River Sprite - stage 2

I have now painted in the colour underpainting leaving a few touches of the Burnt Sienna showing through which might be useful later as a complement to the mainly blue painting.

River Sprite - stage 1

This is a working title, not sure if I'm going to call it that yet. This will be a moonlit scene, quite simple, just a waterfall, a distant mountain and an indication of Autumn foliage in the middle ground. Hopefully hidden within the shape of the rocks behind, a small figure of a naked river sprite (really a Naiad but I already have that name in the title of a previous picture). The painting will be based on a blue green/ red orange complementary colour axis and will hopefully have a magical atmosphere through the colour and lighting. This stage has been rubbed in with a rag using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and turpentine.

Siren's Cove

A mermaid has just spotted a ship out to sea, very soon she will reach for her lyre and try and lure them in to her cove. This picture uses the same format as "Pool Of The Naiad" with values kept around the middle with no bright lights or dark shadows to try and suggest a dreamlike feel to the painting. This is another painting that I will think about taking to Illuxcon in September. Oil on canvas 11 3/4" x 31 1/2".

Siren's Cove - stage 4

I have just managed to get some blocking-in done on the foreground today before I head off to Leicester for three days which means I won't be able to get back to this until Sunday.

Siren's Cove - stage 3

I made the gap between the cliffs more of an interesting shape with more pinkish light falling on the left side to give the cove more shape and have pretty much finished the cliffs bar some tweaking when I get the foreground area in. Hmmm, maybe I will make that cave bigger on the right cliff...

Siren's Cove - stage 2

Made a start on the sky and cliffs using a palette knife on the cliffs. I think that I want to move the colour a bit more desaturated green/blue in the rocks and make the clouds softer and less defined.

Siren's Cove - stage 1

Using the same format as "Pool Of The Naiad" this one is of a mermaid lying on a rock with her lyre who has just spotted a ship approaching her cove. I am setting it at dusk so the colours will be variations on blues, violets, pinks and a touch or two of green and turquoise. I don't want it to go too dark and intend to keep the values in the middle range with the strong design and romantic colouring giving it visual interest, I don't envisage any bright highlights or deep shadow. This stage was washed in with a rag using Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with turpentine and Liquin.

Pool Of The Naiad

A Naiad (water nymph) puts her hand into the pool at the bottom of a waterfall; is she in contact with something/one below the water or maybe catching a fish or just playing with the water? That's up to the viewer. In terms of design, I wanted everything in the bottom two thirds of the picture to be tonally similar to contrast with the top third in sunlight, the lower part to suggest another world perhaps an underworld inhabited by nymphs and other spirits. There is a nod to Maxfield Parrish with the flowers in the urn with everything again painted soft to give an impression of a Dream World. This is a painting that I will consider taking to Illuxcon in September. 11 3/4" x 31 1/2" oil on canvas. There is a step-by-step series of posts on this blog to show the progress through the various stages of the painting.

Pool Of The Naiad - stage 4

Trying to keep the bottom two thirds tonally similar to maintain the design of the picture as I  imagined it. A touch of Maxfield Parrish in the flowers in the urn and generally happy so far with the look of the painting - soft and warm! Hopefully this is one for Illuxcon.

Pool Of The Naiad - stage 3

I forgot to mention in stage 1 that I blocked in the tonal underpainting with a mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with turpentine and Liquin using a rag. Today I put in most of the waterfall and made a start on the bottom of the picture, trying to keep a warm magical atmosphere working within the chosen analgous colours that I have chosen to use.

Toscana D'Oro sold

Imagine gallery in Long Melford, Suffolk has just sold "Toscana D'Oro" one of a series of four paintings each one based on a single colour that I produced for an exhibition in the Cotswolds a few years ago. 18 1/2" x 18 1/2" oil on board.

Pool Of The Naiad - stages 1 and 2

Carrying on with the format of "The Setting Of The Sun" this painting will have a small Naiad (water nymph) putting her hand into the pool at bottom left. Whether she is making contact with something/one below the water or just dipping her hand in is open to conjecture. I want a very dreamy feel to this picture with all the painting below the sky soft and not too distinct in a relatively limited palette of reds, oranges, yellows and greens. 

Meenakshi Green

A green building attached to the walls of the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, India. Still trying out this soft look to my work which takes advantage of the canvas surface being well suited to this way of painting. I tried to keep the basic shapes simple but strong with well defined areas of colour and tone, the darkest area being solely the night sky. Oil on canvas 15 1/2" x 15 1/2". A step-by-step progress through the painting is on preceding posts on this blog.

"The Future May Never Happen" sold

I have just sold "The Future May Never happen" yesterday when I delivered it to the buyer and then had a chance to go into London and finally after five months stock up with paints and canvases at Cass Arts. Incidentally the painting is about so-called fortune telling; I had gone to a supposed psychic for a tarot reading some years ago who posited a future so much what I wanted that I was on a high for a good while afterwards. Then after a while doubt started to enter my mind and I began to consider the possibility that it might not actually happen although at this stage I still basically felt that it would/could. So that is me (or anybody else waiting for a prediction to happen) waiting to see what comes down the road because sooner or later something will and will it be what you were hoping for? The sun shines directly down the road but is it about to be hidden by the cloud or is it just coming out from the cloud, the rays of hope to be snuffed out or burst forth? ......needless to say it didn't happen in the end.

Meenakshi Green - stages 2 and 3

Haven't had a chance to post recently so here are stages 2 and 3 of "Meenakshi Green". Trying to be careful with the values as I have a certain design to this picture in mind and don't want for instance the dark of the sky anywhere else in the picture (which I would normally do) as I want all the ground lighter than the sky. I am also trying to simplify the shapes a bit to emphasise the composition of the rectangle of green against the red/oranges and purples elsewhere in the painting.

Meenakshi Green - stage 1

This a bright green building attached to the outside of the Shri Meenakshi temple in Madurai, India that I visited in 2012. Again I want a soft image with strong shapes to which end I have put the first stage in with a rag using a mix of Burnt Sienna, Dioxazine Purple and Alizarin Crimson thinned with Liquin and turpentine. This also of course gives me a tonal underpainting that sorts out any composition issues before I start using colour.

The Setting Of The Sun

This is annoying, I cannot get a decent photograph of this; it is painted very softly onto canvas but the face comes out blotchy every time so this will have to do. I'm not that happy with the picture  anyway but I do like the lower half of the painting and gives me some food for thought for a very moody landscape next.......although it is frustrating that my art materials shop has ran out of this format canvas so I can't get on with another until they are back in stock. 12" x 32" oil on canvas.

Motel

Another version of the Royal Motel in San Francisco (probably not there anymore) this time painted on canvas in a softer way with the central part of the building in focus and the rest of the picture more out of focus as you go away from the centre. It is based on a yellow/violet complementary colour axis, influenced by the look of the old Kodachrome colour film. There is a step-by-step progress through this painting in earlier posts on this blog. 15 1/2" x 15 1/2" oil on canvas.

Motel - stage 4

I am trying to get the colours to look a bit like the old Kodachrome colour photo's from the 50's and 60's. Hope to finish it tomorrow. Trying to remember to keep it soft, not using any Liquin with this, just the paint with no medium.

Motel - stage 3

Finally managed to get some work done on "Motel" after spending more time than expected on "The Setting Of The Sun". Still based on a yellow/violet complementary axis, I am going to have darker tones in the bottom part of the picture to make the top part look light and relatively insubstantial as I want it to have a dreamlike quality. I will paint a yellowish white scumble over the lettering tomorrow.