Last time, we took you through the process of how Matt creates a Tower. Since then, Matt has acquired a brand new toy: a lovely new Canon M50 camera. It does all sorts of wonderful things including shooting time-lapse footage (Matt hasn’t yet worked out the button sequence for it to boil his breakfast egg, but he’s confident that a breakthrough will come any day now!).
With a little bit of tinkering, a smidgen of editing, and a whole host of swearing (not in the video, we can assure you!), here’s a time-lapse of Matt adding watercolour to Cambridge. It’s a beautiful thing…if only the real artwork happened so quickly!
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Cambridge Progress Watercolour
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Cambridge is nearing completion now. The initial ink is complete, and the watercolour is well under way. The watercolour is the thing that brings the painting to life, taking the Tower from being a very crisp, architectural study, to a piece that contains all of the nuances of life: tone, depth, blending and shadow. It helps pick out all of the little details Matt has included in order to capture the spirit of the place. In the case of Cambridge, it’s the confluence between the sense of history and academia that the city is steeped in, and the new life, ideas and innovation that courses through the colleges.
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Matt hopes to have The Tower of Cambridge finished by mid-March, so if you know somebody who went to Cambridge University or has a strong connection with the city, please share this newsletter or any of Matt’s posts on Facebook or Instagram.
And whilst you wait for The Tower of Cambridge to be completed, why not head over to the gallery and check out Matt's other Towers - there's quite a collection now!
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We had the pleasure of meeting Lynn recently who visited us from Gateshead. Lynn was so lovely that she kindly agreed to appear in a photo for us so we could say, look, look, a real person in the gallery! It does happen, we just never get a photo to prove it!
The gallery is currently open on Mondays and Thursdays, when Matt himself is in residence. If you’re planning a visit please call ahead and let us know you’re coming. Our contact details can be found here.
Or alternatively, visit us digitally by checking out Matt's online store – images and details of all of Matt’s Towers and further collections can be found by clicking the big teal button below!
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What do artists do all day?
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#3: they chase guttering and chickens!
Which storm are we up to? Dudley and Eunice wreaked havoc (although not as much as Arwen…we’re still recovering from that power cut!), so Matt spent an enjoyable morning a couple of weeks ago scouring nearby fields for the guttering from the Swinging Cat before returning it to its rightful place.
Oh, and the chickens. Let’s not forget about the chickens. Courtesy of Eunice, our feathered friends were blown out of their coop (we know, we know…). Cue Matt chasing chickens. Now there’s an image to leave you with.
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That’s it for another month! We’re off now to challenge ourselves to learn even more new skills. Sensible suggestions on a postcard please…
All the best from the team at Matthew Ellwood Art.
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