Mystery Solved

I don't know if you have read my profile on my website, but if you have you will know that my past painting has been sporadic to say the least. I painted several oil paintings in the early eighties, but twice as many that I never finished and I gave up painting. I didn't have the patience for oil painting. After meeting another artist who showed me some examples of impressionist watercolour paintings from some of the best artists of the time, I gave painting another go. This was much better as I could now finish paintings quicker, using watercolours. This meant lots of paintings and everyone being completed. This was in the late eighties and early 1990. By the end of 1990, I had stopped painting again. I didn't paint again until I moved to Sweden in 2005. By the end of 2005, the paintings had stopped yet again.
In May of this year, I began painting again. So far, I've painted nine paintings. I'm just warming up still, but much more confident. The only thing that's been worrying me is, how long will it go on? Each painting that I complete, I ask myself, is this the last? If I paint something really bad, will that kill off my enthusiasm? I must admit, I struggled with two or three of my latest paintings. They took far too long to complete. I felt like the end was nigh. However, I have finally realised what it was that caused me to stop painting before. It's so obvious (if I'm right). In 1990, my first child was born and another three years later. They grew up, but in 2005, another baby was born. Sounds like a pretty convincing reason why I might have been distracted from painting. Only time will tell, but there's no babies on the horizon.

Dirty Water Paintings

Living in Sweden is probably not much different from England, in the summer. Spring and autumn are similar too, although much shorter. I would say they are about 6 weeks each, with 10 weeks for the summer. That leaves 30 weeks for the winter! Of course that is my observation and it does depend on just where in the country one lives. However, it is long and depressing, especially after new year. It seems to be a country devoid of colour. It's most noticeable from the air. Everything appears to be black and white. Sometimes, when painting winter scenes, it's tempting just to use payne's grey. I did one painting a few years back, "Winter In Gyllberg", which I felt I was painting with the dirty water from when I clean my brushes.

Winter In Gyllberg




 

Can you see what I mean? I love putting colour into my winter paintings. It seems to really make the picture. If the sky is blue, then so is the snow, with even darker blue or purple shadows. The sky tends to be a weaker blue, more cerulean blue than ultramarine. The only warm colour is raw sienna, at best. It's not a lot of colour, but one should look for those colours and use them wherever possible. It's those colours, how ever weak or small the area, that make the painting come to life. It re minds me of those black and white photos that have just one object which is coloured. It's a nice effect. Painting snow is about painting what you see and not what you think you see. Snow is not just white!

Good From A Distance

I remember from my school days, that in art classes, there was always someone who was a little behind the rest. They would paint something that really didn't look like what it was supposed to be. Me and my friend, half joking and half trying to be nice, would compliment them by saying that their picture looked good from a distance. We didn't say how big that distance was! Now I have just finished a painting and of course I fiddled with it at end (as usual) because I wasn't 100 % happy with it. Whatever, it is now finished, but I can't decide if it is any good. I find myself standing the painting up somewhere and slowly walking backwards, to see if it looks better. Then I end up backing into a wall! Is it really that bad? Someone give me a second opinion. The best thing to do is forget it and try to paint something else as soon as possible. Sometimes I paint a picture that I'm not pleased with and then after a few years, I look at it again and wonder why I didn't like it. Once I painted a couple of pictures that I really disliked. I put them on Ebay and they sold without problem. I didn't get much for them, but it easily covered the costs of materials. So at the end of the day, it's not up to me if my paintings look any good. Somebody will always like them enough to buy. Perhaps they have very big rooms!

Mixed Bag

Sometimes I worry that my interest in different types of art and styles of painting, might frighten away the very people that I'm trying to attract. I don't know who sees my new work every time I upload something. Occasionally, I put out two or three flower photographs in succession. Maybe a new twitter follower will see them and say to themselves "I'm not interested in this sort of thing, I thought I followed an artist". It could be that I upload ten abstract photos in a row. I do try to mix things up a little, to avoid putting anyone off. Even the subjects of my paintings can vary a lot. I don't normally paint flowers, but my last painting was of sunflowers. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be getting many votes in the contest that I painted it for. Personally, I was quite pleased with it. I wanted to get away from all the Van Gogh type paintings. I think I did that, but it obviously wasn't popular. I don't care because as I have said before, I paint what I like and hope others will like it too. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, don't worry if you don't like one of my uploads because the next one or the one after might be your 'cup of tea'. Be prepared for a 'mixed bag' and if you visit my website any time, you will see what I mean.

Time Is Running Out

Soon I must return to my normal job, that of carpenter/builder. In my heart I am an artist and always will be. In the last six weeks, I have been clutching at the straws of the life I have always wanted but dared not to venture into. From the time I left school, I wanted to be an artist, but I was pointed in the wrong direction by teachers. My art teacher obviously didn't spot any talent because I got no encouragement there. My teachers told me I should follow the subjects I did best in. It wasn't what I really wanted but I didn't have any other options open to me. My father died unexpectedly when I was 14 and I lost someone who would probably have given me invaluable guidance at that particular crossroads of life.

Throughout my life, I have had moments when I could no longer suppress my desire to paint and this is one of them. I have given myself a crash course in social media and websites etc. etc. I have uploaded as much artwork to the Internet as I can and I'm still uploading. I've painted new stuff, entered a whole load of contests, but I suppose six weeks is not anywhere near enough time to get noticed. However, at least my work is there for everyone to see now. I don't paint a load of weird and wonderful paintings, but pictures where people can see what they are (and I'm not having a go at weird and wonderful art because I appreciate that too, it's just not my style). Some of my photos have been very abstract though! I'm not changing my style or what I paint just to find buyers. I hope one day, I will find my audience. This time, I'm not giving up. Soon, it's back to building for me. I need to feed my family, but maybe one day things will be different.

Do Not Touch!

I stayed up late painting last night. I got so tired and now I'm still tired because I got up early. My head is full of confusion and the worst feeling of all that you get when you have just finished a painting, the feeling that you just need to do this, that or the other to the painting. Why can't it be like at the end of an exam, when somebody takes your papers away and you can't do anything about it. There should be an emergency number that artists can ring when they are just finishing a painting. Oh well there isn't and I did 'touch up' a few bits on my painting, this morning. I don't know if I improved it or not. I don't even know if it's a good painting. I will put it out on the website later, but I didn't get that magical feeling of 'did I really paint that?' The best solution is to forget this painting and get on with the next one. We'll see!

Lost Artwork Turns Up

Something that's been worrying me a lot lately, is the apparent disappearance of my paintings that I did in England. When I moved to Sweden, I shipped all of my things here too, to my fiancée's parent's house. All my art equipment, paint and paintings were carefully packaged in one box. At some point, I had taken a couple of paintings, paints and brushes from the box. That was several years ago. When I began uploading my work onto my website, obviously I wanted to include my old work, but I couldn't remember where the box was. I asked my fiancée's dad for the box and he said he didn't have it. I searched every room at home without success. As the weeks went by, I became more and more anxious, especially as my fiancée's mother hates my guts. I didn't trust her with my things any more. At the weekend, my fiancée's dad came over. I was outside, photographing artwork. I asked him again if he had found the box. He said no and left. About ten minutes later he pulled up in his car again. he said he had the box. What a relief! I've already uploaded a couple of versions of a Jimi Hendrix painting and a one of a horse and dray outside a brewery. I can't wait to put the rest out. I'll only put the best ones on the website and maybe the rest can go on facebook.

Reproduction Quality

A big problem was brought to my attention this week when I sold the first print of my latest watercolour "She's A Rainbow" Apparently, the image which I had uploaded to my website, was not of the highest quality. You couldn't see from the on-screen image that there was anything wrong, but in any case, I uploaded a new and much better image and made every effort to get as close to the original painting as possible. This also gave me the option of selling my painting in larger sizes. That's great, a little added bonus, although I do try not to go too much bigger than the original painting. While I was changing this image, I looked at some  of my other paintings. Some of them I am really proud of and I look at them and think, "did I really paint that?". When I get that feeling, I know I've done something good. I don't get that same feeling when I view them online however. I have decided that I need to go through all my paintings and re- upload them all. I want my audience to get the same excitement from my paintings as I do. In the next  few weeks , I will be going through each painting and trying to get the absolute best image  I can, uploaded onto my website. I'm sure that all of my paintings will then be available at larger sizes. I'm not worried about anyone seeing the same image twice and thinking "oh no, no another repeat". Most people only ever view one or two paintings at a time, so even though they are older paintings, I don't think many people will have seen them before.

Taking The P

I must admit that I am a bit surprised by some of the work that has sold on Fine Art America lately. The first one I noticed , was a photo of an urinal. That was followed by images of a roll of pink toilet paper and a microscope view of vaginal cancer. Now somebody has bought a print of a flattened, rusty Pepsi can. I'm not having a go at the artists/photographers that sold these prints, good luck to them, but I'm asking the buyers, couldn't they have found something better? Did they make their purchases as a joke? There is so much fantastic art available to buy. What makes an art collector go for these types of images? I can look at all sorts of art and appreciate it and the work that has gone into it and there are so many such artworks, that I just  can't look at them all. So how do these strange and vulgar pieces of work get attention and even sold? I don't know the answer, but I feel they are making fun of the many brilliant artists out there and especially those who are struggling to make a living at it. I wouldn't put myself in that category but I would like to be there one day. One of my next pieces of work is called "The Final Frontier 5 (or maybe 6 or both)". This is also a "toilet paper" photo, but my image, although having a laugh, would look good on anyone's wall. It's the result of my creative mind and hopefully will provoke curiosity from those who view it. Yes, I'm having a laugh, but not at the expense of other artists. I want them to laugh with me. The biggest difference  between my artwork and those I first mentioned in this post, is that my work will not sell.

Is Digital Art Killing Traditional Art?

There's a question for you! Personally, I have never tried digital painting. I don't know anything about it really, but I am curious as I've seen so much fantastic work produced by those using it. That's something to try in the future. I do feel however, that digital photography  is  killing my traditional watercolour painting. I get so many ideas just now, my head is spinning! What I don't have is time to act on them all. I can produce a whole catalogue of new digital images in a day if I want. Not any old rubbish, but stunning works that would look great in any exhibition. My problem is, that I want to paint watercolours, but I can't possibly be as creative and productive as I can with digital imagery. I have ideas for paintings and all I do is write them down on a "to do" list. I sat down this morning and said to myself, right! now I am going to paint something. Then I see a beautiful rose which has flowered today, on the kitchen window sill. I'll just take a quick photo, I think. No such thing! My mind starts to wander and before I know it, I'm taking photos of other things and then experimenting with lighting and digital effects. Help! All this at the same time as I try to build up my following, attract buyers and look after three young girls. Anyway, I'm off to try again and this time I'm going to focus on painting and leave the camera alone.

Which Category?

Sometimes I produce a piece of work which I'm not sure which category(ies) it falls into. This true of  my latest upload, Psychedelic Roses. It started from a photograph so I could class it as a photograph, but I don't  really dare say what other categories it comes under now. Could it be: digital art, abstract, pop art or something else? I know where I am with my usual medium, watercolours, but this is a little different. Can anyone help me out? You can see this work on the slide show.

Attracting An Audience

I seem to spend nearly all my time lately, trying to build up an audience for my website, blog and facebook page, as well as trying to get more followers on Twitter. I would much rather be producing new work but it's a chicken and egg thing. The hardest thing is getting likes on facebook. If I write a post with a link to my website, people click 'like' on the post, but don't click the link and then like. A more direct approach is to enter my work in competitions. This works well for individual pieces of work, but it doesn't get people to look at my other work. I do have a very varied selection of work, so if I put out a link to a flower photograph, my audience for that photo might think that's all I do and totally miss my abstract work or watercolour landscapes or whatever. Anyway, if you have time, please have a browse on my website or if not maybe next time you view one of my images, click previous, next or view all. You might be pleasantly surprised. http://1-martin-howard.artistwebsites.com

Pixel Lupins

Today, I uploaded a series on 10 abstract photographs, Pixel Lupins. These photos are designed to look at their best when they are viewed full screen. Smaller images just look like poor quality close-ups. The bigger, the better and what you should see are vibrantly coloured images with fantastic shapes, giving a similar effect to stained glass windows.

New Work

Yesterday, I finally managed to produce a new watercolour painting - my first for nearly eight years! I was wandering about like a headless chicken before I started it. It's hard to just pick up where you left off, after so long. Not only that, but many of my tubes of paint had dried out. I still managed to produce something though. I just hope others like it too. It's an abstract which isn't my normal cup of tea. I like it anyway. The thing now, is to continue painting. My whole life, I have had periods where I have painted several paintings and then just stopped for long periods. My first big batch was 1989, then 2005 and now hopefully 2013. I don't know why this is. It could be a lack of time, subject matter or inspiration. I just don't know the answer but it probably helps, not to run out of ideas for pictures. On that note, if anyone has a photo(s) that they think would make a good painting, please let me know.

Black and White

I've been uploading a few black and white photos lately, paired with their colour alternatives. These are for a contest I'm entering. One of the photos was of a steam train and after I uploaded it, my viewing figures went up drastically. That photo quickly pulled in 28 views. I only wish my artwork was as popular, but I suppose the reason for the photos's popularity was because so many are searching for steam train pictures.

Rewarding Work

My efforts at creating abstract art were quite rewarding. I probably spent a couple of hours, experimenting with various ideas, to create refracted light through water. The photos that I took are unique. I cannot reproduce them. I didn't know what images I had captured until I downloaded then from my camera. I was pleasantly surprised - 15 unique and unusual photos. I chose the best ten, named them and then entered them in a contest. I probably will not win, but I don't think they are bad. 5 of them are really beautiful and unusual. I can't wait to get them printed and framed. Have a look on the website and see what you think. Any favourable comments welcome.

Abstract Art

I've been busy trying to take photos of refracted light through water. These are to enter in a contest which I have no chance of winning. It's fun though, creating unique images that are very colourful. I don't normally get involved in abstract art, but I've got a couple more ideas for abstract paintings too. Watch out for new uploads coming soon.

Online Store

Please visit the online store to see the latest additions to my collection. I can't upload everything here, but the slideshow shows the latest images. By visiting the store, you can see a much bigger image. I'm really pleased with the last few photos. Most of them were uploaded mainly to enter into competitions, which explains the unusual subjects in some of them. I like them all the same and I hope others will enjoy them too. My absolute favourite out of the latest batch is called "Angels and Dragons". The name came from the shapes created by leaves and shadows of leaves in the photo. When I showed it to one of my daughters and before I had chance to say anything, she immediately said "It looks like Tinkerbell". Then I knew I'd chosen a good name. Take a look.

Facebook

There will be quite a few new uploads to the my website in the next few days. To avoid missing them, check out the Art Of Mart Facebook page. All new uploads with be posted there, but not necessarily on this blog:
https://www.facebook.com/ArtOfMart

Spring Through A Rainbow

Right now I'm feeling really artistic. What I want to be doing is painting watercolours. I've got several ideas in my head for new paintings, but at the same time I keep getting ideas for photographs. That's great too and sometimes a quick way to produce new and exciting images. However, it's not always so quick. My latest photo, Spring Through A Rainbow, took two days and nearly 200 photos before I could settle for the right one. I'm still not 100 % happy with it because I wanted to achieve a much bigger image. I still think it's an exciting and original photo, I just wish that I could share it with more people who would really appreciate it and maybe send some feedback. What I'm trying to say is, thanks for reading and please feel free to tell others about this blog.

Spring Through A Rainbow 2013 photo

Another oldie just uploaded onto the website, Shirley's Dog. Shirley was a woman that I worked with in England. This was painted from a photo of hers that she lent to me when I asked around for photos that might make a good painting. The picture on my website has better colour and a larger file size, which makes the painting available for reproduction in sizes up to the original size.

Shirley's Dog (watercolour)

Slapton Lock

One of my older watercolours, uploaded yesterday to my website and online store.

Slapton Lock (watercolour)

Dunstable Downs Sunset

This is a painting I gave away. I was quite pleased with the sky. I t was quite an unusual sunset.

Dunstable Downs Sunset (watercolour)

This was my first real painting that I sold, in an art shop in Dunstable, England. I thought my success would continue after that, but it wasn't to be. I decided after selling this, that I didn't like parting with my artwork and have rarely sold or given away any originals.

Swan 1989 Watercolour

A portrait of my first daughter, Charlotte. This is another of my favourite paintings. Painted in watercolours but in a different style to my usual work. I used much smaller brushes than I normally use in order to achieve greater accuracy.

Charlotte 2005 Watercolour

John Lennon

One of my heroes, John Lennon. This was a painting that I did in 1982 which is a copy of a photograph that came with the Beatles 1968 White Album. It was done in oils and took 3 days to complete. It took huge motivation. I started several more oil paintings after this but rarely managed to finish them due to the time they took. It was very frustrating until I took up watercolour painting. These paintings could be finished in 2 to 3 hours.

John Lennon 1982 Oils