Working on closeup 73

Working on closeup 73

A small snippet of a park based painting...

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.

Bishopsgate London - WIP stages

Bishopsgate London - WIP stages

WIP stages of Bishopsgate/ Liverpool street oil painting

This landscape oil painting is of a central/ east London view. The area is known as Bishopsgate on the edge of the busy financial district of the city. Painted on mounting board, the artwork measures 33” x 24” approx, and the image above shows progressive work on the painting.

In the first panel can be seen the drawing, done in dark brown acrylic paint on a yellow ochre 'ground' wash, also done in acrylics. I use such paint for this part of the process as it is quick drying, rather than oil paint. Next the oil paintings are opened and a basic colour wash is applied with the paints being diluted with thinner as seen in the 2^nd panel. The colours and tones are 'blocked in' to give a rough indication of the direction of the artwork. Once this level is dry then thicker paint levels are applied with careful views to getting the correct colours and tones. Also details are added at this stage, as can be viewed in the 3^rd panel. Finally the 4^th panel shows the finished oil painting of this urban landscape.

The artwork can be seen in detail on this link.

Working on closeup 59

Working on closeup 59

A small snipped of a street scene at London's Bishopsgate...

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.

New Forest Trees With Shadows WIP stages

New Forest Trees With Shadows WIP stages

New Forest trees with shadows - WIP

The above composite image show the stages of painting 'New Forest trees with shadows', a shady scene set in the New Forest, Hampshire.
In the first panel the scene is drawn up in brown acrylic paint straight on to the stretched watercolour paper. Sometimes I do put a ground base wash of a single colour over the whole image area but on this instance I did not.The second panel shows the base colours added of the scene, also known as the 'under-painting'. The colours tend to be darker versions of the final intended colours and with few details added at this stage. The final panel shows the finished painting, with the final colours and details applied on top of the under-painting. The painting itself is sized at 12" x 16" and all the paint is acrylic.
The final artwork can be seen here.

Decorative door in archway set in stone wall surrounded by plants

Decorative door in archway set in stone wall surrounded by plants

 

This distinctive and pretty, wooden door was found at the gardens at Pecorama, in the UK. I was caught not only by the pretty archway, but also the way that the afternoon dappled light was playing across the white door and the stone wall, itself full of interesting forms and colours, as it fell through the foliage growing around the archway. The setting may give the impression of being old but is probably only a few years old.

The painting is done in oils, on a canvas board measuring 10” x 12” , on top of a blank red acrylic base.

Decorative door in archway set in stone wall surrounded by plants at pecorama, devon