Roy P. Awbery

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Water colours and cling film!

The art group in my village now set weekly challenges to keep us engaged while we cannot meet. This week involved cling film!

Water colour washes covered with cling film

I must admit, this challenge sounded odd! The idea was to build upon the previous week's challenge which was a kind of ink blot test - finding shapes and images in pictures where the image wasn't intended. One fine example from one of the group was discovering Mick Jagger had been buried under tarmac on a nearby road - only his lips were visible! With Mick Jagger still bring alive this was only slightly disturbing. Probably for Mick too if he ever finds out!

I love my art group. We meet every Thursday evening (well, before the lockdown). We spend a couple of hours working on our artwork and chatting. It's not a class so no tuition is done. It's just a chance to sit with some like-minded people and, invariably, have a good laugh. The evening usually concludes with a trip to a nearby pub where I usually learn something new. Not always what I ever needed to know but usually something highly amusing. In fact, to be honest I'm becoming more convinced that the script writers for Vicar of Dibley or Four Weddings and a Funeral are writing the scripts for some of our conversations , they really are that funny.

Anyway, back to the challenge. This week the aim was to look for some meaning, image or structure in the resulting image of a dried water colour wash. The method was simple. Apply the washes in whatever colours one chooses, cover in film, crinkle it up a bit and leave to dry. Once dry, remove the film and look at what you've got. This is my result:

Water colour wash after cling film removed.

The next job was to see what I could do with it. I've no idea why, but all I could see was a mountain range and glaciers. So I went with it. It didn't take long for a painting to form. If I'm honest, it's not my greatest work but it was a lot of fun to produce and a welcome distraction from working at home and lockdown. Why not give it a go yourself?

Mountain landscape from cling film!