Italian Trattoria painting

Good Food Good Friends - painting Bee Skelton

I've enjoyed every part of Italy visited so far;  obvious tourist destinations like Pisa, Florence, Rome, Sienna, San Gimignano.  But one of my favourite places doesn't seem to receive as much attention as the rest.  Apart from business types heading for the exhibition centre, folk appear to use Bologna's airport mostly as a touchdown on the way to somewhere else.  In fact the first time, my friend and I did just that before moving on to Sienna. Fortunately we explored enough to know we wanted to return for longer.

Trattoria Bologna sketch

Bologna has the oldest existing university in the world so is full of exhilarating student-life.  Among its many other attractions there are some excellent restaurants.  Let's face it, if you can't find good food in Italy .... there's something wrong with you!  I made the above painting from a sketch inspired by a crowd of students celebrating graduation.  The place was buzzing with life and excitement.  I hope from the use of colour I've been able to convey a little of the tremendous atmosphere.

You can email me for information about anything you see.  A small collection of work can also sometimes be seen in my Etsy shop. 

Winter Tree paintings

Winter Trees by Bee Skelton

 My new garden is full of painterly inspiration!  The bare branches are quite sculptural and make wonderfully dramatic shapes.  There's lots of colour too and it was a joy to observe and make this painting.  It's on a 20x20cm (8x8in) stretched canvas, painted in acrylics.  I've left the sides white and added a hanger to the reverse so it can be displayed straightaway without framing.  Email me for more information about any of my work.

Winter Trees side view.

Here in the UK they say we've had the wettest January since records began and I do feel for the many folk who are struggling in the floods.  This is our first winter in England for many years and the difference in climate between here and Cyprus is of course huge.  Weird I know, but some how I find myself absolutely loving the novelty and drama of the peculiar weather! 

Old Tree original painting 6x6 acrylic on MDF

Each week I get together with another group of artists in a nearby village.  This magnificent old tree made a perfect subject viewed through the window as we all concentrated on making a winter painting.




You can email me for information about anything you see.  A small collection of work can also sometimes be seen in my Etsy shop. 

Art of children - drawing 3

Child art Study 3

My little grandsons are soccer mad.  Here's my drawing of Max's drawing of his team sent by his Dad to me recently.  Max is too young to do it himself just now, but I'm guessing it won't be long before he's emailing his art direct.  It seemed appropriate to include the method of delivery in my drawing.

Email me for more information about any of my work.

 

A drawing featuring a drawing by a child 2

Drawing featuring a drawing by a child 2

Children normally use bright colours in their drawings, mainly I think because generally felt tipped pens and crayons in primary colours are what they are given by the adults.  I'm using tone only for this series of studies;  pencils ranging from H2 to B8 and graphite sticks.  I am also drawing the subject in the context I find the original drawing.  In this case Ben's drawing was displayed on a kitchen cupboard.  Kitchens worldwide must be crammed with masterpieces like this.

In studying the drawing I tried to concentrate on his mark making and did my best to reproduce it.  In doing so I began a little to get a feeling for how his hand and eye had worked.  I'll have to do a lot more before I get the hang of it.

I feel there's something interesting in the contrast between the attempted child art mark making in this drawing and the background made by the older supposedly more sophisticated hand and eye.  The one is lively, gestural and uninhibited and the other is flat and boring.  Brought together these elements are making for a fascinating project.  Looking forward to doing more!

Email me for more information about any of my work.

View from my window

A damp day and very misty earlier.  I'm loving the soft cool colours of the views through my kitchen window.  The sheep are lying down on the saturated grass.  Hardy creatures and so fortunate to have their thick heavy wool coats.  Nature got it just right as always.

You can email me for information about anything you see.  A small collection of work can also sometimes be seen in my Etsy shop. 

New studio and new art in England

I've now been back in England for a few months and feeling very at home deep in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside!  My studio is small but fully functioning and more than adequate.

Moving from the hot dry features of the eastern Mediterannean island of Cyprus with it's lively Greek culture, to the cooler, greener landscape of Britain I expected my art would begin to develop along fresh lines.  Portrait work is a constant love yet I'm looking forward to experimenting with other ideas.

Beginning my first winter back home I have been fascinated by the beautiful countryside surrounding our new home and itching to get it down in paint.  But what I wasn't ready for is a sudden interest I've developed in the art of children.  I've loved painting them for years, but now I find myself looking at the artwork children themselves produce.  I'm not the first of course to notice what natural artists children are.  Pablo Picasso famously said;

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

Pablo Picasso

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/pablopicas169744.html#bSczOfAQgmKTviU2.99

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

Pablo Picasso

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/pablopicas169744.html#bSczOfAQgmKTviU2.99

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/p/pablo_picasso.html#1jm7MdMhtCfKDO2Q.99'A

 'All children are artists.  The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up'.

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/p/pablopicas169744.html#bSczOfAQgmKTviU2.99

and

'It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child'.

I know what he meant.  Influences of art school and working towards fine art degrees etc can often mess with what perhaps sometimes should be left alone to develop naturally.  Some outsider art produced by self-taught adult artists can be so fabulously exciting!

I'm feeling my way with my 'other' work (that not connected with portraiture) and with my new start back home in England, now is as good a time as any to play around with ideas.  One of which is to study the artwork of children by making a series of drawings.  I would like them to be all the same size, 6 inches square and I shall make them in tone only.  I have absolutely no idea how, or if, this will develop.  To start I've taken a couple of photos of drawings by my grandsons and hope to acquire more.  Here is my first attempt at making a drawing inspired by the work of a child.  A drawing of a drawing becomes something entirely different.  I hope to learn something from this.

Homage to Max 1

You can email me for information about anything you see.  A small collection of work can also sometimes be seen in my Etsy shop.