Quite a lot has happened since I last wrote on this blog.
The final of the Sky Arts Portrait Competition came to its conclusion (I may write about that a little later), we had
the festive season and the new year – I moved
offices into a new building at my University, and I had the flu. Then suddenly,
there’s lots of storms and it’s February already!!!
In the meantime, I have been asked to write a paper for a
conference, and another book chapter, and I need to get my paintings finished for the
Daedalus Ward at the Gosport War Memorial Hospital. The trees in the paintings are coming along
and very nearly finished. So I have a couple of the compositions to talk about in this blog post. I started on the summer painting..
The colours are rich and the composition follows through from the others. This time apples are added to the textures - simply and stylistically worked so as to be easily identified, touched and counted by the patients on the ward.
The final autumn painting in the sequence was started next and is nearly completed as I write.. with all the changing seasons - I spend time walking in woods and getting a feel for the mud and the falling leaves before winter holidays.
So I tried to get the sense of saturated colour - using purple skies which will contrast with orange and yellow leaves (which are added next!), muddy greens and stronger textured strokes with the palette knife.
This final tree painting will eventually have the most colour contrast developed on top of the initial textured and coloured ground. Once I have this composition completed, I will then work through all four paintings in this sequence together, bringing in elements of colour and brush stroke to create further continuity for the patients who will view the work. These paintings are starting to take up lots of space!!
There is one strange thing that has affected the work however - as these paintings have progressed for patients in the dementia ward - my partners father has been diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease - and it seems that as the paintings have developed, so has his disease, thus making the work more poignant and personal for me.
Painting is a magical process and tells stories on so many different levels..
Very special thanks for brilliant art supplies go to:
