Bay - stage 1

Actually this is stage 2, I forgot to photograph stage 1! There was no drawing up at all with this one I just put it all in with a rag using a mix of Prussian Blue, Permanent Orange and just a touch of Winsor Green all thinned with Liquin. I didn't use much Winsor Green in this one as I wanted it to be more blue than the previous painting using much the same paint mix, "Rig".
I see "Bay" as high contrast and whilst it's tempting to leave it around here, it is more ordinary like this so to make it more interesting as a painting I'm going to take it further as I originally saw it in my mind.
Oil on linen 16" x 12".

Artists & Illustrators Magazine

I have a four page Masterclass feature in the current February 2020 issue of Artists & Illustrators magazine published in the UK. The editor emailed me just a few weeks ago to ask me if I could write this up as somebody else had let them down and as he knew I photographed all the stages of my paintings he figured that I would have a painting that would work for the article. 
I was going to focus it around telling a story in a picture but they chose to base it around the panoramic format being used.
The painting "The Exit To San Breta" was a commission for a Canadian collector who has commissioned many artists to illustrate the works of George RR Martin, this one was for a short story set in Arizona. 

Rig

I used the same paint mix of Prussian Blue, Winsor Green and Permanent Orange thinned with Liquin as the previous picture on "Rig". I first mixed up acrylic Titanium White and Cadmium Yellow Light for the ground and this time gave it a coat of Liquin when it had dried to see if that would prevent the paint lifting off when I am using turpentine to rub away highlights etc.
I was thinking of using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet for this one but I decided I wanted to see how this looked first; in fact I will be using the brown/violet on the lemon backing on another painting about to be started.
I am kind of regretting having the oil rig there now and think it would have been better as just a sky and landscape, to which end I will be trying this out on the upcoming painting I have just mentioned.
The location is the vast landscape of Texas.
I think that I will be renaming this series "The Big Sky" as "Roadside Apocalypse" was going to be limiting me in terms of subject matter, now the theme is the American landscape itself.
31 1/2" x 12" Oil on canvas.

Instagram top nine posts

I went to the Topnine website and found out that these were my top nine Instagram posts with the most likes over the past year; all landscapes I note. Fifteen thousand plus likes is quite good I suppose.

Rig - stage 3

Work on "Rig" has been interrupted by the Christmas break but is actually nearly finished, just waiting for it to dry so that I can scan it. This was as far as I had got by Christmas Eve with a few more layers of glaze added since stage 2. Starting to regret having the oil rig in there and thinking it would have been better as just landscape and sky... to which end I have started another larger painting in the same panoramic format that will be just that - land and sky.

Rig - stage 2

Only managed to get in some tone into the sky due to distractions by my boiler breaking down just before the Christmas holiday. Luckily it seems to be fixed after a plumber being here all day.
I used the same mix of Prussian Blue, Winsor Green and Permanent Orange thinned with Liquin which I applied with a rag. Might get a bit done tomorrow morning before Christmas arrives!

Rig - stage 1

Carrying on from the last one I am using the same paint mix but over a more saturated lemon background this time. I mixed up acrylic Titanium White with more Cadmium Yellow Light in it and then gave it a coat of Liquin to see if that helps to prevent the background colour from lifting whenever I use any turpentine to rub paint away when drawing up etc. I used the usual mix of Prussian Blue, Winsor Green and Permanent Orange thinned with Liquin to "draw" it up and I will then use the same mix with a rag to put in some tone tomorrow. I did wonder about using the Burnt Sienna/Winsor Violet mix over the lemon background but felt that I needed to try this combination out first.
The location is the vast landscape of Texas which I am hoping to get across with this lone oil rig set against the flat horizon, the sky will hopefully make it all work, we'll get more of an idea tomorrow. I am actually thinking of renaming the series "The Big Sky" instead of "Roadside Apocalypse" as I think it's going to be limiting if I just stick to apocalyptic imagery!
Oil on canvas with acrylic ground 31" x 12 1/2".

Marabout

Another monochrome oil painting this time using a subdued blue/green over what is hard to see here but a base ground of pale lemon yellow. I first gave the whole canvas a coat of a mix of Titanium White and Cadmium Yellow Light acrylic as I thought there would be less chance of it lifting when I started to "draw" up the painting in oil afterwards - I use turpentine to wipe out mistakes and this would probably take off the background colour too particularly if it was an oil background.
I mixed up a decent amount of the blue/green, enough to last through the whole painting as it is difficult to remix the colour if you run out, the slightest difference in the mix shows surprisingly more than you would think. I used a mix of Prussian Blue, Winsor Green and permanent Orange (to temper the saturation) thinned with Liquin, applied with rag for the sky and the footpath shadows.
A Marabout is a shrine to a Muslim Holy man, mostly in North Africa.
I was originally going to paint it in daylight but soon realised that a moonlit picture would suit the blue colouring.
Oil on linen 16" x 12".

Waiting

This is another of my usual underpainting taken to finish series painted as a monochrome using transparent glazes in this case a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin. The idea for this one was to work within a narrow range of midtones with no real highlights and no very dark values either, the whole thing being made up of a series of glazes. I like the quality of light that they have which really comes from the white of the canvas showing through the transparent paint layers but is very out of step with the current Look du Jour that is all about thick loose paint and mark making... neither which are present here!
I have no idea if there is any mileage in me doing this figurative work but I needed to try it out; I have other things to try out in this area before I go back to "proper" painting! 
Oil on linen 10" x 12".

Marabout - stage 2

Painted in some tonal underpainting with a rag and brush using the previous mix of Prussian Blue, Winsor Green and Permanent Orange thinned with Liquin. Have decided to do it as a moonlit picture as the blue lends itself very well to Moonlight.

Marabout 1

I will post up the finished "Waiting" tomorrow. This one is another kind of oil monochrome but using a muted blue/green over a light yellow ground. First I gave the canvas a coat of Titanium White/Cadmium Yellow Light acrylic as I didn't want it to rub off at the "drawing" stage when I use turpentine to erase errant lines etc. I let that dry overnight and then "drew" it up with a small bristle brush using a mix of Prussian Blue, Winsor Green and Permanent Orange (to temper the saturation) thinned with Liquin. I am leaving this to dry overnight for the morning session when I will put in some more tone with a rag using the same blue/green paint mixture thinned with Liquin.
A Marabout is a shrine to a Muslim holy man, mainly in North Africa.

Boboli

The last two monochromes based around my underpainting mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet are now finished, the other one, "Waiting" will be posted tomorrow. These monochromes are completely out of step with what is the current Look du Jour of thick paint loosely applied but I need to get to the end of these trial paintings to see if anything good comes out of them. All these monochromes are layers of glazes producing no mark making, another current obsession that I seem to be ignoring. The thing is I like the quality of light that they have and just want to see where they go. They are influenced by the black and white photography from the early years of the last century, photographers like Steichen who worked on the print to such an extent that they are half painting-half photograph. I am realising that only certain situations can be painted this way so I can see the limitations of what I can produce; I am changing the colours I am using after these and eventually will probably try using thicker paint too as the photographic quality they have worries me as much as I like them.
"Boboli" refers to the Boboli Gardens that overlook Florence where this picture is located but referring back to one of my mantras from last year "It's The Painting Not The Place", I am much more concerned with the look of the picture and not looking to merely reproduce a well-known view.
20" x 16" oil on linen. 

Boboli - stage 2

Although I call this stage 2 it is actually a couple of days along the line but it isn't really worth posting daily updates as there doesn't appear to be much changing due to the paint being applied in thin glazes. The same goes for "Waiting" that is nearly finished but just needs a few areas to have a final glaze before signing off.
After these I am changing the colour palette to blues and have other plans to try different surfaces to work on before I get to the end of these transparent monochromes and move on to thicker more opaque paint.

Boboli - stage 1

This is the other monochrome that I am working on in conjunction with "Waiting". Both are using the same paint mix, both are hopefully going to look pretty moody and subdued. I have plans for the sky on this one but you will see what I'm aiming for on the next stage.
All these monochromes are influenced by the black and white photography from the early years of the last century when the photographers worked on the print to such an extent that they are really half painted. Although I was aiming for something different I am following this diversion of more photographic painting for a while longer to see if it bears fruit before getting on with my original intentions!
Boboli refers to the Boboli Gardens above Florence where this painting is located.
A mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin applied with a flat brush and a small bristle brush.

Waiting - stage 3

I didn't bother posting the first two stages! These recent monochrome paintings are all made up of layers of glazes and consequently I have to wait until the previous glaze is dry before painting the next. This slows down the process so I have decided to paint two at the same time so while one is drying I can get on with the other and vice versa. This painting is one of them the other is a landscape called "Boboli" which will be in the next post.
As I have already mentioned these monochromes are not what I was looking for but I like the feel of them so I'm going to see what happens in a few more before changing colours and technique etc. Although they look too photographic they have a certain quality that I like so I think it's worth seeing where they can be taken. I was actually looking for something obviously "painted" with thicker paint, textures etc but let's see what comes out of these before I move on.
This is another underpainting worked up to finish using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin applied with a rag and brush.
Oil on linen 12" x 8".

Navajo

Another one where I'm working up the underpainting to finish instead of painting opaque colour over it. This is the first one where I have used no opaque colour at all, the whole painting being layers of glazes of transparent colour, my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and applied with a rag and brush. Although my original intention for these monochromes was soft but textured with thicker brushwork I discovered that the best way to get the most out of this colour was to paint in thin glazes which has resulted in something much more photographic. I like the quality of light which I presume comes from the white of the canvas showing through the transparent layers giving it a slight glow so I will do a few more of these to see where they can go before getting back to my original intention of thicker paint etc!
Because you have to wait for each layer to dry before applying the next and consequently each painting taking longer to finish than normal I have decided to paint two at the same time so I can use my time more efficiently.
Monument Valley lies within the Navajo Nation Reservation, "Navajo" is another Roadside Apocalypse painting... sort of, I might expand this series into more of a Roadside America kind of thing but hoping to avoid going too Americana.
20" x 16" Oil on linen.

Navajo - stage 3

I can't see much point in showing the first couple of stages so we'll start here! There are a few things that I still haven't sorted out in the other two urban monochromes so I thought that I would try this look with a few landscapes to be going on with. I have ended up doing quite a "picturesque" painting which I've gone along with even though I wanted something less specific as this one is just trying out the look, which is dark, soft and moody. As with the other two the whole thing is painted in glazes of a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin.
The location is Monument Valley in Arizona/Utah.