What a week! I worked hard, hard. Had highs and lows , a brief teary moment then great happiness when I put together this final plate which was my fifth design:
You’ll see what I mean! I ended up with a plate design I loved after a detour away from water-colour to acrylic on wood, which is lovely to paint on. I actually was very happy working on this pale delicate plate with its winter palette and think that it does work but it’s not a plate that jumps off the shelf at you, or necessarily one that could be produced faithfully either!?
How different they are. And yet… see the swirls the shapes of the icons… the icons themselves? similar. I’m learning what shapes I like and that I love circles and movement.
I needed to do this acrylic work because after hours of painting separate water colours I looked at the pieces and felt flummoxed. Many were delicate little studies which I couldn’t envisage sitting well together. Once I’d finished my detour and had a sleep I woke early, made a cup of tea and sat playing with purpose on my computer, manipulating scans. It wasn’t quite there… I ended up with these:
The one on the left is my favourite and last of my fiddling before going to my summer-house to paint some more. To me it’s the most quirky and striking but not there yet – quite, but I think I will revisit it, I can see things I’d like to do to it. The amalgamation on the far right looks like swimsuit or skirt fabric! I like it but to me it says fabric not plate. I like the sparseness of the one in the middle but it probably needs one more element at least.
I think I am learning a lot, not least that I can paint with water-colour still!
Here’s a composition I’ve just finished as a pair to the one at the top, what do you think? Which do you prefer of the two? I can’t really decide myself, what I love here is line over bold colour and little details too. Something to pursue 🙂