Photo Essay

the right road

A Piece of Advice

This week’s Discover Challenge from WordPress “brings out the positive: tell us about a piece of advice you’ve received — and would like to share with others.”

right road

The Right Road  14.7.16

When I was a young boy my beloved grandfather said to me:

” In life Andrew there are always two roads, the right road and the wrong road.
Make sure you always choose the right one.”

His advice has stayed with me all of my life and echoed in my mind over the years whenever an important decision has needed to be made or a life-changing direction to be followed.  It has been the best advice a young boy could have ever have hoped.

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To complement this week’s Discover Challenge, and particularly as this month I am working through Tony Smibert’s Painting Landscapes from your Imagination,  and also painting as part of Worldwatercolormonth, I thought I would continue the exercises of Chapter 8 in the book with imagined images that reflect the spirit of my grandfather’s advice to me.

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Tony suggests making small loose drawings and washes as notes, and not to worry about the consequences.  Some are very abstract but some became quite specific and more detailed as they developed, as you can see.  Each was intended to convey the sense of a fork in the road with a choice of direction between the light and the dark.

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This last image is perhaps the darkest of all and reflects what might have been.

Dedicated to the memory of my wonderful grandpa from his grandson,
now a besotted grandpa himself.

genie of the brush: part 2

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“When you pick up your brush it should come to life in your hands” writes Tony Smibert at the beginning of Chapter 6 in Painting Landscapes from your Imagination. He continues, “Somehow we have to free the brush so that it will dance across the page as if it were alive in our fingertips rather than trapped by them.”

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This second part of Genie of the brush is all about Making Marks, the title of the chapter, using the four simple steps of Dotting, Dabbing, Dragging and Rolling, with my brushes hopefully dancing across the page.

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The best part of this exercise was following Tony Smibert’s suggestion to “free movement to a rhythm or a beat.” I took this to heart and dotted, dabbed, dragged and rolled to one of my favourite Jazz pieces, Blue Monk by the great, late Thelonius Monk, the genius of the keys to match the genie of the brush. It was also the perfect opportunity for another “Over my shoulder” video.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it.

Over my Shoulder VI – Making Marks

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One of yesterday’s landscapes that followed the exercise using a combination of dots, drags, dabs and rolls.  Definitely a good day 🙂

Worldwatercolormonth Day 5

You can find links to all of my other Over My Shoulder videos on
From Yardwork to Artwork: The Photinia Story Part Three

“Be your own painter…”

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Arizona remembered I  2.7.16

The title of today’s post is taken from Tony Smibert’s quote in Exercise 3 of Landscapes of the Imagination, which I am working through this month, “Be your own painter and adapt what you want to your own work”. This exercise is all about graduated washes and includes maneuvering the board upside-down as the secondary washes are applied.

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The quote was all the inspiration I needed to apply the exercise to memories of our memorable trip to Scottsdale, Arizona, where we stopped before continuing on to that never-to-be-forgotten visit to Antelope Canyon.

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That night we walked on the McDowell Sonoran Reserve after sunset where the Saguaro cacti were dramatically silhouetted against the evening sky. It was thanks to Laura Macky that we included this in our visit and her wonderful post Painted Saguaro is one that I recommend you all visit. Thanks once again Laura 🙂

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Arizona remembered II 2.7.16

 Worldwatercolormonth Day 2

Je suis, I am

It was the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last.

On January 7th 2015 I spelled out Je Suis Charlie on my studio floor. It was the first time. Six days later on January 11th, as millions marched around the world, I used my palette to express solidarity in the best way I knew how. Later in the year on November 14th it became necessary once again to turn to my palette and to write the three words, Je suis Paris. Then on March 22nd of this year I became Belge et Bruxelles, and as recently as June 12th, Orlando.

Today…
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With a heavy heart and in response to this week’s Discover Challenge: Opening line

my muse awaits me

The Story Behind The Door…or the muse that meows.

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As I arrive at the studio today behind the door my unclothed muse awaits me…

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purring quietly and sitting patiently, ready to inspire me with her presence.

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Her name is Sunday and she is greatly loved by us all.

From Yardwork to Artwork: The Photinia Story Part Three

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branch lines I 6.6.16

After the success of From Yardwork to Artwork: The Photinia Story Part One and Part Two,  today Part Three will feature the photinia branches themselves that I have discovered make such versatile drawing tools.

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One branch in particular has become a favourite as it takes on so many roles as you will see in the video later in the post.  The wonderful marks it can make depend on so many factors. They can be either broad or fine depending on the angle at which it is being held it, and opaque or transparent depending on the pressure exerted. Plus the extra bonus is the frottage that the underlying wood of the drawing board produces within the lines themselves.

I think I’ll let the bough take a bow.

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Why not find your own branch, buy some drawing ink and paper, and make your own branch lines. Let me know how it goes.

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branch lines II 6.6.16

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branch lines III 7.6.16

over my shoulder IV – the making of branch lines III

If you would like to see more over my shoulder videos here are the links:

over my shoulder I

over my shoulder II

over my shoulder III

Life Imitates Art

The texture of the lines reminded me of figure drawings of mine from over thirty years ago, which I have now taken out from a drawer in the studio and pinned to the studio wall. Here’s a sneak preview of what’s coming next.

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Finally, I’m linking today’s post to this week’s Discover Challenge: Origin Story for two reasons.

First, The Photinia Story Parts One, Two, and Three are all about the origin of an image and the story behind how it is created.

Second, and the main reason with Father’s Day so close at hand, is to dedicate this post to the memory of my late father who set me on the path of making art from a very early age. He was an amateur artist himself and this painting of his hangs proudly in my office at home. It is a constant reminder of the true gentle man that he was.

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Thanks Dad

a day like no other

Today has been a day full of honour, gratitude and inspiration.

Where to start?

Perhaps I’ll use the words of Dylan Thomas from the opening of his great poem Under Milk Wood, “To begin at the beginning…”

The day began with a message from WordPress Discover on Twitter that my post “From Yardwork to Artwork” was being featured today as an editor’s pick.

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I had received an email a week ago from Krista, one of WordPress’s great Editors, informing me that she had made the selection and I wrote back to thank her and to say how honoured I was. Her weekly photo challenges are always so enjoyable as you all know, so a big, big thank you once again Krista.

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This week’s Photo Challenge is all about Numbers, which certainly applies to today with my reaching over 1000 followers on The Changing Palette…

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…so I extend my gratitude to all of my wonderful followers for staying around for so long, and to those of you who have joined today in response to the post on WordPress Discover, a special welcome. I will be replying to all of your great comments over the next few days, so stay tuned.

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Finally, the inspiration today was from all those taking part in this year’s Gutsy Walk for Crohn’s Disease and Colitis.  I walk every year and wouldn’t miss it.  This year it was held at Trout Lake in Vancouver on an unusually hot Sunday morning, but as always everyone was in the greatest of spirits. A special thank you to all of the volunteers, organizers and sponsors.

It really has been a day like no other as you can see.

From Yard Work to Art Work: The Photinia Story Part Two

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Photinia II 26.05.16

After Part One of The Photinia Story for this week’s Discover Challenge,
Part Two today is all about the leaves.

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The green bin’s overflowing contents were collected on Wednesday but some of the leaves made their way into the studio…

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…and it was time once again to turn the yard work into art work.

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First another ink drawing using those perfect photinia branches to draw with…

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…and then it was time for some colour.

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part 2 x      part 2 xi

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And finally as a postscript to this post 🙂 an old painting of mine that dates back to 1974. It resides at the back of a shelf in the studio and I have to confess I had forgotten about it until I started painting the photinia leaves this week.

Heath

The title is Autumn on Hampstead Heath a place I used to walk almost every day with my parents during my childhood in London. The painting takes me right back to those distant halcyon days as happy, loving memories of mum and dad come flooding back.

From Yardwork to Artwork: The Photinia Story Part One

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Photinia I 23.05.16

Today’s post is all about learning to find beauty and inspiration in the mundane chore of yard work on a holiday Monday.

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Yesterday was Victoria Day here in Canada, the perfect time to prune the photinia and clean all of its dried leaves from the studio roof and gutter.

With the concrete cleaned and swept the afternoon was free for painting and photography in the studio with a rescued photinia branch making for the perfect subject…

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and a few of the trimmed branches new tools for drawing with.

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Now all I had to do was put the two together. What could be better than an ink drawing of the photinia created with one of its own branches?

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Well, perhaps some additional watercolor to complete the picture…

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and we’re almost there…

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So ended a very satisfying day turning the hard work of yard work into art work.

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to be continued…

Happy Birthday Ma’am

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On March 16th 1973 Her Majesty the Queen opened the new London Bridge just round the corner from Guy’s Hospital where I was working at the time. With my new Pentax Spotmatic at the ready off I went and was able to capture some memorable moments from the day.

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The negatives have been protected in their plastic sleeves over all these years and today seemed the perfect time to revisit them. They’ve stood the test of time pretty well.

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I even discovered online today a British Movietone newsreel of the day, which is wonderful archive worth taking a look at.

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Happy Birthday Ma’am

negs