Simon White Art

Well maybe its not a discovery, but a great additional bonus to my current creative streak is discovering new artists and getting pleasure from seeing their work. Jonathan lent me a book by the amazing Welsh artist Rob Piercy and I am blown away by his work, particularly his landscapes, which he mainly does in water colour. (slightly out of focus I think! Will try to change) His paintings demonstrate a mastery of this particular medium and I doubt I will ever see another artist who can use watercolour so effectively to capture mountain scenes as he does. So I have completed a couple of mediocre copies of his pictures to try and refine my technique. I am happy with my results, obviously still miles to go, but sections of my paintings do really work.

It's been a busy few weeks on many fronts artistically. Firstly I've been busy painting stuff for Christmas presents... A couple of people are getting a picture whether they want one or not! And then by chance I heard from Emma, an old friend I lived with in Derbyshire years back who now resides on St Agnes on the Scilly Isles.. Emma is a great arty soul who's spent years, maybe decades by now beach combing and creating art with a lot of what she finds, whether jewellery, sculptures and paintings. She now also runs her own small art gallery in the Scilly's - Pot Buoys on St Agnes. After catching up on social media she asked if she could sell some of my pictures, particularly my boats! Very exciting, but also a little stressful that I now need to create some and send them South to see if they are loved. Creativity after painting still life for a few weeks I've returned to landscape paintings and have made progress. I've finally painted the field opposite th...

I've really enjoyed painting more still life, both at the class and at home. Interestingly at the last class I felt very relaxed and didn't mind people looking at my work. One downside to watercolour is the time waiting for washes to dry. So in the 2 hour class I could never finish a piece, even a small still life, which doesn't matter to me one bit but I need notice my neighbour painted an amazing acrylic still life in the 2 hours. Her style is looser than mine, but it was an incredible piece and all done in 2 hours! Amazing! No lush fabrics for the home still life... towel and tea towel! I'm also still enjoying nature, its very simplistic, but I love the results. I may be able to progress this because even though I like being able to see the pencil outline/sketch, deliberately using a 2B and making sure I can see the outline of form (I love it!), maybe a progression I could try is very light drawing that can be rubbed out. I mean real life objects don't h...

I have two very positive things to report this week (at last you may think)... firstly I was pointed in the direction of the artist Rob Piercy  who paints very inspirational mountain landscapes in watercolour... In a sense his style is what I am trying to emulate, or get close to. So I feel totally blessed to see his work and what is possible with water colour. Fully inspired by his work. And tonight the focus was on still life and I found this an absolutely harmonious and absorbing experience! The 2 hours felt like 2 seconds and I wished that I could have carried on painting. I left the class begrudgingly (because it had ended) wishing I had double, triple the time, but I was very happy with the early stages. I'm going to spend some time painting still life through the winter me thinks! A long way from finished, but thoroughly enjoyable

After tonight's art group my main thought was the James song 'Born of Frustration'.... which goes something like: All this frustration I can't meet all my desires Strange conversation Self control has just expired All an illusion.... etc I quickly learnt at last weeks art group that my main weakness is understanding, mixing and using colours! This is quite a fundamental issue to overcome!  So I'm trying to improve, learn and address this but it feels like I'm trying to swim through treacle and I'm so annoyed with how sh*t I currently paint that I could scream and burn everything I have painted! Quite a bold reaction I realise!  I guess like most people I take stuff personally and want to 'achieve', and its really interesting starting a new hobby/interest that for every step forward I feel I've taken 3 back! But... with the change of seasons I also completed a few simple paintings of Autumn bits and bobs, which I really like. I w...

Earlier in the summer I joined the Art Society of Inverness  and attended 2 classes before their summer break. The first time I went along I felt very much like a fish out of water... At the Church where its held there was a flurry of activity as people were bringing in box after box of equipment, easels, giant canvases, wearing aprons.... and I had a small sketch pad, 6 pencils and an eraser! The group/people were very welcoming, its just that it was an alien environment for me and I have/had no idea how to draw or paint.  Another montage/mix up... not quite right, but I like the sky(again) The structure is really good, its run by Jonathan Shearer  a full time artist. You basically take your own work (any medium), and at the start of each class he does a demo on a particular aspect, you then get on with your work and he comes around the class giving advice and tips. Jonathan is very perceptive and quickly picked out my weaknesses, but also my style, or at ...