Working on closeup 80

A small snippet of a Southampton common painting...

 

 Plein air painting 07

A pair of trees on Southampton common on a sunny day. Painted in the morning, dated 10th September 2020 and was a mostly sunny day. The oak tree had wonderful, twisting branches. It took about 90mins.

M7 Steam engine in the Southern Countryside - oil painting

Painting of locomotive in the countryside, set in the 1950s.

This nostalgic painting, measuring 22" x 16" and painted in oils, shows a traditional scene of an M7 Southern railway locomotive in the English countryside, during the 1950s. It is based on an old black and white photograph, possibly showing the Fawley branch or Hawkhurst branch/ Pooks Green, in southern England. Elements have been slightly rearranged in the composition from the photo and figures added.
The locomotive type itself, a 0-4-4 passenger tank locomotive, were built between 1897 and 1911, the last one in service in 1964. Two examples are preserved. They were built for the LSWR by Dugald Drummond at Nine Elms locomotive works, in south London.
The artwork was done with the intention of it being reproduced as a 7” x 5” greeting card for a railway society.  It can be seen in larger detail on this link.

 

 

 Painting faces exercise 01 Zorn palette

This post shows a number of faces plucked off the internet and painted for this exercise. Some are famous and some not. The task is just to practice painting faces. They are done on pieces of paper and board sized at 10" x 8", primed, and then done in a period 3 hrs of so, working wet in to wet. The images are not drawn with pencils in a careful way, but drawn with diluted oil paint in a rough manner, and then painted over. Often the proportions are refined as it is painted until it looks reasonably right, in the one sitting. One other important element of these exercises is that they have been done using a limited range of colours, called the Zorn palette. It is named after the Swedish artist, Anders Zorn (18 February 1860 – 22 August 1920). It consists of just 4 colors being yellow ochre, ivory black, Cadmium red and titanium white. These colours suit faces very well, though landscape subjects would not work so well as blues and greens cannot be mixed.

Plein air painting 06

A sunny Southampton common morning plein air art

A view of Southampton Common, near to one of the main routes through the area with a tarmaced path in the mid distance. Painted in early September on an early morning, with many dog walkers exercising, and others going to school or work. It is done in oils on mounting board, sized at 12" x 9". It was painted on a very light brown colour (ground), rather than white.

Lockdown artist Martin Davey self portrait - WIP stages

3 stages of the self portrait WIP

During 2020 I decided to paint my own self portrait. It is in oils on mounting board, sized at 33” x 23”, or A1. This was my first tackle subject wise at such a project bus as I did not have any other subject it seemed like a good idea. Also the picture could be a good item for an upcoming exhibition.

The picture above shows three stages of the artwork in creation. In the first panel can be seen the initial drawing, done in dark brown acrylic paint. This is done on a wash or 'ground' of lighter brown paint. White acrylic paint has been added to indicate areas of a lighter tone. Once this is done then work can begin on the proper oil painting, as seen in the second panel. Here diluted oil paint has been used to paint over the acrylic layer so as to give an indication of colour and tonal qualities. Not much detail is paid to detail at this time and this layer acts as an underpainting. It will be in turn painted over with heavier brushwork but so of this layer will still show through the paint to the final image. In the last panel can be seen the final painting. Here the paint has been applied thickly and detail painted in. The colours are also more carefully mixed to get to the correct desired opaque colour. There was one other stage done on this layer and that is a glazing paint layer. It is where a small quantity of paint is diluted in a heavy transparent oil, thicker than normal paint oil and painted on top of the normal, previously painted layer. It is similar to coloured stain glass in a way and adds a little extra to the colour, like a layered colour where the light goes through the transparent layer, hits the opaque surface and bounces back through the top layer giving a richer experience to the viewer. Sadly this effect cannot really be captured by a camera so just three stages are shown here..

The self portrait can be viewed in greater detail on this link.

Working on closeup 81

Snippet of a railway based oil painting...

Lockdown artist Martin Davey self portrait - oil painting

Completed self portrait of Martin Davey

Painted in late spring 2020 this self portrait was done during the period the world was gripped by Covid-19. At the time of painting the subject was recovering from the effects himself having caught it at Easter that year. Also the world was in lock down so he gave up shaving and his hair grew as there were no barbers open!. It was due to be cut earlier in March, just as the lock down took effect. The subject is shown against a painting of St Pauls cathedral, London, on the easel. That work was done earlier in the year and can be seen on this link. He is holding a wooden kidney shaped palette.

This artwork is painted in oils on a prepared mounting board sized at 23” x 33” approx.

It can be seen in greater detail on this link.

 

 

 Plein air painting 05

Plein air art Westgate House with roundabout

Mayflower roundabout in south Southampton is shown in this plein air art. The old building in the center is Westgate House, a building that originally faced the water before the land in front was reclaimed. It was originally in a different part of the city and was moved in the 1600's to the present location. This is the back side shown in the painting. The large arch gateway was originally a main entrance in to the city from those disembarking from shipping . On the left is the 'Pig in the wall' hotel and the tall spire rising in the background belongs to St Michael's church. Painted on Saturday 5th September on a 12” x 9” board in oil. 

 

 

New Forest Highland Bulls at crossing - WIP stages

Four panels showing how the painting was built up.

The oil painting shows two Highland cows by a road in the New Forest, situated in the county of Hampshire. The painting is measures 35.5cm x 20cm and is done on mounting board, primed for oil use.

The picture above shows the creation of the painting in four stages. In the first panel is the drawing, done using brown/ black acrylic paint on a lighter brown base wash. White paint is then added to areas to show where the highlight or tonally brighter areas will be, for instance like the sky.

Once this initial application is done and dried, then the first applications of oil paint are made. The paint is not applied thickly, but thinned with a medium such as turpentine or in this case a paint thinner called 'Zest it' which is a safer chemical made from 'green' materials. This layer gives an indication of the placements of colours and values throughout the scene, but no details are painting at this stage. In the third panel stronger, thicker colours are applied as this is the start of the final painting. Details are added and generally care is taken to paint correctly, while in the fourth and final panel is the finished painting. It should be pointed out that an extra layer has been added which is a coloured 'glaze' applied to some of the elements in the scene. This is used to reinforce colours and add a depth to the painting that only the eye can see. The camera tends to flatten this effect.

The painting can be seen in greater detail by following this link.