TREES

One of the features of the MND is that I find it increasingly difficult to support my hand. I use gravity to help me with strokes. I use Liquin Light to ensure that the paint flows.

Here are some of my recent paintings.

winter forest

Spring Forest

Death of a Forest

Forest in the Snow

December to mid January

Well not many Blogs here.

BUT not much painting done pre Christmas... HOWEVER.... with cold weather and indeed snow, and with a new year resolution to make time to paint... I am back at it !

I have had a friend adjust my easel, it now sits on an old ( very old !) kitchen table ,and I can now wheel the wheel chair underneath... so will be able to paint more easily.

I have changed my style... using a lot of Liquin Light which gives a flow... easier to use as the paint moves easily.... my arms are weaker by the week  nay day.

The other challenge is that, I am having to use smaller canvases, (cant stretch to use large area), .... shame... I love painting large, but I guess the smaller canvases will sell more easily. LOL!!!! However this is a big personal loss, as I love my large canvasses.

As for the images here, I have simply snapped  my paintings which I will include below... again compromise.  MND involves an awful lot of compromise !! So photography not brill ,but I hope you will get an idea of my current work.

To see the real thing , remember that all will be displayed in my exhibition at Platform One Gallery Todmorden in October.

As I seem to be producing more work, and as easel more accessible I promise it wont be more than a few weeks before I Blog here again.


HUG ME , I'VE GOT MND

NOVEMBER 22

Well this was always going to be an occasional Blog... Painting isnt a rushed occupation..

I had my OT visit with a device to help support my arm.... It didnt work.

So my work will show my work as an artist with MND... When I exhibit in Oct 2013 the gallery will be arranged in date order... That's my thought at the moment. I feel this will be interesting on quite a few levels.

So now I drop in a few pics... including two on the easel paintings that I have sold. YEY!!!  They will be exhibited in Oct, but as "On loan from..... "

Sold

Sold

Christmas Card design ? iPad 

Comission... gift

Another Stoodley Pike inspired

 General studio view.

A YEAR IN MY STUDIO.... ARTIST WITH MND

MEGGIE... CHUCK CLOSE

My beloved cat Meggie died yesterday.

I had prepared a canvas to paint a picture of Sweetie Pie, my grand- daughter... but decided to use the canvas for a painting of Meggie.

When I want a likeness, I use the Chuck Close style. The canvas is divided into sections and each section painted individually... the result is amazing... each section is a separate pattern but the whole becomes one.

I used this style once before to paint my daughter Christina... but it was just prior to my conversion to oil... and whilst it is displayed at there home, I don't feel it has the glow that you get from oil...

My plan is to paint my family prior to my death... so that they will have at least one of my works... who knows what will happen to the rest... maybe they will sell in my exhibition, Oct 2013 ??

So for now..................

My first ever "GO"at the Chuck Close style....  My daughter Christina.

This and the following image, the beginning of my picture of my beloved Meggie.

..................a  typical painting by Chuck Close.....................




Though Meggie is not here today, and I miss her more than I can express, ( she was my beloved companion),  I hope I will be able to paint her picture to save forever......

Nikki , artist with MND

OCT 16 2012

I've been in my studio for as much as I can. My problems ar my arms.. ie supporting them as they are too weak too support the brush for very long.

This blog was always about the journey of a year,  until my next exhibition, or a person with MND.

I include here two pics taken in my studio... of two works not quite complete...

(But I thought some people might like to see what I've been doing).

 This picture is for a friend. Tony had bought a pic of mine based on Murano glass. He then brought me a card case with a brightly coloured design... similar in effect to this painting. He said that my Murano painting made him smile... so I decided to paint him this pic.. and if if made him smile too... he could have it.

It is Painting 1.. and will be NFS inmy exhibition... as it's his.. as it did make him smile !!

 Painting 2 Blue Woman.... very textured... not yet complete.

SPLODGING !

Splodging is what I have been doing... Artists paint.. I don' feel I'm back to being in any way worthy of the description ...

Sitting at the easel, on day one, made me realise a big move of equipment was necessary  to make the most frequently used stuff easy to reach. Even so , I have to turn on w.chair for each move to get relevant  stuff.

I quickly realised that I would need to choose my colour palette prior to starting work, otherwise I would be back and forwards to shelf like a buzzing fly! Actually no bad thing, ie choosing colours.Requires thought and planning, not always what I have been guilty of,  and thus have produced  some truly terrible work. So thus a move forward.

Today I actually applied paint. And here's where the MND comes into the process.
I use a lot of impasto and it requires a delicate hand... my hand not delicate... The weight of reaching to the easel and controlling the knife , is extreme.

I made marks I didn't want to make.  Is this a benefit ?... maybe.. only time will tell .But for now I have aching arms, and can only sustain work for 10mins... not the hours I used to do...(yes literally, hours!!)
 But this is the purpose of this Blog ... ie to indicate the differences in being an artist with MND, and as I used to be, ie free to move.

I quickly realised that if I worked with more fluid, flowing paint I could appy more accurately... but this isnt what I do... A challenge here... !!!


So for all of you that expect to see a painting.. sorry not possible just yet.

I still have issues to overcome, perhaps an adapted easel??
 Dont know, could be the answer.....
BUT I will keep writing on this Blog and keep you up to date with my progress..

WHY NOW ?

I am an artist now, I was a headteacher. 
Sadly in Dec 2011 I was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, (MND) of the type ALS.

I plan to open this Blog on Oct 1st 2012. 
I have booked the Platform One Gallery, in Todmorden, West Yorks for a solo exhibition in Oct 2013.
So this is the year in my studio.

This Blog will not be daily, but will log my progress during the next year.
I am in a wheelchair, and my arms are loosing strength. So we will see together how my work develops. I plan to use photos and words to annotate my progress.

I plan to enjoy writing this, I hope you will enjoy viewing/reading it!

This is the view of my studio from the lounge.

Storage wall.

 Views from the window.

Dear Meggie watching over me.



If you wish to read more about my day to day life with MND, do read my other, more fulsome Blog: HUG ME,I'VE GOT MND.