New Work

Ok, I'm a day behind, I got distracted. By pizza-related shenanigans. And forgot to take the picture. But it's here now. I get there in the end. This one is not a step by step post, I didn't take pictures of the process as I went along. Is that something I should do? If you have an opinion either way, please let me know in the comments. This is a bit of a beach at sunset, at a village called Collieston, which is near to the city in which I now live, Aberdeen. It's a rocky motherlover (geogeeks, UNITE!) and all the rocks are slanted at the familiar angle. I'm not sure what rock the beach is based on - given it's location in Scotland it's a fair bet to say either granite or gneiss. Next time I'm there, I'll take way better pictures of the rocks so I can furnish you, dear readers, with my best guess. More discussion after the jump

Aberdeen, the Silver City

I know it's been a while since my last posting, and I've been unable to maintain my commitment to discussing and presenting artwork on this blog; I'm sure that everyone can appreciate the hectic upheaval of suddenly moving cross-country. Now the dust has settled, and I'm getting back into a routine. At any rate, my move to Aberdeen, which might as well be referred to as the Windy City, has been exciting and informative. I've met some cool people - Nicole Porter of the Nicole Porter gallery, the friendly dudes at Rapport Tattoo and Tattooed Freak Body Piercing, which I think is related.

I've also met the Aberdeen Artists Society (at least one of them), which I'm looking to become a member of when I've got some stuff to bring along. I'm hoping that there I'll have some folk to talk to about art, and perhaps receive some instruction/motivation/inspiration. Speaking of which, I've also met Kenny, of my nearest art supplies shop, The Artist's Pad.  And another thing - the Aberseen Art Gallery. It's brilliant. It's far beyond my expectations. The McBey room, where the work of Scottish artist James McBey is displayed, is magical. It also houses Rembrandt etchings, but I was't looking at them. And it has a free-to-the-public art library! Needless to say, I've had a busy wee while.

Now that my oils have come up from Glasgow, I'm looking forward to getting stuck right in. With some brand new canvas and a few photos of the Aberdeenshire village Collieston to hand, I'm about to have a batter at it.
Photos of that hilarious effort to be published on this blog, tommorow.

Some actual talking about art

I have always intended to use this blog as a platform for artworks, and as a way or recording my progress as I strive to increase my art prowess. Thus I set myself a task - that I will write about art at least once a week and do a bit on a piece of my own also at least once a week.

This week, I'm going to do Landseer, because I picked an artist at random.

Just a brief look at his Wikipedia page will give you the bare bones of his biography and a couple of his more famous paintings. A little more Google-fu and you can see his less famous ones. I like these better. Olga's Gallery has a selection of more of them, my favourites of these being The Old Shepherd's Chief Mourner, which just about brought tears to my eyes, such is the pathos of the subject, and Jocko With A Hedgehog, which cheered me up again. The man was a really good observer of animals, and they way they move and sit. Discussion below the link.

The Independence of Scotland, a more serious look at it.

So, Scotland is to be having a referendum amongst the population to decide if the general population is favourable to splitting with the rest of the UK and being a separate, entirely independent country in our own right. The rumouring that I have been hearing is that most people are generally against it - nobody really believes that it will go ahead. An article from the Scotsman claims that 39% of the population are for Independance and the rest against

I will say this - As of now, I hope that we don't achieve full independence. (See below for details)

The Independence of Scotland

So here's an opinion on this snakes nest: 

Nah, not really. I just get the feeling that this is what is expected of me. This is a bit more like it :

I'm sure Mr. Salmond is a nice guy just doing what he think is best, but this was a good opportunity. Also, in the unedited version, checkout the outrageous photobomb from the guy behind:

 It looks like he's watching the photographer as he's taking the photo of Mr. Salmond. It looks like the expression I wear when I watch a little child wanting to "clap ma dug" (pet my dog) while squealing '' A PUPPY!!!!!!!!!'' - a forced-tolerant expression alert for any signs that the child will put its fingers in the dog's eyes or mouth or anus. I'm not suggesting that members of the press should, or would want to, anal-probe the First Minister (though for a man of his age, prostate cancer is a real thing), but I am suggesting that the guy behind Mr. Salmond looks concerned about something and is trying to hide it. Maybe the First Minister has a killswitch which activates a concealed chem-injector rig and dumps 0.1L of pure adrenaline right into his bloodstream and turns him in to an unstable, frothing, homicidal, unstoppable killing machine. My god, it's the perfect plan.

"Friends, Romans, countrymen; lend me your haggis and Irn-Bru, that I may chow down righteously''

Nope, turns out he's just chillin', preaching to his homies. Like a modern-fucking-day jesus. That pose is reserved for fictional people.

Incidentally, something more serious is in the works, I just like to take opportunities for mockery.

I should probably add that these are not my photos and I do not own them or intend to imply that I do - I basically crudely swiped them from The Scotsman's website. They rightfully belong to The Scotsman, I believe, if the photographer has sold his rights to them. 

Some of my projects

I've been guilty of neglecting the art intention of this blog a little, but here I present a few of the things I've been working on. 

 The warm  (averaging 9 degrees or so this week) wet weather here in Scotland this winter has caused fungi to sprout everywhere, which continues to delight and fascinate me. I didn't get the chance to do the macro shots I wanted, but next time, dammit, next time.

 This is my very first attempt with oils - a crude, unplanned sketch on a cheap canvas. I find I like the texture of oil paint and I can see me spending a lot of time with oils in the future. A more serious discussion on oil painting  and the way that I am trying to work is set for an upcoming post.

 The outline for a whimsy in watercolour. I think it's going to be an interesting experiment in simple forms and bright colours, but I can't help the feeling that I've got to go weirder.

A sketch in black coloured pencil that I tossed off on the bus home. For style,  I've been working on more solid lines and clearer, simplified subjects. I don't have the kind of control I want with coloured pencil, as it feels a little strange, but I think I'm slowly learning to use it with a bit more dexterity.

For a wee while I'm going to be focussing on the oils to get a grip on them. I know it's generally regarded as a massively complex technique, that requires at least months of academic education and intense technical study to even approach, but I don't have that. What I do have is paint, brushes, some canvas, some time and a fistful of determination, and dammit, I can work with this!

Anyway, that's probably enough excuses for now...

Belated snow pictures and open commissions

Hi readers!

It's been a few days since my last post but, but now I rectify the situation! I have recovered my camera in just under a week, and am able to now present to you, dear readers, the snow day that was left to us in the West of Scotland after the Hurricane Bawbag; taken at the remarkable Colzium Estate and featuring Cala the dog.

Furthermore, upon completion of my latest commission, I am once again free to take them! This last one was a bit of a slog, and a steep learning curve, but after at least five separate attempts at it, I have done it to my own, and the commissioner's, satisfaction. If you are interested in commissioning your own original artwork from me, then please, by all means visit my website www.hbartgallery.com or email me at hbartgallery AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk. (unusual presentation of this in order to prevent spam.)

Part of the profits of my work are donated to the charity Cala's Biscuits Fund

Pictures of snow below the fold

Barack Obama, Hurricane Bawbag and Comics

Hurricane Bawbag has come and gone, leaving my girlfriend's garden table completely banjaxed, and one of the chairs knocked over, as well as causing a power cut that prevented the digibox from recording Family Guy (OH, THE HUMANITY!!), leaving us here in Scotland at least with  a nice wee blanket of snow; thin enough not to be very inconvenient and just enough to make everything pretty, and judging by the 1) amount of cloud cover (a full 8 Oktas for you meteorology geeks) and 2) length of daylight this time of year I think the snow will persist overnight and maybe even freeze a crust over it. Pictures coming in tomorrow's post.

I have also heard that someone had to explain to The US President what a bawbag was. I liked the mental image that sprang to mind.

OBAMA: What's all this about Hurricane Bawbag, then? Are we gonna need to send aid somewhere?
AIDE: Well, there's been a big storm over in the UK and the people of Scatch-lund are calling it Hurricane Bawbag because it's more annoying for most people than serious.
OBAMA: So what's a baw-bag?
AIDE: Um, a scrotum, sir. 

OBAMA:

 On an entirely different topicThis morning I've been catching up with my favourite webcomics SMBC Comics and Girl Genius. If you like webcomics and you don't yet follow these, then I suggest that you do: they're good. I've explored a lot of different webcomics over the years, and really, these and ChimneySpeak are the only ones that I've cared to keep up with. SMBC is good for three reasons; the satire, the surreality and the simplicity. Zach Wiener references relevant topics and rightly ridicules the ridiculous, all in a simple and convenient format that ttakes only moments to ingest.

 Girl Genius on the other hand, is a grand adventure story told with humour and poking fun at established grand adventure tropes, and a healthy dose of Mad Science.

Chimneyspeak is like an extended penny dreadful, set with humourous sidelong glances at Victorian London. Featuring tarts with hearts, psychotic aristocrats, Quentin-Tarantino-defying blood splatter, lesbian Russian gangsters and good, old-fashioned Scottish Stereotypes (link to character bios here). Basically a hilarious melange of shagging, violence and severely damaged psyches depicted with a cocked-eye, a well-developed sense of irony and possibly a top hat and moustache.

Please accept my hearty exhortations to at least give these a shot.