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 :)