M7 Steam engine in the Southern Countryside - WIP stages

Railway painting featuring M7 tank locomotive in the country WIP.

A steam railway engine is shown running through the southern English countryside in a 1950s setting. The artwork is sized at 22" x 16" and painted in oils on mounting board. It was done for reproduction as a greeting card, sized at 7” x 5”, for a railway society.

The panel above shows three stages of the paintings evolution. In the first panel the drawing, done in dark brown acrylic paint can be seen, which is painted on a brown wash. White paint has been added to indicate tonally lighter areas, such as the sky. Moving on to the second panel a basic set of colours has been added using diluted oil paint. This is done to indicate where the colours and tonal variations are within the artwork, and act as an underpainting. The third and final panel features the finished oil painting. Here the paint has been applied over the underpainting in a thicker and more refined manner, and detail added. This nostalgic railway scene can be seen in better resolution by following this link.

 

Southampton Common tree by path in Autumn - WIP stages

Southampton Common tree by path in Autumn - WIP stages

Stages of a painting of a tree at the entrance to Southampton city common.

A tree in Autumn features in this seasonal landscape study. The tree is one to be found within Southampton Common, Hampshire, near to the entrance.

Shown in the picture above are four stages of the painting. In the first, the basic scene has been drawn out in brown acrylics on a yellow ochre flat colour, also done in acrylics. A basic indication of shading has been added. The second panel has some colour added in the way of a wash of diluted oil colour, used to indicate areas of colour and tone. These are not the final painted colours for now, and are left to dry. Moving on to the 3^rd panel it can be seen that paint has been applied heavier on to the painting, over the previous, dried layers. These colours are now truer to the intended tone and the painting has become more detailed in these areas. The final panel shows the completed work, with all the final layer of paint applied. A additional stage was to give most of the painting a 'glaze', which is where a further level is applied in the form of translucent colours mixed with a clear painting medium. It is similar to stained glass, though not as strong, but this helps to enhance the colours when seen by the human eye as light travels through the extra layer, hits the underlying area and bounces back. A camera does not see this effect however when a photograph is taken.

On other point of interest is that the support (canvas) is home made. This is to say that un-primed canvas material was purchased from a fabric shop and then fixed to a wooden stretcher bar, home made from scraps of wood. Once the canvas was stretched tight over the wooden stretcher bar, it was primed ready for painting. It was found that the painting surface was quite smooth.

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

London Cockspur St bus stop - WIP stages

 London Cockspur St bus stop - WIP stages

Stages of development of a London street painting.

A wet summers day at Cockspur Street, central London is the subject of this landscape painting, featuring two famous red London buses at a bus stop very close to Trafalgar Square. A number of tourists, having disembarked of the leading are presumably planning a trip to the nearby square.

The image above shows 4 stages of the creation process regarding the artwork. The first panel features the initial stage with the scene drawn out in brown acrylic on a yellow ochre wash, also done with acrylic paint. To the right in the second panel stage, a wash of diluted oil paint has been applied to suggest basic colour choices. This will act as underpainting and will be, as shown in the third panel painted over with thicker paint, to the correct colour and tonal values. Also in this layer of painting, finer details are applied. The final panel shows the completed London street scene painting, which can be seen on this link in better detail.

London National Gallery in the winter - WIP stages

London National Gallery in the winter - WIP stages

London's National Gallery landscape painting WIP

Shown above are four panels demonstrating development of an oil painting. The subject is a view of the National Gallery, London, situated in Trafalgar Square. In the first panel can be seen the line drawing, done with acrylic paint on a coloured ground. White acrylic paint is used to show areas of highlights/ high tones. The second panel features the basic underpainting colours applied to the painting, which give a basic tonal and colour representation of the subjects, although kept to the darker tones overall. In the third panel the final layer of paint is applied, this time thickly than before and with the correct colour and tonal balance. Also detail is painted in at this stage. Finally, the last panel shows the completed painting, which measures 44” x 37”.

It can be viewed at full detail on this link.

Cows in Devon Field-WIP oil painting

Cows in Devon field oil painting, WIP

This image shows a painting of some cows in a field in Devon, painted in oils during June 2014. Three stages are shown, the first stage the initial drawing on to a 16" x 20" canvas board done in brown acrylic. The second stage is a base colour layer again done in acrylics, using darker tones generally. The third stage shows the final oil painted layer.
The artists web site is here.

Cows in Devon field oil painting, WIP