Painting Stalybridge (nodp)

Dear blog followers. I am currently working on some bigger Stalybridge paintings so that is why I have not posted here for a few days. I will definitely still post on this blog but don't know when the next one will be. In the meantime please refer to my Stalybridge paintings blog to see what I have been up to.

The Furnace interior painting workshop artist sculptor studio industry mill factory

This painting has been sold



Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8"

Another part of Woodend Mill where a sculptor (Mike?) working in paper(?) and metal has his workshop. At the time of my visit the furnace was not going but I bet it's a sight when it does.

Woodend mill, tea break interior painting mill factory work industry

Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

Nice to get back to Woodend mill and I hope to be doing a few more on this theme. Parts of the mill are still being renovated to provide space for more studios or industrial units. This was one of the areas being renovated and this was, I guess, the temporary lunch table for the workmen. Lots of interesting patterns of light coming through the big windows.

View of the hallway interior painting hallway england

Oil on canvas board approx 16" x 12" £125 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

This is my hallway. There is another door - the main door to the house - behind the door you see there. Both of these doors have a window above them so there is quite a bit of light coming in. There is also a light source coming through the entrance to the living room just on the left there. The light is hitting the radiator. Those are chunkily framed paintings of mine you see top left.
P.S. I've just uploaded a snow painting onto my Stalybridge paintings blog

Anemones in the hallway interior painting floral anemones still life

Oil on canvas board 8" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

I have some of these rough weave canvas boards to use up. The paint goes on quite differently to when you use masonite. This piece was worked over two separate sessions. After the first I thought it was finished but when I looked at it the day after I was less confident and spent another couple of hours giving it more depth. I find it's good to go out of your comfort zone in terms of trying different approaches and surfaces.

Anemones in the attic interior painting still life floral

Oil on hardboard 8" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

I have always loved anemones and when I spotted these in the supermarket I had to buy them. Another painting of them coming up soon.

African king interior painting wooden sculpture africa ghana

Oil on canvas board 9.5" x 7" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

When I worked in Ghana I brought back two figures of a queen (with a baby) and a king. Or at least I always thought of them as king and queen. Maybe it is the tribal chief and his wife. I think of the care that crafts people took to carve them for what I am sure was very small amounts of money. They sit solemnly and comfortably either side of my fireplace in the living room and remind me of happy Ghanaian times although I feel they would probably be much happier back home in their village.

Keeping still interior painting still life attic studio artist

Oil on hardboard 8" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

This is a close up view of the objects you can see in the bigger painting below. I like the way they are just touching each other on that rather narrow shelf - no room to "artistically" re-arrange them!

The easel interior painting artist studio easel attic room

Oil on board 18" x 18" This painting is not available for sale at the moment.

Enjoyed working on a bigger painting here over the last few days. I bought this easel at the end of summer but haven't made much use of it yet. I like the structure anyway. (Perhaps I should have been an engineer).

Work table interior painting artist studio attic dormer window brushes

Oil on hardboard 7.5" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

With no access to any reference photos and the screen on the PC being pretty hopeless for clarity and colour, I am thrown back to working "from life". I can see that it will provide me with some good lessons in colour and in subtle tonal variations which sometimes tend to get ignored when I'm working from digital images. Too "nesh" to work outside though in this weather - I'll stick to the interiors for the time being.
ps. Notice that I didn't paint the radiator tap. I have since done so but can't bear the idea of re-shooting and re-loading on this slower than slow machine, so will do when I get my laptop back.

The bathroom on a snowy day painting interior bathroom winter stairs house

This painting has been sold



Acrylic on canvas board 9.5" x 7"

I am totally disoriented. I was at one of those "which direction do I really want to go" periods and at the same time my laptop is still out of order and I'm writing this on an old pc. What with the holidays too, it all seems a bit strange round here. Anyway, whatever the situation no excuse not to paint. Just got to keep putting paint to surface and if the thoughts are confused then so be it - let them get on with their confusion. Meanwhile I'll see if that colour sits ok with this colour and if the composition is right and all that stuff. I painted most of this perching on the spiral staircase going up to the attic and looking across to the bathroom. I think it was the most uncomfortable painting position I've ever had. The lighting too was awful as it was really dark where I was sitting but lots of light coming through the bathroom window.

Still life on white table interior painting attic artist studio still life

Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 7.5" £65 British pounds plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

I had family visiting for the past week so no painting. But I love to see them all so I didn't miss it too much. In fact, I think it's good to have a proper break - gives you chance to stand back and re-assess. Something else happened as well which contributed to that re-assessment: My laptop went down just after Christmas and I couldn't get it repaired because of the Christmas holidays. It is still out of operation. It contains all my Vernon mill and Woodend mill reference photos so I was thrown for a while this morning. Where to go? Well, I did some work on the bigger painting I mentioned but this time working solely from my imagination (you can see it by clicking on the 'Bigger paintings' link to the right). Then I did this small piece based on some furniture in my attic working space. I took liberties with the colours but they are only incidental anyway. I felt happy keeping it simple.

Vernon mill, Light switch interior painting mill factory north england

Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

Earlier this year I discovered the work of a young Scottish artist called Anna King who likes painting derelict buildings and forgotten places. I think she is superb. She inspired this painting of a light switch and there may be more to come. Click here to see Anna's work.

Woodend mill, Kara's place interior painting mill factory industrial artist studio england

This painting has been sold



Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8"

This is another artist's studio in Woodend mill. She's called Kara (I think - hope I have that right) and she paints - interiors of old mills - in a wonderful, riveting abstract style. Her work was displayed and ongoing work propped up on that back wall but I was very nervous about replicating it. Also it suited my intentions to have the wall blank anyway. Like that feeling of space and emptiness.
I realised something important whilst doing this painting. There was a lot of clutter under tne window - boxes, jars, bottles, old chair stool, and many things I could not work out from the photographs I took. Same with the objects on the table top bottom left. It meant I just had to paint shapes, both negative & positive and I realised it didn't matter that the objects might not be recognisable. I realised that even when I was physically in that space I did not observe the objects separately. I suppose I kept glancing at them and seeing them as a group or as small groupings but not seeing them individually. Kara also had a big piece of plastic sheeting covering the floor where she worked and at the start of the painting I intended to leave that out. Then I realised I simply wanted it there. It was part of the integrity of the scene.

Woodend mill studios V interior painting mill artist studio

This painting has been sold



Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8"

This is the first post for a few days. I have been painting but have been working on a larger painting which I am not satisfied with but need to analyse why. Simply scrapping it and "moving on" seems to me to be losing a learning opportunity. What it did do was kind of "free me up" to work quite intuitively with this smaller piece which I'm happy with. I just used the colours that were already mixed on my palette and it all kind of came together from my point of view. Christmas is coming so don't know how it will go. Women have so many other things to do as well as paint, LOL ! (I know all the girls will agree with me).

Vernon mill red staircase mill factory interior painting north england

This painting has been sold




Acrylic on hardboard 12" x 9" (approx)

This is another mill in my area - Vernon mill is in Stockport. Don't know much about the background to it but I imagine it is similar to Woodend mill. A few small companies have taken root inside but it's still got some cavernous areas. There are some artists who have studios there but so far I haven't yet been able to meet any of them. Unlike Woodend the structure in Vernon mill of brick and concrete has been largely kept as it was and walls and stairs just re-painted over the years.

Woodend mill interior VIII interior painting mill factory north england art gallery>

Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

This part of the mill has walls faced with some kind of mdf wood or strong hardboard. It made everything a greeny ochre colour which I quite liked. Again it has the feel of an old disused hotel corridor or a cinema foyer. Things ain't always what they seem. Note the little padlock on the door nearest to us and the steel facing of the door right at the back.

Woodend mill Studios IV interior painting mill factory artist studio england english

This painting has been sold



Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

It's nice to work on a theme like this. The paintings start to feel like small studies for bigger paintings - but I don't feel quite ready yet. Got to trust my instinct.

Woodend mill Studios III interior painting mill factory artist studio england north

Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

This is a slightly different view of the same room as in the painting below.

Woodend mill Studios II interior painting factory mill artist studio north england industry

This painting has been sold



Acrylic on hardboard 7.5" x 8"

This was another studio area that was being decorated. I liked the emptiness of it. Been wanting to paint empty rooms for a while and not many opportunities came my way!

Woodend mill Studios (1) interior painting mill factory artist studio north england

This painting has been sold



Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8"

This is a section of one of the Woodend mill artist's studios. His name is Chris Cyprus and he is a brilliant painter who loves to paint allotments and landscapes. Sorry Chris I have not done your landscape on the back wall there much justice. In reality that is a beautiful painting. Please click here for a link to Chris's work.

I was tempted to switch to oils about two thirds way through this but decided I would experiment with using much more solid body colour in the large floor area whilst keeping colour variation. I knew I wanted a body colour feel rather than a water colour feel.

Woodend mill interior VII interior painting factory mill north england english

This painting has been sold



Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8"

Enjoy working with the grays. Lost some freedom here in paint application but the geometry of it won me over.

Woodend mill interior VI interior painting mill factory sunlight england english industry

This painting has been sold



Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8"

These were painted stone walls, very strong with a good depth. The windows are old and somewhat scratched but you can guess at the countryside outside. People occupy that building now, not because they have to be, but through choice.

Woodend mill interior V interior painting mill factory north england english

Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

This part of the mill is one of the welcoming points for visitors to the artists' studios. Some work has been hung and a glass topped coffee table holds visiting cards. It doesn't quite work as a welcome area and still feels a bit unfriendly. Any bright light soon gets swallowed up as you can see from the end. It reminds me a bit of an old, dusty cinema foyer.

Woodend mill interior (ll) (re-work)painting interior mill factory north england industrial

Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 7.5" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

The corridors of the mill off which the large rooms run have been faced with a kind of corrugated steel so it's like walking into a steel strong box. People say - oh it's so ugly and in one sense I agree but on the other hand the steel picks up the colours around thrown up by the floor and down by the ceiling and any electric lighting emphasises that. Notice the orange glow top left for instance. I wanted to convey the idea of this steel without being too representational about it. I feel I have succeeded to some extent but I want to do more work with this idea.
Since first posting this I have re-worked the image. I saw some interiors of Alex Kanevsky which blew me away and he influenced this re-work although I'd have to be re-working till i'm in my box to get to Kanevsky's level.