A Secret Garden - stage 8

This morning I was able to get some work done on the mid-ground trees and shrubs before I leave the studio for a few days back on Wednesday. Introducing much darker tones now.

A Secret Garden - stage 7

Only managed to get in an hour yesterday and four this morning before bad light stopped me painting during which time I have worked on the kiosk and steps in the mid-ground as well as darkening the areas where the foliage is going to go. Hoping to get a decent painting session tomorrow before being away for a few days from the studio.

Nightmare On Kensington Street sold

"Nightmare On Kensington Street" has just sold through Asgard Arts. This was painted a few years ago for my series of paintings of Brighton where I live in the UK. The whole street  in the North Laine area of Brighton consists of the backs of buildings that have been covered in graffiti art with this one still in place today.
Oil on board 18 1/2" x 18 1/2".

A Secret Garden - stages 5 & 6

Stage 5

On my return to the studio I roughly painted in some trees in the nearer garden as I want it to look to have been abandoned long enough for good size trees to have grown there. I then finished off painting the background sky and trees before moving on in stage 6 when I have started to block in some glazes over the stonework of the steps and urns etc so that that I can work on the greenery next time I am here on Friday as I need to get a lot of dark tones in so that I can work out the specific lighting that I have in mind in the moonlight.

Stage 6

Infected By Art

Pleased to see that I have a painting accepted for the annual publication Infected By Art Volume 6. The painting accepted is "Midnight Keep" painted for last year's IX in Reading PA.

Midnight Keep

 

A Secret Garden - stages 3 & 4

Stage 3

Initial thoughts about the colour while I was away from the studio were to use mixes of red/browns and green with blues for the moon, moonlight and figure but after trying this out yesterday afternoon on my return (stage 3) I had second thoughts as I looked at it over my morning coffee. I really want to avoid painting it in variations of blues this time and anyway I want the whole picture to be pretty desaturated so I resolved to use mixes of Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Manganese Violet and Ultramarine Blue all mixed with varying amounts of Zinc and Warm White.

Stage 4

A Secret Garden - stages 1 & 2

Stage 1

Influenced by a combination of a photo I had taken recently of my parent's garden at night and the paintings of Charles Robinson this will be a moody night painting of an old abandoned garden next to a ruined country house. I want everything to look overgrown and crumbling with just a naked girl walking through illuminated by the moonlight. This was quite a complicated picture to draw up as it will very much hold together or not by it's tonal design and has no dominant feature to hang the painting on for compositional impact - it will all be about the lighting.
Stage 1 was "drawn" up using Van Dyke Brown mixed with Liquin and turpentine and applyed by a small bristle brush.
Stage 2 was put in with a rag and 1/2" brush using the same paint mixture thinned with more turpentine.

Stage 2

Riva Del Ferro sold

One of my Venice paintings, "Riva Del Ferro", from some years ago has just sold through Asgard Arts. The location is on the Grand Canal very near to the Rialto.
18 1/2" x 18 1/2" oil on board.

Ruth Rouge

This painting started out as an experimental landscape trying out some textural ideas using combs and paint shapers but when I got to a certain point I just didn't see it going anywhere as I was unable to control the effects in the way I wanted. I began to take the paint off the board with a kitchen towel and liked the textures it was producing so I decided to run the paint over the whole board and then move it around with a kitchen roll which produced some interesting shapes and textures that would be ideal to use as a background for a portrait...hence "Ruth Rouge"which is linked by colour to an older painting "Naomi Rouge". The model is the beautiful Ruth Netania of whom I had a good set of reference photos taken a few years ago to choose from.
I tried to keep back the lightest highlights until the end when I just painted in a few "wet" highlights on the nose etc as I wanted the figure to stay back in space and be nearer to the background. There is something a bit Deco about the feel of the picture, probably due to the background looking like the Bakelite used a lot in those days and Ruth's propensity for 1930s/40s (?) hairstyles and clothes.
Oil on board 18 1/2" x 18 1/2".
There is a step-by-step progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog.

Ruth Rouge - stages 5 & 6

Stage 5

On my return to the studio I started to warm up the highlights after some deliberation while away but was unable to photograph it at the end of the day due to the poor light.
Stage 6 shows how far I have been able to get before once again being away from the studio until Saturday when I hope to finish it. I am holding back on the light areas as I am planning on painting in a few carefully placed juicy highlights right at the end.

Stage 6