Dreamer

A young woman serenely floats above a deserted city street. She seems asleep, probably dreaming. Is this her dream? Is she moving towards the far end of the street where it seems to abruptly end and enters the land of nightmares or is she moving away from a nightmare into the morning light of a new day, possibly hopeful but where is everyone? Is the light on her face coming from her bedside light?

I decided to paint something that to me falls under the heading of Imaginative Realism, after all it's real (kind of) but is completely imagined (apart from the reference photo of the figure, thanks Lucy!). I really tried to stretch the perspective so that there is a vertiginous drop at the bottom of the picture which then pans out to a level horizon of building silhouettes against the red sky (this background was always in my mind right from the early planning stage). It was important that the figure is not read as a giant standing on a Lilliput-sized street so I ensured that her feet float above a patch of light, there would normally be a shadow from them if she was standing there; I also put a shadow of the figure on the near building at right. The whole painting is based around a red/orange - green/blue complementary with a yellow - violet coming in as the street gets nearer. Oil on canvas 23 1/2" x 35 1/2". There is a step-by-step progress through this painting on earlier posts on this blog.

Dreamer - stage 11

A few more tweaks to the building on the right and then I painted in the basic figure showing for the first time my idea of a warm light on the head and shoulders. Is it the light from her bedroom lamp as she sleeps? Stopped here to assess tomorrow morning where I am going with the figure.

Dreamer - stage 10

Finished the street (bar an odd tweak) and have painted in the building on the right, again adjusting the scale to the figure by making the windows smaller yet again.

Dreamer - stage 9

Well it took longer than I thought to paint the street and I still haven't quite finished, there is still the road level behind her head and the street lights to finish off. I also noticed that the scale of the figure to the building on the right was wrong, she was looking too small so I have made the windows smaller which gives me a bit more wall to paint her shadow onto so that was quite handy!

Dreamer - stage 8

Should hopefully finish the street tomorrow. I have introduced a bit more green/blue into the colours as I felt it was looking a bit dowdy so I decided to make it more colourful by emphasising the red/orange - green/blue complementary.

Dreamer - stage 7

Put some work into the background today, boy am I getting sick of windows....should nearly finish the street tomorrow.

Dreamer - stage 6

Decided to change the colour scheme slightly by basing it around a green/blue - red/orange complementary axis. Hopefully it will make more sense tomorrow when I finish the background and start to bring in the new colour arrangement more into the foreground.

Dreamer - stage 5

Made a start on the main building on the left, not much to show for it yet but hopefully tomorrow's session will show more of a difference.

Dreamer - stage 4

Finished off the basic transparent underpainting using a varying mix of Manganese Violet and Ultramarine Blue thinned with Liquin for all areas apart from the figure and the building at far right. This underpainting has proved quite fiddly due to all the windows and architectural detail that needs to be picked out from the original "drawing", hopefully the fun will begin when it comes to using the opaque paint. I chose violet as the underpainting for the light areas as it is a complementary to the light yellows and oranges that will go over it.

Dreamer - stage 3

Well I got some colour on today including the beginnings of how I want the background to look but stopped here as I need to fix in my mind what main colour the light areas are going to be. Fresh eyes tomorrow morning will hopefully sort this out! I have always seen the main part of the painting in blues and greys......
When I have finished this picture I think the next one will be nature-based with no verticals, horizontals and straight lines - time to make a start on a commission from some friends for a Waterhouse-influenced Pre Raphaelite painting approximately four feet wide.

Dreamer - stage 2

Today I washed in a tonal underpainting using a rag with a mix of Dioxazine Purple and Burnt Sienna diluted with Liquin and turpentine. This finally gives me some idea about how this picture is to work. Tomorrow we add some colour!

Dreamer - stage 1

I would very much like to have my work included in an exhibition called "Infra:Real" at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York next year to which end I am painting this as a sample of how I approach Imaginative Realism, the theme of the show co-organised by Patrick and Jeannie Wilshire who recently kindly invited me to the recent Illuxcon event. 
I see this as quite a dreamlike picture of a woman floating in mid air above a strangely lit city street, her eyes closed as though she could be asleep, her shadow is cast on the nearby building at right as it is important that she is not seen as though she is a giant figure standing on a Lilliput - sized street! I have always seen this picture in my mind with a moon in a red background at the end of the street with a strongly directional light coming in from the left cutting across the street in a pattern of light and shadows (probably in blues) with another light illuminating her face and shoulders, the rest of her in shadow. I have decided to draw this up relatively precisely and let it dry overnight before I put in the tonal underpainting with a rag tomorrow. It is important that the drawing is right early on as buildings always show up any inconsistencies in placements of windows etc. As can be seen I gridded up the figure and then erased the grid once the lines were in. All "drawing" up has been with a mix of Dioxazine Purple and Burnt Sienna diluted with Liquin and turpentine.

"Chrysler Blues" for Masterclass in Artists & Illustrators magazine

I have been asked to write an article for the upcoming issue of Artists & Illustrators magazine; it is a "Masterclass" feature on how I painted "Chrysler Blues" (now sold). It will include the original sketch, reference photo's, palette and colours used and a step-by-step progress through the painting. Luckily I keep a step-by-step photo record of all my paintings so I was able to say yes to this commission and a forthcoming one in the December issue, I will write about this one nearer the time.

Artist Of The Year

You can now vote (hopefully for me!) in the Artist Of The Year competition in Artists & Illustrators magazine. Here is the link:
http://www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/shortlist2014

Shortlisted for "Artist Of The Year"!

"Streets Are Paved With Gold" has been chosen by Artists & Illustrators magazine to represent me in the shortlist for their Artist Of The Year competition. As such the painting will be exhibited in the Mall Galleries, London from 6 - 17 January 2015. I am taking the painting up to their London office on Friday for the judging process to begin. Online judging for the Readers' Choice prize will start on 7 November on the magazine website - I will be reminding y'all to vote for me after that date!

Finalist in International Artist magazine's Landscape Challenge

I am happy to report that "Approaching Rain, Devil's Dyke" has been nominated as a finalist in the International Artist magazine's Landscape Challenge Number 84 competition. As such it will be published in the December/January 2015 issue 100 edition of the magazine; I also get a free one year subscription to the magazine and a certificate to join the other three on my studio wall. The icing on the cake would be now to sell it!