could help me. It seemed like a good idea: after all, as it states on the website, its mission is 'to relieve sickness, anxiety and stress through the provision of art in hospitals, hospices and other healthcare facilities, across the UK, for the benefit of patients, their visitors and staff. The only national organisation of its type, it currently provides visual arts services to more than 230 healthcare facilities.' The list of facilities even included the very ones that I am interested in donating to. But, no, I was wrong. PiH responded to my email saying that 'Unfortunately, we don't provide advice or information on these matters.' How baffling. Before doing the sabbatical I thought the hard part would be painting the pictures, not giving them away!

Anyway, not to be defeated, I have another avenue to explore and I will let you know how I get on with that next time.

In the meantime, my first exhibition is fast approaching (23rd July to 13th August) at Elizabeth House in Cookham. In case no-one wants to buy any of the original paintings, I'm getting some postcards and greeting cards printed. I must confess that I am starting to get a bit nervous about it now, especially as the previous exhibitors, whose work appears the gallery's website, are nearly all professional artists or photographers. I'll let you know how it goes in the next blog.

Magnolia Tree

There's been more procrastinating than usual about getting this blog done - mostly because I couldn't decide if the latest painting was finished or not. Always a tricky one that. Anyway with this painting I carried on using smaller brushes to put in more detail than I normally do. The subject, as you may have guessed, is a magnolia tree and comes from a photo I took at my favourite National Trust property at Cliveden, Berkshire.

I was drawn to the image because of the foreshortening of large branch coming towards the viewer and the tree's dramatically curved and twisted branches in general. The stunningly white flowers were at their peak and the petals themselves seem to match the tree in forming interesting shapes and shades. It was a lovely sunny day when the pic was taken so the sunlight created complex shadows over the tree and ground. So for starters the composition of the painting came quite easily, I just had to edit out some the of smaller branches so the painting wouldn't be too cluttered. Here follows photos of the painting from sketch to completion:

Initial sketch of Magnolia Tree

Magnolia Tree, Cliveden - Early stages

Magnolia Tree, Cliveden - more background

Magnolia Tree, Cliveden - final

I also have some exciting news. While I was on the Cookham Art Trail, visiting artists' houses, (see previous blog) I mentioned my sabbatical work to local artist Mandy McAllen. A few days later I was offered a three-week slot (23rd July to 13th August) to show the work at Elizabeth House Gallery in Cookham. What a great opportunity and it's a lovely light space to show work.

The gallery has enough space for 15 to 20 pictures so to make sure I have enough I decided to get one of my giclee prints of the 'Cows in Dorset' framed and some other paintings I have. At the picture framers I was assisted in choosing the frames by an artist who works there one day a week. He was very helpful and talented too – check out his website – he paints beautiful landscapes in acrylic of the Norfolk coast. http://www.paulgunn.webs.com/

The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition sounds as wonderful as ever. I plan to trot along there at some point, I always find it uplifting and there's something for everyone - a great day out. http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/

Next in my sights for a painting is a chicken. And with a wing and a prayer it won't take as long to paint as the magnolia tree did.

Til next time...

Brush Strokes

Back at work and laid rather low with a horrible cold, I've been rather quiet of late. And to make matters worse I hurt my back during a coughing fit, so painting has been put on the backburner. But enough of the excuses! Despite all that, I have managed to produce one painting of a rather splendid fox.

The subject material was supplied by my friend Lindsay who snapped the creature as it sat on her garden shed in snow-covered Golders Green last winter. Here's the photo below.

Photo credit: Lindsay Fitzpatrick

And here follows the photos of the painting as it progressed.

 

 

 

 

 

Charcoal sketch

Fox in snow - one

Fox in snow - two

Fox in snow - final (25.5cm x 30cm)

Happy birthday, Lindsay, if you get to read this on your travels across Australia. Perhaps you'll bring me back a photo of a koala to paint.


I also took delivery of my very first giclee prints (of the 'Cows in Dorset' painting) and I am thrilled with the quality – the colours are hardly distinguishable from the original. The image is A3 size on high quality Hahnemuhle Bamboo paper (290gsm) and I have seven available for purchase on Folksy.
Here's a reminder of what the painting looks like.

Cows in Dorset

There's quite a few arty events going on around here too. We've got the Cookham Arts Festival, which kicks off next week, during which artists open up their houses to the public and I intend to have a good nose around this year. First, though, this Saturday (7th May), there is Art on the Street in Maidenhead, where artists set up stall for the day and have the chance to sell their work in an affordable way. I'm definitely going to give that a go one day. I'm also dipping my toe into the exhibition scene with a small selection of older paintings at a local Rotary Club exhibition in Pangbourne in a couple of weeks.  Where Catherine Middleton went to school I do believe....

Reflections

So here we are at the final week of my sabbatical and it seems the call to the council has finally worked and the annoying alarm has stopped - peace restored once more. So with just the sound of birdsong in the garden, I continued with two more paintings to round things off.

The first is of the river near Cookham Lock . I enjoyed painting the reflections in the Water Garden at Cliveden (see previous blog), so I thought I'd attempt a larger expanse of water. As you can see from the progression of photos the more you look, the more colours you see and still I'm not sure whether the painting is finished. I soon realised that I could become obsessed with this stretch of water and some might wisely suggest that I ought to get out more. See below for how it looks... for now.

 Charcoal sketch of River near Cookham Lock

River near Cookham Lock (one)

River near Cookham Lock (two)

River near Cookham Lock (14"x18")

So to have a break from water, I started on a completely different composition of some blossom on a tree viewed from close range. Despite looking like a dog's dinner in the early stages this picture turned out quite well.

Can you see what it is yet?

Blossom near weir, Cookham

Blossom near weir,  Cookham

Blossom near weir,  Cookham (12"x10")

Twelve paintings on I've come to the end of my stint as artist 'at' residence, but I shall keep you updated about where they end up. It has been a wonderful opportunity and I'd like to thank colleagues Lindsay Fitzpatrick and Sarah Harrison for nudging me to apply for the sabbatical in the first place, and to Annette Taylor-Anderson for her support. I will of course be continuing to blog and paint (but not at the same rate) and, who knows, maybe even exhibit in the future. In Maidenhead there's Norden Farm  Centre for the Arts which has a good exhibition space that artists can book, however just last week it was announced that the facility is to lose all of its funding from the National Arts Council. Let's hope it survives such a drastic cut. 

Dead Wood

Well folks, I find myself starting the sixth and final week of my sabbatical - people said it would fly by and it has. But what amazing weather we've had this week and some great opportunities to take more pics in the bright sunlight.

Last week didn't turn out to be as productive as I'd hoped. Firstly, looking after a three year old with the snottiest cold I've ever encountered took priority (it's strange how they can't blow their own noses!),  and secondly, even when I did manage to escape to my studio, a faulty house alarm over the back disturbed me with its incessant whirring. Grr! What makes it even more galling is that no-one even lives in the house, so I became Mrs Angry of Maidenhead and have complained to the council about it.

In between all that and some very welcome visits from friends, I did manage to finish the painting of the Water Garden at Cliveden (the National Trust site just up the road) and one of a view along a hedgerow. Here they are:

Water Garden, Cliveden (14"x18")

Initial sketch of Ploughed field near Cookham (14"x18")

Ploughed field near Cookham (14"x18") (in progress)

Ploughed field near Cookham (14"x18") 

Also last week someone suggested I enter some pictures into a small exhibition in May. This turned out to be tougher than I thought because when I turfed out long-forgotten canvases and cast a critical eye over them, many seemed quite disappointing to me now. This was a bit of a shock because I remember thinking at the time that they were pretty good, but at the same time I can now see how my work has improved. Anyway, following this exercise I've decided to have a clear out: I'll sand down, prime and reuse old canvases instead of letting them take up valuable space.

Oh, there was one other thing, I now have a website where people can view my not-so-bad work. http://www.karendaviesart.co.uk

Branching out

With the equinox now behind us spring is in the air, so I took advantage of the improved light to get out on Sunday and take some photos of the stunning scenery surrounding Cookham Lock, a lesser known backwater on The Thames.

The first blossoms are appearing and with a lovely mackerel sky (I've been itching to paint one of those for ages), I'm confident that finally I've bagged some more suitable pics to work from later on. Good job too because I'm fast running out of resource material.

As for the paintings I was working on last week, I've completed 'Tall trees' and 'Big tree'. As you will see I couldn't resist adding some patches of blue sky to the latter, but I think it works.

Tall trees, Burnham Beeches (12"x16")

Big tree, Burnham Beeches (18"x14")

I wanted to paint something slightly different next so I went back to look at my photos of Cliveden (alas taken on a gloomy day) and plumped for a view of the watergardens from between two unusual trees. This is the first time that I've painted water and I've been surprised at how effective the various colours reflected in the pond have been. 

Water garden, Cliveden (18"x14") (unfinished)

Water garden, Cliveden (still not finished)

Another first for me is to have some giclee prints made from an original painting. The beauty of this is that you can have your work reproduced to a high quality to sell or exhibit but don't have to part with the originals; useful if you don't have a large body of work. To test the water I have chosen a big painting of some cows in Dorset to be printed on A3 paper. It's a costly process: I've had to ship the original to Bristol to be photographed professionally (using a £25,000 camera no less) and then the high resolution image can be used to produce as many prints, at any size on any type of paper, that you wish. Anyway, here is the painting I refer to and I just hope it's worth the expense!

Today I am also publishing my website, at the moment it's just a gallery, but I will be adding greetings cards and prints soon.

Cows in Dorset, 2009

Knock on wood

Snowdrops at Cliveden

After a brief respite from painting trees, during which I turned to Snowdrops at Cliveden (completed pictured above), at the beginning of week four of my six-week sabbatical, I am back in the thick of it again. 'Ancient tree, Burnham Beeches' (16"x12") is now done and I am getting on with two more  paintings inspired by the beauty and variety of Burnham Beeches. One will be titled something like 'Tall trees, Burnham Beeches' and is portrait shaped for a change, while the other is called  'Big tree, Burnham Beeches', and has unusually long branches -  I'm rapidly becoming an expert on such matters, or perhaps just 'barking' mad.

Following a weekend away from the easel I came back to it refreshed Monday morning, however, I've found that I can't paint for more than an hour, so I take a lot of breaks. I could probably carry on for longer if I listened to music, but I've tried this before and have found that I lose concentration and the end results suffers.

Ancient tree, Burnham Beeches

 Here are pictures showing the progress of the latest paintings. Swapping between two paintings seems to be working well. It probably helps to see faults or areas for improvement when I get away from a picture.

Tall trees, Burnham Beeches

 

Tall trees

 

Big tree, Burnham Beeches

These two are proving quite enjoyable to paint, probably because the compositions work well, and the fact that it wasn't a lovely sunny day casting great shadows, but a dull autumn one, doesn't seem to detract from the painting, in my opinion. However, I am tempted to add some blue to the sky in the latter picture.....