Painted April 2023 this still life set up incorporates a shiny pewter teapot with pearl necklace and orange. Oils were used, alla prima on a piece of cardboard sized at 12" x 9.5".
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| 3 stages of the creation of the artwork. |
Painted during May 2021 this digital illustration, created using 'Auto sketchbook pro', depicts a sci-fi scene. A long dead alien astronaut is drifting with his damaged ship in to a field of space inhabited with large, long tentacled monsters.
The panel above shows three stages of the creation leading to the completed illustration. In the first panel the original sketch can be seen in a reasonably cleaned up version. Moving to the second panel the drawing has had rough colour areas and details added to indicate tone and hues. At this stage the image is a small size document, with 1200px on the longest edge, and has been done on an android tablet. The next stage is to export the file to a desktop PC, enlarge the image up so that the longest side is now 6000px. This becomes the start of the final artwork where the imagery is reworked/ painted and refined so that it can be printed up to many sizes without loss of quality. The last panel shows the finished illustration, and can be seen in greater detail on this link.
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| Stages of artwork progression. |
This sci-fi horror illustration features a giant monster about to experiment on a human subject.
It was painted digitally in 'Auto Sketchbook Pro' during January 2021. The first panel features a rough sketch with a digital pencil, while the second one shows colour now roughly painted into the illustration to give an indication of colour placement. It can be seen that the position of the human figure has been changed too. In the third panel can be seen the completed illustration. The painting and details are finer and it should be noted that between the 2nd and 3rd stages that the image is enlarged to about four times its original size and worked on at this larger scale to produce a fine resolution image. The hexagonal background was taken from a beehive image and altered in photoshop.
The illustration can be seen in greater detail on this link.
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| Completed oil painting of the Hampshire common. |
A view of Southampton common in Autumn is the subject of this painting, created during July 2020. Two teenagers are shown strolling along a tarmac path within a wooded area of the common, surrounded by the densely packed trees on either side. The painting measures 20” x 16” and is painted in oils on primed mounting board. It was glazed with a further oil layer when dry to help emphasize the rich colours.
The common itself is of a large area (365 acres) and was first established during the 13th century. It contains varied landscapes from forest areas to grass fields, lakes and play areas
This landscape painting was created during summer 2020 and features Southampton common, a large natural area of special biological interest within the city itself. It is 365 acres in size and contains woodland, grassland and various amenities for the public. The painting, done in oils, is painted on prepared mounting board sized at 20” x 16”.
By following this link, the landscape artwork can be seen in better clarity.
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| Stages in the creation of the Hampshire common painting. |
The image, split in to 3 panels, shows three stages of the creation of the artwork. In the first panel can be seen the initial drawing done in brown acrylic on on a brown acrylic wash. Certain areas which will be quite light in tone (such as the sky) have been painted with white acrylic paint. Moving on to a later stage the second panel shows initial work on the first oil painted layer, where basic areas of colour are added using thinned oil painting. No detail is done at this stage, is purpose is to act as an underpainting for the scene. When this is dry, in this case 10 days, then work can continue with the final stage, as shown in the 3rd panel. Here in the final stage, paint is added much thicker than before, to the correct colours and with details added, although the underpainting still partially still shows through. Once the painting is completed and dry a 'glazing' layer is added which is a part transparent application of paint held in an oil medium over the painting which is used to emphasize colours and depth in the scene.
The painting can be seen in greater detail on this link.
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| 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.
