water – The Consulting Artist

Back To The River

After scaling up to celebrate the We Are All Artists second anniversary a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been thinking of ways to scale back down again. Carole and I took a walk along a few miles of the River Wandle earlier this week, and the river has been on my mind since.

Last night I picked up a small hardwood tile and began to draw and paint.

Several hours, and many coats of paint and varnish later.

I’ll be hiding this very soon. It’s a sunny day today, can’t wait to see how the sun makes the art sparkle.

Footnote:
I hid the art by a waterwheel in The Grove, Carshalton, here’s a photo taken on location. It’s since been found and has a new home.

The Colour of Music

It’s the Wallington Music Festival this weekend, and my home town will be showing off its abundance of musical talent. Check out the festival Facebook page for details of all the acts, and when and where they are playing.

This week’s free art drop is a design to celebrate the festival. I’ve taken some of the colours from the festival design and applied them to my art. I’ve chosen colours which represent the local river, and lavender, and I have applied them in a way that creates a unique ‘fingerprint’ surface on the paint.

If you are off to the festival this weekend, have an amazing time and keep an eye out for this free art drop which will be hidden somewhere around town.

The Ghost of Good Fortune

I recently spent a lovely evening in the company of Samia and Paolo Tossio on their excellent Knit and Mix Facebook Live mash up. Samia talks and makes art with a guest while Paulo plays some excellent house music. You can visit Samia’s art page, and watch the recording, it’s a good blend of chaotic tuneful fun.

My plan was to make a free art drop live on the show, integrating some of my favourite artistic themes (the elements, movement, and impermanence), with wool, one of Samia’s favourite materials. Over the course of the two hours we spent together – three pieces of art emerged.

It had originally been my intention for this week’s free art drop to be the art work in the top left of the above photos. I had provisionally titled it ‘Wandering and Wondering’, and overnight – as the images wandered and wondered around my mind, my thinking shifted. Instead I was drawn to the tall striped piece – and this morning i added a koi fish to the painting.

The koi represents good luck and abundance, and as this koi appears as a simple outline, I decided to call the piece ‘The Ghost of Good Fortune’. This will be the next free art drop – keep an aye out for it if you live in the Wallington and Carshalton area.