Here Comes The Rain - stage 4

In the few hours this morning before I am away from the studio until Wednesday I have put more work into the sky. After painting in the darks of the foreground I have realised that I have to harmonise some of the tones in the sky to these darks so I won't be finishing this until the end of my next visit to the studio.

Here Comes The Rain - stages 1 to 3

This is the second nocturne in the short series, this one concentrating mainly on the sky. The colours are based around mixes of Kings Blue Light, Phthalocyanine Turquoise, Phthalocyanine Blue, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon, Warm White and Permanent Orange to knock back the saturation. The model is the lovely Ruth Netania from some photos I had taken of her a couple of years ago. I have approached this picture with a mind to finishing it in just a couple of sessions although I suspect that it won't be finished until I return to the studio on Wednesday after I leave tomorrow morning.
The first stage was "drawn" up with a small bristle brush and a rag using a mix of Ultramarine Violet and Permanent Orange thinned with Liquin and turpentine.
The second stage was a basic layer of paint to establish the shapes in the clouds to be a general tonal underpainting using Lukas Number 5 Medium in the clouds in the morning session so that it was dry for the afternoon session of stage three when I started to define the tones and shapes more in the sky.

Midnight Bay

This is the first of a series of three nocturne paintings that I am now doing which are a nice counterpoint to the more complex pictures that I have recently been painting. I wanted to keep it within a narrow range of colours between blue and green greys which are based around a green/blue - red/orange colour complementary axis, the orange in this case being mixed into the blue/greens to tone down the saturation. Originally in my mind's eye the foreground figure and rocks were going to be silhouetted but I later realised that it was too big an area to get away with it so I made it semi-silhouette. The model for the figure was as usual, the lovely Naomi Wood. I really enjoyed painting the sky so the next picture will be much more of a sky piece. This will be a painting for possible inclusion in what I take to Illuxcon in October. 
Oil on linen 18" x 24". There is a step-by-step progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog.

Artists & Illustrators magazine

A friend has notified me that I am a featured artist for April 2017 on the Portfolio Plus page of the website for Artists & Illustrators magazine although I notice that I need to update my pages in Portfolio Plus as a number of the paintings marked available are actually sold.

Midnight Bay - stage 4

I managed to get a couple of hours work done on my return to the studio this afternoon and decided to get the foreground underpainting in. Originally in my mind's eye I saw the foreground as all silhouette but realised that it was too big an area to get away with that so I will have the figure and rocks in semi-silhouette in the final painting.

Midnight Bay - stage 3

Before I go away from the studio (back on Sunday) I have managed to get the sky pretty much how I want it and have painted in the distant rocky coastline. I am trying to keep the colours within a narrow range of green greys and blue greys which is now coming across at this point. It is a deliberately simple painting which I could finish the next time I am in the studio as a nice change from the previous more detailed pictures I have been doing recently.

Midnight Bay - stages 1 & 2

After the relative complexity of recent work I have resolved to paint three simple nocturnes as a change of pace. I am working larger than I normally would paint a picture like this as I am now more used to it and not so intimidated by a larger size like I used to be. It will be a relatively monochromatic picture, the colours and tones being mixes of variations of blue/green and red/oranges.
The first stage was "drawn" up with a small bristle brush and rag using a mix of Ultramarine Violet and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and turpentine.
The second stage was blocked in with varying mixes of Kings Blue Light, Ultramarine Blue, Winsor Green, Emerald Green, Permanent Orange, Lemon Yellow and Warm White.

The Exit To San Breta

This is a private commission from a buyer that wanted a painting based around the short story by George R R Martin called "The Exit To San Breta" and is the nearest picture to illustration I have done for a good number of years. Like when I used to paint book jacket illustrations I have chosen to create a feeling of the setting of the story as opposed to any actual incident and was trying envisage a lonely gas station dwarfed by the vast Arizona landscape. It was important that I got a particular time of dusk for the sky, the story happens at night but I thought it would be spookier if I chose that time when the last of the daylight is in the sky, this makes the loneliness of the gas station more apparent and I didn't want it to be too dark either. The composition is based on the Rule Of Thirds with the positioning of the horizon, gas station and main sign all at third/two third intervals on the vertical and horizontal edges of the picture frame, and is based on a blue/orange complementary colour axis with some guest colours for variety.
I chose a panoramic format so that I had enough room on the horizontal plane to get across how in the story the road changes from potholed and overgrown to pristine condition when the Edsel car shown parked in the station forecourt comes into the story as a ghost that causes the narrator of the story to crash his car...except it never happens and the whole incident is an apparition.
Oil on canvas 39" x 16". There is a step-by-step progress through this painting on previous posts on this blog.

The Exit To San Breta - stage 12

Well not really a stage as such just what I have done this morning before I go away for a few days, back on Thursday. I have distressed the lettering a bit on the signs, put in where the lights are going and did a bit of work on the gas station building. 
For some reason I am reminded of the scene in the movie "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad World" when the irate guy trying to to get to Los Angeles first before the rest get there to claim the buried money loses it completely at a lonely gas station in the middle of nowhere and completely destroys it. One of my favourite scenes since childhood...

The Exit To San Breta - stage 11

I have painted in the basic lettering on the signs and will work over them tomorrow morning to slightly distress the sign surfaces to make them look more real. I have also made a start on the gas station and Edsel car parked in the light as well as painting the desert up to the edges of the lit areas.

The Exit To San Breta - stage 10

Just managed to get a couple of hours work this morning before I am away from the studio until Saturday. Basically have been working on the desert, the road sign and made the white wooden cross larger. I think the sky is now finished.

The Exit To San Breta - stage 9

Just darkened the overhead clouds a bit with a semi-opaque mix of Indanthrene Blue, Kings Blue Light and Permanent Orange, made the sky slightly darker at left and I reckon the sky is now about finished. I wanted this certain stage of late dusk just before night properly descends when there is still some light in the sky. I then started to work on the transition of the road from the pockmarked foreground to the more pristine surface nearer the gas station, my idea for the lighting is now becoming apparent with the artificially lit gas station at left contrasting with the dusk landscape, blue and orange - a favourite complementary combination.
I then made a start on the nearest road sign using a mix of manganese Violet and Genuine Chinese Vermilion making sure that it looks a bit distressed.