Life In Miniature

A little while back, I saw three beautiful little frames at a car boot sale. Although they were small, the width of the frames was around three inches, and the finish was battered gold. As the stall holder only wanted a couple of pounds for them, and they were in excellent condition, it would be foolish to pass them by. The high cost of frames has prompted me to keep a lookout for second hand frames at such venues, although if frames are in a car boot, there's usually something wrong with them, but these were good.


This last week, I've done a couple of miniatures to fit the frames. Well, I say miniatures - the maximum picture size I could get away with in these is 14x8.5cm, which is the smallest that I have ever painted! Using small brushes is a must with paper this size, and I have to say really quite alien to me - I like nice big brushes usually.


The first painting was a simple landscape and I was fairly pleased with it, but I'll have to do it again, because in my rush to get it into one of those frames, a major faux pas occurred! I had cut the mount, which fitted perfectly, but on cutting the backing board, I hadn't noticed that my painting was underneath it. You guessed it, my lovely painting sliced in two! Bagger, what a plonker!


Any way, it might have done me a good turn, as some of the finer lines did look a bit chunky and I would never have been completely at ease with it.


The painting above is of a terrace in Bath, England. This is the back of a lovely terrace nestling beside a river - I knew instantly that it would be a good subject for a painting, though I would never have guessed such a small one at the time. Using pen and watercolour wash, I've completely ignored the lines in many places. The actual buildings were all shades of grey, but this would have looked a bit dull, so I added light tones of reflected colour liberally in places. The sky took on a mind of its own, as the French ultramarine I used ran back on itself, making branching patterns so typical of this colour. I'll leave you the viewer to judge whether this is a good or bad thing.

Looking Back

Looking back on some of my work of a decade or so ago, is making me think about where my artwork is going and if I am getting it right. Sometimes I think I am getting better and better, but when I come across paintings like the one of this French café, I begin to wonder. I know I am a lot more careful than I used to be and worry about getting my painting right. But looking at my style in this particular work (and one or two others in similar vein), I think maybe I am getting a little too careful, worrying too much about how my work is going to turn out, and worst of all, tightening up and getting stuck in a rut!

This painting was done at my last sessions at art school back in the late nineties. It’s my interpretation of a photo from a glossy French magazine. Here I’ve used cartridge paper, 135gsm and A3 in size (had to scan two halves). I started with a light pencil sketch, followed by watercolour, then picked out some of the detail with pen.  Looking at the minimal layering of the watercolour and the loose and casual way I’ve done the pen work, makes me think that maybe I’m trying too hard these days, and should just let myself go a little at times.

Yes, I’m going to have another go at something in this style, just to see if the old magic is still there!