Plein air painting 79

Tudor house is a large house (and garden) in Southampton that has a long history, dating back to the 1100's. It has seen many different uses over the centuries. The section shown is largely Tudor and was heavily restored in the early 21st century, including building a steel frame in to the construction to strengthen it. It is now used as a museum exploring the history of the area over different centuries, depending on what part of the building is being viewed. Behind the house are modern office of very recent construction in comparison, as seen from St Michael's Square.

Painted in oils one morning in October 2022, on mounting board sized at 12" x 9.5".

Head painting exercise 'The Handmaid's Tale'

Small oil paintings created during late 2022, showing characters from the TV series 'The Handmaid's Tale'. The characters shown are from upper left June Osborne, Commander Fred Waterford, Serena Joy Waterford and Aunt Lydia Clements.
Each painting is done in oils on cardboard sized at 12" x 9.5".

Plein air painting 78

In drydock, resting out of water, was this nicely kept boat with glossy wood and paintwork. The location is Shamrock Quay, Northam, Southampton. The nearby river is the Itchen where a hint of water can be seen. Moving to the background the Itchen bridge can be seen on the right hand side and the recent development involving blocks of flats at Woolston can be seen on the left.
Painted early one October morning on mounting board, sized at 12" x 9.5", in oils.

A park scene with a giant head building - digital illustration

It was common in an alt Victorian steampunk world to have various public buildings built around giant heads. These would often be seen in places frequented by families on a day out, such as parks or town centres. The heads were not fully operational, but used for simple data processing. Often small viewing areas were built on top of the head, with access through it for passage to viewing platform. It's unknown how much of a body was attached to the heads in the ground.

Plein air painting 77

On the outskirts of Southampton and heading towards Eastleigh is Mansbridge Reservoir, a tucked away location that apparently is neglected by the council. Locals instead spend the time keeping this small lake clear of rubbish and keep the vegetation in order. It appeared to be popular with dog owners as they walked around its circumference. While painting I heard a tremendous crash that sounded like a small bomb going off. Apparently, according to locals passing, a large tree had just collapsed and fell to the ground!

Painted in early October 2022 on primed cardboard cut to 12" x 9.5", using oils.

 Head painting exercise - 'The Vikings' 03

A further selection of portrait paintings featuring various characters from the 'Vikings' TV series. Each on is painted in oils on cardboard, sized at 12" x 9.5". They were done between late 2022 and early 2023. The characters are Queen Kwenthrith, King Ecbert,  Aethelwulf,  Bjorn Lothbrok.

Plein air painting 75

This railway crossing, named as Mount Pleasant crossing, is to be found at Northam, Southampton. It is of brick/ steel construction and dates from 1894. It was built by the LSWR and other local rail structures use the same visual clues, in particular the lattice metal work. Unfortunately the bridge is in quite a poor looking condition with rusting paintwork and plants growing out of the brickwork. This is the UKs busiest level crossing and has four tracks running through it. 
Painted one early Sunday morning in early October 2022 on mounting board sized at 12" x 9.5", and done in oils.

Plein air painting 76

Some vegetation in a shady spot as seen on Southampton Common during a sunny afternoon in early October. Painted in oils on cardboard, sized at 12" x 9.5", 2022.

Plein air painting 74

Pictured is one of the main streets in the city of Southampton, known as Above Bar St, because it is north of the Bargate which was the main route through the high walls in to the main town centuries ago.
On the left can be seen a recent development consisting of bars, a theatre and the John Hansard Gallery. The view is looking down south into the city, while on the right hand side are university buildings. The road going right serves the City art gallery, library and Sea City Museum. The scooters typify modern personal transport.
Painted in late September 2022 on a sunny early morning. Its done in oils on mounting board sized at 12" x 9.5".

 Plein air painting 72

The ornamental lake on Southampton common is shown in this plein air work done in late September 2022. Although the early morning weather was quite bright for the time of year, as time went by it became quite a gloomy day, with rain eventually moving in.
Painted on cardboard sized at 12"x 9.5", and done with oil paint. 

Graham Chapman (Lucie Ash Invisible Portraits exhibition)

During my stay at the Southampton City Art Gallery in spring 2022, I was invited to provide a small painting to be included as part of a larger artwork for the Lucie Ash Invisible Portraits exhibition. 

This larger artwork was to contain a large amount of small portraits done by artists and non arts, as a part of a celebration of the LGBTIQ+ community. The artwork, split over two panels consisted of 646 separate pieces of artwork, done in a variety of styles. My contribution was one that featured Graham Chapman, a member of Monty Python who had died in the early 1980's. 

It is painted in oils on a supplied, cut to size canvas (8.6cm x 7.7cm), which I sanded down and re-primed to make as smooth as possible as the weave was crude at that scale. As reference I used a screen capture showing Chapman in one of his many Monty Python characters, the army general who would typically interrupt a sketch and cancel it for the next one in the programmes running order. 

The exhibition ran from September 2022 through to January 2023.

still life 15

A clear plastic recycling bag filled with re-usable containers was used for this still life. It was painted in oils on cardboard sized at 12" x 9.5" during mid February 2023.

Head painting exercise - 'The Vikings' 02

A further collection of characters from the TV series 'Vikings'. Shown are top left Queen Aslaug, top right Björn Ironside, bottom left King Aelle and bottom right Judith.
Each one is painting in oils on cardboard sized at 12" x 9.5" during early 2023.

Plein air painting 73

The river Itchen, in east Southampton is wide at this point, in the suburb of Northam, just before it joins Southampton Water itself in the main area of the docks at the city. Many small boats of various shapes and sizes can be seen here moored in the river. There are also a high number of marine based industries on either side of the river. This view is from Northam bridge with Bitterne in the background.
The boats were a challenge because over the period of time painting them, would be moving about.
Painted in late September 2022 on mounting board sized at 12" x 9.5", in oils.

still life painting 13

Display Mannequin life size head with hat and scarf still life. Painted alla prima in December 2022 in oils on a 12" x 9.5" piece of cardboard.

 

Plein air painting 71

Holyrood church can be found in the city of Southampton at the junction between the High street and Bernard St. Built in 1320 it is one of the oldest structures in the city. Unfortunately during the November 1940 blitz the building sustained major damage. In 1957 the church ruins were restored and given the status of an ancient monument. An annual Merchant Navy Day memorial service is held here once a year and the church is dedicated to those who have worked and continue to, in the marine industry. In addition, one of a number of "Titanic" memorials held in the city can be found here in the form of a fountain.

My father created a plaque within the church commemorating the 1981 Falklands war. To the left of the church can be seen a very large anchor positioned on the pavement. This belonged to the earlier RMS Queen Elizabeth 2, and weights 13 tonnes.

The landscape painting is done on mounting board sized at 12"x 9.5" and painted in oils during mid September 2022.

Fred Vincent portrait - oil painting

Fred Vincent portrait

Created in May 2023 this portrait painting was based on a photo taken the previous year. The painting measures 20” x 16” using oils on mounting board. This is the second painting of the subject, with the earlier one (subject holding book) done in late 2022 through to early 2023. The earlier painting was bigger at 33” x 23” in size. The one above can be seen on this link while the earlier one is at the bottom of the post.
The sitter describes himself and his work...
“Fred Vincent was born about half a century ago in Marseilles but has noble ascendance: De Villiers, De Flotte and Grimaldi are amongst the prestigious names from his ancestors. His family is also linked to Marcel Pagnol well known for ''Manon des Sources". Qualified as a mfl teacher in Southampton University, he has spent 10 years in the city of the Titanic where he hold thriving cultural events mixing all sorts of artists: Giaco, Adrian Boswell, Francis Martin, Barry Davis, Martin Davey, Julien Masson, Jonathan Fashole Luke,  Arnie Cottrell, Leo Bridle, Stephen Boyce and Sally Bibb at Peter Rhodes Bookshop and The Art House. He then went back to France for Brexit reasons but kept returning to England to pursue the artistic flame. He nowadays writes colourful poems in http://welovewords.com/collections/anglais and perform them in the Théâtre la Cité in Marseilles. “

Working on closeup 96

A small snippet of a painting of a man...

 Head painting exercise 05

A selection head painting exercises from April 2023, using reference material of the web. Painted in oils on cardboard sized at 12" x 9.5", each as alla prima.

 Head painting exercise - 'Wednesday'

The subjects in this post are characters from the very popular TV series 'Wednesday', premiered in 2022. Based on one of the characters from the 'Addams family', it was a series that combined comedy, crime and fantasy. Shown are Wednesday Addams, Emma Myers, Joy Sunday and Moosa Mostafa. Each one painted alla prima in oils on cardboard sized at 12" x 9.5", during early 2023.

Young Nephew WIP stages

This painting, of one of my nephews, was done back in January 2022 and is based of a photo taken early in the 2000's. It's painted in oils on mounting board sized at 16" x 12". The photo above shows a progression from and early stage showing the drawing, done in brown acrylic paint on a light brown wash. In the second panel, basic blocks of colour of fairly thin oil paint have been applied over the acrylic drawing. Moving on to the final panel, the finished painting can be seen. This used a thicker mix of paint over the prevoius stage with fine blending and details added. In addition a glazing layer was added, using part transparent layers on top of the thicker paint layer for added effect.
The final painting can be seen on this link in greater detail.

Stocktaking at the Victorian giant eye factory - digital illustration

An everyday scene at a giant eye factory, as to be found in the Victorian city of London. It is secret work and is carried out in large underground vaults. The eyeballs are grown in very large glass vessels, filled with a green liquid and gasses pumped through them. Stocktaking is progressing on this occasion.

This digital illustration was created during May 2023 using Sketchbook.  Started on an Android tablet as a small rough sketch, it is later in the process moved on to a desktop PC where the image is enlarged and fully painted.

The illustration can be seen in greater detail on this link.

Plein air painting 70

Painted on an early morning day in September 2022, this landscape painting shows the iconic Bargate structure in the city of Southampton. It was originally the entrance to what was then a town and would have had tall walls either side to protect the town from invasion. There are still a number of 'gates' and sections of wall around the city indicating its size at the time. It was built in Norman times and is grade 1 listed. Behind, on the right, a new development is rising which will help to showcase some of the existing wall in that part of the city.

Painted on mounting board sized at 12" x 9.5" in oils.

7" x 5" studies - headstones

This collection of small studies were done during summer 2022 at the 'Old' cemetery, Southampton. The area is 27 acres, and contains approximately 116,800 graves. 
Each of these oil painted studies is sized at 7" x 5", and painted alla prima.