Artisitc Merits

Lookin' good, Petty.

Your barrel on the left I presume?

{{Travel version for business }}

Good to know! I'll remember to look for it when I'm leaving the pub... {{ it seems only fair after all }}

{{{ Typical farmer- always wanting to stick things in my barrel!!! }}

is it Forumshire? that looks like lockholes in the background

{{A corner of Needlehole, off the main square away from the bustle (and bustle shops). }}

As soon as I saw this on facebook I knew it was Forumshire I like the Fairytale quality about it. I imagine knights & horses, a bit of "Unseen University" & shifty characters lurking about Anything modern never pops into my head

Did you forget the image, Az?

As soon as I saw this on facebook I knew it was Forumshire- Azriel

{{thanks for the reminder Azriel- I meant to tag it as Forumshire on Facebook and forgot!}}

No Halfy Ive been busy. One of my cats has gone missing & its taken up a lot of my time. I know why he's wandered off just miss him & want him home. He hasn't been neutered yet & mother Nature has got his hormones going

{{I had a tom on the horn disappear for nearly two months Azriel before causally wandering back in- dont give up hope- they will go a long way to find a mate, and then a bit further for the next one and so on! }}

Yeah they'll come home all gaunt and full of scar tissue, but with a proud light burning in their eye.  From all the yowling it's clear the lady cats don't just lay down and let sex happen, they make the toms fight for it.  If she comes in with her ears flattened and looking pissed you know you'll have kittens in a couple months.  And the Tom will leave her to it like he had nothing to do with it.  Nothing romantic goes on between cats. Tom cats are right royal bastards.

I agree with you both, Halfy & Petty. I know he's having his Hobbit Adventure but, when he does show up its the old 2 bricks job for him & all that romancing under the stars ( or most likely a good thumping behind the bins in an alley ) will be a daydream to him And the same goes for his brother ! Ive got 2 of the little rapscallions

There's a local bar which I like, with jars of sangria lit with lights from below and an owner called Socrates.  I brought some grad students there, and one was Puerto Rican and claimed he could hear drug deals going on and wouldn't go back.  But I liked it and stopped in, and a new barkeeper was a young artist who planned to have a "Dip'n'Sip" where for two hours there would be an open bar and painting supplies, and people would register to come in and paint.

She was adorably enthusiastic about the idea, so I paid the fee and showed up, and was provided with a square of wood and some paint. I was a bit unsure about painting, for the little that I had done came out horribly wrong and there didn't seem to be an easy way to fix things.  But she promised to provide advice, and told me to bring some image that inspired me, so I brought this:



So from that (with a little advice about how to make brown: "red and black with a bit of yellow and a touch of white") plus the help of a white wine, a white and red sangria, I produced this:



My version doesn't hold a candle to the model, but for a first work I have to say I'm fairly proud.  They'll use it to advertise the next Dip'n'Sip, then I'll reclaim it.

I don’t know, Halfy, I think I like it.

I like it also The colours are warm & inviting & your eye wanders off towards the distance, You know its got a happy ending because the dogs are happy

Those aren't dogs, those are squirrels!


(just kidding)

No, definitely dogs. You should put your glasses on, Halfy. Very happy dogs too. Of course, art is in the eye of the beholder. Once the work is out, the artist no longer owns the work in an interpretive sense. Sorry. It is a harsh blow, Halfy, but fair.

(Just kidding about what... ? you artists can be so oblique at times...)

( glad they weren't meant to be people ! then I would be in the shat ! )

Halfy I prefer your version to the original. Your painting has more life and movement, you have captured a breezy day with scudding clouds and gambolling doggies.

I thought the same, Julia. I have come back to look at that picture several times. It cheers me up.

You folks are either too kind or totally daft.  Look at the texture of that first painting - each leaf is a 3D brush-stroke that captures the shimmering leafiness of leaves.   The colors are alive, mine are muddy.  The only advantage mine has is dogs.

I'm not saying I don't like what I did, I do.  But the first one makes my jaw drop and my eyes sparkle.  Mine merely makes me contented.  It's not a masterwork of craft like the first one.

{{From what I can tell Halfy you were using different materials- those leaves in the original are textured too by the look of it, the paint on so thick they actually stick out from the canvas.
I like your colour choices though but if I can offer some critique, hopefully constructive- its on the perspective- if you note in the original the vanishing point- the point at which all the lines converge on the horizon- is roughly 1/3 of the way up the picture. This is a classic place for it when you want to create the sense of something going off into the distance. In yours the vanishing point is in the opposite place, about 1/3 from the top of the picture, this tends to lead the eye upward rather than into the image, and also gives the problem of having  a lot more foreground road to paint in.

There are some pretty simple techniques that will help you with perspective in your drawings-}}

Good point about my vanishing point being set high - I actually thought when doing it that I had it set the same as the first.  I just didn't seem to have as much room for leaves as the previous artist, and it perturbed me somewhat.

(note in the video he has his vanishing point above center as well. But I take your point about where the eye is led.)