Last Painting of 2012. Happy New Year !

I've been working on this picture over Christmas.

Mary Kemp - Late Apples

The view from the back bedroom. See my  studio, the late apples, the pansies and the winter viburnum.

There's still quite a bit to do yet, but it's taking shape. A work in progress; there are things to resolve.

And I'm still uploading images to Picassa.

Happy New Year one and all.

Keeping Digital Files Safe. "Should Have backed Them Up"

One of my painting friends had her laptop and desktop computer stolen.

Mary Kemp - Four Yachts

With them went all her digital images.
"Should have backed them up."
I keep saying that, so now it's post Christmas quiet time that is what I aim to do.
I researched all this and there are several options.
First is the external hard drive. It's just a question of downloading to it. We've got one of those so that's a start, but it could get stolen as well or destroyed in a fire, so I think online is a better bet.
Picassa to me seems the best site. You can upload images in most formats, even raw images, and download them the same, which for hi resolution images is optimum. There is a maximum capacity, fairly high, but you can buy more space, but of course if you forget to pay your subs you've lost out.
Flikr is quite good, restricted capacity again, and doesn't support raw images.
There's also Google Cloud, but I haven't worked that one out yet.
Snapfish also stores images as long as you buy at least one print a year.
So I'm off to download images of my great works of art onto Picassa.

A Whole New Experience - Painting on Lana Vanguard Paper

So I bought this Lana Vanguard plasticised paper, nearly £1.00 per A4 size sheet.
It's the nearest you can get to the American Yupo paper.
It's quite wonderful and different to anything I've ever painted on before.

Mary Kemp - St. George's Day.

It's very  smooth, non porous and quite sturdy, doesn't cockle and is alarmingly white.
Watercolour just skates over the surface and settles into puddles. You need to be quite controlled in use.
Colour will lift off with a wipe leaving a pristine white surface, you can polish the colour to get a smooth wash and a drop of water will plunge the whole lot into chaos.
I tried overlaying a wash but that didn't work.
I tried drawing over with a pen but the pen clogged up.
But the colour is so bright and clear, I used inks and I used watercolour.
Oh joy!
Lots more experimenting to be done.

ACEOs

For those of us who don't know what ACEOs are, they are tiny miniature works of art measuring 3.5 x 2.5 inches, usually backed with stiff card and enclosed in a cellophane sleeve.
These dear little gems get their name as a short version of "artists cards editions and originals".
Their natural home seems to be online and all sort of sites, eBay and Etsy particularly have loads and loads of examples.

Mary Kemp - Stonehenge - Pair of ACEOs.

You can send them in with a letter or a card,  put them in a mount and frame on the wall or just keep them to look at.

I've just sold these two of Stonehenge from my Etsy Shop, Florence Fantasy Art.
I shall have to paint some more. They're enormous fun.

Christmas is Nearly Here. Behold the Poinsettia!

It's been a funny day today. I haven't really been able to get down to anything. I started painting in the studio on my largish oil painting but got interrupted, then I had to go out, but in between I just had to paint this beautiful poinsettia, using the equally beautiful Dr. Martin's water colours. The intensity of colour is quite breath taking.

Mary Kemp - Poinsettia

I think I over did it!

The Swing by Fragonard

The Swing
by Jean-Honore Fragonard

One of my all time favourite pictures is this smallish painting "The Swing" by the French painter Jean-Honore Fragonard (1732 - 1806)



It's home is the oval drawing room in  the Wallace Collection which is situated in Manchester Square in London, just behind the unbelievable bustle that is Oxford Street.
What impresses me about the Wallace Collection is how different it is to the brash street life outside, how clean and polished it is, and how full of the most exquisite objects the light and airy rooms are.
I first came across the Wallace Collection in the swinging sixties, and have been visiting it ever since. It seemed the perfect foil to the hectic lifestyle we all liked to think we lead.
"The Swing" is such a wonderfully composed painting, painted with precision and a theatricality. The colours are sumptuous, a blue green, with the sugar pink providing the climax. Of course the subject is mildly erotic, perhaps it was very erotic back in 1767 when it was painted. I think what I like about this picture is the harmony of the colours, the beautiful detail, the nostalgia for a life that didn't really exist and a feeling of lightness and slightly naughty joy.

Beat Those Winter Blues with Bright Watercolours.

Dr. Martins Hydrus Watercolour

I treated myself to some wonderful Dr Martins Hydrus Watercolours from Jacksons. They are beautiful, I've always struggled in the past to get the intensity of colour I wanted in watercolour but these seem to zing off the page, and they tell me they're lightfast which Dr Martins Brilliant Watercolours weren't.

So I did a very quick watery painting of some apples and went a bit overboard with the colours. Oh joy. I had some trouble with the cobalt violet which seems to have congealed in the bottle, but Jacksons are sending me a replacement.

Mary Kemp - Winter Apples

Sparkle and Spin at Peterborough Museum.

Paola McClure - Sparkle and Spin

Last week I visited the fabulous Sparkle and Spin Exhibition at Peterborough Museum. Peterborough city council link.
If some one had told me that it was an bunch of dolls made from scraps of material I might not have gone, but it was the most joyous, visually exciting installation I've seen in a long time. Was it because I'm quite fond of all things sewn ( except dolls) ? or because it gave you a weird feeling about the world we inhabit? What ever the reason it was delicious!
The artist is Paola McClure http://www.paolamcclure.com/ and the exhibition runs til January 26th.

Cley Windmill - Recipe for a Painting

Mary Kemp -  Cley Windmill.

This picture of Cley Windmill in Norfolk is almost finished. In fact I can't think what else to do to it so it must be finished.

Here's the recipe:

• Two quick drawings to get the feel of the place.
• Photos for accuracy.
• 30 x 30 cm canvas on MDF ( Courtesy of Great Art)
• Acrylic paint, burnt siena, Venetian red and ultramarine violet.
• Tile for mixing acrylic.
• Water.
• Acrylic brushes and one fine sable (artificial equivalent) watercolour brush for drawing outline.
• Oil paints, titanium white, buff titanium, Naples yellow, raw siena, burnt siena, raw umber, yellow ochre, cadmium red, cadmium yellow, ultramarine violet, cobalt blue, cerulean blue.
• Disposable palette.
• Odourless turpentine.
• Brushes for oil paints , some bristle but I prefer pro art acrylic brushes, size 0 to 14.
• Palette knives for mixing.
• Lots of rags for cleaning up. Old tea towels are best.

Method:

I draw a rough outline of the image with the raw umber acrylic and then put on a wash of ultramarine violet and Venetian red acrylic.

After it's dried I get stuck in blocking in the main colours with the oil paints, making sure the tones work and paying special attention to the main feature, the windmill.

It's then a question of painting your way through the picture until it reaches where you want it to be.

Sounds quick and easy. I've struggled with elements of it, particularly the boats, but I wanted to show how much the windmill is part of the landscape.

Nicholas Verrall - My Favourite Modern Day Painter

In the spring of 2011 I visited the Catto Gallery  in Hampstead expressly to see the works of Nicholas Verall.

Nicholas Verrall -

Cordes sur Ciel in the Spring

He's long been a favourite of mine ever since I borrowed a book by him called "Colour and Light in Oils" and subsequently bought a copy.

I was not disappointed when I saw his paintings for real and I greatly admire his handling of subjects and the way he brings out the lusciousness of the world. It is wonderful to see works that are superbly and thoughtfully crafted, not only is the vision beautiful but so is the execution. I love the purity of his colours and the seemingly effortlessness of his drawing.

Does that sound too star struck? Any way thank you Nicholas Verrall for your art!

Apple Trees in the Winter - Proposed Painting.

I looked down from the upstairs window and saw the low sun through the apple trees. It was all golden and earthy. I felt a painting eager to see the light of day.
I have my piece of board ( primed MDF ) at the ready, the drawing is done, Thursday morning in the sunshine, and the idea is fizzing round my head. I want to get on with it. Blow the unfinished paintings of the seaside , the dishes, food. I want to get on and paint.

Mary Kemp - Drawings for "Apples Trees in the Winter"

Step One: Plan the painting, placing the various components, determine tone and colour.
Step Two: Draw the shapes roughly on the board.
Step Three: Underpainting.
I will keep you informed.
This is going to be bigger than my usual 12 x 12 inch so it may take some time!

New Way to Buy My Art. I Try to Make It Easy For You !

Mary Kemp - Hunstanton Cliffs

I have just opened an Etsy shop . I've been trading for a while on Etsy with my fantasy art so I'm having a go with the more serious work, mainly my seaside paintings , but of course whatever I paint.
The process of posting stuff online is not as simple as it seems.
There's a lot of photographing to be done , then editing.
 Then you have to think of something to say about your painting, and if you're not a copy writer it's not easy. "I thought this boat would make a nice picture" will not do.
But it does make you think about your art.
I wish I could just paint and not do so much on the computer side, but even before the time of computers there were other things to do to publicise your art, and they took up a lot more time.

Flood.

On Sunday morning we woke up to find the garden covered in several inches of water. Of course it had rained all Saturday night, it was quite beautiful and quite exciting.
I couldn't get to the studio without my wellies on, and anyway it was Sunday so I was having a day off .
The studio and workshop and on a raised plinth making all  dry there thank goodness.
It subsided in the afternoon , a relief and a disappointment!

Grace the Dog Makes Another Appearance

Mary Kemp - Grace the Dog Makes Another Appearance

Despite the dull weather I have been painting in the studio today from first thing, using natural light, although I think I shall have to use the daylight bulbs for the next few months. You can see by my photos that the light is not good.
I wanted to paint the Border Collie Grace again, remembering her joyousness from the summer, so here she is for the third time with one of the family before rushing off into the sea.
I've photographed my palette too to give you an idea of the colours I'm using.

Palette - Titanium white, buff titanium, Naples yellow, raw sienna, burnt sienna, Venetian red, raw umber, yellow ochre, ultramarine violet, cobalt blue, cerulean blue, lamp black 

Music to Paint By.

Blissful joy! I am back painting again after a month in the wilderness.
Yesterday I started three paintings, yes three, and there's loads more ideas fizzing away.

Do I Really Own All These Brushes???????

It started to get me thinking about what I like to listen to whilst painting.

Mary Kemp - Work in Progress

When working something out I need SILENCE.
But after that I need part of my brain occupied so I can paint with ease.
Radio Four and Radio Four Extra are brilliant.
Otherwise I have about twenty CDs that I play time and time again.
Levelling the Land by the Levellers, Joan Biaz, Simon and Garfunkle, Ladysmith and Black Mambaza, the Best of Bob Dylan being just some, and I've just bought a John Denver CD for £3.00!!!!!

My Other Life Involves Dragons

 I thought as I'm writing a blog about my art I ought to telling the whole truth, painting-wise that is.

Mary Florence - St. George and the Dragon

To those who know me it will come as no surprise that I have another string to my bow, which over the years has come and gone.
Although I like to paint in a serious grown up way most of the time every so often my teenage self comes to the fore and the dragons roam through my work and live in spooky landscapes.

Mary Florence - Gnarled Tree

I call myself Mary Florence and sell these through  my Etsy shop, a fabulous place to shop for hand made unique things.

An Artist's Work is Never Done! Prints of my Beach Scenes for Art in the Heart - Peterborough

Mary Kemp - Beach Scenes

At long last I have produced some prints of my beach scenes.
The thing is it doesn't stop when you have the prints.
I like to put them in a mount, so that has to be decided upon, in my mind the plainer the better. I generally use antique white, not quite white, not quite cream.
Then a backing, then all the labelling, artist, title, medium, price.
Last of all cellophane sleeve, to keep it clean.
An artist's work is never done !
And there they are , at Art in the Heart, Peterborough in the town centre , waiting for their final home.

Wonderful Watercolour !

Mary Kemp - Mary's Garden, Alan's Garage.

Oh gosh , oh golly! It's a long time since I painted in watercolour.

But I've been staring out of the kitchen window and this is what I see.

I rested my pad on the draining board and painted.

I used:

Canson 200gms  cold pressed watercolour paper.

White Knight watercolours, dead cheap but jolly colours. I can't tell you precisely which colours because I ripped the paper off the pans and didn't record anything. Usually I'm a bit more traditional with my materials.

I used no8 and no14 sable brushes, hold lots of water, feel lovely.

I might add some lines to this later.

The light was going as I put the on red blobs for the apple trees.

Louise Stebbing of Skylark Studios

Louise Stebbing in front of my favourite reduction linocut.

Yesterday I attended the opening of an exhibition of the work of Louise Stebbing of Skylark Studios in Tydd Gote near Wisbech.
I've long been an admirer of her work and her dedication to print making. It's her beautiful fen skies and stark trees that attract me. I enjoyed seeing lots of her work together and  hope to visit her studio soon. I'm rather attracted to the courses on print making that she holds there.
This exhibition is being held at the Andronicas Coffee Shop in the Van Hage Garden Centre in Peterborough until the end of January.

It's All Possible

I have two pictures I've been struggling with for ages.
They're not very big, my favourite size 12 x 12 inches, or if you're decimal 30 x 30cms.

Mary Kemp - At Anchor

But the solution I think is simple. Both have beautiful parts, areas where I think it really worked, and areas where I think it's a load of not very good painting and no matter how I try they get worse and worse. At least I have the good sense not to touch the nice parts.
So I'm going to extract one rather elegant boat, and one row of beach huts, enjoy them, and consign my mistakes to the bin !

Mary Kemp - Beach Huts

Some Graphics Programmes I Have Known

Mary  Kemp - Digital Portrait

In my naivety I thought that I could draw and paint pictures using my trusty computer. Armed with only a Wacon tablet and a very rudimentary knowledge of how it works I could conquer the world of art. After all I am an artist aren't I ?
But it's not easy, after all they do degree courses in graphic design, don't they?
I started off using Photoshop 7, it was on my laptop, I spent a lot of time fiddling with it, and drew a bit, altered scanned images, played with the colour. So time consuming !! Then the laptop died and the next one didn't have Photoshop on, and it was expensive.
So I downloaded Gimp ,http://www.gimp.org/ free to us all, and as far as I can tell nearly as good as Photoshop. I learnt about layers, resizing and a whole lot more, but I still got a wobbly line when drawing on the Wacon tablet.
Then I downloaded Inkscape http://inkscape.org/ which is brilliant for achieving a smooth line. I'm still struggling with saving the images as I want and placing them, it would help if I read the manual...
But when all said and done there's nothing like drawing with a pencil, feeling the rasp against the paper or letting a pool of watercolour spread slowly and luxuriously into another pool of watercolour and just helping it along with a brush.

My Website..!!!!

Oh my website........

Not quite right website.
www.marykemp.co.uk

I am a starving artist and therefore cannot afford to have someone design and keep my website updated.
Plus I'm a control freak who enjoys a challenge.
This is why my website is hosted by clikpic  http://www.clikpic.com/. Which I must say for £40.00 a year is brilliant and all I need to do is spend some time, and READ THE MANUAL !!!!!!
Then I shall have exactly the website I want, and be able to tweak it as and when.
As it is I have a good enough website, that shows the work I do.
I want to make it clearer, more elegant, give people the opportunity to buy my paintings through it. All those commercial things. But really and truly all I want to do is DRAW and PAINT.

Sparkly Seas and Light

When there's lots of light and just a gentle breeze you get sparkly seas. Smooth seas don't sparkle, angry seas flash and are very white, or if the light's low they're grey, but a gentle breeze creates a sea that is interesting and a joy to paint.

Mary Kemp - Paddling

I usually start with the background colour of the sea, squinting to get the tones right in my head and then add the splashes of sparkle later. Generally bigger sparkles at the front, smaller at the back. Of course this is very simplistic and there's no substitute for observation.

Buckenham Gallery, Southwold.

Blustery Southwold

Last week combined, with a lovely seaside break in blustery weather conditions, I took some paintings of beach scenes down to Southwold in Suffolk to the Buckenham Gallery in the High Street for their Christmas show which commences next month.
It's a friendly gallery spread over three floors and has a tasty tea room attached.

Buckenham Gallery Southwold

There's a programme of ever changing exhibitions and art works for sale and is a delight to spend time in.

On another level it amazes me how different a place can look in the summer and in the winter. When I first  painted at Southwold it was all gentle pale blue seas and people strolling down the pier. This time there were howling winds, figures fighting to stay upright, no children with their mums, just determined dog walkers and mad holiday makers. I loved the calm and peace of the summer, but I also find the wildness I have just witnessed exhilarating.

The Use of Photography as an Aid to Painting.

As an artist I collect material in many ways, but basically I look and I record. Some people just remember what they see, some people write down words to remind them, others draw what is in front of them. And then again there's the camera. I use all of these methods, although the looking and remembering is a bit dodgy. So I have this lovely little digital camera .....

My Nikon Coolpix camera. I dropped it, so the battery case is held on with tape.

 Every thing I see I can capture in there and take it home for my delight later. Sometimes there's too much.
And then what do we use for painting? Do we slavishly copy a photo? Look at it for ideas? Only copy the things that'll take us ages to work out? Paint from memory? Paint from imagination. Sit out there and paint what we see? Or of course paint an abstract work, which may have been abstracted from a photograph anyway.
You have to take a photo with a pinch of salt. Shadows are too dark, colours are not the same as real life. I once took a picture of a bright red poppy in a mixed border. When I saw the photo it looked faded pink. That was not my memory.
There's a good article in November's Artists and Illustrators magazine about the use of photography, and also a very technical one about how to photograph your own work.
http://www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/

Frames for Oil paintings.

Oh if only we didn't have to frame our pictures !

If we could just paint them and someone would whisk them away and hand us a nice fat cheque and loads of adulation in return.
Dream on!
But it is most important to finish off work with a frame that showcases your painting to it's best advantage. Yet the frame itself must only be noticed in a very secondary way.
I use two types of frame for my 12 inch square pictures.

1. Curved near white moulding with gold slip, more traditional. Makes the picture appear larger.
2. Plain white float frame, looks very clean and modern.

I like both frames, but the choice depends on surroundings and the customer, or potential customer.

Wreck In Stagnant Water - Recipe for this Painting.

I've painted this wreck several times, and go back to it each time I visit Blakeney on the North Norfolk coast. It looked very water-logged this time, and the wood was much darker than I'd seen before.

Mary Kemp -Wreck in Stagnant Water

My materials were:
30 cm square canvas panel.
Acrylic paint : violet, Venetian red, raw umber.
Oil paint : titanium white, buff titanium, raw sienna, naples yellow, cadmiun yellow medium, burnt Siena, venetian red, raw umber, cerulean blue , cobolt blue and ultramarine violet.
Brushes. Selection of Rowney acrylic brushes, and harsher hogs hair for larger passages. Also use watercolour sable ( or cheaper synthetic)  for fine detail.
Medium. Odourless turpentine. Sometimes Liquin, but that alters the texture quite a bit.
Method : I paint the canvas with the acrylic venetian red and violet, watered down a lot.
I let it dry.
My composition I've worked out carefully beforehand, so I now draw with pencil and the acrylic raw umber.
When that's dry I block in the main colours with oil, using clean colours for the surroundings and dull sludgy colours for the boat. The landscape in the distance I use splodges of purples and greens.
When all this is dry ( I leave it for several days at this stage) I start on the detail of the boat, my favourite bit. This is where I use the fine no1 watercolour brushes.
Then it's a question of looking at it over several days and adjusting tones and colours. As it's a very simple composition there's not too much alteration to do.

An Afternoon at Art In the Heart, Peterborough.

Art in the Heart is a brilliant new venture in our lovely city of Peterborough, a shop / art gallery set up by an enthusiastic entrepreneur in the centre of Peterborough. Look at the website and see what's happening.

http://www.artintheheart.co.uk/

Art in the Heart at full speed. Photo Courtesy of Tony Nero 

This afternoon I volunteered for a shift at the shop. My packing is a wonder to behold ! 

One Dog is Just Not Enough !

I loved the picture of the dog I painted two weeks ago, so I've painted another picture of Grace at the seaside. She really wanted to join these two larger dogs, but I think they were just too big for her.
I'm not too sure whether I've finished it yet. Might have a bit of work yet to do. I shall prop it up in the kitchen and think about it.

Hurrah ! It's Monday.

Mary Kemp - Four paintings.

It's Monday morning again.
These are the four paintings I am working on, all in various stages of undress.
Of course I don't have then up on the easel like that, just work on them one at a time.
Something I've noticed on this photo is all the blue. I waiver between cerulean blue and cobalt blue. At the moment I'm more fond of cobalt, but if you were to ask me the question "What's your favourite colour?" I would say  "BLUE!  BLUE! BLUE! "

Peek Inside the Studio

I really have tidied the studio, it's so much easier to get working in the morning when everything is where it should be. The mirror is not there for me to admire myself but to check composition and tone. I don't know why but when you look in the mirror it gives you a much more objective view of your work.

Peek at my Studio.

This is my studio, I cut out the paper sign last year when I opened up for the Peterborough Artists' Open Studio event.
We painted the outside blue, and even on the darkest day it adds a little sunshine to the garden. It's a pleasure to go down there to paint. There is a bank of windows on the right hand face, which let in loads of  light. It's well insulated although in extremes of temperature - sub zero and boiling hot sunshine I retreat to the house.
Next blog I'll post a picture of the inside of my studio.

Welland Valley Art Society Autumn Exhibition.

The Welland Valley Art Society  of Stamford opened it's Autumn Exhibition on Sunday with a very well attended private view at the The Stamford Arts Centre in the heart of Stamford.

I'd submitted two pictures, and luckily both were hung. I've decided that when it comes to selected shows I'll submit only my best pictures , and small ones as well as they're more likely to ease themselves into a spot on the wall!

My theory is that small ones are more likely to get in, but big ones are more likely to win prizes.
Of course this year I was wrong because the most beautiful tiny print won the Gladys Teasedale prize.

Recipe for a Watercolour Sketch.

Mary Kemp - Watercolour Sketch.

Ingredients.

• Nice sunny day.
• Seawhite of Brighton Euro 160gsm cartidge sketchbook 250 x 250mm.
• Sepia No 1 Edding profipen.
• White Knight St. Petersburg watercolours - I don't know the colours, they're just in this box I have.
• Large sable brush no 12, also small no 2 brush.
• Water
• Tissue.
• Garden
• Cat
• Sprinkle with dead insects.

Two Dogs on the Beach.

Some times you paint a picture that you really like. This painting reminds me of a jolly day at the seaside, and when I came to set the image down on the canvas it came together "just like that!" The dog in the foreground is Grace, a Border Collie who finds life very exciting.

Mary Kemp - Two Dogs on the Beach. 30 x 30cms oil on canvas.

The Start of a Sunset Painting , Blakeney.

It was a still, warm evening when I saw this scene. I knew I had to paint it. I had drawn the boats several times but I wanted more than a blue sky.

Mary Kemp - Sunset  (see how restrained I am. No colour. Yet !)

Mary Kemp - Sunset ( of course it's not finished)

And then I saw the sunset!!!

It's Not All "Get Out of Bed, Paint!"

Painting Day Routine :
Wake up - Tea.
Shower etc.
Feed cats.
Breakfast.

Mary Kemp - Cley Windmill  - Unfinished

(That's at least an hour)
Occasionally miss shower, cats and breakfast and paint with painting clothes over my jim jams.

Down to the studio.
If it's cold put the heater on.
Put radio 4 on.
Think about painting.
Lay out colours and stuff.
Paint.
Tidy studio.
Think about painting.
Paint.
At the moment I have 4 paintings on the go plus ones I'm waiting for the right solutions to.
Paint until lunchtime, interspersed with tea and coffee.
At lunchtime domestic life kicks in, so I attend to that.
Might paint for another hour or two in the afternoon.
Exciting life ?????

Peterborough City Gallery Open Exhibition.

Very pleased that two of my works were selected for Peterborough City Gallery Art Exhibition.
  http://www.vivacity-peterborough.com

It runs from October 1st to November 23rd with a jolly preview evening on Friday 28th September.
I'll be there!

Mary Kemp - Cool Sea

Mary Kemp - Before the Picnic

Here's the two paintings I have entered. I'm very fond of "Before the Picnic".  I think it's one of my all time favourites.

You've Just Got to Draw. Pages from my sketch book

Mary Kemp- Sketch

Mary Kemp - Another sketch.

Here are two pages from my lovely smooth Earthbound Sketch Book from Daler- Rowney, drawn with the elegant Pilot G-TEC-C4 gel pen in a beautiful sepia brown. It just glides across the page. Unfortunately it is neither light fast nor waterproof , but you can't have everything!

I Think I'm Having a Manga Moment !

I've been reading a lot about the art of Manga recently.

Mary Kemp - Paddling.

I like the simplicity of form, the not quite realness of it, and above all the youth and energy.
It seems to have rubbed off on me because when I looked at this figure I thought MANGA.