yet more messing

I'll say! :-p ummmm here is my advise........ :-p you really should not bin your work Jenny, even if you do not like it :-) other people may like it, :-) it is all about choice :-) Everyone has their own opinions, likes and dislikes as you know :-) , you can look back on the ones you do not like and see how you have improved etc :-) this is a frightening face :-p but i think Robbin Hoodie will love it because he did a really scary face a few weeks ago :-) where did this inspiration to create this guy come from? hopefully you do not know this person :-p the more i look at it, the more i think it is a brilliant expressive piece :-)

Please don't bin this. It's aggressive and expressive and absolutely fabulous. I don't really understand your method, but, for me, it works. However, I suppose it's not archival if it's got Milton's in it! So please, leave it up so it here for posterity. I should have binned my latest because I did not do what I intended. Lesson learned - do it again

Thank you Rebecca and Gudrun. Bless you both but our tiny house is bulging at the seams with my 'artwork'. I don't have anywhere to show it so what I can't squeeze onto the crowded walls or manage to give away to poor long suffering F & F gets binned . It is very hard to give away the more peculiar pieces, people prefer pretty pics ! I have mass destruction sessions once or twice a year, it is quite therapeutic...........On the archival issue I have discovered that bleach DOES NOT harm the paper. It is acid that damages paper and bleach is alkaline

Rebecca - was interested to see Robbin's scary face and tried his name in the search bar but it couldn't find him, tried it with two b's and single 'b'

i hope i have not spelled his name wrong i am sure he is called robbin hoodie. I think you would hate my 'archive cupboard' :-p here in france i can get A4 sized flders that have plastic wallets inside, so i can fit A4 or A5 etc front and back if that makes sense, so 2 paintings in one wallet............the folders have either 80 to 120 plastic wallets, and my cupboard has over 40 folders stacked on top of each other..........then there is a metal chest like a pirate chest full of rolled up A3 sized paintings................... i totally understand what you mean about lack of space, but i just cant bin artwork even my own that sucks :-p another idea is to put some designs onto plain white cheap mugs, using porcelain 150 (Pebeo) paints that you make dishwasher safe by cooking them in the oven at 150c for about 40 minutes :-) iv done this too with simpler designs :-p i dont like scanning them and then burning the images to CD because it doesnt seem original then for me :-) anyway hope it helps, and il now go search out robbin hoodie again for you :-)

this is so weird but i have to report i cant find robbin hoodie either................. iv just searched him too and there is nothing, il check the spelling in the comments he left in my paintings weeks ago, (hope he has not left POL)

just to prove im not gong totally made......... :-p here is the link to my scary face i did for him because the face he did frightened me http://www.painters-online.co.uk/gallery/picture.asp?id=63944

Aha. So much for chemistry education. I had forgotten that bleach is alkaline. That's good though. Your work won't disintegrate. It is a shame you have to throw it out .... I have had a proper look through your gallery and it is impressive and inspiring. What's your background in art? I wouldn't have thought about Quink or Milton's!

Thank you Gudrun, what a lovely thing to say. I am not a proper artist - I am only self taught, I took up art about 10 years ago when the last child left home. When we ran out of wall space my husband suggested selling some and I sold my stuff at markets for a couple of years. I did quite well at that. The punters liked local scenes, particularly where they got married - painted from the same spot the photographer stood to take their photos. I accepted every commission, no job too banal. Dead dogs a speciality ! Met another local self taught artist also selling at the market & we hatched a plot together to start up a local gallery. Was supposed to be a sort of artist's co-operative. I put 7 years hard work and more money than I could afford into it but had to quit last year. My friend went back to the markets but I don't want to go back to churning out that stuff. So now I just experiment - and produce bin-fodder. Hope I havent bored you...................

Not bored at all. Not having had formal training does not mean you are not a proper artist. In my opinion, you produce what I would consider art because it seems that you feel compelled to produce innovative and exciting work by experimenting and it works! I'm going to do my last painting again because I veered from my current minimalist path! No formal training here either.

Thank you Gudrun. I suppose I am searching for a medium I might be good at, don't know why I keep being attracted to mediums that I cannot control and the beauty of them is their spontaneity and looseness but I then spend all my time trying to get control. I cannot do loose - I am as tight as a duck's arse ! Don't think Quink & bleach is my worst, oil pastel on canvas was pretty bad and my watercolours are absolutely dreadful.

just to add my 2 penneth, iv constantly been put off decent xompetitions, because they always say, you mst have at least 5 years or something art university this that and the other, to enter competitions. i only did foundation level art and design at college for 2 years, it was not practical enough for me and did not really cover painting enough for me, though i did have to take part in 1 life session class and if i could run, i would have done..........out the other door, i just do not like life classes; I think galleries and competitions do themselves a dis-service when they state you must have an art degree etc to enter their competitions, pay loads of money per painting you wish to enter and have it framed........it sounds a clever idea of yours Jenny to have a gallery that is a co-operative style, there is very little oportunity to get artwork 'seen' i lost an original painting in a competition in America, (lesson learnt there) it was free to enter and runs every year but i stupidly sent the original..........not a photocopy :-p i am self taught and am learning all the time, POL has helped me a lot :-) i think bin fodder is sad.......... :-)

Not 'orrible' but brilliant.....I'm with the others, please don't bin it!! Your modesty is quite refreshing and I admire what you do tremendously, because you love it and it shows in your work.

Thank you Fiona. You always manage to sum it up just right!

Thank you Rebecca, I am not well up in competition rules, I did enter a couple a few years ago, was 'cured' when I won the Ken Bromley. Was astonished to win it but then I was embarrassed because I knew I didn't deserve to win it and then some bitchy things were said about me winning it. I will never enter another. (At least I sold the original though, got £100 for it, and the prize of art materials was useful and I have kept my copy of the catalogue for my kids/grandchildren, LOL). The co-operative gallery didn't work well. Neither Janet nor I had any idea what we were doing so invited a local lady who has a degree in curator-ship & lots of experience to join us as co-ordinator. She brought with her a 'stable' of about 40 highly professional, very well educated proper artists - which was good, there was some brilliant artwork coming in but Janet and I were quickly outnumbered and swamped, our poor amateur work was hidden away upstairs, we were only tolerated at all because we were free labour for all the hard work needed to run the place and keep it open.

Thank you Fiona, not modesty really - just realistic. I have seen worse but I have seen very much better. Doesn't stop me trying though, always hoping to improve. Always makes my day if people like it

wow Jenny that is totally awesome that you won the Ken Bromley competition!! i have not heard of this competition, congratulations :-) the bitchy comments sound like jealousy to me :-) the gallery problem i understand, no time to paint and it sounds like , far too busy :-) POL is the solution :-) i still think you should keep your work :-)

Fugly but lively and rather fun, Jenny! Please don't bin this!

Thank you Rebecca, they run the competition every year - it is free to enter, you could have a go next year. Winsor & Newton Artists - Ken Bromley Art Supplies www.artsupplies.co.uk/files/files/catalogue_issue_35-links.pdf The prize is art materials you select from the catalogue and your painting on the front of 75000 catalogues

Thank you Seok, I haven't yet, LOL

That is so awesome to know Jenny :-) thank you :-) i had a vague idea it may be an art shop, but i have not much knowledge of them, and worry with living in France if i can still enter some art competitions. You certainly deserved to win it for sure :-) 75000 catalogues :-p that is so awesome :-) just that alone should confirm it for you that your paintings are awesome :-)

i think we should put an embargo on all your bins :-p no artwork allowed :-p

thank you Rebecca. Real artists at the gallery advised me that I should destroy my sub-standard work, they even advise me to buy back work I had sold - to destroy it. I admit that I never did that, seemed to me an insult to the customer.

Jenny you really should contact someone about book illustration or something like that as your paintings are stunningly beautiful. They deserve more than being sold on a market stall. One of my favourite books is Gormenghast and I think you would illustrate the trilogy perfectly.

Thank you Beverley, no I don't take my work to markets these days, there would be no point taking stuff like this, hahaha, the market punters only like pretty pictures, local scenes, dogs etc. Now I don't attempt to sell my stuff I can please myself which subject matter, what mediums I wish to try

wow........this is wonderful..............very moving and moody.......i love the use of colour.......i wish i was half as talented as you

Thank you Ruthy