FOOJ'S SILVERPOINT PORTRAITS AND WATERCOLOUR PAINTINGS

[Kobione]

Fuji you do some wonderful stuff. Nice to see you heading in another direction now - enjoy it and keep us up to date with what you do.

[FUJI]

Turner inspired watercolours of an all too familiar subject for me.....but not as I depict it here.........

FUJI

[Clicker]

I thought I had posted a comment on these  Fooj  ... it appears i hadn't hit the submit option hard enough on my iPad....doh ...Kenilworth and Warwick castles are  two of the finest  in England  ... and Turner  seemed to paint  them regularly in varying light ...

Some bold colours here Fooj ....#3 is  my favourite... I notice  some texture applied to the foreground in the first two... I haven't seen you use that  before . Are you experimenting ?

 

  

[FUJI]

3 hours ago, Clicker said:

I thought I had posted a comment on these  Fooj  ... it appears i hadn't hit the submit option hard enough on my iPad....doh ...Kenilworth and Warwick castles are  two of the finest  in England  ... and Turner  seemed to paint  them regularly in varying light ...

Some bold colours here Fooj ....#3 is  my favourite... I notice  some texture applied to the foreground in the first two... I haven't seen you use that  before . Are you experimenting ?

 

  

Hi, Polly,

i am forever experimenting.....even more so since reading books by Shirley Trevena and other experimental watercolourists......just recently I have been completely bowled over by the thousands of sketches in the JMW Turner legacy.....(  all available via the TATE online   ).   His use of colour was truly amazing for his place in artistic history...he was way ahead of his time.

I an a regular user of cling-film, salt and any other method or media that makes a mark to liven thing up....it is all too easy to fall into the cute, wishy-wash’s style....I just love paining again and can finish one in a day, if properly motivated and not disturbed.

I really do appreciate your interest in my work.

I still take many photographs every day, but, have become more selective on which ones I keep.....I upgraded my iPad Pro last Monday.....the old one transferred over 5000 photographs, mostly mine but many on file for artistic research and interest.

FUJI

 

[Denis]

These are terrific Fooj, you have oodles of talent !

[Clicker]

He certainly has Denis .... 

[Korky]

Put me down for number three as well - very nice indeed.

I love how you've kept this thread going for so long - it's great to browse through from the beginning and take in your talents.

Korky

[johntwo]

5 hours ago, Korky said:

Put me down for number three as well - very nice indeed.

I

Korky

Me too but only because I prefer the compositions leading lines which you have produced using hues as well as content.

[Kobione]

Lovely Fuji, all of them very nice but I think I just prefer the colour mix in #2 and #3

[FUJI]

Some of you may recall that in the past three years? I posted quite a few Street Portraits, under the title....Blues Player.... Robbie the busker, who, with his tent and guitar trecked between the West Midlands and our town; usually along the canal towpaths. He was a very gentle, very quiet person; he sang in the style of Charlie Landsborough.
He chose the wandering minstrel life to having a permanent home.... I with many others in town, befriended him, gave him money, the odd pastie or hot drink and  warm clothes.

Around late Spring this year he was seen to be limping quite badly, he told me that he required knee surgery.... a few weeks later he excitedly told me that a local vicar, plus many of his KENILWORTH friends had helped to acquire a flat, so he could  convalesce until he was fit to wander again.

Then I missed him, and just assumed that he had decided to wander again..... it came as a severe shock then, when acquaintances informed me that Robbie the Blues a singer had passed away. Unfortunately no one had thought to tell me; what was good to learn, was that they had all clubbed together to give him a proper send off, with flowers and a circle of friends...so very sad that I missed it.

I knew that I just had to paint this portrait of him, in the hopes that he might be remembered further, if I write what I, and other friends knew of him on the reverse....

This is the ...Watercolour ....version, I am also working on another in oils.

RIP ROBBIE.... THE BLUES SINGER.

FUJI 

Edited December 16, 2019 by FUJI

[Hatter]

Great work, Fuji: a fitting tribute.

[CMunzel]

 It sounds like the travelling musician  inspired people he met along the way in many ways and that included inspiring them to act compassionately towards him and memorialise him by painting his portrait. He must have been a special man. 

 

[Clicker]

How sad that you missed his send off Fooj ... and how thoughtful to paint a tribute to him as one of your many characters that we have  gotten to know through your street togging over the years.. Lovely  likeness .. Rest easy Robbie....

[johntwo]

That's quite touching Fuj and I would like to think that the sparkle you have put in his eyes speaks of his character.

[FUJI]

A BIT OF A CHANGE....

A few months ago, I, quite by accident learned about the amazing almost unbelievable ......Water-Mixable Oil Paints....

I found sets online....acquired oils brushes and boards, via a local branch of ....THE WORKS.... i once, painted regularly in oils but real turps and thinners became too volatile with children around, and weren’t very wise in my attic studio.

After a very shaky start....trying to unlearn watercolour washes and techniques, I have re-discovered my ....Alla-Prima.   .... style.....I began using generic methods, but then discovered...on ...YouTube...the teachings of New-York Artist...DAVID Leffel....his influence has been so strong, It is with his techniques I will stick.

i know that some of you take an interest in my dabblings, so hope you don’t mind me continuing posting in this thread....?

i recently spent of £ 80 on antique and Fine-Art ceramics via eBay. I can’t very easily climb the narrow twisty staircase to my Victorian Attic Studio now...so I paint in our tiny glass porch to the back door. It faces due south, so I had a full-width roller blind installed that helps diffuse the light.

My Art, Photography and Woodturning, helps to keep my old brain functioning, currently it is helping me to rationalising 12 weeks of being confined to the house, because of the dreaded virus.

FUJI

[Denis]

These are really beautiful Cyril,

I really like the last one is it for sale?

[Clicker]

I consider this to be a little art gallery  to browse around when having a coffee break Fooj ... and  I intend to advertise it as such on the banner headlines to make sure more people  see you wonderful paintings ... 

[Kobione]

Beautiful additions to 'your gallery' Fuji, lovely textures and colour mix. Hopefully you will continue to enjoy your hobby and we will see quite a few more!!

[FUJI]

A huge thank you everyone.......Drawing and painting have been my saviour through crisis since being a very small child.... a paintbox, brushes and pencils were my favourite things, next to my books.

As to my resolve and mostly positive attitude to life.... it comes through having had very little, as a wartime brat....we were literally forced to make the best of what we had to hand, or, to make it ourselves.

Also, much of my positiveness, rubbed off from my amazing resilient students at the Day Centre, where I was deputy manager for over 20 years...... because no matter what  particular handicap/s affected them, they all lived life to the full with our help. Our establishment was known for its mainly cheerful creative, positive students.

As staff, we all enabled a....Can-Do.... atmosphere.... A music group, a self built theatre, sports galore, and the lunch-time disco’s were the best ever, never mind the amazing lunches cooked and presented by students, under supervision.....always served on proper table cloths cutlery and glasses. Staff sat at random mixing with groups in turn so very little...us and them atmosphere.

I admit to crying my eyes out after being forced to leave, when the powers that be, altered our whole approach, toward a more industrial pattern, that included pre-cooked frozen meals....had I stayed, the stress would have killed me.

That is why I left earning a very good salary and job satisfaction, to set up my tiny but successful ~Toy research and recreation business, touring School's, museums and historic sites.

I hardly earned a profit, for the next 18 years, but loved every minute....

reasonably good health has made my early retirement easier.

 

Moral ? .....Make the best of what you have, at any time...

I thank you all for your interest in this old codger.

 

Cyril 

 

FUJI

[FUJI]

Watercolour time again.....testing a new paper called..... Claire Fontaine....it has a unique moon-crater-like surface, that keeps colours bright, ... that is my third portrait of of Robbie, the late Busker, who sadly passed away last year....

FUJI

[Clicker]

Well You have been busy haven't you ...  Another cracking portrait of Robbie  your Busker  friend ... The Koi carp are  fab...understated and it looks like  you've removed paint from the original wash to  initiate their form ... that takes me back a few years ... Thanks for  sharing these with us ..  great stuff Fooj !

[FUJI]

Hi Polly,

 

Thank you!
 

I follow this excellent tutorial by Chinese Artist Chang Khee Chee, for creating my version of his way of fining KOI by wiping out from the original background wash of random colour washes... all done on saturated watercolour paper..... it’s great when it all comes together.

 

FUJI

[Paul]

You're a talented man Fooj, I have to say! Many strings to your bow.

Paul.

[FUJI]

Currently I am seriously studying the work of a very talented Japanese watercolourist named Yuko Nagayama... she has an amazing ...freestyle way of developing her works, with lots of water, intense pigments plus incredible observation of her subjects. So impressed have I been that I acquired two of her books. Both printed in French, but with Google-Translate on my phone it is no problem. 
 

I’ve just invested quite a bit of my pocket money on Daniel Smith pigments and incredible hand-made papers..... as well as five books.....

Must keep the old brain working.

FUJI

 

[JamesT]

Those are very beautiful.