forthcoming exhibition in market harborough

I've been painting madly to produce some small works for an upcoming exhibition with a small group of friends.

We meet up once a month to discuss art, crit work in progress, go to shows, put on exhibitions several times a year and generally talk about anything art related - and lots more besides :>).



These are some images that are going to be printed as cards - it means people have something affordable if they can't buy a painting.




They are all computer manipulated so aren't reproductions of work but are based on work I've done and exist only in this form. More here.





I'm also responsible for the publicity, posters and fliers - if you can make it do come and see us.

< Click the poster for further details if you are in the area






And keep your fingers crossed for us on the first weekend of December :>)

From the moor above Pendeen and the lighthouse

Moorland lane above Pendeen, Vivien Blackburn

Coming down the single track, twisty lanes from the moor down to the coast you get these views. Often the horizon is indistinct as it was in the close up of the lighthouse and there is a wall of blue ahead.

The earth banked stone walls are covered with bushes - mainly gorse up in the harsher conditions of the moor - and hundreds of wild flowers.

You see stone built moorland farms, built-into-the-landscape, huddled against the winter gales, old mine engines and small stone walled fields. You are totally enveloped within the banks of flowers and then suddenly turn a corner like this or see through a gateway - one painting opportunity after another!

see why I love it so much?

Pendeen Lighthouse

Pendeen Lighthouse, mixed media

It's a while since I've been able to do much painting for a variety of reasons :>(

But .... here is one of Pendeen Lighhouse. It was one of those days when the sea and sky almost blur and the horizon isn't clear - all is soft pearly blues, turning viridian in the shallows. (the black at the bottom is simply the marker ribbon in the Canson watercolour book)

The cliffs a mass of wildflowers, the lighthouse buildings tumbling down the cliffside with the foghorns silhouetted against the sea.

another illusion

... of a seascape.

Freire, WIP, monotype, 24x50cm on Tosa Shi paper

other than the water to clean my printing tools with, there hasn't been any water in sight of my artmaking over the last months. i am busily working away on another round through fields in the landscape. chilean ones, this time. while the main project is in a lemon yellow/orange/cyan palette, i wanted a counterpart to be much more sombre, autumn-haze like. and oops, it looks i ended up with something else altogether.

the print is a build of two layers of raw umber, one dark purple grey and a light blue grey on top. they are markings with a knife on an inked up sheet of perspex. much of the effect is in fact due of the paper - it's a very fibrous japanese paper with a lot of the inking sinking into it. so while the top layers where in fact rather light and opaque, they sunk into the previous (still wet) umber layers and neutralised the value contrast considerably.

there's a lino layer to go on top as in this one here, but i think i will leave this one print as it is - the illusion of a seascape at night.

this is the end of this particular printing project and i have written up some more on the process here, if you are interested

The Crowns Botallack - update

The Crowns, Botallack, finished .... I think, Vivien Blackburn

The Crowns, Botallack. detail. Vivien Blackburn

Looking at this painting, hung where I could see it and decide what might need editing and adjusting, I've made some changes and think it's now finished. (whole of the finished painting lower down)

The balancing act of making the buildings visible but capturing the way they appear part of the rocks and the landscape, not jumping out at you, was something I wanted to resolve.

Also, I've now glazed the top of the sky with ultramarine - and part of the sea and shadows on buildings and rocks.

The Crowns, Botallack, detail. Vivien Blackburn

better?

Now to get on with the rest of the series ......

Lavender, Viridian and Amber: Dawn

detail

detail

detail

finished (?) painting

I've been incredibly stretched lately with family ill health, exams and not feeling great myself :>( so sorry for my absence.

Today was the first day painting for ages. This is a Christmas present for my eldest daughter who has moved to a new home and decided to have 'white walls and lots of seascapes'. mmmm

This is based on sketches done in Cornwall, combining elements of several - and choosing the images for the colours - to match her rather gorgeous eau de nil/pale jade curtains 8>O !

Unusually for me it's entirely in acrylic. I started out in acrylic inks and then moved on to acrylic paint. At some point I may do some canvasses based on the details as I like their simplicity. I think I would have to use oils for those ...... or .... maybe not. I actually quite liked using these today, whereas I don't normally complete a painting in them because I get to a stage where I just need oils.

It was done with Liquitex acrylics and I really like their texture for the way I work. I also like the way the plastic caps don't get grunged up and refuse to go on again like many metal tubes :>)

I know Tina loves her acrylics and gets incredibly subtle veils of paint with them - how about you?

Seascapes and my ghost of time

while my own blog blogged for two weeks on autopilot, I've been eagerly waiting on the proofs for my first print-on-demand (pod) publication to arrive.

My ghost of time is a bit of poetry with some of my seascapes - the deliberate ones, often done en plein air, as well as the accidental ones - where abstract pieces took a turn to the water.
 

So, last Monday the book arrived, I made some more changes and put it on the public bookstore at Blurb.

I know others have published with them before and in terms of quality and price they seemed pretty competitive.

I tried to find some info on quality control of their publications. I came across this flickr discussion group and became a bit worried as to the lack of quality control and indeed the huge variation from print to print. The attractiveness with pod is that it doesn't require money provided up front, it's an easy and convenient ordering process regardless to where you are. But, if each copy turns out different and of variable quality, this can be a problem.

So, while Blurb does seem to have problems with quality control (colour variations, notably a magenta cast; and problems with binding seem far too common), their customer service seems very good and helpful. - Which means, if there is a problem with the copy, they are helpful in providing a new one.

Now, My ghost of time is not going to be the next bestseller neither do I intend to use it as marketing/portfolio material. It's a project that's been simmering for a while and was important to see to fruition. I ordered one hardback and one paperback. The paperback came out very nicely, the hardback has some issues with the binding.

But: the layout and the quality of images turned out very well. I chose their standard landscape format (25x20cm) which actually provides fairly sizeable images.

• Have you published your artwork? As print-on-demand? Conventionally?
• What are your experiences? With quality? As marketing material?
  
• Do you have plans on publishing some of your artwork?

• Blurb offers a full preview of My ghost of time here
• Here are the posts from my own blog about the project
  

Dawn finished at last

Dawn, 40 inch canvas, oil. Vivien Blackburn

Finally finished. It proved a nightmare to photograph - the subtle colour changes just aren't picked up well enough. They show a little better in the details below.



I wanted to catch that early morning light as the darkness is chased away by the amber colours of dawn. The sea is calm and the rocks only half seen. The glow catches the top of the far cliffs and the tops of some of the wet rocks.

The horizon doesn't really slope - it's the photographer who had a bit of a list to port.

Below is a morning light painting I did plein air - one of the several sources that this developed from. The tide here is a little further out and daylight further advanced.

if you click on the above image you can see further work on Cornwall.

first stage - dawn

Dawn - work in progress, first stage

This is the roughed in start on the 40 inch canvas - sorry it's not a good photo - there is more dark sky that my arms weren't long enough to fit in the photo. It was wet and I wasn't going to wrestle with it anymore

I'd decided to work on it in the living room as husband was safely out for the day and wouldn't know

Dropped the oil paint loaded palette on carpet, hitting curtain on way down

got paint from wrist to armpit wrangling canvas and trying to catch palette

cleaned carpet

washed curtain

had shower to remove woad painted ancient briton look

decided NOT to work in living room again

More about it and the missing sky segment here

North Norfolk Salt Marsh Harbours

Boat in the harbour, Brancaster Staithe. photograph: Vivien Blackburn

The North Norfolk coast is totally unlike the Cornish coast - unlike the wild seas, steeper beaches and coves, clean sand and rugged cliffs of the south western tip of England, the coast here is softer, gentler, muddier from the silt washed down from rich farmland. I have to admit I love the wildness of Cornwall more but this area has its own charm.

Photographs of Thornham creek and Brancaster Staithe, North Norfolk

There is a short section of cliff at Hunstanton but most of the coast is salt marsh. Inland are low hills that dip down to flat land, fields that were once marsh but have been drained, marsh and dunes.

The cottage I sketched recently on my blog was being thatched with reed from this area - just a little further along the coast at Cley.

The harbours have creeks that thread to the sea through channels - the sea only reachable at high tide.

You may recognise some of these places in sketches and paintings on my sketchbook site and main website

Sketching rocks in mixed media - stages

Rocks between Sennen Cove and Lands End finished, watercolour, biro and coloured pencil in the moleskine folio watercolour book, approximately 10x11 inches, Vivien Blackburn

Rocks between Sennen Cove and Lands End stage 2, watercolour added loosely, biro and watercolour, approximately 10x11 inches, Vivien Blackburn

Rocks between Sennen Cove and Lands End prelininary biro sketch, approximately 10x11 inches, Vivien Blackburn

Jeanette has issued a Paint/Sketch Rocks challenge on her blog and this was done in response.

Unfortunately it's from a photo, as Sennen Cove is 320 south and west of me right now so popping over wasn't an option - but I'd wanted to sketch the fantastic rocks there and thought this was my chance. I also like the figure perched precariously, though confidently, on the edge, giving the rocks scale and adding a little drama - well I don't 'do' heights so someone standing above that drop is drama to me!

I first sketched it freely in biro (Parker - they don't blob as much as some others) and then sloshed some watercolour on it quite loosely. Next I added some scribbles of coloured pencil and some more biro.

You can see a slide show of previous paintings/sketches of rocks here - they are something that fascinates me with their shapes, cracks, facets, crevices, ledges, colour changes and general complexity, not to mention trying to get the feeling of hardness, jaggedness or smoothness and their innate dangerousness.

This is the first time I've used the moleskine folio watercolour book, other than the try-out doodles in various media on the first page. I quite like it.

Salty old Sea Dogs on a Saturday Night

A tonic for my recent disappointment regarding not getting selected for an exhibition (which, in all honesty was probably much too high brow for me) I set sail, out into Falmouth Bay on a glorious sunny evening. Armed with a bottle of smooth red wine, the faithful art hound and my dear tame mariner I am going to let rip with the old watercolours and catch the evening light, as difficult to corner as a shole of fish but here goes.

Evening Coastline, Falmouth Bay. Watercolour 40 cm x 40 cm, 16 inches x 16 inches.

As the light falls behind the land colours start to change, detail is lost and the sea holds many hues.

Lots of water, lots of paint, layers running into one another, suggestions of fields and trees on the coastline.

Last Light, Pendennis Point. Watercolour 50cm x 40cm or 20 inches x 16 inches

The setting sun colours the sky, leaving the sea to turn a silky indigo.

Bands of light stretch across the bay as another day is put to bed.

This, for me, is possibly the very best way to spend a Saturday night!

Beachcombing

... with the nose firmly down and the eyes peeled to the ground, I need to remind myself to look up to the sea, the horizon or the gannets diving for some fish in the distance.

I'm torn between the sweeping seascapes - to sketch up to the horizon; and what is right in front of my nose. Well - far too often the horizon line still wins in this little contest. But look at some of my newest finds, to clutter yet more shelves and to help me imagine a faint scent of wind, salt and sun from yet another - far too rare - day out at the seashore, beachcombing.

Digital imagery - using the computer to think around ideas for painting

Dawn at Sennen. Digital image, Vivien Blackburn

Sometimes I like to use the computer to work out ideas for further paintings using the sketches and paintings I've done plein air.

These are 3 I've done that may well find themselves developing into oil paintings.

The top one is a combination of the pearly dawn sketches and the wild seas - which were in a totally different light but the movement of the waves was beautiful, as were the dawn colours. Result = wild dawn :>) - I can definitely see this one being developed in paint.

Rainy Day at Sennen Cove, digital image. Vivien Blackburn

This one would lend itself to being developed as a a watercolour and coloured pencil piece don't you think?

Stormy Day, digital Image, Vivien Blackburn

With its muddy colours this one has more of an east coast feel - again it could be interesting in oils.

What do you think?

Do you use the computer this way?

Working Afloat

On board I have a little sketchbook. Well to tell the truth I have a lot more than that, I have a whole array of drawing and painting ephemera, ready for longer trips, overnighters and "round Lands-End", that sort of thing.
For the first few trips in the "studio boat" we have sailed out into Falmouth Bay, up the Helford River and also out to sea... for five nautical miles!!

Anyway... to start my "Cornwall from the sea" project I have been scribbling away in my little on board sketchbook. "The Captain" gets a bit annoyed when I am too busy to ready about or sling the anchor in or all of the other nautical things that need to be reefed or hoisted or hauled but I make valiant efforts to ignore him and get some drawing done.

I can tell you it is a difficult job, the boat heaves and pitches, the scenery is all so beautiful that I want to draw EVERYTHING!

So I scribble away with a lovely pencil that is water soluble and smudges and washes blue with the water brush/pen.



I take photos too but most of all I try to get into my head how the land meets the sea. The lush wooded sides of the river, the little nibbled beaches and tall granite cliffs over which tumbles the land. Then it is home to the studio on dry land where I attempt to convert all of that into a finished piece. It is boiling hot here, cloudless blue skies, the dry land studio is hot too and I think that might be influencing the pictures... lots of blue skies and deep, cool, green sea. I am going back out on the boat, going to strip off and dive in!

Anyway here is one finished painting. I am putting them onto "paintmap" too so that you can see exactly where in the sea I was bobbing.

OK, off for that swim...

From valley floor to seascape...

Elqui 2, oil on canvas, 50x50cm

oops... how did this happen? Unintentionally, my recent series of oil paintings, which started with a view of Elquí Valle in Northern Chile, turned into seascapes.

Let's backtrack for a bit. I haven't posted much here of late. Rather than marking water I have been back marking fields, woods and forests as subject for some printmaking. While I continue to visit Loch Lomond for some water sketches, it seems a bit distant at the moment.

But, anyhow: for the past couple of months I have been working on three oil paintings out of the impressions of sky, hillside and valley floor left by the magnificient Elquí Valle. Much of these developments were not about a particular place but about an exploration of palette (cobalt blue, two cadmium yellows and burnt siena) and markmaking.

And, in this process something happened. While I wasn't looking and my hand were busy with paint brush and palette knife, seascapes appeared out of the fog of various grey layers.

Elqui 3, oil on canvas, 50x50cm

So suggestive is the palette of landscape references that they easily appear; attempts at undoing the land- and seascapes then got interspersed with working precisely on those connections. It's a process I've found utterly enjoyable - a couple of years ago I had begun to develop some landscapes out of incidental marks on paper. This - with the oil paint as medium and on a larger scale - was even more exciting.

So, I leave you with some seascapes, appropriately misnamed Elquí 1 and Elquí 2.

If you're interested in a bit more detail on the work process of making appear and disappear, here's a process post on my blog.

Elqui 3, Detail, oil on canvas, 50x50cm

Mood and colour: Painting the changing colours of different times of day

Sennen Cove, Dawn, oil in Canson sketchbook, approx 9ins, Vivien Blackburn

There were some really lovely dawns when we were in Cornwall, the sky was often amber as the sun rose behind the cliffs, with lowering clouds above. Colours are soft and muted.

Sunset, Pentire, oil sketch, approx 9 ins, Vivien Blackburn

And a rather loud sunset seen driving home one evening.

I just love changing light and the moods created by it through different weather and seasons.

You can see some of the other sketches here

I find I really do strongly prefer sketching plein air in oils. The only trouble is it isn't so convenient when you are with non-painters as I was and they can be heavy-ish.

With oils I can work so much faster, catching changing light and altering things in an instant, working dark over light, scratching through wet paint to reveal colours beneath, wiping off ..... the possibilities are endless - and FAST.

I can't manage to limit my palette - I just can't! I want a variety of blues and yellows and reds and earth colours and ...... but I have honed it down to a box file, which holds paints, brushes, knives, baby oil, rags and medium. It's an ideal shape to scrabble through when looking for a tube or brush. Then there is just the canvas or paper to paint on and a palette and of course as sketchbook. I sometimes use disposable palettes and sometimes simply a page in a sketchbook! It can always be painted over later :>D

I very rarely draw in pencil or charcoal before painting in oils plein air but just go in with patches of colour that gradually knit together to make the whole. I keep meaning to do a WIP but have zoomed along with work before I remember - and by then I've usually got paint on my hands and don't want to touch my camera!

Cornwall to Norfolk in Tiny canvasses

I've been doing some tiny canvasses for my Etsy shop - and coincidentally, so has Sarah! (hers are gorgeous check out her blog ) We both posted at the same time and had both chosen 4 inch squares, though hers are on wood panels and mine are on canvas.

These are 4 inches square, on deep 1.5 inch sided, gallery wrapped canvas.

They work well in a group and even look nice standing up on a shelf as they are so deep.

I really enjoyed doing them and for a change used acrylics, not my usual choice of medium but it worked well for me.