A painter of flowers and views

This summer I painted in the landscape on Cranberry Island with a new friend and fellow painter, Ahni.  Ahni and I are about the same age and so we laughed together at ourselves oohing and ahhing over a beautiful landscape and arrangement of colour, we share a love of the scenery that you find in Maine. Ahni did an painting MA not too long ago and told me how she was pulled away from her natural interests towards something less conventional.  In the time since, she has reconciled herself to 'being a painter of flowers', at least that's what she told me while we were painting some of my mother's exquisite flowers. I think we all have to paint what we see, the things that get us excited. 

These two oil paintings are 40 x 40 cm. Blackeyed Susan and Book was painted from life and Norwich Jug and Maine View was painted holding the jug, looking at two pastel drawings, a piece of a black and white photo I took this summer and inspired by a Dorothy Eisner painting.

 Blackeyed Susan and Book

Norwich Jug and Maine View 

 You can see Ahni's work at: http://new.ahnikruger.com

Altered Landscapes

 One of the things I have been exploring in the last few months has been using old books to draw in.  I had tried it a few years ago but used a small book, drawing to the edges and I wasn't satisfied.  In my life drawing group Emily Fox sometimes draws in books and I noticed that she used larger books.  She draws on pages as they are, I tried glueing pages together, gessoing them and then masking areas on the page. I created a colourful ground with pastel and alcohol on each page.  I have been alternating between my altered book and my sketch pads in my life drawing group.  This summer I brought a book to alter to Maine.

The surface makes my pastels buttery and I experimented with shape of drawings, using what was on the page as a starting point.  The book is Plank Bridge by the Pool by Norman Thelwell, and in removing pages and gluing them together, I have created 21 pages to draw on.  So far I have only used six; I did lots of drawings in my sketch pads too. I am not sure whether to mix Cranberry Island and Suffolk imagery but suspect I won't be able to wait until next summer! Here are the images I have in my book so far.

Garden and Woods 14 x 19cm July 2015

Whistler Path End 14 x 19cm July 2015

Wetlands and Boatshed 13.5 x 12cm July 2015

Gertmenian House at Night 13.5 x 15.5cm July 2015

Beds and Flowers 14 x 10.5cm July 2015

Ocean View From House 14 x 9.5cm July 2015