Painting demonstrations

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L S Lowry’s Art  & Andrew Alan Matthews Art  

To be read before watching the video of the painting of Urbis

When I went to University I loved the whole learning experience I attended lectures on various artists and one artist who stood out to me was L S Lowry.

I used to think Lowry’s Art was not very good 

That was until the Art lecture on Lowry.

Now Lowry was capable of producing a high degree of art and was an accomplished artist. He chose to paint in his style. I also choose to paint in my style.

Lowry’s Art is nostalgic & a heritage of 20th century life of Manchester & Salford  

My Art is nostalgic of modern Manchester & Salford 

Now Nobody paints like Lowry, he painted in oils & only used five colours, almost like a frescoe building thick layers of paint.

I use a wide colour pallet & use Acrylics, 

I prefer this paint as it gives me the free-flowing style I am looking for and I can apply my paint in thick layers to give texture.

I put emphasis on dark and light using lots of colour to give a modern but nostalgic feel to the Art trying to reflect Manchester & Salford today.

Now Lowry painted in muted greys and whites & reflected Salford & Manchester at the time.

Now Manchester in the 19th century was the hub of the British empire exporting around the world & workers were not regarded as human beings but as cogs in the machinery of the industrial revolution & conditions were poor.

Now Lowry wanted to paint a story image of the people of his time. 

he had selective vision and only put in what he wanted to put in reflecting his vision of life at the time. in a way this is what I do in my art. 

I select modern Manchester, Salford and London scenes and try to do a story image of the people and Manchester, Salford, London today. 

Lowry chose to paint his art in a primitive way. Just like cave paintings of primeval man coming from the primordial soup of life.

he wanted to breathe life into his art.

Lowry’s art is nostalgic of his time .

My art is also nostalgic of my time.

I try to bring my characters to life in the painting by the use of my croquis method in my style, allowing the characters to evolve from the paint.

Lowry was an expressive painter, so am I.

I try to express Manchester, Salford  and London in my style allowing the characters to evolve and come to life in the paintings I produce

I try to paint a picture of the people & scenes of Manchester, Salford and beyond and express it in my style and is an expression of Modern life as I see it today.

In my Work stress collection which can be found on my website there can be a resemblance of workers in call centres as cogs in modern machinery with the aid of the computer.

The “I am not a number ?” painting and corresponding artwork is a reflection of this modern day technological revolution. and of people working in call centres, worker Bees and cogs in the modern technological revolution.

But is only a selective vision of Modern work today.

some companies are better than others.

The company I work for now is a good ethical company that looks after the well being of the staff they employ. 

I suffer from stress and I use my art to overcome this, by using my website and video diaries to voice my opinions, this helps relieve my stress.

Now Lowry’s art is a memory of a past gone by with a rich heritage of Salford & Manchester nostalgia. 

I believe my art is nostalgia of modern Manchester & Salford.

I try to reflect the mood of people and scenes in my paintings and put this on canvas in my style.

I paint my art because I enjoy it and it helps me to deal with my stress.

You have got to enjoy life to the full because you never know when the big man or woman upstairs is going to say come in number 13 your time is up.

I take a leaf out of my Dads book now and always look on the bright side of life. 

So my message to you is BEE positive guys

I have just completed the painting today 29.11.2018 and uploaded a video of this to my website and you tube. 

I will be varnishing the painting tomorrow and doing my final video of how I produce my paintings. 

I have been looking at the painting and can see subliminal messages in the painting, the figure that I painted in the foreground to fill the void in the space on the painting is a kind of expression of where I am at the moment. 

To me it shows a fleeting glimpse of people on the move, going about their everyday business. 

The isolated figure stands out looking at Urbis contemplating the building and life in general, a worker Bee and a cog in the machinery of life wondering what life is all about. 

A figure that is highlighted as standing out from the crowd but mingling in and can represent me.

The painting is full of colour in the skies and buildings. And as I was having the conversation with the people in the art class. One person asked the question “do you have different moods in the paintings because the painting looks like a shakra of colours and she said the colours look like healing colours ”

I guess the painting does represent me as I am overcoming my stress and positive things are beginning to happen to me, I am in a healing place now. 

The figure in the painting is contemplating life in general and wants to believe he is not a number. Just like my work stress painting where the worker BEE is in a call centre and struggling to break free from the daily grind. 

The “I am not a number?” comment comes to mind and he is beginning to believe that he is indeed not a number but a person with thoughts feelings and emotions and not a slave. He knows a brighter life is on the horizon bringing happiness and wellbeing in the future.

So, I have decided to title the painting 

Urbis by Dusk with Man on the cusp of a positive life

Link to Queens song I want to Break free

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4Mc-NYPHaQ

Link to Madness song "I chase the Devil"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c15cNjcVP1chttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c15cNjcVP1c