Plein air painting 56

Painted in August 2022 one early Sunday morning, the River Itchen is shown working upstream from the St Denys area in the suburbs of Southampton city, UK. Priory road would be running parallel at this point to the river over to the left and off the painting. The landing stages seen on the left have a variety of boats moored to them. In the distance can be seen the railway bridge that carries tracks from the city and towards Portsmouth.

This landscape painting is created on mounting board sized at 12" x 9.5", using oils.

Working on closeup 77

A small snippet of a figurative painting...

Steampunk escape from attack of Big Ben foe - WIP stages

Steampunk escape from attack of Big Ben foe - WIP stages

Creation of the Edwardian couple in WIP stages digital illustration

This digital illustration was completed during June 2020. Shown above are four stages demonstrating the completion of the artwork, beginning with the initial drawing, created on a Samsung tablet. The software was 'Sketchbook pro' and relies on a pressure sensitive pen, as supplied on the tablet.

Once the drawing has reached a satisfactory start, some rough colour ideas are then painted in using the same software as seen in the second, upper right panel. After this stage the time has come to do the artwork ' correctly' as it needs to be far larger than the tablet can cope with and more finely detailed. So the file, as PSD layers, is exported in to a windows desktop machine also running Sketchbook pro, the file enlarged considerably and the image painted over to a higher degree, as shown in the 3^rd panel.

In the 4^th panel can be seen the final image, where there are subtle changes to the composition and some of the elements, like the woman's face and other details. The whole image can be seen in detail on this link.

Lady with curly red hair in beach setting - oil painting

Lady with curly red hair in beach setting - oil painting

Finished oil painting of Julie Diaz

A woman called Julie Diaz kindly posed for this oil painting. It is based on a photograph taken at a car park on a sunny day. A made up 'seaside' background was introduced, based on her astrological sign (Aquarius), which was a better background than the car park too! It is sized at 33” x 23” and is on primed acid free mounting board. A glaze was used on the figure, but not the background, to add depth and richness to the colours. Julie is mixed race and enjoys wearing red, black and gold. She has many interests mainly based in the areas of spiritualism. Painted in September 2019, the finished artwork can be seen in detail on this link.

Working on closeup 70

Working on closeup 70

 A small snippet of a railway based oil painting...

Working on closeup 66

Working on closeup 66

A small snippet of a figurative based oil painting...

closeup working progress 08

closeup working progress 08

A small snippet of a horror based plant painting...

Line of trees in Hampshire during Autumn - oil painting

Line of trees in Hampshire during Autumn - oil painting

Oil painting of Autumn trees in Hampshire

During September 2018 this oil painting was created, main as an exercise in [painting trees in a simpler (impressionistic) way, rather than falling in to the trap of painting each individual leaf and branch. Oil paint on a board, which was sized at 20” x 16” was used. The subject was based on a photograph taken a number of years previously, just with the intention of finding a way to painting trees in a quicker and 'slicker' way.

The finished painting can be seen here.

Women Texting On Christchurch Station - acrylic painting

Women Texting On Christchurch Station - acrylic painting

Women Texting On Christchurch Station - acrylic painting

This acrylic painting was created during June 2018. It is sized at 16” x 12”, and done on stretched water-colour paper. The subject is a number of women, and one man, all busy texting while waiting for a train to turn up at the station. Christchurch, on the south coast of the UK, is the location of this brick built, Victorian station, set during a sunny but cold afternoon one December.

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

New Forest Horses With Light And Shade - oil painting

New Forest Horses With Light And Shade - oil painting

New Forest Horses With Light And Shade - oil painting

Painted in June 2017, this painting shows show horses on a sunny day out in the New Forest, Hampshire, on the south coast of the UK. Horses, cattle and donkeys are all freely able to roam around the national park and can be found in the towns and villages as well as the countryside. The painting highlights a hot, sunny day with strong shadows and a sense of the beating light and heat on the animals.
The artwork is done in oil paint on mounting board, sized at 20” x 16”, and can be viewed here in a larger format.