Plein air painting 120 

Another very cold day following on from the last post with the urban sketchers, this time at Shamrock Quay, Southampton, situated on the banks of the River Itchen. I did not pick a view of any water or boats but examined the architecture on the local business on the quay side with the carpark in front. In the latter stages freezing cold rain came in and I finished off the painting working under a boat on stilts.
Painted 2nd March 2024. Oil on mounting board 12 X 9.5".

Plein air painting 118

On the 6th January 2024 the urban sketchers (facebook group) met at Ocean village, Southampton. It was a very cold Saturday morning, not helped by standing in the shade of a large building where I missed out on warmth from what little sun there was, and wanted to get it done as soon as possible. Painted in oils on mounting board, sized at 12 x 9.5"over a 1 ½ hours.

Plein air painting 92

Completed during mid November 2022, a view containing a muddy path running through part of Southampton's 'Old' cemetery is pictured here. Originally the painting had been started a few weeks previously, but rain forced me to stop at the time. I timed my return visit to complete it so that the weather/ light would be similar, including a wet ground. Fortunately it didn't rain the second time. It was interesting to note just over those few weeks how the foliage on the trees had changed or disappeared.
This oil painted scene was done on cardboard sized at 12" x 9.5.

London National Gallery In The Winter - oil painting

London National Gallery In The Winter - oil painting

London's National gallery during winter - oil painting

Completed during autumn 2018 the subject of this painting is the world famous National Gallery at Trafalgar Square, London. The original was built in the 1830's but has been heavily modified as time passed so only the front of the building is true, the rest needing to accommodate the expanding collection. During the 1980s a whole new section was built, known as the 'The Sainsbury Wing'.

The painting features a cold, winters day at the location, and is painted at 23.4 x 33.1 inches on mounting board in oils.

This painting of the famous London landmark can be examined in greater detail here.

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.

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.

Winter shopping season Southampton - oil painting

Winter shopping season Southampton - oil painting

Winter shopping season Southampton - 24" 36" oil painting

During very early 2018, the important Southampton City Art Gallery held an open exhibition where the theme was 'the seasons'. I created 3 oil paintings for this exhibition which were exhibited, and the one featuring in this post also won the competition beating over 500 other entries.

It shows a miserable, winters day in the middle of the shopping zone of Southampton City. It has been raining and members of the public have only the thoughts of shopping on their minds as they use the road crossing. One of the main features of the painting is the wet surfaces and puddles, that adds lots of visual interest to the scene in the form of reflections and damp surfaces.

The painting is done in oils on a canvas sized at 24” x 36”, and took approx 4 weeks to paint, during December 2017.
Details and pictures of the exhibition can be seen here.
The painting can be seen at a larger scale on this link.

Winter shopping season Southampton - WIP stages

Winter shopping season Southampton - WIP stages

Winter shopping season Southampton - WIP stages

This painting was created during late November/ December 2017. The subject is a rainy day along a street in central Southampton, UK. It was created in response to an 'open' exhibition at the Southampton main gallery, the subject being 'the seasons'. This painting came 1st place the competition out of over 500+ entries.

Above is an image showing a composite of the painting being worked up in stages. In the first panel can be seen the initial drawing, done in brown acrylic paint on a reddish ground (base). In the second panel work can be seen on the application of oil paint, though these are just the base layers or under-painting. In the third panel it can be seen that quite a few layers are now being applied with details added as the work progress. The fourth panel shows the finished painting.
Follow this link to view the final painting at a larger scale.

Southampton open art competition 2018 winning ART

Southampton open art competition 2018 winning ART

Martin Davey with the 'Winter Shopping Season Southampton' oil painting on display at the gallery

During January 2018 I participated in the 'open art' competition held at the important Southampton City art gallery, UK. The subject was the 'seasons', and this subject could be interpreted in any way, not just the time of the year. I produced 3 paintings during the last few months of 2017, for handing in during January the following year, and was pleased to find that all three paintings were selected for the exhibition. One painting however actually won the exhibition (Winter Shopping Season Southampton), coming in to win the 1^st prize in the main category, beating over 500+ pieces of other artwork..

All three paintings are landscape in subject, and based on local places. One is of a location in the New Forest, very near to the city of Southampton. The other two show locations in the city, the first one being the Cenotaph in one of the main parks within Southampton. The remaining picture shows a pedestrian crossing along one of the main streets used by shoppers.

The prize giving was held on the 3^rd February at the gallery with many in attendance, with the Mayor of the city awarding the prizes. 

Picture label with judges comments

The painting with the other top winning entries

The three paintings at the gallery, submitted for the 'seasons' open art competition 2018.

 

Winter Building Site Breaker - oil painting

Winter Building Site Breaker - oil painting

Winter Building Site Breaker - oil painting

During November 2017 this painting was created showing a scene on a building site within central Southampton, UK. The digger like machine is a breaker, which is being used to break up the old concrete on the site before building commences. It is a wet and damp winters day and some workmen are looking at a small hole during the work. In the background can be seen some of the common landmarks of the area, though this scene has now disappeared and some new flats and houses now occupy the land.

The painting is done on mounting board using oil paints, and the image is sized at 20” x 28”.

The finished painting can be seen more clearly here.

 

Needles From Hengistbury Head - oil painting

Needles From Hengistbury Head - oil painting

Needles From Hengistbury Head - oil painting

Hengistbury Head is featured in this painting done during May 2017. The location is on the 'spit' of land, near to the town of Christchurch in Dorset. In this coastal view we see the mixture of sand and tough grass that grows at such locations, with tyre tracks from bicycles snaking through the sand. In the distance and across Solent water are the 'needles' as featured on the coast of the Isle of Wight. It was painted and based on a photo taken on a sunny but cold December day.

The painting is done on stretched paper measuring 16” x 12” and is painted in oil paint.

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. 

Lepe Beach Windy Winter Day - acrylic painting

Lepe Beach Windy Winter Day - acrylic painting

Lepe Beach Windy Winter Day - acrylic painting

This acrylic painting was created during December 2016 just before Christmas. It is painted on paper sized at 16” x 12”. Shown is a scene on a cold, winters day at Lepe, an area of coastline on the South of England in the county of Hampshire. A mother and daughter can be seen on the seashore, a 'castle' shaped bucket to the side. On the sea can be seen a man on a water-ski being propelled by a kite. In the far distance past the active, wavy sea, can be seen the Isle of Wight. 

The painting can be seen in close up here.

working on closeup 21

working on closeup 21

A small WIP snippet of a winter beach scene done in acrylics... 

WIP Hampshire beach with Mother and child acrylic painting

Horses in Countryside Snow - digital painting

Horses in Countryside Snow - digital painting

Horses in Countryside Snow - digital painting

This countryside themed painting was created during early January 2017. Depicted in the painting is a countryside scene in the midst of winter on a crisp snowy day with bright sunshine and blue skies.Two horses are about taking in the changes to their normally grassy landscape. 

This is a subject I would normally painting in oils or acrylic paint but here it is painted digitally on a computer, the scene itself is just made up. The software used is ' Auto Sketchbook pro', with a small amount of texture details added in photoshop, plus some regrading colour wise to finish off the painting.

http://martin-davey.pixels.com/featured/horses-in-countryside-snow-martin-davey.html

Winter Hilliers Garden Hampshire - oil painting

Winter Hilliers Garden Hampshire - oil painting

Winter Hilliers Garden Hampshire - oil painting 20" x 16"

This painting shows a scene at Hilliers Gardens, Hampshire, near to Romsey, during a sunny winters day. The lake has already been the subject of two painting by myself and this feature of the gardens is probably the focal point for the gardens and looks good whatever the season or weather. The gardens have many permanently installed pieces of art to be found, mainly done as metal work. The figure in the lake is in fact a life size metal statue.

The painting was completed during November 2016. It is done in oils on paper sized at 20” x 16”.

#hilliers #Hampshire #garden #art #painting

Children and Snowman playing together

Children and Snowman playing together

This illustration was created in the last days of 2013, and features a large snowman wearing a hat, carrot and scarf having fun in the snow with two happy children. I decided to give the children 'manga' features and have a slightly graphic look to the image by having a pattern of snowflakes and beams of light rather than a 'scene' as such, creating a bold and simple composition. The fan of light beams helps to focus on the subject matter.

The illustration is created in photshop to A3 size.

Children and Snowman playing together

Southampton Watts Park in the Snow

Southampton Watts Park in the Snow

This painting was created in early 2013 and is based on a crude photograph taken with my mobile phone a few weeks before of Watts Park (also known as West Park) when covered with snow. I took a number of pictures at the time and the romantic couple seen here were added from one of those to help give a sense of scale and interest. The statue is of Issac Watts, a famous resident of the town of Southampton. Born in 1674, Watts was a leading nonconformist. I thought the dark, bare trees made an interesting contrast to the fresh white snow.

The painting has a base of red acrylic paint, followed with the actual painting done in oil. It its painted at size of 16” x 20” on canvas. 

Southampton Watts Park in the Snow

children playing in snow

Children playing in snow

Painted in photoshop and completed yesterday (30 nov). This image was quite easy to do and just 'fell out of the pen'. It is A4 sized as well. I think the simple layout and colour pallette have work out quite well. I wish it could always be this quick/successful!

from the website...
This is a companion piece to this one with children on a snow sleigh. This digital illustration features two children building a snow man was painted straight afterward the snow sleigh painting. It is created in photoshop and done to A4 size. Winter sun is bright and fresh so it was important to make this appealing in the illustration. The childrens outdoor clothes are colurful, in particular the girls. The horizon is slightly bent in to a curve, on purpose to make it slighty softer, rather than have straight, strict lines. The snowmans arms are likewise positioned almost pointing upwards, as if its happy. Painted in 2010.  

Christmas Card 2009 dinosaur carol singers

Dinosaur Carol Singers

This was painted in photoshop very late 2009. It was the christmas card for that year. As you can see I have had fun with the 'Dickensian' traditional christmas, and it is always nice to research clothes of the period. Very few were printed out and sent. Instead it was mostly sent via an email attachment. 

from the website...
This was painted in photoshop to A5 size during 2011. I like to portray dinosaurs in more contemporary settings than pre 65million years ago. The combination of a victorian themed christmas adds more humour in to the strange mix. I did some basic research in to the clothes of the era and the rest is typical of what one finds on a commercial christmas card.