21st Painting

This was posted on a Pakistan news website: "She left her country, her family and everything she had for us and this is how we pay them back'. This woman was born in Cardiff and met a young Pakistani on a train and ended up marrying him. He was killed by the Taliban and sadly she was killed by a huge explosion in a Pakistan market.

20th Painting

Finally getting back to the blog paintings after about a week and a half of interruptions. Brilliant family wedding, deadlines for writing modules and interview for the MFA course at Newcastle Uni. Good result from the interview so looking forward to another 2 years studying. What more could I ask for!!!
Painting from the film 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Brilliant but very violent. Busy writing a piece on aesthetic violence in film and its links to paintings such as Caravaggio's 'Judith Beheading Holoferne'. Interesting deciding what is and isn't gratuitous.

19th Painting

Really enjoyed doing this painting of the Queen, hope you recognise her. However, got interrupted in the middle of it by a tutor, so I have no idea how long it took, possibly about 15 minutes. She was featured in the Guardian making Gordon Brown, David Miliband and Alan Johnson laugh. Goodness knows how. Left the rest of the image blank, learning to 'leave a space'!

18th Painting

Painting shows a model at the John Galliano show in Paris. Fluffy ruffle dresses echoed the hairstyles and in the image I used, the hair looked see-through and delicate. Very different image to yesterday's and Monday's. Feel the need to analyse what it is I'm doing here each day. Am I trying to capture a likeness to the original image or am I trying to demonstrate a particular art practice within the confines of '10 minutes'? Definitely the latter. More thoughts on this tomorrow.

17th Painting

3rd week of adding work to the blog and this is the 1st of the Guardian images. The painting shows a young woman with a man's arm around her neck. His other hand holds a long sharp knife. His face is hinted at in the top left-hand corner. My painting has cropped a 3rd figure, a policeman who was wrestling with the man. I've not really caught the tension and terror in the woman's face but as a painting composition I really like some of the angles and the simplicity of colour.

16th Painting

This image, taken in Wootton Bassett, was taken from the free paper Metro and shows a family member of a young rifleman who had been killed in action in Afghanistan. The mention of this town in newspapers and on television has become synonymous with soldiers killed in action. Family members, friends and towns-people line the route taken by the cortege.

15th Painting

In my studio work I often begin a painting upside down in order to get angles and areas of colour filled in rather than trying to make a painting from the outset. Trying it out on a 'tenminuter'. Added complication, the original was a very blurred, closeup image of a J.W.Waterhouse painting.

14th Painting

Quite strange looking character today. Got nothing to say about it.

13th Painting

Looking for images has made me question what impact I'm looking for in the work. It seems a bit of a waste to be be putting so much disciplined energy into this blog without giving more thought to what might be added by choosing a more thoughtful image. Sooo, next week I will choose all the images from Saturday's Guardian, (it's the only paper I buy) and hopefully put some small comment why the image was in the paper.

12th painting

In an attempt to cover the paper with paint and create a 'finished' painting, areas of the work feel frustratingly rough. The original image offered a face which would have been good to spend some time discovering. Maybe I need to stop 'blanketing' the paper and start leaving areas open to interpretation.

11th Painting

Third week of uploading a daily image and it's been quite a start to the week. As I'm in my fourth and final year at university there's lots of deadlines to meet and even a 10 minute painting feels like an added achievement. This one has quite a bizarre look to it. The image I used to work from was a fashion image where the girl had a big black plastic bag over her head.