Paint Test

Hi all,
In my last post, one of the issues with my first painting was the lack of vibrancy regarding the paint. When I look at proper artists' work the colours seems to jump off the paper. My paint looked like it would have a job to dribble off the edge of the paper even with a good wind behind it. I said my painting looked wishy-washy and, even taking into account that the subject matter was a misty scene, it still looked out of salts.
If you are interested in art, you have probably been to the exhibitions at village halls where amateur artists have their annual display. There is no doubt that there are some good paintings hanging about at these events, but there are even more that, like my first effort, look like they could do with an injection of steroids. Could it possibly be the paint? Is professional quality paint worth the extra money or is it a bit of a snobby thing?
 My view on the subject was that if you bought students quality watercolours and didn't put too much water into it when mixing, the result should equal that of professional watercolour paints. I would therefore save my self a fortune because professional watercolours are more than twice the price.
Anyway, I must have found myself in a pool of delirium because I decided to get my wallet out and purchase three tubes of professional quality watercolours from a nationally known hobby and art shop. Those three tiny tubes cost me almost £18 quid, if they contained tooth paste it would be gone in a couple of days and I'd be making an appointment at the dentist to have all my teeth removed before I allowed myself to be fleeced again.
The next thing I did was to set about doing a test to see if the paints were worth the extra money. Now I'll be the first to admit that my experiment might not be the most scientific in the world and you can make what you will of the results, but here's what I did. I drew a couple of irises and painted one with student quality watercolour and most of the other with the paint I'd paid an arm and a leg for. Here is the result.

I think you have probably worked out which was done with the most expensive paint. So what can be gathered from the evidence?
 If I want to do a painting that looks proper, I need to fork out and buy the best quality paints. It's no good telling myself that I'll use the cheap stuff until I get good because using cheap paint will only hold me back and I'll never paint anything worth risking an eye on.
 It also seemed to me that because the professional watercolour paint is a lot stronger, when I need a weaker wash the paint will, due to its increased level of pigment, go much further.
So, what I need to concentrate on now is finding professional quality paints at something like student paint prices. I'll let you know if I'm successful in a future post. Painting number 2 is well on the way and will be posted in a couple of days. Happy painting.

Free book

Hi all, just a quick one to let you know that my book, "The Reluctant Pom" is free today and tomorrow on Amazon.

If you fancy reading a copy, here is the UK link, and here's one for those in the USA.

Painting number two will appear in the next couple of days.

Watercolour 1

Hi all,
If you have been waiting earnestly for the first painting in my challenge I am very sorry for the delay. However, the ball has started rolling and here is my first watercolour effort.

Now if you can stop laughing long enough to read the rest of this post and look at it again through squinted eyes, I suppose it isn't that bad for a starter.
The painting is called misty village and puts me in mind of more than one holiday spent in the glorious countryside of Wales. The painting actually came from an exercise in an art magazine and it provide the inspiration to get me on my way.
The paper is cheap 140lb watercolour paper and the paints used were cotman watercolour. I followed the method in the magazine article and started by masking off some of the houses with masking fluid then wetting the paper all over before diving in with the paints.
Here is my review
Bad
1 The sky is a right mess; grey blobs on the right and splodges of mustard on the left.
2 The foreground is empty, surely something should be going on.
3 Some of the houses look as if they could fall over at any minute.
4 I know it is supposed to be a misty scene, but it all looks a bit wishy washy to me even though it is a watercolour painting.
Good
I like the smoke coming out of the chimneys. That was achieved by lifting some paint out with a piece of kitchen towel. The mountains in the background are also easy on the eye so it isn't a complete disaster.
Overall I would give it a score of 10 out of 100 so there is a long way to go yet before I can call myself a painter.
Lessons learned
1 When working wet into wet it is best to plan ahead. Paints need to be ready and mixed before wetting the paper because while I was ferreting about looking for the right colours and mixing them the water I'd put on the paper was starting to dry out.
2 Check out artists' watercolours to see if they are worth paying the extra money for.
Call in again next week for painting number two. I'm hoping it will be better but it could be worse.
Any comments on painting 1 will be welcome even if you thing it is a load of rubbish.

Art

Hi all,
My posts have become infrequent lately and I am about to put that right. The problem is that I have been trying to run 3 blogs. This one, which was supposed to be about writing issues. Another at
www.shirewriting.blogspot.com  that revolves around my scroll sawing and pyrography work. And another at myartisticchallenge.blogspot.com that is following my efforts to became a decent waterclour artist.

Anyway, the scroll sawing and pyrography are going to take a back seat and I'm going to move my artistic challenge to here.

If you look at the headings for my page you will see that I class myself as an author, angler and artist.
Well I'm not doing much writing these days and, due to health reasons, my worm dangling days are now almost done. So, I am going to expand my artistic vent from pyrography to watercolour painting and I'm looking forward to the challenge and the journey. I am sad that the fishing is over because it's been a big part of my life, but sitting in a warm studio do a bit of painting does look attractive especially with winter coming on.

Here a bit of information on what my artistic challenge is all about.

I have given myself 1 year to go from a pyrography artist to a successful watercolour painter.
Why am I doing this?
Those who remember the Beatles will also remember one of their songs, called "When I'm 64." Well just recently I passed that milestone and it got me to thinking about all the things I never got around to doing because I was always to damned busy trying to earn a decent living. I thought about circumnavigating the world on a unicycle but my heart attack and general lack of fitness knocked that one on the head. However, from the days when I was spot popping teenager I always wanted to paint, so  that is why I have taken up this challenge.
Why set yourself a challenge? why not just get on with it?
I'm sure many of you who have wanted to take up art or any other craft have found themselves floundering. The problem is that there are so many other things all after our attention. There are always other jobs to be done, so one feels guilty if one tries to sit down and paint. I am forever trying to clear my "to do list" so that  I can get on with some painting. Well now I've simply added the painting to the list so there is no excuse.
Being an ex-production manager I also understand how targets and goals do really help with motivation.

How does the challenge work?
I am giving myself an objective of doing at least one painting per week. Each painting will be posted on here regardless of how good or bad it looks. Please be aware that on odd occasions in the past I've had a go at painting and my wife still laughs at some of them. In fact, when she gets a bit down, which we all do from time to time, she gets out one of the paintings I did of a lion a few years ago and after looking at it she always busts into a giggling fit.
I don't think it's that bad, but does it tickles your sense of humour?

At least now you know what my starting point is and, if the world starts tweeting about bow legged lions, remember you saw one here first.

So how will I or my readers learn from my paintings?
Well, we all learn from our mistakes, so when I post a painting each week I will give it a score out of 100 and then review it honestly. If any part of the painting is crap I will say so and why.
Can readers make comments about my paintings and will I be offended?
I welcome and encourage any comments that are honest and constructive. After all, finding faults in ones own work can be very difficult.
Will I concentrate on one painting medium?
Yes, it will centre around water colour paints, but ink and pencil work will probably be included at some stage.
After one year, how will I judge my success?
The measure of my success will be simple. If I can sell a painting at a fair price it must mean that somebody likes my work, they must be if they are prepare to exchange hard earned cash for one of my creations.
So I have 52 weeks until the 1st of May 2016 to paint something good enough to sell. If you are interested in watercolour painting and like a laugh, why not come along for the journey. The first of what I expect to be a pathetic attempt will be posted on here within the next 7 days.
I will also tidy up this blog so that it looks half decent and create a paintings tab so that all the paintings that I produce can be seen on one page

New cover for Staffordshire Boy

Hi all,
They say you shouldn't judge a book by looking at the cover but I guess most of us do. I know that when I'm looking for a book it is the art work on the cover that attracts me first. In fact, I use the cover to filter the books that I'm not interested in. There are literally hundreds of books for sale that depict a bare chested man in various poses, usually mauling some unfortunate female. I ignore these books like the plaque, but I'm often left wondering that when choosing topic for the cover of their book, the author picks something that is so much like so many others.

Anyway, after saying all that about other authors' covers I must admit that one of my own book covers is pretty poor to say the least. The cove of "A Staffordshire Boy" is pretty damn boring and does absolutely nothing to promote what is within.

All I can say in my defence is that I was very short of time when I published it and the only good thing I can say about it is that it is different. I put a bit of a map of Staffordshire on the front to give it a sense of place, when it should have said something about the content.

Anyway, I've made amends and designed a new cover that gives any would be reader a reasonable idea about what the book might contain.

If you have any opinions on about the covers or think the first one is better, I'd love to hear from you. Meanwhile, if you want to read a sample of what is actually in the book, please click here.
By the way, I am offering one of my books "No Fishing In Here: Just Short Stories" free on Amazon on the 24th and 25th of September. Grab a free copy if you can.

Two Free Books

Hi all,
I haven't been taking full advantage of having my books in Amazon select and I find my self with a backlog of free days to use up. So I currently have two books that are available for free, but you will have to be quick because the offer ends today.

The first book is a collection of short stories. Some of them will make you laugh while others may do the opposite, however, I'm sure that they will stir some emotion inside the reader.

No Fishing IN Here: Just Shorts Stories.

Is available by clicking on this Link.

My other book is on a fishing theme and is targeted at those who have, or are thinking of taking up the sport but are confused by the terms used by coarse anglers.

It is available by clicking this Link.

If you do download either or both of the books, I hope you enjoy them and if you do please leave a review. Thanks

Fred Tench Fishing Detective

Hi all,
It's taken almost a year but I've managed to get on top of the house renovation. It's just as well because my back and my shoulder are complaining like mad. I guess my old bones are well past their abuse by date.

So, while they have been mending my ill used body I've been shuffling about wondering what to do next and I couldn't help but start working on the plot for another book in the Fishing Detectives series. I had originally only planned to do three but I feel Fred is dying to get his rods out again.

However, this book could be the last and if it is I will have to kill Fred Tench off so that there can't be another. Anyway at the moment I haven't got that far, if I enjoy writing it I might let Fred live to cast his line out again and make it five in in the series.

It usually take me a year to write a book but I am hoping this one will be finished by the end of the year. I will keep you posted.

Talking about books I have a couple of free offers on at the moment.

At Smashwords.com you can get "A Staffordshire Boy" free until the 22nd of June. You will find the links and coupon code on my website.

If you have a kindle, "Bossyboots" is a good, fun read and it is free to download on the 11th and 12th of June from Amazon.

If you download either book I hope you enjoy them, and if you do, please leave a review, they really do help with sales. Thanks