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| Gloucester Docks |
The thing is, I don't think I am gaining any extra knowledge there. It's time I think to look for new horizons and maybe try another tutor to see if I can progress any more. At the moment, I feel that the work I am doing at class, could just as well be done at home, so this is the end of another chapter in my painting life.
The painting is of one of the warehouses at Gloucester Docks. The old docks have taken on a transformation over recent years, many of the huge warehouses have now been turned into art and craft studios and coffee houses etc.
The painting took quite some time to complete, more hours than I am comfortable with really. Even now, I am not that happy with it, and think I took on too much with all those windows - there are 60 of them. The next work of art is going to be something quick and simple I think, to give me a break and preserve my sanity!
This is quite a unique painting, Frank !
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of windows, but they give the building it's character ..... it's very charming in all it's detail. :)
At the port of our city, the old red brick warehouses and waterfront sheds have also been made into art and craft venues with coffee shops..... a place for people to go on the weekends.
I agree with you Frank. Painting sixty windows must have been tedious. But it does not show on the work. Its fabulous.
ReplyDeleteThose windows give it character!
ReplyDeleteI am facing a similar dilema too.
The course I am on has been making me feel so moulded and stifled. I am constantly being told I need to paint in this medium or that style, but then how am I supposed to find my own style?
All of the art I am pleased with are things I have drawn from within myself and all the things I am really embarrased about (mainly hideous landscapes)are paintings I have had to do for the course. I suppose I am not very good at translating someone elses idea from a course folder, on to paper!
I definitely have some thinking to do.
Alice - it would seem this trend of breathing new life into old buildings is the same the world over. Even in the small town in which I live, the old redundant warehouses on the canal basin, which used to house timber and coal etc unloaded from the canal boats of yesteryear, have been turned into coffee houses, small businesses and even dwellings.
ReplyDeleteAK - thanks, I don't know if you noticed, but my task of painting all those windows was made even harder because almost everyone of them was different from the others!
Sandra - it would seem that I am not alone then. The only problem with yourself though, if I remember correctly, is that aren't you doing coursework for a degree?
NB, The one thing I did like about this painting, is how the pigments from the french ultramarine I dropped into the red brickwork while still wet formed a lovely granular effect (need to view under magnification to see this). The brickwork in real life was darker than I have painted here, with a lot of blue brickness about it, this was my interpretation of it.
ReplyDeleteFrank by doing all the windows you have produced a competent painting and a good record of this uniquely British building. I find the benches in the foreground distracting by being so dark and I feel the building would benefit from a greater tonal range. That said overall it is nicely done.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sue, I too think those benches are a poor part of the picture. Maybe I should darken the shading underneath them a little to give them some weight and stop them from appearing to float.
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised you left. With the C&G course I did, we went from 20 students and a waiting list down to 8 for the second year.
ReplyDeleteI've never known art courses to be so stifling.
You've done a great job with this building. It put me in mind of the antiques centre in Battlesbridge, which has been converted from a building such as this. I can't imagine painting all those windows! You did it though - and its a nice piece to end on. Bravo ! xx
What an amazing painting, Frank!!
ReplyDeleteSo glad I found you through the miz kate dot com Artist blog hop!
I am your newest blog follower. :)
Looking forward to seeing your upcoming posts!
I welcome you to check out my art blog, too!
Best,
Mary C. Nasser
http://www.marycnasser.com/blog.html
Hmm... I have popped across to ask you - Where are you? Then I read the title again of this post. I do hope that this isn't reeeeally your 'last painting'!
ReplyDeleteI know you have quit the course, which is something that I have been tempted to do recently because I want to develope in my own way - but, are you still painting???
Come on Frank! Pick up thise brushes! I want to see some more :0)
Sandra - don't worry, as I mentioned in the blog, new horizons have have seen me working on a brilliant new project (hence my absence for a couple of months), all will be revealed soon!
ReplyDelete