Dome Of The Assassin

A painting destined to go to this year's Illuxcon. On a moonlit night high above a bay a lone figure creeps stealthily across the roof of an Oriental palace. He is lit from behind, possibly from an open door that he has just left, possibly to make his escape or maybe he is on his way towards the dome where his quarry unknowingly lies in wait. Here is the assassin who has been sent to kill the Emir.
This picture is based on a very simple blue - red/orange complementary in my current high contrast, high saturation mode of painting. The most difficult part of the painting was the lighting of the dome as I wanted it to have some texture as well as looking convincing as a structure. It is such a simple composition and the focal point of the picture has to be right - simple compositions aren't always simple to paint!  Oil on canvas 20" x 23 1/2". There is a step-by-step progress though this painting on earlier posts on this blog.

"Mirador De Mal Pas" sold

A painting of Majorca from a few years ago, "Mirador De Mal Pas" has just been sold by Asgard Arts to a buyer in New York. It is a view of Cap de Formentor, the title being the vantage point in the top right corner.

"Waiting For The Sun" Sold

Jane Frank at Worlds Of Wonder has sold "Waiting For The Sun". I left this and some other paintings with her to advertise on her website after they were exhibited at last year's Illuxcon. It was painted in June 2014 when I was recovering from an eye operation. Oil on canvas 39" x 16".

Dome Of The Assassin - stage 6

Today was pretty much just carrying on what I was doing yesterday, darkening the sea, sorting out the moonlight and working on the foreground with not a lot to show for it in a way, that's how it goes sometimes.

Dome Of The Assassin - stage 5

Spent the day refining most parts of the picture; trying to sort out the shaft of moonlight that I had decided to paint differently to how I had planned, making the distant land darker so that I can make the sea a darker more intense blue tomorrow and finally carrying on sorting out the foreground building. I wanted to get this finished by Wednesday before I go away for a few days but I don't think I will be able to - no point hurrying it, I might f*** it up!

Dome Of The Assassin - stage 4

Got down a darker blue for the sea will but have to wait until tomorrow to finish the shaft of moonlight as the white wasn't quite dry. Also carried on working on the foreground building including the refinement of the shape of the dome itself.

American Art Collector magazine posts my work on Facebook

The American Art Collector magazine has very kindly posted my work on Facebook to tie in with my feature in the current January 2015 issue. It has garnered a healthy number of "Likes" and comments which all helps to get my work out there in front of hopefully the right people! 

Here is the link to their Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/AmericanArtCollector

Dome Of The Assassin - stage 3

Worked on the background, trying to keep it soft to maximise the sense of distance and put a bit of work into the dome area. Tomorrow I hope to get the intense blues into the background and to finish off the moonlight reflection as I need to get these in before I can judge the tones of the foreground.

Dome Of The Assassin - stage 2

Put some colour down today although feeling fairy lousy due to a heavy cold. The painting will be based on that ol' favourite, the blue/orange complementary with some purples in the area where the blue and orange lights meet on the dome.

Dome Of The Assassin - stage 1

Time to do a painting for Illuxcon. A small figure creeps across the roof of an oriental palace towards a dome, maybe to make his escape maybe towards his quarry but either way this is an assassin sent to kill the Emir. It is set on a moonlit night the background all in blues, an orange light illuminates the side of the dome and casts a long shadow from the stealthy figure over the rooftop. I first "drew" it up using an old small bristle brush with a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet (Dioxazine) thinned with Liquin and then using a rag with the same mix thinned with turpentine a tonal underpainting was painted ready for the first application of colour tomorrow.

Michigan Red

The red shutters of this derelict building on Michigan Avenue, Detroit were the attraction for painting this although instead of surrounding them with the green complementary I chose analogous colours instead as I had used the red/green complementary on another recent painting. The centrally-based symmetrical composition is offset by a strong diagonal shadow occupying one third of the picture area to break this up with the lightest and darkest parts equally placed each side of the centre but of course tonally opposite to also break up the otherwise boring symmetry. Oil on linen 20" x 16". There is a step-by-step progress through this painting on previous posts on this blog. 

Michigan Red - stage 4

Couldn't get on with all the sky as the top right corner was still wet this morning; I like to get the sky finished early as it sets the light and tone for the rest of the painting. I am trying to have the whole picture hanging off the red of the shutters so I am carefully keeping all the other colours relatively desaturated so that the red really "sings" out. There will be another small area of strong red just to the right of the building as there was a red fire hydrant placed there.

Infected By Art

I have had a painting surprisingly accepted for the Infected By Art annual book. Most of the work accepted is very figurative with very few landscapes as such so I wasn't really expecting to get anything in. Of the three I entered "Approaching The Citadel" was the one chosen, the painting itself already sold to Patrick and Jeannie Wilshire at last year's Illuxcon.

Michigan Red - stages 2 and 3

First of all I got some colour down to give me an idea of where it's going. I decided to base the whole picture around the red of the shutters but keeping the colours analogous instead of of using the complementary green although there is a bit of green in the pavement and background trees. I like how the composition of the centrally placed building is offset by the shadow area producing an unequal area to the amount of picture in the light yet has two more equal and centrally spaced features each side of the building - the contrasting lightest part of the painting, the sun and the darkest part, the background tree. I couldn't work on the sky in stage three as it hadn't dried from the previous days' painting.

Artist Of The Year Private View

I popped into the Mall Galleries yesterday with Rich Newman for the Private View of the Artist Of The Year exhibition run by Artists & Illustrators magazine. I didn't win it (thank you to all those who voted for me however!) but it was nice to see my work hanging in the Mall Galleries again and had a useful chat with the Editor, Steve Pill. The exhibition is the result of an annual competition in Artists & Illustrators magazine the First Prize being pretty good I must admit, £1000 cash, a seven day cruise for two in the Aegean and a solo show at the Jonathan Cooper Gallery in London. I had my painting "Royal Motel" shown in the same competition a few years ago at a Knightsbridge gallery and only decided to enter "Streets Are Paved With Gold" for this years' competition at the last minute.

There it is in the left corner

Streets Are Paved With Gold

Michigan Red - stage 1

This was on Michigan Avenue, Detroit a few years ago, not sure if it is still derelict - probably! The title will become apparent when I put in the red shutters on the ground floor of the building. I have offset the centrally placed building by having a low sun on the left and all the right side of the painting in shadow. This was "drawn" up first with a thin bristle brush using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and turpentine and then a tonal underpainting was put down with a brush and rag using the same paint mixture.

Talking Dolls

This mad building is located near the previous painting "Topless" in a run-down area on the outskirts of Detroit. It is quite a long building covered in brash colours and typography, I chose this end as I liked the words "Talking Dolls" which I thought would make a great title too. This was quite difficult to paint as I had many colours to try and get to work together as well as all the typography to put in; I thought the best way of dealing with it would be to break it up by having shadows of trees from the low sun projected onto it. This broke up the lines and potentially distracting solid areas of colour and gave prominence to "Talking Dolls" as being the only words fully in the light. To make the building look illuminated by a low afternoon sun I painted the sky quite dark keeping the turquoise a bit neutralised by adding some orange so that the bright colours on the building could "sing" against it. Oil on linen 20" x 16". There is a step-by-step progress through this painting on earlier posts on this blog.

Talking Dolls - stage 5

Not quite finished yet but got the lettering in yesterday, darkened the sky at top and made a start on the foreground road. A few finicky bits of detail to put in and tweak the lettering and lighting on the building, finish the foreground and that should be it....

Talking Dolls - stage 4

A day of fiddling around with areas getting them ready to put the lettering on tomorrow.

Talking Dolls - stage 3

The sky has been painted rich and dark so the that the light and shadows work on the building, it has to look illuminated by the low sunlight. This is quite a tricky painting as I have to make all the different colours work tonally against each other as well as work out the shadow colours...and then I have the lettering to deal with. Still I think it will be worth it when it's finished.....