See Through

See Through is a series of landscape-based monoprints created using lino print ink. On the website you can see the whole series of fifteen but here are four as a taster. To see the whole series go to http://www.davidmuddyman.co.uk/2012SeeThrough.html and you can also look through the rest of my newly revamped website.

See Through #8 (lino print ink on tinted paper approx. 29.7cm x 21cm)

See Through #3 (lino print ink on tinted paper approx. 29.7cm x 21cm)

See Through #12 (lino print ink on tinted paper approx. 29.7cm x 21cm)

See Through #7 (lino print ink on tinted paper approx. 29.7cm x 21cm)

Signs of Sounds

I wanted to try some experiments in making signs for sounds - a form of expressive, spontaneous calligraphy than follows melodic contours. They were painted in real time while listening to the piece in question. Sometimes I was drawn to the main melody, sometimes the counter-melody and sometimes the bass. Whatever grabbed my attention I tried to make marks that I felt.

The first is for Toru Takemitsu's "Rain Tree Sketch"

Takemitsu "Rain Tree Sketch" (ink on paper 39cm x 39cm)

The second is for Benjamin Britten's "Four Sea Interludes - Sunday Morning"

Britten "Four Sea Interludes - Sunday Morning" (ink on paper 28cm x 39cm)

The last was my first experiment in non-linear musical expression for Toru Takemitsu's "A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden"

Takemitsu "A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden"(ink on paper 40cm x 56cm)

Glassworks and more lost songs

I have always loved stained glass and I wanted to do a series of paintings as if looking at a landscape through glass. Here are the first two of that series.

Glassworks #1

(Acrylic on canvas 50cm x 70cm)

Glassworks #2

(Acrylic on canvas 61cm x 61cm)

....And another two from the Lost Songs series

Lost Songs #4: Song of Zennor

(Acrylic on canvas 76cm x 76cm)

Lost Songs #3: Song of the Barbican #2

(Acrylic on canvas 76cm x 76cm)

Found Sounds and Lost Songs

Happy New Year.

Even though it is only a day old I have a feeling it is going to be an exciting and creative year. The first thing I need to do is to get out the work I was concentrating on towards the end of 2011.

Continuing my theme of sound these are the first of two series of canvas concentration on two aspects of sound. Both the series explore the use of expressive gestural movement to explore the abstract world of sound.

The first series is perceived sound of places, trying to convey feelings of sound intensity and the pitch of the sounds into colour through hue, tone and intensity in a way that sound analysts might use a spectral display to look a sound intensity over time, I tried to visualise sound in a more emotional context using space rather than time.

The Sound of the Tamar

(Acrylic on Canvas 76.2cm x 76.2cm)

The Sound of the City

(Acrylic on Canvas 76.2cm x 76.2cm)

The second series is to try to sense history of a place in a moment of time through the idea of Lost Songs - Ballads that evoke a story surrounding a place at particular moment in time.

Long Songs #2: Song of the Barbican No.1

(Mixed Media on Canvas 76.2cm x 76.2cm)

Lost Songs #1: Song by the River

(Mixed Media on Canvas 76.2cm x 76.2cm)

Lost Songs #5: Song of the Three Maidens

(Mixed Media on Canvas 76.2cm x 76.2cm)

These are some of my largest paintings to date and it is sometimes hard to give a sense of proportion when converting to small pictures for the web.

A Birthday Picnic By Wackers Quay

The temperature gauge was hitting 75 degrees. The sun was beating down. Sushi and pickled ginger was being eaten. An otter was swimming up the creek to Wackers Lake. This was my idea of how to spend a lovely birthday.

River Lynher at Wackers Quay I - pencil on paper 14cm x 9cm

Two of my favourite places to sit, think and paint are both within ten miles of Plymouth - the village of St Germans and Wackers Quay - on either side of the River Lynher. So when Val asked me what I would like to for my birthday the choice was easy - a nice picnic in the sunshine at my favourite places. I am man of simple pleasures.

It is hard to believe how tranquil places so close to the city can be. Ok Wackers Quay is fairly close to a road and at St Germans someone was taking a chainsaw to a tree in their garden. Still, I am an incurable romantic and so I can block those out.

River Lynher at Wackers Quay II - pencil on paper 14cm x 9cm

Late afternoon is a wonderful time to visit Wackers Quay. The sun is on the opposite side of the river or the lake and, whether it is low tide and the creek cuts a deep furrow through the mud-flats of the "lake" or higher tide, there is a surreal light that creates wonderful tonal contrasts. Yesterday it was low tide when we arrived and an otter was swimming up the creek. I tried taking photographs of it but its head was below water most of the time so it just looked like a rock in the water in the photographs.

River Lynher at Wackers Quay III - pencil on paper 14cm x 9cm

By the time we left the tide had rushed in but there is a long walk along the shore which was still dry and the reflections of the opposite banks were stunning.

River Lynher at Wackers Quay IV - pencil on paper 14cm x 9cm

We were supposed to be going down to a wonderful Moroccan restuarant in the Barbican area of Plymouth in the evening but all the sun and fresh air had knackered us so much we contented ourselves with local fish and chips, and a nice film. Perfect!

River Lynher at Wackers Quay V - pencil on paper 14cm x 9cm

River Lynher at Wackers Quay VI - pencil on paper 14cm x 9cm

River Lynher at Wackers Quay VII - pencil on paper 14cm x 9cm

Finally I now have my own page on the Alverton Gallery website, showing all the paintings of mine they hold. It can be seen at http://www.thealvertongallery.co.uk/artists/painting/david-muddyman.htm

Seven More Paintings In The Alverton Gallery

On Tuesday (20th) Val and I delivered seven more of my paintings to the Alverton Gallery in Penzance. The weather was truly horrible - rain, gales - you couldn't see the horizon across the sea, but I do love blurred horizons in their delicate shades of blue and grey. It was not really the weather to meander round the galleries and bookshops we love in Penzance. Having said that, I did discover a wonderful artist, who is new to me, Benjamin Warner, at the Lighthouse Gallery. At least the trip did gave us a chance to go to our favourite cafe and cake shop in the whole of Britain, the Honey Pot. Only problem was that the portions of their main meals are so huge that we had not room for cake, and trying to get a piece of lime cheesecake and a piece of triple chocolate ganache cake back 70 miles to Plymouth unscathed, was just a non starter. Apart from delivering the new paintings it was also exciting to see the three large paintings that the Alverton owners, Tim and Diana Wayne, took when they visited me, on their walls alongside artists I admire like Saul Cathcart and Clive Williams.

All ten paintings are now available from the Alverton Gallery, 5 Alverton Street, Penzance, Cornwall TR18 2QW. t: 01736 351668 e: info@thealvertongallery.co.uk

The seven new ones they have are these:-

Old Bessie II, Trewellard, Penwith, Cornwall - Indian ink, acrylic ink and watercolour on paper
(approx 25cm x 23cm)

Kenidjack Valley III, Penwith, Cornwall - Indian ink, acrylic ink and watercolour on paper
(approx 25cm x 23cm)

Kenidjack Valley IV, Penwith, Cornwall - Indian ink, acrylic ink and watercolour on paper
(approx 25cm x 23cm)

Kenidjack Valley V, Penwith, Cornwall - Indian ink, watercolour and acrylic ink on paper
(approx 25cm x 23cm)

Across the Fowey II - Inks on 200lb Saunders Waterford rough paper

(27cm x 25cm)

Across the Fowey IV - Inks on 200lb Saunders Waterford rough paper

(27cm x 25cm)

Across the Fowey V - Ink and Watercolour on 200lb Saunders Waterford rough paper

(27cm x 25cm)

Plymbridge Woods I

The stretch of the River Plym between Plymbridge and Bickleigh Bridge is one of my favourite spots to paint around Plymouth. You often cannot believe that you are only 3-4 miles from the city centre. Although it is a popular spot for walkers and cyclists, it is still easy to find quiet spots of sanctuary if you want them. I love the way that the sun streams through the trees making the leaves translucent and the way the shadows on the water constantly change with dappled sunlight. These paintings come from two trips in early September with fellow painters John Murray, Anne Lloyd and Nick Young. The ones painted by the River Plym at Bickleigh Vale were augmented by dogs distributing water over them as it seemed to be a favourite place for dogs to swim and help painters by adding extra diluted pigment for the water they shock onto them. They don't even ask for a share of the royalties either - very good of them really.

Meanwhile I have also joined the British Art Studios and there is a page featuring my paintings on their website at http://britishartstudios.co.uk/html/david_muddyman.html 

John Murray, Anne Lloyd, Nick Young, along with jeweller Val Williams, painter Christian Caramin and myself,  are all members of The Plymouth Group. Our website will be available to view very soon. I will keep you posted.

Plymbridge Woods IV (inks on saunders waterford 200lb paper 26cm x 23cm)

River Plym in Bickleigh Vale

Plymbridge Woods V (inks on saunders waterford 200lb paper 26cm x 23cm)

Plymbridge Woods VI (watercolour and inks on seawhite brown paper 26cm x 30cm)

The weir between Bickleigh Vale and Colwill Wood

Plymbridge Woods VII (pencil on paper 9cm x 14cm)

The weir between Bickleigh Vale and Colwill Wood

Plymbridge Woods VIII (watercolour and inks on saunders waterford 140lb paper 24cm x 28.5cm)

Plymbridge Woods IX (inks on saunders waterford 200lb paper 40cm x 38cm)

River Plym at Bickleigh Vale

Plymbridge Woods X (inks on saunders waterford 200lb paper 26cm x 23cm)