Mehtap

Mehtap is Turkish for Moonlight although I think it has other connotations as well. This is the last painting finished that I am taking to IX although at the rate things are going this and another small one that I am bringing over in my hand luggage could be my whole show. The three boxes of paintings that I sent ahead by FedEx on Tuesday are still stuck in Customs as I write this on Saturday and as it's the weekend nothing will be done about it until Monday when I am already in the USA. Fedex have all the paperwork now I think so desperately hoping they get cleared on Monday...
I wanted to keep this all blues pretty much but mixed the colours out of a blue/green - red/orange complementary so there some variations of colour. It's nice to go back to an Orientalist picture every so often but when I get back from the USA I will probably start again on my Roadside Apocalypse paintings including starting to approach some US galleries with them...
Oil on linen 16" x 12".
There is a short step-by-step progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog.

Mehtap - stage 4

Have had a few distractions recently (getting all my paintings ready, boxed and shipped to IX) so have only been able to return to working on "Mehtap" today. Basically I have been doing the fiddly work on the mosque which I will finish tomorrow along with hopefully a lot of the rock outcrop and palm trees as well.
If the painting works out I will be bringing it along to IX in my luggage as it's quite small....as long as it's dry of course!

Mehtap - stage 3

Finished off the sky, put in the distant riverbank and buildings and gave the rest of the painting a wash of tonal colour which immediately made apparent that I needed to sort out the dark areas. I have put in some more bushes but still see that I need to paint in some palm trees to the left of the mosque and also need to join some of the dark palm trees to form some larger shapes, looking a bit bitty at the moment.

Mehtap - stage 2

First colour pass on the moonlit sky using a mix of the following colours: Phthalocyanine Blue, Emerald Green, Permanent Orange, Zinc White, Warm White and Lead Tin Yellow Lemon - all Michael Harding paints.
I then added another layer of tonal underpainting including redrawing it so that the mosque now sits on a rock outcrop as the walls were too tall and the building out of scale with the setting; the downside of painting from the imagination, things like this can happen so you have to make it look believable.

Mehtap - stage 1

Mehtap is Turkish for Moonlight. This is a small moonlit Orientalist nocturne that I intend to paint in mainly green/blues with some orange/browns as the complementary. I like to return every so often to a moonlit Orientalist picture but I will on my return from IX later this month get back to my Roadside Apocalypse series - it's good to leave it for a while as you often bring something new and different along to add to the mix.
This tonal underpainting stage was first "drawn" up with a small bristle brush using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin in the morning and then when the paint had dried enough by later afternoon I put in the tone with a rag using the same paint mix.
Oil on linen 16" x 12".

The Girl With Her Head In The Clouds

...it should be Woman really but the convention is "Girl" in this phrase.
Still keeping with my general thread of clouds and skies I wanted to do another small figurative painting and this idea has been half-formed in my head for a while so I decided to try it out. I wanted it very limited palette and desaturated with a fairly limited tonal range too so that the figure loses itself a bit into the sky with the hair breaking away to merge into the clouds. I actually made a mistake and used the wrong mixed colour for the sky behind the clouds, I had mixed a desaturated blue but for some reason I steamed ahead with the colour that was supposed to be for the skin tones on the figure. As it happens it may be for the best because the figure would have stood out too much from the background so I guess it worked out for the best!
The title btw is in no way a reference to the mental state of the lovely Ruth that modelled for it!
I might bring this with me to IX later in the month, I will see what I have to choose from of the recent pictures and make a decision then.
16" x 12" oil on linen.
There is s very short progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog.

The Girl With Her Head In The Clouds - stage 2

The first colour pass over the whole painting using a basic blue - orange complementary but keeping it quite subtle and desaturated. Colours used were: Prussian Blue, Burnt Sienna, Permanent Orange, Winsor Violet, Zinc White, Permanent White, Warm White and Lead Tin Yellow Lemon.

Luna

This was going to be mainly a sky painting then I introduced a figure and decided to do it as a nocturne with the Moon and then realised the tondo format suggested the shape of the Moon itself so I eventually changed the idea to having the clouds echo the shapes of the dark areas on the Moon to give it an extra dimension. I have painted it in such a way that the way the tones work to suggest the spherical shape, indeed it kind of looks like a glass marble!
I kept the colours very subtle based on a red/orange - blue/green complementary but quite desaturated and didn't want the figure to be too distinct from the sky background.
The lovely Naomi Wood was my model, the reference photo coming from a previous session for a vampire painting.
I will probably be bringing this along to IX in a few weeks time as part of a number of small paintings to hang alongside some quite large ones.
12" diameter oil on canvas.
There is a short step-by-step progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog.

The Girl With Her Head In The Clouds - stage 1

While "Luna" is drying I have got on with another small figurative painting, "The Girl With Her Head In The Clouds". This will be a very limited palette, virtually monochromatic tonal picture and am hoping it turns out well enough to take to IX in a few weeks' time.
The title btw is no reflection to the mental state of the lovely Ruth that modelled for it!
This is the first tonal underpainting stage for which I used a small bristle brush and a rag with a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin.
Oil on linen 16" x 12".

Luna - stage 3

Worked on the sky some more and painted in the first colour pass on the figure. Trying to get the right tonal balance between the sky and the figure, getting there...
So far the colours I have used are: Burnt Sienna, Naples Yellow, Permanent Orange, Alizarin Crimson, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon, Yellow Lake Deep, Zinc White, Warm White and Prussian Blue - all Michael Harding paints.

Luna - stage 2

This is the first colour pass on the sky although since I got back from being out this afternoon I decided that the darks were too strong and rubbed some of the darker paint off the clouds, so at the moment it looks slightly different to this!
I am painting it in a very limited palette centred on quite desaturated yellows, oranges and blues.