Charing Cross bridge over the Thames in London - WIP stages

Painted during the summer of 2021 this 20” x 16” oil painting shows a scene during a sunny autumn day in London. The location is the South Bank, looking over the Thames and on to the Embankment on the opposite side
The photo above shows four stages of the painting in progress. In the first panel can be seen the drawing, based on a photo that had been altered compositionally, which is done in dark brown paint on a lighter brown wash, using acrylic paint. Moving to the second stage diluted oil paint has been added, mainly to act as an underpainting to give guidance to the placement of colour and tonal values within the composition. When this level is dry then the painting can be tackled with thicker paint, used to create the final layer and clarifying the correct colours, as partly done in the third panel with work underway. Finally the last panel shows the completed artwork of the London scene, which can be seen in greater detail by following this 3^rd party external link. 

Cows resting at Boltons Bench Lyndhurst New Forest - WIP stages

Created in July 2021, this oil painting shows a view of Boltons Bench, an area just outside the small town of Lyndhurst, situated in the New Forest, Hampshire, UK. The picture above shows four stages of the paintings creation. Starting with the first panel, the elements of the composition that make up the scene have been drawn in brown acrylic on a brown wash. In the second panel, diluted oil paint has been applied to give an indication of colours and tonal information. Its applied thinly, using a medium like paint thinner or similar, and because its thin the paint dries quickly over a few days. Moving on to the third panel the final layers have partly been applied. Here the paint is much thicker and is the correct colour and tone is used over the thinly painted layer. Finally as seen in the last panel the painting, sized at 20” x 16” and done on mounting board is finished.

The artwork can be seen in better clarity on this link.

Herd of cattle in the New Forest countryside - WIP stages

Four stages of the creation of the New Forest scene.

Painted in late December and through to early January 2021 this painting shows a countryside scene within the New Forest, situated on the south coast of the UK. It is painted in oils on mounting board, sized at 20” x 16”.

The first panel shows the drawing of the countryside scene, done in brown acrylic paint on a lighter brown acrylic wash. The second panel shows where white acrylic paint has been added to indicate areas of a lighter tone, namely the sky area.

Moving on to the third panel shows where oil paint has now been introduced in to the process of creating the artwork. Here paint has been added to indicate the basic colours of forms within and acts as an underpainting, which will be painted over again. This layer of paint is thinly applied, using a medium (similar to white spirit, but more refined) to thin it out. The last panel displays the completed painting. Here the paint is thicker, basically as it comes out of the tube and is applied more carefully. Detail and colour are of the prime concern at this stage. Once the paint was dry (after a week or so) a level of glazing was added. This is when a wash of almost transparent colour, held in a thick, clear oil is applied to help emphasise the colours and make slight alterations to tonal values, such as making the trees darker than originally painted.

The finished forest scene can be seen on this link in greater detail.

 

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.

Voyage of the Mayflower in rough seas - WIP stages

Four stages of the oil painting in progress

During September through to October 2019 this painting of the Mayflower, on its voyage to the new world in 1620, was created. It is an oil painting done on a canvas support sized at 24” x 36”.

The panel shows four stages of the painting. In the first section can be seen the canvas covered with a brown acrylic base, on top of which the drawing of the scene has been down with a darker acrylic line. White acrylic paint has been applied to show tonally lighter areas in the composition. Moving to the second panel a diluted oil paint layer has now been applied. These colours are applied thinly and give an indication of colour placement and tone relevant to each other, even though overall the picture looks (deliberately) dark. This acts as an underpainting so that when a new layer is applied, using thicker paint, the underpainting acts as a good support. The 3^rd panel shows some 'proper' painting applied with details,with the last panel showing the finished painting. It should be pointed out that after the painting layer has been applied, and once dry, a 'glaze' layer is sometimes added in this case. This is like a semi transparent wash of colour (mixed with clear oil) applied over elements in the painting to emphasize colour qualities, for example adding hints of green to the blue water to give added depth.

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

Ship and ice creams at Mayflower Park Southampton - WIP stages

WIP stages of ship docked at Southampton oil painting

A marine based oil painting created during spring 2020. The subject is Mayflower park, a public area in the city of Southampton where the public are able to view ships using the port. While the public buy refreshments from the ice cream van, a cruse ship is in dock preparing for its next voyage.

The panel above, split in to four sections shows different stages of the creation of this artwork. In the first one the scene has been drawn using brown acrylic paint on a light wash. On top of this lighter, tonal areas have been indicated in white, such as the sky. Following on the first layer of oil paint is applied quite lightly, and diluted with a thinner type solution. The colours applied are typically slightly darker, as this is the underpainting, but it gives a good indication of relative tonal and colour variations in the painting. One this level is dry then the final application of paint can be applied. This time the paint will be thicker and to true colour valuations. In addition the painting is a lot tighter on this pass with fine details painted in, as seen in the third panel. The last panel shows the completed painting. The work can be seen in better detail by following this link..

Men At Northam Southampton Boat Yard - WIP stages

Men At Northam Southampton Boat Yard - WIP stages

WIP stages of boats at a Northam boat yard oil painting.

The Northam area of the city of Southampton in Hampshire, features a number of boat yards as it is located on the river Itchen. This painting, completed in January 2019 features a scene of a drydock with men preparing to use a crane to place a boat in to the river from the dry land.

The picture above shows a number of stages of how the painting was created. The first stage shows the drawing which is done with dark, brown acrylic paint on top of a wash of a similar colour. The dark tones within the scene are painted in as are very light in tone subjects, such as the sky, using white acrylic paint. The middle panel shows work moved on where now oil paint has been used to indicate the underpainting, often in darker hues of the final intended colours, and is achieved by using diluted, thin paint. Detail is still quite basic at this stage. The last panel features the final, finished artwork. It can be seen that the colours are now correct, having been applied with thick oil paint and also details regarding the surfaces and lighting, are now included.

The painting can be seen on this link.

London City Bank Area In Sunny Autumn - WIP stages

London City Bank Area In Sunny Autumn - WIP stages

WIP on London financial district oil painting

The picture above shows development work of the painting 'London City Bank Area In Sunny Autumn'. It measures 60” x 40” and is painted in oils on canvas. The first panel shows the drawing, done in brown acrylic on a brown wash. White areas have been added to illustrate the intended areas of brightness, such as the sky. Darker tones are added using a brown wash built up in layers. The second panel now shows the underpainting of the scene, done ias a wash in oils. No detail is added at this stage and the colours are of a slightly darker tone than what would be the final colour. In the third panel detail and more colour is added to the overall painting, with the colour paint becoming more thicker in the way it is applied and truer to the final required tone. Finally the forth panel shows the completed oil painting of this busy scene, set in the heart of the financial district of the city of London.

The completed artwork can be seen on this link.

Southampton Old Cemetery In Autumn - WIP stages

Southampton Old Cemetery In Autumn - WIP stages

Steps of progress on the painting of Southampton 'Old' cemetery

Created during autumn 201, this painting features the 'Old Cemetery' in Southampton, attached to the common. Most of this Victorian cemetery is overgrown with nature reclaiming the area. This oil painting measures 20” x 16” and is created on mounting board.

The panel above shows work in progress on the picture. The first step is to draw out the scene using brown acrylic paint on top of a brown wash of diluted paint. Some areas are painted white where there are strong bright areas. The point to this step is to fix down the range of tones through out the painting. The second panel indicated where the underpainting has been applied, using diluted oils, to find the base colours. Often at this stage the colours are intentionally darker hues of the final applied paint choices. The third panel shows progress on applying thicker paint with the correct hues, and also with details added. Finally the last panel shows the finished art.

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

Friesian Cow Portrait - WIP stages

Friesian Cow Portrait - WIP stages

Cow portrait - oil painting in stages

The above panel shows WIP in stages of a recent painting, painted during September 2017 of a cows portrait. The first stage is the cows head drawn in brown acrylic paint on a brown wash background, and showing a guide to the tonal values I wish to include in the finished work. The second image now shows basic areas of colour applied, with acrylic paint in darker values than the finished paint levels will be. This stage is the underpainting. In the third picture can be seen that the final oil painted layer has started where the colours, tones and details are becoming more refined. Finally in the last image the fully finished oil painting can be seen of the cows portrait. The artwork is done on mounting board, sized at 16" x 12".
This painting can be seen in greater detail here.

Needles from Hengistbury Head WIP ART

Needles from Hengistbury Head WIP ART

This composite image show the development of the painting 'Needles from Hengistbury Head', an oil painting completed during May 2017. It shows the Isle of Wight, an island of the South coast of the the UK, as viewed from the mainland at Hengistbury Head in Dorset.
The first panel shows the drawing, painted in acrylic brown paint on a yellow ground wash. The second panel shows a later stage with the base under-painting applied showing darker colours of the final intended colours. After the under-painting comes the final oil painting stage over the top and in the third panel it can be seen that oil paint has been applied to some areas. The painting is also more detailed on this last pass, with the final panel showing the completed painting, done on stretched paper sized at 16" x 12".
The final painting can be seen here.

Lepe Beach Windy Winter Day - WIP acrylic painting

Lepe Beach Windy Winter Day - WIP acrylic painting

WIP- Lepe beach on a windy day

Shown is a composite photograph illustrating work on an acrylic painting in three stages. The first stage shows the drawing, done in brown acrylic paint on a paper support itself painted with gesso to help the paper become more watertight. Usually I would paint the blank paper in a base 'ground' colour either orange or brown for example, to act as a base for future applied paint. In this case I decided to experiment and paint on the white paper.
The second panel shows the base 'under-painting' applied, generally darker versions of the proposed intended finished colours. The final panel shows the finished painting with the correct and final paint layer applied, using acrylics, with all of the details painted to to make up the finished painting, which is 16" x 12". 
The painting time itself was quite short but was done over a long, two week period because of Christmas and the cold weather in the studio space which prevented me from working on this painting over normally a few days.
The subject of the image is a beach at Lepe, Hampshire with the Solent in the background. Various people can be seen to be braving the cold, windy day for activities on the beach. 
The painting can be seen in closeup here. 

Sunday Morning Rowing at Itchen Bridge, Southampton WIP painting

Sunday Morning Rowing at Itchen Bridge, Southampton:

WIP PAINTING

This composite photograph demonstrates work in progress on a recently completed painting showing rowers at a club preparing for a Sunday morning exercise on the River Itchen, Southampton. The picture shows 3 stages. The first panel is a red base colour ground with the drawing painted in brown acrylic paint. The second panel shows most of the basic, base colours applied to suggest tone and colour placement around the whole picture, which helps to give an idea of how the composition is working out and the final panel shows the finished painting. It is done on a 28" x 20" canvas on stretcher bars and painted with acrylics.
The painting was done during May 2016 mainly for entry in to the 'A Sporting Life' open art exhibition held at the Southampton City art gallery during Summer 2016. 
The finished painting can be seen here.
#hampshire #artist #southampton #marine #rowing

WIP of acrylic painting

'Sunday Morning Rowing at Itchen Bridge, Southampton'

 

River Test at Totton, Southampton WIP

River Test at Totton, Southampton WIP

This painting was completed in February 2016. It is of a scene at Totton, Hampshire, on the outskirts of Southampton where the River Test flows in to Southampton Port. The view is pointing west with Totton town just visible on the left. The main bridge is the railway line between Southampton and Bournemouth. The photograph here shows the painting in three stages. The first panel is the line drawing in brown acrylic paint on a red ground. The second panel show a half way stage with many areas blocked in with an acrylic base or under-painting, slightly darker than the intended finished layer. The third panel shows the completed work.

WIP acrylic painting of River Test at Totton