Thursdays efforts

Here's todays work on the portrait. Added lots more modelling in the faces, did a bit of work on the clothes, changed the background...basically added more paint to everything :) still needs more, I haven't got the balance of skin tones quite right yet, but it's going in the right direction. As the paint has built up I've been able to used some stronger brushstrokes, these are starting to come together nicely. The new background works much better, the previous green one was too strong, the painting is quite 'in your face' with the style of skin tone and brushstrokes and the green was just fighting too much. I've also worked a bit of framing into the background with a roughly painted black border, it's a minor graphical element but adds a nice little touch I think. All in all this is turning out to be a very useful experiment.

blocking in....

Blocking in a bit more form tonight...some bits going well...some bits need more work...but generally a reasonable evenings work. I'm trying to pull the likenesses together as I go and they're certainly better today....

Acrylic Portrait part 2

Did a bit on this acrylic portrait the other day. Sploshing in the colours and playing with the brushstrokes atm...I've lost a bit of the likenesses while doing this, but the whole point of this particular painting was to experiment and see what happens, so I'm not going to worry about that, will just keep on playing until it looks okay :)

Pencils...finished...

Finished...:)

Pencils...

I got a really nice set of Faber-Castell pencils the other day. Mainly to do tree pictures, but I also thought I could try some portraiture work with them too. Started on this self portrait this evening...slightly sinister looking? Anyway, the pencils are superb, very smooth, I'd highly recommend them :)

If it appears I'm starting lots...and not finishing anything at the moment, don't panic...I'm trying not to...I want to get lots of different pieces on the go, so I can switch media more quickly and see what works best with whatever subject I'm exploring...again, not a way I've worked in the past, but I'm hoping it will yield some interesting results. As ever, time will tell...

Acrylic portrait

Started on a double portrait in acrylics today. Not sure how well this is going to work as I tend to like the time oils give me to push the paint around...am going to go about this acrylic in a different way, no under painting as such, but I've blocked in the base colours today and will probably keep adding new blocks of colour as I go...all a bit of an experiment really :)

Trees in Charcoal

Well, this week I started my part time regime, spent a fair chunk of it tidying up and getting a few new bits and bobs I needed... but eventually started playing with some charcoal...I'm planning on experimenting with these tree pictures in painting, drawings, lino etc...Anyways, here's the first charcoal effort. It's definitely closer to what I'm after than the large painting...but I'll come back to that next week...I did this one on a old piece of watercolour paper which i think was a bit too rough in texture, but I'm reasonably pleased with the overall effect...there's more atmosphere and the bond between the two main trees hopefully comes across as being more symbolic...

2nd phase...

Here’s a bit more work in progress on the first tree portrait…quite difficult to photograph as it’s a very dark painting…might add a few more leaves to the canopy, need to do a bit more with the ground and the main trunk highlights then need to go on. Once that’s done, hopefully all that’ll be left is a few splashes of colour here and there to balance the whole image…

A change of focus...

Well this blog has been rather quiet lately, but that is about to change!

Starting next month, I shall be cutting back my day job to 3 days a week, which means I shall have 2 full days to focus on painting...I've cleared up my painting space, purchased some new paint and brushes... and am getting all the boring little jobs out of the way, so I can have 2 proper working days at the easel...

My first aim is to start producing work that forms a cohesive series rather than individual pieces that bounce from style to style...this is something I've been doing to some extent with the watercolours already...I think I need to do it with everything I try, in order to explore ideas and techniques more fully than I've done in the past...I'm also hoping that a "body" of work will, ultimately, be of greater interest to galleries...

So, the first "series" I shall be exploring is called..."Portraits of Trees"... a slightly odd title, but what did you expect :) . I'm aiming to produce 10-12 largish canvases, in acrylic, pushing the lines I've been developing in the watercolours...I may also paint all of these trees at night...that is the trees are seen at night, not that I'm always painting at midnight...although that may also apply. The first stages of the first picture can be seen above...

Progress on this first one will take a little while, but once we're into November, things should pickup speed :)

Acrylics...

I've been wanting to have a go at an oil landscape for a little while, the plan being to try and transfer a few of the watercolour ideas across to see what happens... however, it occurred to me that the drying time of the oils might limit the usefulness of this when layering the effects and potentially painting them out in the open...Acrylics were obviously the way to go, but I've not been a big fan of them in the past...but, for some strange reason I was feeling very restless today, so went out and bought some large (and expensive) acrylic brushes and attacked a canvas to see what would happen...

and this is obviously the result of that...:)

I've only just finished painting it, so need to look with fresh eyes in the morning...but I think I'm reasonably pleased with it, there are some interesting effects happening...perhaps I'm onto something...I hope so :) certainly painted this one with some passion...I'm knackered now...;)

Varnishing...

Didn’t manage any painting this weekend as the day job is encroaching on painting time as we wrap up our current project…still, nearly done :) Anyway, I collected a few old friends together…and varnished them…it was quite interesting to see them together as a group…I must do some more portraits once work is out of the way…:)

Another sunny day...another painting...!

And here's another from this afternoon, found myself with a couple of hours free, so headed down the Cassington road once more. I spotted the view yesterday as I was walking home and it looks really good at 7.15...lovely shadows...might try and paint it again later in the week if the weathers good...anyway, gave it a go today at around 4.00 ish and came up with this...I've accentuated the scale of the hills a bit and shrunk the field...again, quite pleased, it's got a bit of life to it...am looking forward to assembling several of these...I might just get the body of work, to view as a whole that I'm looking for...was also reading from Hockney's "That's the way I see it" yesterday...I love the honesty in his painting...I find I take comfort and confidence from seeing what he does...looking at what he's done, seems to free me to try stuff like this...dunno why, that's just the way it is...

It's summer out there...

A lovely afternoon so I wandered off down the Cassington road in search of something to paint...after stumbling through the stinging nettles in a few fields, I settled on this view as I liked the shadows being cast on the crops...this also meant I could paint in the shade...:) quite pleased with the results... I'm finding a bit of a rhythm as I'm painting, getting a balance between the different marks and becoming more comfortable "letting go" and allowing the painting to find its own way...am feeling quite good about the watercolours at the moment...just need to keep the momentum going :)

Watercolours from Wales

Just back from my holidays at a farmhouse called Gesail Gyfarch, just above Porthmadog in North Wales, while the weather wasn’t perfect (for holidays or painting) I had a very enjoyable break and managed to fit in some painting time...and here are the results…

I’ve pushed the “white” marks on three of these further than I’ve done in previous paintings and I think the effect has worked well. I’ve tried to focus on painting what I feel about the place I’m in, rather than just directly painting what’s in front of me…Generally trying to inject the “passion” needed to distinguish my interpretations of landscapes from everyone else’s…I think I’m going in the right direction :) certainly something to explore further in future pictures…

lily

Nearly a month since my last blog…not very impressive is it…my day job has definitely been getting in the way of any evening artwork energy…must do something about that once my current project is finished (which should be in the next 6-8 weeks)…Did a little scribbling over the weekend and finished off this design for another card this evening, I still want to get a set of 6 of these flower cards together and these are quite nice to work on when I’m not overflowing with artistic juices…so to speak…

Just like a bus, nothing for ages and then 3 come along...

Also meant to post this the other day, have been playing around with the colours for this lino/painting. This is where I'm at so far. Needs a little more thought and the outlines will obviously be much stronger when printed, but you get the general idea of where it's going...

Bubbles

And here are the (still wet) bubbles I should have posted a few days ago. They'll need glazing to get shadows in the right places and generally knock them back a bit, but the overall texture works pretty well, so once they're dry I'll continue with them.

Experiment Number 1

Have been experimenting tonight with ways of taking the lino style designs into larger paints. Specifically how I might deal with the texture of the "blocks" of colour in a painting. This is the result of that...not a particularly thrilling work of art, but I feel like I'm on an interesting path...I'm going to experiment further with a stronger design and clearer colour "blocks", then I want to work more distinct patterns and textures into those blocks...So, water might be blue, but if you look at it closely you'd see a wave pattern...etc...anyway, I'll explain more fully when I'm awake ;)

more scribblings...

Have been adding some detail into the design tonight, trying to balance the textures that'll make it into the final print. Still needs a bit more work, but it's nearly there. Need to see how many colours I can reduce the printing down to...that should be a challenge.

As I've been doing this, I've been toying with the idea of approaching an oil in this way...drawing/designing everything first and then collecting the reference material to do the final image...I tend to sketch the ideas for the oils, then take reference photos and then piece the final design together from those before doing the painting...Perhaps by finalising the design first, I'd get a more flowing final image...sacrificing a bit of realism, for a more flowing line and a more interesting composition is probably something worth exploring...certainly something worth trying :)

Quiet class…

As promised here’s a quick run down on all the things you’ll need should you want to do some lino cuts of your own :)

1. palette knife for mixing inks

2. ink – I’m using a water-based printers ink called Nerchau. You can get both water and oil based inks, the water-based ones have the advantage of not smelling and being easy to clean…very important if you’re doing this in the living room.

3. rollers – one for rolling the ink onto the lino, one for rolling the paper onto the inked lino…don’t mix them up while you’re working…;)

4. a piece of Perspex to mix the inks on…as you’re rollering the ink around you’ll need something at least A4 in size and flat…that said you could mix it on a sheet of paper if you needed to.

5. lino - MUCH easier to carve than wood…

6. pencils for marking up design

7. cutters – the red handled cutter comes with interchangeable blades, which come in many shapes and sizes. I’m also using a scalpel…in fact I mainly use the scalpel…

8. Cutting board – you can buy these, or make one like this. The piece of wood at the top is to push the lino up against and there’s another piece of wood under the base that pushes against the edge of the table…so it’s all nice and solid…just remember to keep your fingers behind the blade and everything will be fine…

£25 would easily buy some of all the above and allow you to have a go with lino, so what are you waiting for…Class dismissed ;) Have fun...

something new...

Well here’s something a little different for you. A non card lino design.

I went to an exhibition of Picasso prints a couple of years ago, most of which were etchings (which I didn’t particularly like…) but there were a few lino designs which I really enjoyed…that was when I thought I should take another look at lino…hence the recent lino/card/flower work…

Anyway, I’ve been doing the flower designs partly as a possible “commercial” avenue but also as a learning exercise, so I could move onto something a bit more….expressive, in lino…Well, this sketch is the first design for something along those lines…

I had a rough idea of what I wanted to get into the image, but basically it just developed as I sat down and started scribbling…as with the watercolours I find I’m really enjoying this freer, “less accurate” way of working…it’s something I’ve been making progress with in the watercolours and definitely something I need to try and work into the oils…

So, here it is, see what you think…still lots more to do, I think I’m aiming for a sort of Picasso, meets Klimt, meets Manga, meets Graham type of image…fingers crossed.

lino

Finished this one tonight, again decided not to add a final black outline as I liked the effect of the green on its own.

Down by the River...

Escaped down to the river this afternoon to do a little painting...and here it is. Still playing with the swirling lines, masking fluid and splattering the paint on...All quite enjoyable to do and I think a reasonably pleasing end result...anyway, it was very relaxing and I seem to be getting somewhere...

I need more space...

Made the 2nd cut and did the 2nd print tonight...so unusually productive for me...probably helped that I was smashed at the time...

I think I'll have to limit the print runs to 100...as you can see, I've taken over the living room with wet prints...which has the knock on effect of me having to lock the neighbours cats out of the house...which doesn't please the cat lovers around here too much...

Now avaliable in Pink...

Did the first print on the next card tonight, just the lower right corner, where the flower is...I'm doing a run of 100 of these, so I'm now sat here surrounded by flowers...which is nice...

I also masked up the Jack portrait, ready to try splattering some paint onto the bubbles...will post a pic of that once it's done.

Am also working on a new still life, in a similar vein to the pears one ( I didn't get into the RA summer exhibition by the way...still, there's always next year...), this still life involves flowers in bondage!!!...no, really...will post a scribble soon, so you can see what I mean...

And, I'm thinking of doing another large multiple self portrait...the ideas for that are coming together, I need to collect together a few props and then take some photos and do some sketches...again, will post something once it's fleshed out a bit...

Finished

Here's the final print, and the lino before its final cut. I was going to print another colour after this (a black outline), but it looked good when the green went on, so I thought I'd leave them like this. Will buy some more card at the weekend and start on the next design :)

Second Print

OK, the top image shows the lino block marked up ready for the second cut. The second image is the print once that cut was made...you'll have to squint a bit to see the difference between the grey and the green...I probably should have made the grey lighter to start with...but you live and learn... Anyway, I think everything will workout in the end as the dark green and black that need to go on next, should hold it all together. The final image is a design for the next block, a more interesting design this time I think...I'll try and do a few flowers to make a little set of cards and then try a some different subjects...and possibly some larger images to sell as straight prints.

First Print

Printed the first colour this afternoon (3 more colours to go). All went well...I think :) I've printed onto cards (42 at the moment, might lose a few as I add the remaining colours, but should have a reasonable run I hope). The cards have quite a textured surface, but actually the ink took really well to them...So they currently all look promising :) I'll leave the lino to dry out a little before going onto the second cut. Then when I print that colour, we'll see how well I've lined everything up...:)

First cut done

Finished cutting the white areas....but too late to do a test print tonight...:)

still exploring the white bits...

Did a little more tonight, the white areas are the most fiddly bits it think, so hopefully things will speed up...but then again, knowing me...perhaps not ;) Got a Chinagraph pencil today to markout the areas that need cutting for each pass (the bits i've coloured white). Have also taken my original drawing and reflected it on the PC, so I can look at that while carving. As this is so small, i'm finding I'm cutting 90% of areas with the scalpel rather than the lino tools, which doesn't help speed things up...but does mean I don't feel like i'm going to slice through everything :)

Two posts in one day!

Started cutting out the white areas....will continue soon :)

ready to start cutting...

Worked out the shading this afternoon and then transferred the design onto the lino. All pretty straightforward, just trace the design using a nice soft pencil (I used a 9B), turn the tracing over and tape onto the lino. Rub the back of the tracing to transfer it from the paper to the lino. This will give you a reflection of the original design...when the print is done, the image will be reflected again...taking it back to the correct way around... I then went over the pencil marks on the lino with a permanent marker (note the pencil will rub off the lino very easily, so you need to be a bit careful doing this)...That's it, the lino is now ready for cutting :)

lino design outline

sorry the image is blurry....it's late and I was too tired to take another....here's the outline for the lino, will sketch in the colours next and then transfer onto a lino block...short post this isn't it :)

bubbles

Painted the bath (the white bits) today and did some more work on the bubbles. Not sure you can really see the improvement in the bath in these photos...but it looks much nicer in real life..honest ;)

Bubbles...still proving challenging, have smeared around lots of colour to get a base, fairly happy with that, so I'm now painting darker blobs all over them, will do some more of these in different colours, then put highlights over the top...hopefully at that point they'll look like bubbles...

lino printing

No “Jack” painting tonight, too knackered to stand up, so slumped at the table instead :)

I’ve wanted to do a bit of lino printing for a while, so I’ve drawn this little design to get the ball rolling. I’m going to try something called “suicide” printing, where you keep cutting into the same block, print a colour and cut again…I’ve never done this before…and it seems like I’d better not make a mistake ;)

Anyway, I think I’ll try and make some cards from these if they work…another experiment :)

Rose on pillow

Had a day off work today and thought I'd spend a few hours on another Freud(ish) experiment...Having been SO impressed at the speed with which Sue is producing her artweeks work, i thought I'd have ago at painting something in one sitting and here it is. The picture is only 6" x 8", I've TRIED not to overwork it too much, I think the pillowcase stayed nice and painterly, I used a fair large bush, which helped...The rose petals work nicely, just smeared paint :) The leaves I'm a bit unsure about, there were certainly a few points in the process where they were becoming overworked...hopefully I've managed to pull it back. Need to hide it away for a few days before looking at it again, to know for sure...Anyway, I had a very enjoyable time working on it :)

Jacks back...

Did some work on "Jack" tonight, just a little on the water, some of the skin tones under the water etc. I've tried blending the brushmarks here to give it a watery feel and and some interesting contrast with the stronger brushmarks I'll put on the rest on the picture...also started splodging in some colours on the bubbles...they're going to be a major challenge...:)