I have just discovered a great source of inspiration which is also an excellent resource for all aspiring artists. Thanks to a friend of mine, for the past few weeks I have been watching a television series on The Community Channel called Colour in Your Life which is designed to encourage everyone, no matter what your age or ability, to pick up paintbrushes and start painting. The enormous fascination of the project is that you can watch artists from several countries at work in their studios painting a wide range of subject matter in diverse styles using all kinds of media. The subjects include figurative work, portraits, life studies, abstracts, semi-abstracts, landscapes, seascapes, still life, wildlife, animals, birds, fantasy art, reality work and many more. There is advice, tips and a fair amount of technical information about achieving various effects plus product details of materials available in different countries. The programmes are presented by Graeme Stevenson an Australian artist who sits and talks to his guests during the shows. Here is a short excerpt from one of the programmes which gives some idea of the normal type of content – each programme is around 24 minutes duration.
I’ve now become a regular viewer, and in the UK, the series can be found on Freeview channel 63 0r Sky 539.
I’m finding more time to paint now and in the last two weeks I’ve completed a new portrait of Kate Bush as she looked in the early 1980’s and this is one of a number of attempts to paint this extraordinary singer-songwriter who has made such a big impact on my life and musical experiences. One in particular was the release of her Red Shoes Album in 1993 which has several beautiful songs on it and contains a number of guest artists including Prince, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Lenny Henry. It was a difficult time for her as she had lost her mother, Hannah, and split up with her partner Del Palmer and also for our family as I had been through a heart attack and lost my father. Many of her feelings seemed to be expressed in the lyrics and melodies of her songs which were very emotional and poignant at this period in my life too.
https://youtu.be/D5P0v0kGauc
This is one of the many outstanding beautifully crafted songs from the album – Moments of Pleasure.
