timwootton
Well-known member
Nice scowly kes.
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Mike's conservatory (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter Woody
- Start date
colleenc
Well-known member
And another little birdie tells me it's YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!!
BB
Hope you're having a good'un
B
to you and many more
Woody
Well-known member
Yeah, a bit overly so really, still it was just a sketch to fill some time.
Moving on...
My friend's birthday today so I can post this 10x8 now. It was done as a gift, (obviously) and it shows my friend Denise painting in a favourite spot by the fishing lake on the farm where we usually stay on holiday.
We're not going this year though; We're off to Singapore for three weeks so I ought to be able to fill a sketchbook with slightly more exotic stuff!
Mike
Attachments
timwootton
Well-known member
Beautiful.
ARTHUR BISHOP
Well-known member
Whats Spixworth going to do without you turning up Mike. Barnies will be looking for you.
Lovely setting that .
Lovely setting that .
solitaryVSong
Well-known member
Have to agree Mike. And I also have to admire your ability to use so much green in a painting, exactly the way many areas are for much of the year. This really has the sense of the green lushness of summer.
Woody
Well-known member
Well I've slipped onto page two again, I really need to be a bit more productive!
There's a large pheasant painting underway and a treble portrait keeps nudging me to be done but they're not ready to share yet.
Over the last few years I've done a lot of exploring with my painting; Swapping mediums, trying new supports, new techniques, subjects and styles and generally feeling my way a bit into new territory. I've lost count of the number of paintings I've started and later aborted recently!
I've looked at and admired the work of the whole range of artists here and been influenced by them to the point where I've wandered away from what I do and even tried to be something I'm not, in an artistic sense.
After exploring all these different avenues I find myself returning to my comfort zone and doing what I think I'm best at. I think I was beginning to lose sight of my own goals and a return to my roots was called for.
Anyway, over the weekend I worked on a simple 'bird on a stick' painting in acrylics, on illustration board. Work like this will never burst onto the wildlife art 'scene' in a blaze of glory, heralded by the trumpeting of critics and the clamouring of galleries, nor will it sell for absurd amounts of money and keep me in champagne and caviar for the rest of my days, but the making of it has made me happy, and that's really got to be the point hasn't it?
Sorry for the ramble, I'm feeling a little introspective today.
Mike
There's a large pheasant painting underway and a treble portrait keeps nudging me to be done but they're not ready to share yet.
Over the last few years I've done a lot of exploring with my painting; Swapping mediums, trying new supports, new techniques, subjects and styles and generally feeling my way a bit into new territory. I've lost count of the number of paintings I've started and later aborted recently!
I've looked at and admired the work of the whole range of artists here and been influenced by them to the point where I've wandered away from what I do and even tried to be something I'm not, in an artistic sense.
After exploring all these different avenues I find myself returning to my comfort zone and doing what I think I'm best at. I think I was beginning to lose sight of my own goals and a return to my roots was called for.
Anyway, over the weekend I worked on a simple 'bird on a stick' painting in acrylics, on illustration board. Work like this will never burst onto the wildlife art 'scene' in a blaze of glory, heralded by the trumpeting of critics and the clamouring of galleries, nor will it sell for absurd amounts of money and keep me in champagne and caviar for the rest of my days, but the making of it has made me happy, and that's really got to be the point hasn't it?
Sorry for the ramble, I'm feeling a little introspective today.
Mike
Attachments
Nothing wrong with a bit of introspection Mike.....and artistic avenues must be explored etc...
You are absolutely right when it comes to producing artwork of any kind...the 'happy factor' is of utmost importance. If what you do doesn't make you happy, at least to some degree, then whats the point....? [okay...i know that folk have got to make a living etc....trouble is...when it becomes a chore it can be a bore]...:smoke:
ps....great tawny owl....:t:
You are absolutely right when it comes to producing artwork of any kind...the 'happy factor' is of utmost importance. If what you do doesn't make you happy, at least to some degree, then whats the point....? [okay...i know that folk have got to make a living etc....trouble is...when it becomes a chore it can be a bore]...:smoke:
ps....great tawny owl....:t:
ARTHUR BISHOP
Well-known member
Can only but agree , no better feeling than doing your own thing with no preasure.
Love the Tawny tucked into the trunk Mike
Love the Tawny tucked into the trunk Mike
solitaryVSong
Well-known member
Well said Mike and I think it holds true for many of us. It's almost inevitable that we get influenced by things we admire and that works its way into our art, then one day we say 'wait a second. This doesn't look like my own anymore.' And we work our way back to what seems true to us and makes us happy.
Better to be happy with what you do than the darling of the art world and have no true connection to what you're doing.
And a beautiful painting as well. That's really a wonderful collection of branches that frame the owl. No 'bird on a stick' to me. Or at least the most highly embellished 'stick' I've ever seen.
Better to be happy with what you do than the darling of the art world and have no true connection to what you're doing.
And a beautiful painting as well. That's really a wonderful collection of branches that frame the owl. No 'bird on a stick' to me. Or at least the most highly embellished 'stick' I've ever seen.
timwootton
Well-known member
Spot on Mike - glorious celebration of a wonderful bird and, more importantly, entirely Woodcock in its conception, composition and handling. You're quite wrong on one count, though - put this in any gallery and it will simply walk off the wall; it's iconic and immensely desirable.
halftwo
Wird Batcher
Yes, a strange effect; nearly time...
Seeing this, I'm reminded of when I showed my copy of Tim's book to a birding friend and art enthusiast. After discussion of the different artists and styles, her comment was - "I really like these Mike Woodcock paintings". Honour indeed, when you look at some of the other names in that book!
