Pumpkins 3

Come tomorrow, the two big pumpkins will have been carved into suitably scary lanterns. Not sure what will happen to the little one. It won't make much soup by itself...

Acrylic on canvas, 20 x 30 cm

Disjointed

I probably won't decide where each 30x30cm painting will go in the final array until I hang it at Proteus, so here are (just a few of) the many possible combinatons. There are actually 40320 ways of arranging eight paintings. I don't think that I will try all of them.

The Baingstoke Project will be on display (with static Disjoints) from 16 to 26 November 2014 at Proteus Creation Space in Basingstoke (the venue is featured in one of the paintings).

Full exhibition details on the Artikinesis site:

Bring on the Dancing Horses (Carousel)

This is not the whole painting, although it is the focus of it. It's also the only photograph that I have managed to take of Carousel since completing it five days ago that isn't blurred. I blame the dull weather and lack of natural light.

Now, I know that Echo and the Bunnymen probably weren't singing about carousels on Brighton Pier but the song was a persistent earworm while I was painting this, so...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_bJf3foa5I

 I have no idea why there are cows in that video.

Farleigh Wallop!

Farleigh Wallop!, acrylic on board, 2 x 4 foot

This badly photographed painting is to be part of Artikinesis' Basingstoke Project (if there's room for it in the exhibition - it's a little on the large side).

Holy Woodcut, Batman!

This is a woodcut of the Holy Ghost Catholic church in Basingstoke. It is part of a series of four woodcuts of Basingstoke churches made for the Artikinesis Basingstoke Project.

Before I started cutting into the wood, I drew the design on the block in pencil.

The uninked block, cut from a 30x30cm plywood square using hand chisels such as the one illustrated. Can you see the glaring mistake?

Picture This - with Apologies to Blondie

All I want is red, yellow and blue
A sight worth seeing, a vision of New(bury)

From atop a car park with a view, oh-oh
Town hall clock, chiming the hour

Sterling cables, the telecom tower

Corn Exchange, chimneys and roofs, oh yeah

All I want is a some paint on my pallet
An A3 remembrance of something more solid
All I want is a picture of New(bury)

Picture this... a day in October
Picture this... reasonable weather
Artists in town, wielding cameras and canvas
Is that someone painting the garage?
If you could only oh-oh

Picture this... with acrylic and knife
Picture this... a Victorian gas works

All I want is to tell you about
Picture This - the show at Ace Space
But I forgot to take my own camera
So to see what I painted
Find St. Nicholas Road where
Picture This - the show at Ace Space
Will be on... oh yeah.

Edit: Click here to see the pictures in a new blog post.

De Port's Kitchens

De Port's Kitchens,
oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm

Yesterday, three fifths of Artikinesis visited Basing House as part of our Basingstoke Project. I have visited this fascinating site several times, but always with children in tow; I have long had a hankering to paint there. Specifically, to paint the kitchen fireplaces in the ruins of the Norman Castle (built in the 12th Century by the de Port family).

Mini Pumpkins

Acrylic on canvas, 20 x 20 cm each

It's that time of year. Pumpkins and squashes are in the shops; some will get carved, some will get eaten, some will get painted... and its possible that some will get all three. These two mini pumpkins have managed one so far.