Assorted update

[bunn]

I really need to tackle the garden, which has become enormously wild and woolly this year. I just couldn't find the motivation for it somehow.

Art class this week was looking at light reflected on wet paving slabs, but mine isn't finished yet.

I painted this last week though:  my beloved old dogs Az & Mollydog.  A typical pose: Molly full of enthusiasm, Az looking doubtful but also a bit mischievous.

And also this, which doesn't quite work, but is a brave effort.

And I drew four-seasons Rosie:


And a young and rather roguish looking Maglor.


I'm slowly nudging in the direction of hoping to actually make saleable art, and in preparation for that distant happening, I made a quick website : https://victoriaclare.com/

I've started thinking about perhaps adopting another dog, though I'm not sure. Rosie seems to be enjoying being an only one. But I do like the look of Anton. A scenthound might be a nice change.

We took the mattress we borrow every year from my mother back to its home again (we only need it for the one week when we have 5 guests at once!).  We've got very good at wrangling it up and down the stairs by now, and the mattress itself is a seasoned campaigner, a little scuffed at the corners.

This weekend I remembered to order vegan cupcakes for T's birthday (thank goodness they are now in Victoria, which actually has vegan food suppliers so it's much easier to send them things they might like!)  I also made a chocolate hazelnut fudgecake for us, which is very nice.

Oh, and I FINALLY finished writing A New Road or a Secret Gate which is a story about Elrohir meeting Amrod & Amras.   It has a slightly unexpected ending and I couldnt' work out how to make it work for ages, but finally I did, which is rather a relief.  

Comments

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

I love the website!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you like it. I deliberately kept it very minimal, so the emphasis was on the art.

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

Love your painting.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Lovely pictures. I especially like Four Seasons Rosie.

[puddleshark.livejournal.com]

These are wonderful! I especially love the Four Seasons Rosie.

I can't help thinking that a Four Seasons Max would involve varying depths of mud, painted in varying shades of brown.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Well, there is an argument that Four Seasons Rosie should just be four pictures of her on the sofa with the cushions in slightly different alignments. I've never met such a sleepy dog!

[r-blackcat.livejournal.com]

Molly's eyes look absolutely alive. Great!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[howlin-wolf-66.livejournal.com]

I love all of your art! :-)

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thanks

[ylla.livejournal.com]

Anton has very appealing ears :-)

I love the summer Rosie, and also the autumn one walking delicately.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Aren't they the best ears though! He reminds me of Darwin Coonhound (in icon) who I fostered years ago.

[topum.livejournal.com]

It is refreshing to see someone move towards creating art by taking lessons, actually putting in the work and practicing. Every fifth of our volunteers is "an aspiring artist" who has no craft and has mastered no technique of any sort and is not trying to but is big on "my own vision" and "expressing myself" and "works of art" that require zero technique or effort (but need a whole lot of bullshit to accompany them).

I don't know much about painting but I think you improved a lot in the last year.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I believe that high-end award-winning modern art often favours the type of art that involves little craft and a great deal of bullshit, but I don't think it's possible to do that from rural Cornwall, and even if it was, I wouldn't want to.

I think all the practice I've been doing has made a difference, but I feel there's still some way to go. I think if one actually expects people to pay money for things, they need to be either
a) things that they must have but really can't/don't want to do for themselves (this is what I've spent the last 20 years doing)
or
b) things that some people look at and think : WOW! I WANT THAT enough to pay money for it.

There's definitely an argument that bullshit can go quite a way to convincing people that b is true, but it's got to be easier if b is also of a really high standard.

[topum.livejournal.com]

Even when it comes to bullshit, I think that practice matters. You need to be totally devoted to it and almost live it and essentially turn it into a craft (which requires work and practice) if you want to make it interesting to anyone. Just bullshitting every now and then on top of a couple of beads on a string or a couple of rainbow smudges on canvas won't cut it even with bullshit. I believe that there is no way out of hard work and long hours of practice. Even when it comes to bullshit.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

You make a good point there! Makes me feel oddly better about the Emperor's New Clothes element in art: there is no question that those people are living their bullshit and putting work into making it a craft! :-D

[hhimring]

Rosie reminds me a little of the style of Pauline Baynes, in a very good way.
Molly and Az are very expressive.
The one of Finrod and Celebrimbor dancing does capture the slightly startling energy of the scene in the story.
I liked the ending of the Elrohir story, especially that bit where Celegorm is doing Watcher therapy but I need to go back and read the thing as a whole at some point.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

The style of Pauline Baynes is high praise indeed. I wish I could get my lines as clear and confident as hers!

[alitheapipkin.livejournal.com]

Love the doggie pictures, especially four seasons Rosie (the top pic with her nose in the air really captures how you describe her character).

Anton is a handsome chap!

[bunn.livejournal.com]

:-D she's a very drawable dog. Lots of very typical poses.