Mibrofyalgia

I’ve been wondering for a long time why do I do art and what purpose does it serve?  I’m not sure, would be my first response, so I’ve been looking into it and came across an interesting point which I’d never really thought about.  Pictures cross the language barrier, this had never occurred to me!

I enjoy the process of seeing, observing and interpreting into a painting.  I also hope that people enjoy looking at what I do.  When it comes to art I don’t have a lot of words come to mind, I start to think in images so I find it hard to put into words my thoughts on art.

I have 8 half finished paintings drying in my living room (my current painting space, I would dearly love a studio) so cannot work on them until tey’ve dried.  I hang them on the walls, and put them on shelves because that’s the only space I have.  It means that I’m continually looking at them in their unfinished state.  This has pros and cons, the pros are that it means I can plan what needs working on and adjusting but on the other hand it’s frustrating not being able to get on with it!  Oil paint takes days or weeks to dry depending on the conditions.

I’ve been drawing and painting since school, unfortunately due to various ailments I haven’t devoted as much time to it as I would have liked but I’ve enjoyed it none the less.  Here are some things I did at college before the Fibromyalgia seriously kicked in.

I thought it would be fun to move to a new site, so here it is!   I’ve decided to scan and photograph some of my older artwork (from 10 or so years ago) and post it on the site.  So here’s two to start with…

Today I’ve been having an art day.  I’ve done some watercolour, acrylic and am about to get stuck into some oil painting.  I’m enjoying it but have a few frustrations, mainly that I’m in pain and that is distracting me and means that I can’t do as much as I would like, also my brain keeps switching off and feels like it is filled with molasses.  Apart from that I’m having fun and feel like I’ve achieved something.  I’ll post some of my work sometime soon…..

This is the painting I’m working on just now, it’s still a bit wet so is quite shiny in places.  I’m only managing to paint occasionally at the moment so progress is slow but it’s enjoyable.  It’s about a third done and seems as though it’s got a long way to go.

I managed about an hours worth of painting yesterday, which I was very pleased about.  I just worked on one painting in the end, an oil painting of a waterfall that I’ve been working on for a while.  It was good fun and I got a reasonable amount done.  After about an hour my neck was sore and my concentration gone so I tidied up feeling pleased that I had managed it

Today I’m going to do some painting, I haven’t done any since last Tuesday and even then I didn’t do much!  My neck has been very sore which gets worse if I paint but it’s feeling a little better now and I’m keen to do something arty.  I think I’m going to work on two different paintings I’ve got on the go at the moment, a watercolour of a waterfall and an oil of the Trossachs in central scotland, its a mountain with the sun shining through the clouds and grasses and flowers in the foreground (I took the reference photo last summer).   I work quite slowly and in a reasonable amount of detail (as much as my eyesight and brushes will let me) and I’m not very good at finishing off paintings at the moment which means I’ve got several half finished ones on the go.  This is kind of a good thing because it means I have a choice of what to work on 

I only really started landscape painting 3 years ago.  I decided to paint from “life” or “en plein air”.  I was lucky with the weather which was sunny and warm.  I was not prepared for the clouds to change quite so quickly.

My first attempt at outdoor landscape painting

I finished this one off at home because I was getting cold and it had got dark.

My 2nd attempt, a bit less finished but a better sky

This one was done completely on location, hence it is a bit messier.

I enjoyed the experience very much but have struggled to get very many pictures completed since-due to various health problems-so have a large amount of half finished canvases and paintings lying about the flat.

I’m planning to make my own Christmas cards this year (hopefully).  I managed to make some last year-a stencilled dove on indian hand made paper.  I drew the dove, then carefully cut it out of card to make a stencil then used white acrylic paint and a stubby brush and dabbed through the stencil on to squares of blue and gold indian hand made paper.  I then stuck the squares with the dove on it onto pre-made blank cream cards.

This year I’m going to attempt a nativity scene.  I’m nervous about this because I usually draw and paint animals and landscapes rather than people due to a lack of confidence with figures.  Anyway the plan is to do the nativity scene in oil paint on canvas then try and take a decent photo, download it onto the computer and then print it out however many times onto card.  That’s the theory anyway.  The reason I’m going to try oil on canvas is partly because that’s my favourite medium and partly because I find it to be much more forgiving than acrylic or watercolour but everyone’s different.  If I don’t manage it for this year (i.e I’m too slow) I’ll try to get it done for next year and go to plan B for this year.  Now I just need to think of a plan B….