Woodend mill, Cara'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 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.