Studio In Use

Finally, a pic of the studio in use. Apologies for not posting this earlier, but it has been a tough couple of months.

Two weeks after I moved into the studio, I had an op on my right shoulder - my painting arm. I couldn't drive for a couple of weeks and was plenty tired so didn't make it in very much. Then I got to the studio, tried to paint standing up at the easel and had to give up after half an hour. But what a half hour! There and then I decided never to go back to crouching over my paintings . . .

So since then I have gradually been increasing the length of time I can paint before my arm starts cramping (presently, about fifty minutes, but repeatable with ten minute breaks for most of the day) and have been working on finishing all the paintings lying around, as well as starting a couple of little ones in time for the open studio in October.

Next week I'm off to a residency in Italy with the Jerusalem Studio School , which I'll tell you all about on Sunday. After that I aim to paint big.

White Flowers

Testing, testing, anyone still out there?

Ah, good. Sorry folks for the lack of postings - first there was the new studio, then shoulder surgery in June, then the recovering from shoulder surgery, then the heat. Two weeks ago the sun came out, and us Glaswegians are used to stopping everything to enjoy every moment of such a rare event - but it has been two weeks now, so we are all gradually getting back to normal life.

So I am beginning to use an easel - it has been well over five years, pre-oil painting days, since I have been able to thanks to a pesky frozen shoulder. And boy, it is amazing. So much I have heard about/read/seen suddenly makes more sense. I can lay things out and not have to move a chair to lift things up - suddenly using different brushes for different strokes is easy. And I can both see all the colours on my palette at a glance and reach them without twisting. Also, the turps is no longer at my elbow.

It is still early days (four weeks post-op) and I am gradually building up how long I can stand and paint - up to about six hours with breaks - but these are my first finished efforts. They are still little paintings, and some of the detail is done with the painting in my lap as previously. But I am quite pleased with the direction I am taking - bigger brushes! more subtle colour/tone changes! more thought out compositions! and have many, many plans for when I can do more.

And I will start posting again, promise.

The New Studio - Day 2

Yesterday was Day 2 of the studio project. I spent it mainly cleaning windows and the floors (again). My husband put up wood strips for me to hang my paintings on and then assembling my cheap and cheerful furniture - a desk, a work surface and some shelves to start with.

Then time for a last sweep of the floor then home with aching muscles.

My First Proper Studio - Day 1

Yesterday I got the keys to my first proper studio.

It is no 37 at the Hanson Street Studios run by Wasps. I have been going to life drawing in the studios for years and have friends there so it is quite a familiar place.

The studio is on the ground floor round the corner from the framers and along the corridor from the photographer which I expect will make life easier. It is north facing with the two big windows you can see in the photos, so there is plenty of good steady light - so different from my current south facing set up.

First job was to clean the clay that was everywhere - on the floors, on the skirting, on the windows . . . this took a couple of sweeps and a down on hands and knees scrub. Then all the holes in the walls were filled then sanded - creating a new layer of dust to be swept up and cleaned off. Then the painting - at which stage my incredibly able husband got on with it and banished me for a while. Two paint layers later took us to the final photo and 6pm - at which point we finished for the day.

And today is my birthday so shan't be cleaning floors. Work will resume tomorrow . . .

Spring has sprung

Just a little painting (20x30cm) that I did yesterday - I am so glad to see the blossom, I have always loved it and would love to have a blossom tree in my garden. Last year I missed the blossom altogether, as it hadn't come started in Glasgow by the start of May but was been and gone in New York.

So this year I am appreciating it enough for two years!

Paisley Art Istitue Annual Show 2013

The Paisley Art Institute Open Show opens next Saturday and I am pleased to have two works up on display. This is my fifth year as this was the very first open exhibition I entered, the first time my work was shown to the public - and my first sale!

Anyway, promises to be a good show - I'll try and post my favs on facebook next week - so hopefully you can get along.

(For those of you wondering why I'm posting less these days, it's because big things are afoot.)

Paused

Is this photograph too dark?

This morning on my laptop it seemed fine - but now, on a different computer, it looks far too dark. This sis a problem I have had before - and as I use my laptop for most image manipulation etc it is important for me to work out. For example, I find the image shown on the camera itself is often too small to judge, so I take the laptop too, download an image or two, and adjust from there.

The worry is that doing this makes all my images too dark - reference material, publicity shots (ha! as if!) as well as the photographs of the paintings that I take. Although I do try and get most of my work professionally photographed these days, there are always some that slip through the net . . . or there isn't the time before a competition deadline.

What do you guys think?