Sunday 26 May 2013

The New Studio - Day 2

Yesterday was Day 2 of the studio project. I spent it mainly cleaning windows and the floors (again). My husband put up wood strips for me to hang my paintings on and then assembling my cheap and cheerful furniture - a desk, a work surface and some shelves to start with.

Then time for a last sweep of the floor then home with aching muscles.

Friday 24 May 2013

My First Proper Studio - Day 1

Yesterday I got the keys to my first proper studio.

It is no 37 at the Hanson Street Studios run by Wasps. I have been going to life drawing in the studios for years and have friends there so it is quite a familiar place.

The studio is on the ground floor round the corner from the framers and along the corridor from the photographer which I expect will make life easier. It is north facing with the two big windows you can see in the photos, so there is plenty of good steady light - so different from my current south facing set up.

First job was to clean the clay that was everywhere - on the floors, on the skirting, on the windows . . . this took a couple of sweeps and a down on hands and knees scrub. Then all the holes in the walls were filled then sanded - creating a new layer of dust to be swept up and cleaned off. Then the painting - at which stage my incredibly able husband got on with it and banished me for a while. Two paint layers later took us to the final photo and 6pm - at which point we finished for the day.

And today is my birthday so shan't be cleaning floors. Work will resume tomorrow . . .

Friday 10 May 2013

Spring has sprung

Just a little painting (20x30cm) that I did yesterday - I am so glad to see the blossom, I have always loved it and would love to have a blossom tree in my garden. Last year I missed the blossom altogether, as it hadn't come started in Glasgow by the start of May but was been and gone in New York.

So this year I am appreciating it enough for two years!

Monday 6 May 2013

Paisley Art Istitue Annual Show 2013

The Paisley Art Institute Open Show opens next Saturday and I am pleased to have two works up on display. This is my fifth year as this was the very first open exhibition I entered, the first time my work was shown to the public - and my first sale!

Anyway, promises to be a good show - I'll try and post my favs on facebook next week - so hopefully you can get along.

(For those of you wondering why I'm posting less these days, it's because big things are afoot.)

Wednesday 1 May 2013

Paused

Is this photograph too dark?

This morning on my laptop it seemed fine - but now, on a different computer, it looks far too dark. This sis a problem I have had before - and as I use my laptop for most image manipulation etc it is important for me to work out. For example, I find the image shown on the camera itself is often too small to judge, so I take the laptop too, download an image or two, and adjust from there.

The worry is that doing this makes all my images too dark - reference material, publicity shots (ha! as if!) as well as the photographs of the paintings that I take. Although I do try and get most of my work professionally photographed these days, there are always some that slip through the net . . . or there isn't the time before a competition deadline.

What do you guys think?