Hi folks - as some of you will know, we have been trying to move house for some three and a half years now. At this moment I have stopped blogging about my painting because I have stopped painting. We do not want to fill our small house with paintings that are unlikely to sell where we are hoping to move to. I paint very quickly and so produce a lot of work.
So at this moment all my creative energies are going into looking at my old photos and bringing them back to life through editing. I am really enjoying the site JUX and now have a free personal account with them. You will be able to see my new focus by going to:
http:// www.artistinwales.jux.com
The frost has come, the decorations are up, the PLYGAIN CAROLAU are being sung. Our church choir is getting busier by the day, somehow fitting in practice. There is snow in the ditance on the hills .... so it is time to wish you all ......
Berriew is one of many beautiful villages hidden throughout Powys, especially around Montgomery.
There is a lot of evidence of settlements of monks and religious men in the whole of this area. Many of the churches have circular areas around the churches.
I was trying to think what it must have been like to have come from the grime of a big industrial city to arrive at the station in Llangollen. What an amazing change of scenery, quality of air and sounds. Llangollen is the venue for the massive International Eisteddfod ... music festival, with acts from around the globe.
The water didn't seem to be dirty, smelly or polluted. I wonder if sometimes plant life can create a kind of soap suds.
I marvel at trees ... such strength and all that by design. Each one comes up with a different way of holding its branches against the wind and rain.
Sometimes it's great to just play. Amending old photos is such an occasion. The original is of a lighthouse on the Pembrokeshire coast. After cutting, trimming, altering tones, colours, contrast etc. I changed into an oil ... for no other reason, just to see. This was the result.
I have tried to recreate a bit of the 'old age' of Staithes by trimming and changing colours. It is a very old harbour full of mystery and intrigue. It is a place of sailors, chapels of every flavour and probably a coast of pirates and smugglers. This scene has been painted in oils so many times by so many artists, throughout many centuries.
Such a lot of 'higgle-de-piggley'. Staithes is a much painted town nestling on the East coast of England. How did they squeeze so many houses together ... and this is only a small selection!
This is Aberaeron once more - the harbour is fed both from the sea and from the Aeron (in Welsh ... Aber = mouth, usually of the river name that follows. In this case Aeron). On the occasion of the high spring/autumn tides there can be a battle between the flooded rivers from inland and the raging sea on the other side of the sea wall.
Aberaeron is a beautiful seaside town on the West Wales coast. Because of its connections in the past with sailing ships and passages to America, this was the first town in Wales to be planned on the Boston grid system of streets and roads. Fortunately the street names are more interesting than Second street north.
This beautiful area is where, as I have said before, we get our lovely water from. The river is the Severn (the longest river in Britain) where salmon return in November from thousands of miles away to spawn. At the point the river is just a few miles old and will quickly swell before reaching Drenewydd just a few miles away. By the time it reaches Shrewsbury it is a strong, mighty river by UK standards.
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What a great place to build a house ... except perhaps when the wind blows!
Recently Ann Aston asked 'Do you paint from memory or sketch? Because I don't drive I tend to gather my information from photos. But, most importantly I usually have to have a 'feeling' about the place, usually from having 'known' the place or situation well, often over many years. So you could say I am painting from experience. Of course I paint plein air, sketch etc.
Below is an example of how I might take a photograph, quickly and roughly 'square it up' and then set off in a completely different direction.
