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Showing posts with the label films

Daily Sketch January 2024. And a Visitor!

Daily Sketch December 2023

Winter Solstice Garden Tour

Sketchbook Tour: Birkenhead Park Series

Art Studio: Two Tree Paintings in Acrylics

Here's my latest video, where I'm working in my art studio and chatting about art.  

DIY Project, and Painting Trees

Solstice Garden Tour, June 2023

Join me on a walk around my small urban garden. Listen to the birdsong, see what's in bloom, watch what my dogs and a neighbour's cats are doing, and generally chill out. No commentary or conversation here, on this video you can simply listen to the calming sounds of nature.

Story Reading: Extract from Fabian, an Artisan-Sorcerer Story

Trees and Flowers and Chirping Birds

The garden changes rapidly at this time of the year, emerging from near-dormancy to erupt into the fullness of May. We've not altered the garden's layout in the eight years of living here, even though the design is too linear for my taste. Ours is a typical urban garden, a small oblong shape surrounded by high walls and fences, which means each part of the garden gets some shade at different times of the day. I've a pile of unused plant pots waiting for more plants, and at some point I want to create a pond. The one thing I miss about our old house is my beloved pond. I'm no gardening expert, but I've picked up some knowledge along the way. We have introduced a wider range of plants to this garden and aim to continue doing this as, inspired by Claude Monet's example, I plan to turn my back garden into a source of painting ideas. Okay, his garden was on a somewhat larger scale...  If anyone has any bright ideas for the garden then I'd love to hear them.

Urban Shore

This very short video reveals, stage by stage,  how "Urban Shore" was painted. I hope you enjoy watching the process. There's a snippet of my dogs keeping me company in the studio, too.

A Year in the Life of Our Beautiful Dogs

   Can a whole year have flown by already since we adopted Rosie and Jim? Well, yes, it has. And what a difference there is now with these two bundles of fun. When they first came to us, both were very thin and cautious. No wonder; they'd had a rough start to life, and then a period of life in kennels surrounded by other anxious dogs.  Rosie especially was quite timid. It has been lovely watching them gain confidence in their new home and in us. Jim settled in more quickly, but still doesn't like sudden loud noises or swift movements near to him. Rosie took longer to trust us, but now she's a complete cuddle-pot and doesn't think twice before clambering onto a lap for a snuggle. She starts off most games. She's currently in love with a ragged bit of cloth which is all that remains of a rainbow-coloured teddy bear. Jim is fond of dismantling toys...! We needed to do  lot of work with their behaviour when outside, as they were very reactive to other dogs, yapping fran

Acrylic Painting Demo - Winter Trees

  Here's my latest video, which shows how I created Winter Trees, an acrylic painting which is part of my Birkenhead Park series. The painting is based on a sketch done on location. Over the last seven years I've built up a pile of sketchbooks crammed with ink and watercolour images of the park. I enjoy sketching outdoors. Usually my dogs are (impatiently) keeping me company. They wait while I draw, gradually tugging more and more on the leads as if to say, "Hurry up will you!" So I'll quickly dash off the latest sketch and then we'll walk a bit further. Often it'll not be much further, as they promptly skid to a halt to sniff the next fallen leaf or twig. "Did you really need to sniff that with such urgency?" They reply with wagging tails and eager sniffing. Apparently not all fallen leaves are equal.

Sketchbook Tour: Birkenhead Park 2022

   This video shares my sketches from 2022, all done in Birkenhead Park. So you'll see trees, ponds, ducks, geese, people, dogs... All the expected activities of any urban park.  There are also a few sketches created as part of a group event organised by the Liver Sketching Club which was celebrating its 150th anniversary. They provided some models - a lady in a straw hat, a man in a tux. There was also a lady holding plastic flowers and a balloon, with a plastic crown on her head. Anyway, I hope you enjoy browsing these ink and watercolour sketches. Sketches are not the same as a finished drawing, as I'm sure most people will understand. Sketches are done swiftly; mine are often done in a few minutes, with watercolour added later in the studio. This is for speed, so I can do several sketches at once, and it saves having to carry materials around with me. When one hand has a sketchbook balanced in it, and the other holds both a pen and two dog leads (with tugging, jiggling dogs

Story Reading - Extract from Bethany Rose, an Artisan-Sorcerer Novel

   I hope you enjoy listening to my reading of the opening section of Bethany Rose, from my Artisan-Sorcerer series of short stories and novels. I recorded it using a Fifine microphone, which simply plugs into a port in my desktop computer. This gives a noticeably better sound than the in-built mic, and has proved its worth already. The camera used is the PC's own. I have an Asus all-in-one desktop, and the camera has been placed underneath the screen. It would have been much better if it had been placed at the top of the screen, as this low angle gives an unfortunate view of my chin, even after I've raised the whole thing up considerably by stacking books underneath it. Oh well, that's just one more design flaw to look out for next time I'm buying a PC, whenever that might be.

Birkenhead Park, October 2022

  I hope you enjoy viewing this slideshow of my photographs, which were all taken in Birkenhead Park over the last year.  This forms part of my Birkenhead Park series of sketches, paintings and photos. Don't ask me how long this series will continue on for, as I don't know the answer to that one. It'll last as long as it lasts. It began not long after we moved to this area, and maybe it will continue until we move away again, whenever that might be. We're not planning to move in the near future, anyway, but having experienced the fragility of the "best laid plans of mice and men" I don't rule anything out. The camera used for these photos is an old Kodak Easyshare. Okay, it's not a model which would attract a professional photographer but for my needs it has proven to be more than adequate. Plus it fits in a pocket readily, so it's easy to carry around. The camera is obsolete now, of course. I bought it around 20 years ago, and technology has chang

New Brighton Beach & Fairy Garden

  Here's a very short video showing New Brighton beach, our dogs, the driftwood pirate ship which is slowly being rebuilt, (for the 3rd time?), and then Vale Park which houses various fun sculptures and fairy houses. Vale Park is also home to the Mersey Arts Zone, where local artists exhibit and sell their work. There's a pleasant café, too, where on summer days you can sit outside and enjoy the formal garden.

Painting in Summer

This vlog shares a cross-stitch project, a walk around my small urban garden, film footage of Birkenhead Park, and my dogs keeping me company while I paint in the art studio. An informal, chatty video, which I hope you will enjoy watching.

Bathtime!

  Rosie and Jim have a bath! So does Richard, by the looks of things... I hope this little video brings a smile to your face as you watch our two chihuahua x Jack Russell dogs have a canine pampering session. And, yes, Richard did get drenched too.

Spring Daffodils

Four Small Paintings