'Daffs, a Dunnock and First Light'

 

'Daffs, a Dunnock and First Light'
- Acrylic paint on Canvas - George Roberts Spring 2025.

Final push today in the Cabine to finish the painting. All that remains to be done is to apply a coat or two of matt varnish. If you are out there, Ransome, and reading this, -" I hope you liked the painting's title, and probably a lot better than the brush strokes"!

I took Anita's  sage advice and lifted 'the daffs' tonally, added some highlights generally and extended the 'surreal affect' by increasing the cloud cover and adding a watery Sun.

Now 'Van Gogh' it aint, so why do I spend hours knocking out this stuff other than to keep 'The Range' art supplies department in cash?

I gave this  perplexing question some thought, whilst I painted quietly in the Cabine. It was quiet because I forgot to turn on the radio.

Eureka!!!!- 

" I'm a full on narcissist, have no shame and want to leave a mark when I'm gone, even if only for a couple of months in the £1 bargain box at the local Charity Shop"! - George Roberts - SS Minnow - April 01, 2025

Amazing 'Bovine' discovery made at the Jodrell Plank Observatory

 

Discovered on the 29_03_2025 at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.
Image captured at maximum eclipse.

The discovery was made by the Observatory's Director, Kurt Thrust, earlier this morning, whilst he was looking through originally dismissed astronomical data. 

" When we showed this image to our CEO, Joel Cairo he was truly over the moon!" - Kurt Thrust

" When I saw that cow jumping over, I knew that I had always known everything best about 'jumping' and 'cows', and now I have found one over the Moon, we just have to go over to Mars before the Chinese 'take-away' all the crispy beef" - Joel Cairo.

You can take the Man out of the 1960s but...................

 

Spent a couple of hours in the Cabine today working up the background and the Dunnock. The 'eagle eyed' amongst you will have noted that the Lowestoft 'Wind-Turbine' features in the background as a 'framed painting within the painting'. As I was applying paint, I thought to myself, if I had painted this back in the 1960s, I would have let the clouds  'escape' from the painted frame - 'surreal'. Well bugger it, I thought, let the 60's painter inside me out for the day along with the clouds!

I reckon I've got a couple more days worth of 'daubing' before the final deed is done and I can move on to another unnecessary project in the Cabine. The Daffs and the Dunnock are both, not quite there yet, but I shall eventually prevail. Come to think of it 'Daffs and Dunnock' makes a good title for the painting!

Which has just reminded me of art classes at my Secondary School in Maidstone back in the 1960s. There was a lad named Ransome who to be fair was quite a gifted painter and one day whilst he was looking at some of my work he said " The best thing about Roberts' work  is the titles he comes up with for them". At the time, I was quite devastated but looking back at my career in Architecture, I believe that particular gift did go on 'giving' for over forty years!

It does pay "to not take yourself too seriously"!!! Honest!

Say what you like about 'Jugs' - but Adnams used to do a fine one!

 

" Today was a bit busy as the central heating digital programmer had to be replaced. Luckily, every old blokes favourite shop, 'Screwfix,' had a replacement for which I could click and collect! We have a warm house again Houston". Toot is very pleased!

So back in the 'Cabine' this afternoon, I painted the Adnam's Jug holding the daffodils, plus I blocked in parts of the background and the foreground dunnock.  

I am really enjoying drawing 'freestyle' with real paint on real canvas. 

A very short poem about the Dunnock.

Why did someone first call the hedge sparrow a Dunnock?

Why ask me? - I'm not Chris Packham

I dunno ok!

George Roberts

"The supreme war in art is to subdue the enemy without fighting."

 

"A pint of your finest daffodils mine host" - Terry Scott RIP

"Grab a brush and brace yourself 'Simpkins' " - we are going in on the Daffs!

"Have you guessed what it is yet?"

Today, after buying a tube of 'yellow' paint at The Range - Lowestoft North Trading Estate - I thought it would be 'rude not to' paint the daffodils in their vase. On top of everything else, the weather took a turn for the worse this morning, so I have had an hour or two in the 'Cabine' with Aled Jones on Classic FM. 

"Lakme!" , I hear you say, that man will do anything for his art!

Truthfully, I'm not sure what I knock out may be best described as 'art'. I like to think of it as "painting by numbers without the numbers"!

Anyway, Ty, I am taking you all on 'The Journey', whether you want to go or not!

No 'doggerel of the day' today as I  switched my brain to 'off' shortly after 'The arrival of the Queen of Sheba'.

Every picture tells a story.

 

'A vase of daffodils, Pakefield Beach and a dunnock'
- Acrylic paint on canvas - March 2025.
The story so far!

A 'sun-filled' salty walk along the beach and a vase of daffodils given to us by dear friends, gave me an idea for a painting. I love painting once I've started but as I've aged ,'starting' has become a high hurdle for me to clear. I guess a sudden injection of 'spring-sunshine' made all the difference and so I headed out to the 'Cabine' to find canvas, paint and brushes. The 'Cabine' may be very small but by-heck its full of arty-farty crap. I just cannot throw 'stuff' away!

First, I completed a draft of my ideas using photos and software based imagery. You can see my original concept print-out affixed to my easel 'top-left'.

Second, I primed the canvas with a mixture of 'scumbled' red,brown and orange paint. This multi-hued base coat was selected as it would contrast with the blue sky and daf-yellow over painting.

Today, on my third visit to the easel, I drew the basic outline of the painting in blue paint on the scumbled base layer. I also blocked in the areas of blue sky and added some green for leaves etc. This afternoon I visited 'The Range' to buy some Yellow and White paint as stocks were running perilously low!

Much like on 'Landscape Artist of the Year' you will note the differences between the initial concept or idea and the finalised layout for the painting. This can either be attributed to 'the artist' editing out the unimportant or 'the artist' being shit.  I will let you make your own minds up as to which best applies!

My loyal readers are invited to share 'the artistic journey' as I add bits to the painting over the next few days and blogger posts.

A bit more doggerel  based upon 'wandering thoughts' that came into my ageing mind whilst applying paint to canvas!

Difficult Sums and Numbers

 

What computations best explain the intricacies of life and love?

What is calculated as being below the line and what is above?

Does longevity, dictate the number of terms, life's sums will contain?

Is this ready reckoning, a ‘once and for all’, or an ‘over and over again’?

 

Do shared memories fit an ancient universal frame?

Or are they iterated, on demand, as in a non-stop video game?

Is history, history locked down forever, written and fixed in stone?

How much are those existent, ever absolutely, together or alone?

 

Am I forever a whole, am I transcendental, complex or a fraction?

With additional years, is there always, a significant, sad subtraction?

Is the set of all these questions both, bounded and complete?

Are ‘zero’ and ‘infinity’ inseparable or enumerate and thus discrete?

 

Long ago, in the ‘olden days’

And in a galaxy far, far away,

There was once a boy, in a moment in time,

When, ‘baby boomers’, enjoyed their prime!

 

George Roberts March 2025

Carrot Saturday

 

Carrot Saturday

 

In the wild and dangerous Wealden Woods

Beneath dark and toddler deep growth coniferous

One of Maidstone’s finest kapok stuffed beasts

Roamed free and feral, my friend Mr Buniferus

 

In 1953, brought before the ‘omnipotent Edna’

With a beret, placed jauntily upon his soft, warm, velveteen head.

He was brutally taken, too soon from me

And coldly informed by her, “the bunny’s bloody brown-bread’”!

 

Poor Mr Buniferus, decades lost and unloved

Cast aside, disposed of, my old friend, who on reflection,

Was just sleeping, awaiting a mounted triumphal entry

Into Lowestoft, and a Toot enabled ‘Rabbit-Resurrection’.

 

George Roberts March 2025