Faeral - stage 5

Worked on the background this session, deciding on the three lightest areas and where to put them, the brightest area of light shining through the trees being behind her horns. The greens and yellows in the actual painting are purer than how they look here in the photo. I am thinking of adding some Cadmium Reds into the painting but I will try that on the next session on Wednesday/Thursday.

Faeral - stage 4

Made a good start on the background, working out the where the light areas are going to go, the next stage probably being to cut in with highlights with dabs of opaque yellow-green/whites. I then will move on to the middle ground, hopefully on the Saturday afternoon/Sunday morning session.

Abend Gallery

Here is the Abend Gallery in Denver, Colorado that has two of my paintings in the exhibition "Inner Visions: Contemporary Imaginative Realism". The show runs to 11 November.

 

Faeral - stage 3

After a five day break from the painting while I was in Leicester helping my Dad after his leg cast came off on Wednesday I have finally been able to get some work done on Faeral. I had a good chance to think about where I want it to go in the interim and decided to merge her more into the trees as this would more reflect how she is like a Nature Spirit living in the woods, only the smoothness of her skin contrasting against the textured branches and ground differentiating her from the setting.  It will still be yellows and greens in the background shifting towards oranges at the horizon and then more red/browns in the foreground.

Faeral - stage 2

Managed to get home to put down the monochrome underpainting which now gives a good idea of the tonal design. I have manipulated the paint to give maximum amount of unplanned detail to try and mimic Nature which I will then start to work on top of to bring out the shadows and highlights, at this point I have been thinking about the way that Arthur Rackham drew trees and roots as the inspiration for the foreground. The paint mix of Burnt Sienna, Alizarin Crimson and Transparent Maroon thinned with Liquin was applied with an old battered bristle brush - a brush never loses it's usefulness even when looking totally knackered!
I am going to have some floating green (?) lights and maybe even a green light in her eyes, not sure yet.

Faeral - stage 1

After a three month layoff from painting due to me being away from the studio helping my elderly parents 150 miles away I am determined to make a start on a new painting even though I can only currently work on it one day in four. Some weeks ago I took reference photographs of the lovely Naomi Wood in her new persona The Feral Fairy and I resolved to do something with them as soon as I could. I have put her in a forest setting in a pose that she has been using recently as the Feral Fairy and intend to use a red/green complementary colour combination with yellows in the greens and oranges and violets in the reds. The design of the painting is being kept simple for maximum impact with all the foreground and figure in reds against a forest backdrop of yellows and greens.
This stage was "drawn" up with a thin bristle brush using a mix of Burnt Sienna, Winsor Violet and Alizarin Crimson thinned with Liquin and turpentine.

Abend Gallery Miniatures show

I will have six paintings in the 26th Annual Holiday Miniatures Show at the Abend Gallery, Denver, Colorado. The exhibition runs from 2 December to 31 December 2016 and I am very happy to be part of an exhibition with so many artists whose work I admire!
All the paintings are 12" x 12" oil on board:

"It's Time For Your Bath!"

Battersea Sunrise

Born Under A Bad Sign

Duck O' War

High Over Madurai

Piccadilly Circus 6 pm

Inner Visions

Here is the promotion page by the Abend Gallery for my work in the upcoming show at the gallery later this month.