Connecting with my painting and finishing work

Happy New Year! It has been a while since my last post. Over the last few months I have been working to complete a collection of Rome paintings. I have done some new ones from sketches and photos and also managed to complete some old ones which have been sitting in my studio.

I am often asked whether a painting is finished. Now that is hard to answer. I usually answer that "it will never be finished" as I am often not completely satisfied! The last month I have been really thinking about that as I ask my family what they think?! Often it is not the technical parts that really matter but whether it feels right. So how do you quantify that! I decided to put together some criteria for myself about finishing a painting:-

• Does it convey the feelings I had at the time?
• Does it have a sense of movement, can your eye travel around easily?
• Does it give you a sense of being there i.e. could I step into the scene, a sense of reality?
• Is there a good level of focus in some areas and not in others?
• Do the colours work together in harmony?
• Is there anything that is really catching my eye - a line or mark that needs removing? Or is there anything missing?
• Do the people feel like they have life, ie not too stiff/rigid?
• Can I feel something from or about the painting? eg. a story or wanting to know more
• Does it still have an energy about it? ie. not overworked

If I can be happy that I have achieved most of the above then perhaps the painting is finished!

The most important thing is connecting with the painting. That means that every time you paint you know what you are trying to convey. I know my best paintings are painted from how I feel inside but hopefully these criteria will help me do that more often. Here are a couple (below) I think are finished at long last.

Dappled light, Rome

Under the umbrella

Sunlight on the cafés, Antibes

It was just over 10 years ago that I went back to France for a painting week with Mitch Waite at Maison des Art. We spent a whole afternoon sketching in Antibes .. I had previously visited Antibes many times when we were living in Vence. It was the start of a series of paintings of Antibes culminating in my French Life solo exhibition in Newbury.

That trip was also the start of my interest in painting Café scenes .. the café culture of France appears to have really caught on now. I have painted many places but I am often drawn by the cafés as they are good places to sit and paint or sketch as I can really observe the people and the places.

So I was surprised to discover that one of my paintings from that period turned up for auction in Scotland (see below from catalogue .. a bit blurred). So lovely to see it again as it brings back lots of fond memories.

Sunlight on the cafés Antibes

Interestingly I still have one painting left from that time (see below) which I have held on to as I particularly liked it.

Antibes street scene

Olympic spirit swimmers

In 2012 I developed a set of Olympic spirit cards for running, cycling and rowing. The idea for the cards came from developing a couple of paintings for the 2012 open studios banner project. I experimented quite a bit with different colours and ideas until I arrived at these using the ring colours. The cards have proved to be very popular especially the Olympic spirit rowers and cyclists.

Since 2012 I have also added the Olympic swimmers card for triathletes.

Olympic Spirit Swimmers

The original Olympic spirit cards are shown below:-

Olympic Spirit Cyclists

Olympic Spirit Rowers

Olympic Spirit Runners

If you are interested to purchase Olympic Spirit cards or related paintings, please get in touch via email liz@lizmilburn.co.uk

Venice gondolier sketches

Spring time makes me think about visiting Venice. It never fails to inspire me. I love the fact that you really feel like you have stepped back in time when you visit. The water everywhere appears to bathe the buildings in wonderful light. These reflections give such a jewel like quality to the place. The late afternoon light is especially magical with the long shadows. But it is possibly still the people that fascinate me most, going about their everyday lives.

I can see from my sketches that I was particularly fascinated by the Venice gondoliers. I was keen to capture their posture and their techniques with the pole. Here are a collection of my pencil and watercolour sketches:-

Sketch book Gondoliers in a row

More pencil sketches

Gondolas on the Grand canal

Bobbing gondolas

Gondolier sketch

Gondoliers in a row

I will be exhibiting some Venice paintings at Artex later this month.

All in a days Life Drawing

I have been looking through my life drawing from last term, autumn 2015, and was amazed at the drawings I produced in one day by going to two sessions, morning and afternoon. Some days you can be inspired and really connect with the what you are drawing. You can see that I used my purple and yellow pastels quite a bit. Some of the paper has been treated with paint and college first. See what you think below:-

Happy New Year 2016

Happy New Year. The later half of last year went in a complete blur and apologies for not posting anything since July. Much of my painting was curtailed from late August through to October due to my son being injured in the Shoreham Air Disaster. Thankfully he has made a good recovery.

In December, I had an exhibition at the Watermill theatre restaurant in Bagnor, Newbury entitled "Venice at the Watermill". See photos below including a Gondolas painting finished since Open studios.

Venice at the Watermill

Gondola's in the late afternoon light

Amazing light in Rome

It is amazing what wonderful sunlight can do to your mood. I really loved the light in this market square, Campo de' Fiori in Rome. There were lovely shadows in the market place from the stalls and the people. I can still imagine just sitting down for lunch or a coffee.

Sunlight and shadows, Campo de'Fiori 

I managed to finish it just in time for open studios. It was much admired!