Some Beautiful Art? Changing My Etsy Shop Name.

By the time you read this I will have probably done the deed.
OK. It's not a big deal, but it is to me and I've been brooding over this for a while now.
I need to rename my Etsy shop. Well I think I do.
What do you think?

I call it by my name Mary Kemp which means a lot to me and my family and a few of my collectors but in the wider world it's not a great selling point.
So I thought I would change it.
My first preference was Beautiful Art, but guess what, someone else has got there first.
Which is a shame because I rather liked it.
So I've been thinking of a few more names.

Seduced by Acrylic Paint.

There I go again! I've been seduced by acrylics for the umpteenth time.
It happens every so often. I think "Why am  I using oils colours?

• They're messy.
• They're expensive
• And they take forever to dry".

So off I go and paint something using acrylic paint.

Here's my latest picture. 

Mary Kemp.Boats in Galicia.
Acrylic on board 40 x 30 cm.
I was attracted to the bright day
and the strong colours,
so typical of Spain.

Of course I like the colours, which were bright and bold, but I struggle to get the paint to lie as I want it to. It feels sticky, and the surface seems to me to be lacklustre, and although I have difficulty telling the difference between other people's oils and their acrylics , with my own the difference is obvious. I feel I can express myself better with oils.

• Acrylics are hasty to dry and blend clumsily on the canvas.
• They stick to your equipment.
• They're not as classy as oils.

And yet.....

• This picture took less time to complete, giving it more immediacy.
• I can layer colours without needing to wait 2 days.

So on balance?
Speed and immediacy for acrylics.
Time to craft your painting, and  the indefineable charm of oil paints.

No contest.

14 Things I Bought at Peterborough Artists Open Studios 2014.

One of the delights of opening up your studio for just one weekend  out of three of our Peterborough  open studios event  is that you have time to visit other artists.

We set aside last Saturday to do just that and what a lovely, enjoyable time we had of it!

Of course you never get round  as many as you think you will but we still manage three venues.

This is who we visited on our jaunt out and here is the haul I came home with.

A Weekend of Open Studios.

I open up my home to the discerning art appreciating public, and what do my visitors come to see ?

Only my garden and the three cats!  Oh well. I love them too , and my visitors did take time to look at the artwork and even take home a painting or two.

Bertie the cat.
I'm rather proud of the hosta in the background !

There are three phases to an open studio event.

Recipe for a Successful Painting Trip.

For the past few years I've enjoyed an annual painting trip with a group of  friends, some, it has to be said, more interested in art than others !

Taking photos after a sociable evening meal,
catching the light on the cliffs before the sun goes down.

Whilst the idea of the trip is to do some sketching and gather material for future work it always feels more like a holiday than serious work.
But I invariably come home with loads of ideas and not an inconsiderable amount of sketches. The weather dictates the number of photos to drawings as we're not a hardy bunch! and most of our sketches have been done in a comfortable spot out of the wind.

This latest expedition got me thinking about the things that make a successful painting trip and I've come up with a few ideas...