Sheffield in colour.

I'm enjoying my travels around Sheffield city. It is full of interesting quirky areas and industrial areas. I've yet to explore the more industrial areas and Park Hill, as I have felt a little limited by child care.  Hopefully I will be able to use one day a week to explore seek out the hidden treasures Sheffield keeps.

The original idea was to focus on line and colour,  but I felt the image was a bit lackluster. I decided work instead with colour and mass. I also wanted to get a sense of perspective. (Not in a personal sense. There's the pun you were holding out for.)

 This is the final piece below. I'm quite happy with it. It was fun to paint and I managed to pull in some of the line work I wanted. At the moment I feel the depth in the image is a bit shallow, but  I'll see how it looks in the morning and I'll get a decent photo of the work as well. 

In sickness and wasps

I've not been here as often, as I would like recently, but here's what's new.  My kids have been ill which has really sucked. I know looking after one ill child is tiring, but two feck me.  I seemed to spend all of my energy on them and have none left over for art making.

I eventually got back in my cave of paint yesterday. My enthusiasm was quickly squashed by a swarm of wasps, that launched an attack on me mid painting. Well... when I say swarm and attacked,  I mean one, solitary winter  drowsy wasp, who so happened to take a rest on my jumper. I responded by bravely panicking and yelling words that would make a sailor cry. I courageously removed my jumper, encasing the wasp within and placed the jumper securely in a bin bag. The bin bag was placed within a bin and later removed and safely squashed by the  binmen.  Hooray! 

Further investigation of the cave of paint has revealed a burgeoning wasps nest which is to be dealt with.
 

I had started this before I was rudely interrupted. I have dedicated my study of Sheffield city to that ill fated wasp. It is destined to be a study for a larger more abstract piece based on Sheffield city.  

Dodging the swarm, Oil on Oil painting  paper, 10" x 7" - Sheffield city study for a larger piece.

I hope your day remains waspless and warm. 

Happiness is lino shaped

Printing is something I have wanted to have a proper go at, since being a teacher in Luton and doing lino prints with my students there. I've been lucky enough to receive contributions to my art career for this Jingly season and today I purchased the items below. 

I'd be working with them right now if I didn't need to sleep ever.
On an aside, having to work in short bursts has been a real challenge for me. I'm use to working on numerous paintings at a time over a period of weeks.  This is no longer possible due to minor things like life getting in the way. So I'm working smaller and quicker. This is todays offering.
'A titanium nod towards dawn' oil on oil painting paper, 10" x 7 ".
It's a painting of a the Peak Districts in Sheffield during the  winter of 2013. It's from a  photograph I took.