Ever the type to make do with what I have, I decided to see if the vinyl tiles could do as good a job as lino.  I think the outcome is passable although nowhere near as clear as those I’ve seen from lino…this could also be to do with my lack of ink and brayer and my improvisation of kids paint and a spongy paint roller (also designed for kids).

Not at all bad though.  I printed the outline shape and then cut the same piece of vinyl further to create lines, which I then painted black.  I love all the extra bits that are created from the carving.  Many would remove these ridges but I think they add something of a handmade quality.

I’m thinking of combining this technique with some of my handmade paper and a more elaborate picture for some more luxurious prints.

Anyway I’ve been noticing images of customised plimsolls ever since I joined up with DeviantArt a couple of years back and I’ve got to say they are something of an inspiration, even if my own initial efforts are a far cry from those featured in that link – these pictured here really are an initial effort.  If nothing else it gave me a chance to try out taking photo’s in my new light-box!

The lass has made me promise to do her a pair and I can envisage something in pink/lilac with love hearts for her and she seems happy with the idea.  Of course if I do a pair for her then no doubt the lad will want a pair too so I guess I’ll need to do two more pairs at the very least.

The exhibition finishes on the 27th September 2010 and features 150 paintings and a couple of sculptures from the group of artists who later became known as the Glasgow Boys.  These artists focused, for a period, on painting subject matter realistically and chose subject matter from the day-to-day grind of life, painting portraits of the common folk and scenes of people going about their daily chores.  This realism was something new and different from the sentimentality of the Victorian era and illustrated a different approach to painting and capturing objects on paper and canvas.

James Guthrie, John Lavery, Arthur Melville and E A Hornel

The works have been drawn from a large number of sources including other galleries and museums, although there was a huge number of rarely seen works from private collections and individuals.  Indeed, I’ve heard it suggested (from people that know better than I) that there is likely to be a huge number of paintings in the lofts of houses all around Glasgow, perhaps this exhibition might encourage a few more to be dusted down and brought out into the light of day.

If I’m being honest I found some of the works to be rather prosaic, if not outright baffling, although it was interesting to see how some individuals styles developed over time and note where their focus lay.  Some of the paintings, for example, had hands and faces painted to almost photo-realism standards whilst clothing and background would be almost abstract or entirely ‘out of focus’.

I think that the exhibition is well worth a visit, even just to catch a taste of local culture and history, all the more so if you happen to have so much as a passing interest in painting yourself.  Adults get in for £5 (Concession £3) whilst under 16’s go for free … although a bit of a bore for younger children I’d think!

It’s just a painted stone with varnish to protect the paint.  I’ve learned a couple of things in the process – black felt tip isn’t black, it’s blue and clear varnish isn’t clear, it’s brown.

Anyway, it works as a paperweight, which wouldn’t be hard really because the unpainted stone would have worked just as well!

Jolene and I spent the day yesterday wandering around the Kelvingrove Art Galleries and Museum, a long day with kids in tow but well worth it for the fantastic range of arts and crafts from across time from Egyptian artefacts, to Scottish pre-history through to reflections on modern society.  The Art Galleries have an extremely fine selection of paintings, not least of all one of Jolene’s favourites, Salvador Dali’s Christ of St John on the Cross, and my own personal favourite, Van Gogh’s, A Portrait of Alexander Reid, pictured below:

Jolene and I actually decided to buy a small framed reproduction of this painting from the museum shop, although we weren’t necessarily so keen to be hanging Jolene’s favourite Dali anywhere in the house!

Coming back from the galleries, and having enjoyed a quiet dinner down at the pub, we came home well fed and well motivated, if for no other reason than it can be difficult to wander around any gallery now without looking at some of the exhibits and wondering just how some of the items can be considered to be art, let alone of high enough calibre to be hung in a prestigious gallery.  Faced with paintings that you feel your three year old could produce given half the chance it’s difficult not to think, I could do that!

So we did!

Jolene started it when she began slapping red paint onto a canvas (7″ x 9.5″), and to be honest I thought that that would be that, I had already named it ‘red paint on canvas’ … a masterpiece to behold and clearly befitting of any up market gallery.  Alas there was no stopping her and she carried on initially by gluing on a foreground and then over-painting this with some actual subject matter, by this point she had already made some of the ‘modern art’ I’ve seen elsewhere look amateurish and so it was she ended up with the picture above.

Meanwhile, I wasn’t about to be outdone by Jolene and had made a grab for my own canvas (12″ x 12″) – typically for me it already had some unfinished rubbish on it – following Jolene’s lead though it wasn’t long until I too had daubed over the canvas with red, indeed I had already named this one too, ‘even more red paint on canvas’ … genius, eh?!

I was kind of perturbed when I saw that Jolene wasn’t going to be content with slapping some paint on the canvas and that I might actually have to put some thought in to what I was doing, I ruminated a some ideas many of which I had to discard as they were too involved, beyond my ability to execute or clearly plagiarised from somewhere else and instead I ended up with this (below).

It’s funny though how ones attitudes change to art as you get older, there was a time when I couldn’t understand how someone might stand and look at a painting for any more than a moment, yet when you actually see some of the true masterpieces in person there is so much to see beyond the bigger picture that it can be difficult not to look at them with a more discerning and focused eye, you don’t need to like everything you see, but you should be able to decide what you like and why.

Just from a general interest point-of-view I thought I would just upload a couple of the other paintings we have hanging around the house.

We were gifted the painting above by Jolene’s mother and father who brought it back from a trip of a lifetime to Nepal.  The one below was picked up during our Holiday last year in Wester Ross from a lady who ran a small shop out of a shed selling soap, her son was the artist and he had produced a few of these paintings featuring a central Celtic Knot design.

Typically, the photograph has washed the colours out and no amount of fiddling in the photo editor, with my limited skills, was going to fix that I’m afraid.  Still it was a lovely gesture and Jolene and I will be delighted to hang it … just as soon as we have somewhere to hang it!!

I seem to have a raft of canvasses lying around and despite repeated attempts to paint something of any worth on them I seem to fail and fail again.  The canvas here has been used so many times now that I can’t recall how many images lie beneath this final effort, perhaps it’s a furious amalgam of all that went before, a seething anger at the ineptitude slapped on the canvas below.

Whatever it is, using a canvas as a base for some wall art/sculpture is an avenue of interest to me and something I feel sure I will pursue further at some future point.  In the meantime I can think of at least two (more conventional) sculptures that deserve to be finished after well over a years worth of idling!

Bring Your Own Sunshine by DUDADAZE ~ $10

Sensational Stripes Fused Glass Plate by Kirsty Sly ~ $52

Sunshine by shopgimme ~ $150

My Sunshine (personalise) by mishmashmarket ~ $40

Click on the images to go to the shops and see more from these talented artists.

I have however, completed my part of the group project though and spent a few hours last night (on top of the many hours construction time) finishing off the treacherous painting stage.  He’s looking a bit pink now, although at one point he looked a lot more like salmon mousse than I had planned!  Of course, such things are painted up in series of layers … something I’m prone to forgetting during the initial burst of enthusiasm required for me to get started … he’s also got a squint!?

So, it looks like I’ll be taking a trip to a charity shop tomorrow to see if I can get some appropriate clothes for this chap.  I’d hoped to get hold of a John Lewis catalogue, but I think a prominent receipt sticking out of his pocket with the words, “MP’S Expenses” will need to suffice for my wee political dig this year … last year he was a banker!

Probably my biggest fear in doing the guy is finishing it, a poor paint job can make even the best sculpture look like some pre-school effort … and this is far from being ’the best sculpture’ making the paint job all the more important!  So in the interests of preserving it in some fashion prior to painting I like to get a few work in progress pictures for posterity’s sake.

I’ll do a further post once he’s finished off in all his glory, and maybe get a couple of pics of him in-situ in the shop, before the final incineration on bonfire night