Well at last we are home again, everything is happening this year!

We have just traveled up the East Coast from the Wash up to Lindisfarne, awe inspiring, was maybe the best way to describe it all.

 It was a holiday because we were both tired, however it was also research on my recently started project, looking at how old fishing boats, when deserted slowly decay back towards nature. Paint flakes, wood rots and metal rusts. if you look closely there is great beauty there. So it was good fun poking around all sorts of deserted little estuaries, havens, ports and even farm yards, Boats end up dumped everywhere, such good fun finding these out of the way places.

Lindisfarne was awesome, the above image was painted whilst being seated on the grass just above the old jetty. It was late afternoon, warm, with a gentle breeze, which had a slight nip in it, very pleasant. Nobody around, just peaceful and relaxing. 
 

 

Liz and myself have just returned from New Wine and so you know--- we had a superb time. We both experienced and leant a great deal; very formative. unfortunately I also came back cooking Covid. Liz seems to have skipped it. We are both fine now, all tested and clear, just a few days taking it a tad easier seems like a good idea to get my puff back.

But now the arts, to give you an idea of the challenges involved in the ink A2 work, above is an A3 drawing, it took about 30/40 hours and worked out very well: but that's not the finnish as it was meant as a preparatory drawing for a larger A2 drawing, firstly exploring the problems in draughtsmanship, tone, contrast, text, etc, etc. The A2 drawing is now well under way and thanks to all the prep work is starting to work our rather well. I feel that it is at the half-way point and so far I have emptied a pen and a half getting there. 

I will show you the finished piece in a few weeks.

 

Just a very quick information piece for today. The flier above is one of two current exhibitions of my work running at the moment. It is a first chance to see some of my new work, which is looking at the great beauty in the gradual decay of old fishing boats around our coasts.

We have been away, lots is happening, lots to do, will send a blog of more substance very soon. Duncan

At the moment life is rather hectic, having just returned from a holiday trip and organising and delivering work for two exhibitions.

But first the holiday, it was on the River Seven on a hotel barge, very nice indeed. One of the places visited was Gloucester and in particular the docks; these ancient docks were amazing. The above picture is of a mooring ring, with goodness knows how many boats tied up to it. I am sure health and safety would like a little impout there, but it does make an interesting picture.

So now two plugs for my exhibitions. 

First;  Guildford Arts at the Lockwood studios, on the Slyfield industrial estate, GU1IRR. A shared, Summer Exhibition, weekends only from the 2nd of August until the 31st of August. This is a first chance to see some of my new ands current project work, based on the returning to nature through decay of old fishing boats around our coasts.

And secondly; St Columbas Christian Conference Centre, Woking GU228AB, week days, office hours. All are welcome, however due to the sensitivity of much of the work done here it would be a good idea to ring first on, 01483766498.

Now I will put my feet up for a while.

Duncan

 

Well at last we are home, that is always so very nice. A few evenings just watching a DVD while being seated together on the settee; we are going through Foyles War at the moment.

We spent a few hours in Tewkesbury and loved the place.

Above is a quick sketch of the West door of Tewkesbury Abbey; it is not a highly polished and finished piece of work. It was produced whilst sitting on a sharp corner of a grave stone, not very comfortable, believe me, but it was the only possible seating which gave this view! It is only two and a half inch's square, but it captures the feeling of a corner of this ancient stone work. Although maybe the smallest and not the cleverest work of this recent trip, my feelings are that it says the most. Maybe it is my favorite.

So clever and big are not always the most meaningful.

 

 

You might be thinking, why has there been no blog for a few days; the answer is simple as there had been before an almighty, hectic few weeks. The culmination of this was a hotel in a barge, holiday on the River Severn, where we had a lovely time, with lots of tales to tell. Amongst the places visited were Worcester; the sun was blistering, perfect for a watercolor painting, so what transpired? See above and below. 

Thankfully I like people of all types.

I sat on a raised curb stone and relaxed, soon my solitude was broken by an unhappy lady whose marriage had just fallen apart. So I listened for a short while and wished her well. Next a friendly chap appeared with an even friendlier, massive, slobbering canine, they decided to come and join me. We chatted whilst I protected the painting from slobber damage. Then lastly a so called commercial expert joined me advising me as to how salable my work was. It was explained to him that I was on holiday and the idea was to relax a little. Others stopped and chatted a while, but no more experts, needy, or canine slobber drip owners appeared. Seriously I had a good time; Liz had been meeting an old friend for the day.

Next a while was spent in the cathedral, a short time to stop and pray was a good idea. I left the place calm, relaxed and ready for my next adventure.

We had a lovely break, more tales to follow.

 

I have said in the past that moving up from A4 sized images to A2 would present a few challenges; well it has. principally has been the digital scanning. having an excellent A4 scanner, scanning is  normally straight-forward, that is in simple terms. Oh dear: computers are not that simple!

The above A2 water colour, enhanced with a little ink work comes to mind. Four scans across the bottom, which were digitally joined. Then four scans across the top which were also digitally joined. Then those two images were digitally joined manually. The computer did not like me taking control. It took me a couple of hours; good grief!! The result doesn't look bad either.

I plan to produce several watercolor images of this size in my present project, Oh Dear! Maybe I will find a simpler way around this scanning malarky. 

The picture is of the coble landing at Filey, which is called "A jolly good read". Note the book worm on the extreme right.