Vision, the artist’s and the viewer’s, has been central to the production and appreciation of physical art. The mechanics of visions though, and their influence on perception are a subtext that is rarely addressed. This article reviews seven of the … Continue reading Seven Strange Quirks Of Human Vision
Coming up to a year since our first lockdown and over a year since I met with friends, visited another town, or went to a shop, I’m painting pebbles again. Last year, I made them to brighten up the lane … Continue reading MoMA Drawing-a-Day challenge, Day 4
This is the end of the line for this blog; the paint has been splashed and dripped, dribbled and scratched at, trowelled on in great wadges, and spread so dilute it’s barely visible. It’s been applied under, over, and around bits of packing paper; I’ve stuck string and dead grass to sheets of cartridge, and let the local wildlife make a Pollock. The blog will stay here so new starters can see what 61% looks like, but don’t skip to the end to see how it turned out, look at the struggles I had at the beginning, trying to make … Continue reading Goodbye Painting1, it’s been PoPtastic
Again focusing on the circular format, this requires a painting of one of the previous given selection of items. As before, I am conjuring the spirit of the exercise requirement rather than its letter and also making use of previous … Continue reading Part 4, exercise 4.3 or maybe Assignment 4 – fluid painting on film with prints
The focus is to be a part of the house, or maybe three different parts of the house, drawn as tondos. I chose the latter and used Inktense pencils for the task which I also dampened and brushed out with … Continue reading Part 4, exercise 4-2, three pencil drawings
This section brought up memories of circular horrors marching up the staircases of elderly aunts so I wasn’t looking forward to it. In the end, though, it’s just a painting that’s round instead of rectangular and because of that, draws … Continue reading Part 4, exercise 4-1/4 – the tondo
If this is really Assignment 3 then I’ve figured something out just in time – which is that acrylics are a rubbish medium for this task. I dug out some old tubes of watercolour and gouache paints; neither is a … Continue reading Assignment 3 – three monotype portraits
This module is about exploring the use of different media in the making of paintings. One of the pieces that, for me, came off best from what was a difficult series was a small almost abstract painting of the pair of osprey I’d been watching for much of lockdown on the Loch Arkaig webcam. I saw the eggs; I was watching when one of them hatched; I saw all three grow up and leave the nest on their migration to Africa. This tiny painting, and some of the less satisfactory challenges that followed, drove me back into my comfort zone … Continue reading Painting media
Strayfish Arts 