I wanted to draw parallels with this world and the Eárie, I wanted to explore a world where nature is lived within and not shunned. The ways of the old of course are not the ways to live our lives by today, we cannot and do not need to hunt for our food nor make sacrifices of people to gods etc. but it is inspirational to me to explore these old lives and ancient connections to nature, a world within it and not observing it.
The Shadows, in A Retreating Tide, and its sequels (book two isn't far off completion!) is an entity which is parasitic and glutenous in form, existing from the woes and negativity of the world. They see it as their right to possess and control the living in all forms; they are madness, despair, hatred and pain. They cannot always be seen, but are always felt, softly they prey upon the mind of their victim, removing hope, whispering seductive words of hatred, leading a person down a dark path. From my own life experiences I have witnessed the shadows' influence. I have seen a person sink into madness, another change through bitterness, and seen the consequences of hatred onto others... These experiences and more have served to form the Shadows in the novels. Through writing I hope to show others what I have seen and hope that others can be helped by it. Many things have influenced the writing of my novels, soon I hope to have my next book released and the third to complete the trilogy. My experiences with nature have formed a strong part of my writing, as my own experiences with life and my interests in history. If it were not for these, perhaps I would never have been a writer and author. Something which gives me huge pride in myself, I hope that anyone reading this, or those who have read my novels are helped by it, as they have helped me by writing it, to make sense of the world and explore the wonder of the natural world. If you wish to read A Retreating Tide, please click the interactive book below, where you can read the first chapter for free!
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I haven't kept to my blog for a while now, but that's to change. There's so much to post and keep you up to date on, since writing my first book and having it published (April 2016), I can at least say that book two is well underway! On the art front, there's so many exciting things happening now; I've expanded what I do, developed my own unique style and keep myself very busy creating it all! Soon, I hope to begin an online course through my Youtube channel to show anyone the basics of painting. But enough of that. For now, let's talk about painting. Imagine, you're on a boat, the cobalt blue sea bobbing you about in the water, the sea breeze soft and salty, you can hear seabirds calling around you amid the hum of the engine as you speed by tall cliffs. This was the image I wanted to create with my newest painting, inspired by a boat trip to Dartmouth last year.
Just look at the intensity of that blue! l have begun to use a new medium! From the title of this post I'm sure you've already guessed that I've begun to use oil. This medium is one I've been wanting to try for a long time, as it is so different from other mediums (although acrylic can be used like oils) and offers so much potential. Problem is, if you check out your local craft store you'll see what I mean, it is much more expensive than most other mediums. Eventually, I succumbed to temptation and bought myself a starter set. I already had a small canvas, when I bought it I had planned to paint a small beach on it, in acyrilic, but it was a reasonable size to have a go with oil, if it goes wrong, not much lost, and I could paint over it if it failed. My first attempt at painting with oils. I have to admit, it was nerve wracking as well as exciting; I didn't want to muck it up, but the feel of it on the brush was just brilliant! Inspired by my first attempt and keen to paint again, I purchased a few more tubes from my local store and got to work on another canvas. Wanting to do another coastal picture began trawling through a series of photographs I had taken on a recent holiday to Cornwall, finally settling on an image taken in the small fishing village of Port Issac. I just love those colours, it's like a the sky is made from strawberry milkshake with a dash of banana. Am I thinking of my stomach again? maybe! But I got set to work on this. As you might have guessed I started by painting the sky, a dollop of scarlet spread across the top of a canvas, as if murder had been committed. I toned down that shocking red with a lighter blue and Chinese white with my weapon of my big flat brush. (Which still hasn't forgiven me as it's still stained with these colours!) Eventually it looked like this! Looks rather dramatic, and at this point I was rather pleased with it, but it was still far from being finished. At about this point there was nothing I could do but wait until the oil had dried... the major drawback with oils. I added the boats after adding some detail to the water, fiddly things they are. Strongly debated whether or not to add a speedboat, I think the one that remained was probably the third one. Oh the smell of oils... I didn't like the wall on the right of the photograph, so I took it out, but i liked the wall on the bottom,, you almost want to hold it and peer out at the little boats. In fact, one of those boats caused me quite a few problems, it was about midnight, and the painting had been drying for some hours in the conservatory. I had just reviewed a photograph of it (I like to photograph paintings as they progress) and panicked,the boat was wrong! Armed with a torch and a fresh paintbrush, I scurried outside to fix it. I cant even remember what boat it was now, so I hope it did the trick!
I've recently bought some glass paints to decorate an old mirror for a bedroom. I hope to give the mirror a vintage look with a landscape as seen on some old antique mirrors.
I will update again with the results if it works if you have any tips or have any examples please post them below. |
AuthorI am an artist focussing mainly on coastal landscapes. I'm always looking to try out a new medium so I will keep you updated on my work. Archives
November 2017
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