Isola di Tessera - stage 4

 Second colour pass on the sky using the same colour mixes as yesterday. I reckon it's another day at least before I finish the sky...

Isola di Tessera - stage 3

 First colour pass on the sky using the following paints:

Prussian Blue, Phthalo Turquoise, Permanent Orange, Lemon Yellow and Zinc White.

Isola di Tessera - stage 2

 This is the tonal underpainting using the same paint mix as yesterday, Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and applied mostly with a rag.

Isola di Tessera - stage 1

 Sorry for the long gap in posts but I have been working on a commission and I never post up the progress shots or the final painting until the buyer/commissioner has seen it first.

After quite a fiddly commission painting I fancied getting back to something looser so I'm painting a moonlit sky again this time of the Venetian Lagoon. Anyone that has caught the water bus from Marco Polo airport to Venice might recognise this tiny island as the water bus passes it quite close and at some speed. It is a privately owned island that is the first island that you pass after leaving the airport and is called Isola di Tessera. I suspect it is called that because of it's size being likened to a tiny tessara that are laid together to form a mosaic. 

This will be a nocturne with a moonlit sky, moonlight on the foreground water and the lights of the airport on the far horizon. This is the basic drawing up using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin. Tomorrow I will put in the tonal underpainting with a rag using the same paint mix.

Oil on canvas 23 1/2" x 23 1/2".

Dream of The Odalisque sold

 I have just sold "Dream Of The Odalisque" and five book jacket illustration artworks to a buyer in the USA through IX Arts. Oil on canvas 39" x 16".

 I am currently painting a private commission  and will not be posting any progress on it until the buyer has seen the finished painting.

Fireflies sold

 A painting I did to show at IX a few years ago has been sold by Abend Gallery in Denver CO during their Black Friday sale. Oil on linen 22" x 16".

The Star of Night

 I came across the title while searching through a Dictionary of Symbols about the Moon and thought that would be a nice title. This is the fifth of a series of Tonalist paintings of the Brighton/Hove seafront near to where I live, this location being at the junction of Grand Avenue and the seafront. All these paintings will hopefully mean something to anybody that has taken a walk along the Brighton/Hove seafront at night although the main focus of the paintings is the light, colour and mood with the location actually being secondary. 

It's nice to be working on square format again after a number of years of the more normal rectangular format and when the art materials shop opens after the lockdown I will be looking to stock up with some more.

Oil on canvas 23 1/2" x 23 1/2".

There is a step-by-step progress through this painting including the colours I used in previous posts on this blog.

The Star of Night - stage 4

 

Pretty much finished the sky now and have gave the rest of the painting another layer of tone to get it nearer to how I want the lighting to work. To the basic Burnt Sienna/Winsor Violet mix I added some Prussian Blue, more Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Violet which was still a relatively transparent mix that I used for the bottom third of the picture.

The Star of Night - stage 3

 Due to the larger area to cover than recent paintings the sky is taking longer to paint. I have now brought in slightly green/blues into the clouds by mixing more Lemon Yellow into them, the warm underpainting is only meant to show through slightly to give the colour more variety and depth.

The Star of Night - stage 2

 First colour pass on the sky, intending on keeping it in subdued blues. Colours used were: Prussian Blue, Phthalocyanine Turquoise, Ultramarine Violet, Permanent Orange, Lemon Yellow and Zinc White.

The Star of Night - stage 1

 

Searching through a Dictionary of Symbols about the Moon for a title to yet another moonlight painting I came across the phrase "the star of night" which will do just fine for this picture.

This is the fifth of a series of Tonalist paintings of the Brighton/Hove seafront very near to where I live, this location being at the bottom of Grand Avenue in Hove as it meets the seafront. I have got back from the pub past midnight on many occasions over the years when I have decided as I get to the front door to go in to turn around and head for the seafront instead particularly if it's a mild night. It really is a treat to walk by the railings along the promenade and hear the lovely sound of the surf moving the shingle, the smell of the sea and of course the Moon hanging high above the sea illuminating the clouds. OK I'm a bit drunk... but it is quite magical.

So this is part memory/part imagination of the seafront under a moonlit sky. This is the tonal underpainting stage when it was first "drawn" up with a small bristle brush using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and then the tone put on with a rag using the same paint mix. I have also decided to work on a larger canvas than previous ones as it might promote more interest from a gallery - there is a decent-looking one just a couple of minutes from where I live... if I decide to approach them. 

It is also nice to get back working on a square format which I used to work exclusively on for many years previously.

Sheltering Sky

 After a few relatively fiddly paintings it was nice to get back to my Tonalist Brighton/Hove seafront paintings. Although they are of a specific location I am trying to make the focus the mood and light and not the location itself. I have been doing this by using strong foreground shapes (because I always like a strong design) but tonally merging them with the background so that the eye goes to the sun first and then on to the, in this case, shelter. The location is actually at the very end of the Hove/Portslade promenade where it meets the beginning of Shoreham Harbour (where Fatboy Slim etc lives).

I will do one more before I go on to another fiddly painting again (a commission) so that when I have five (I like odd numbers) I will approach a couple of local galleries... through gritted teeth though, I don't like dealing with galleries but in this case it might be worth my while.

Oil on linen 20" x 16".

There is a short step-by-step progress through this painting including what colours I used in previous posts on this blog.

San Moise Reflections sold

 An older small Venice painting "San Moise Reflections" has just sold through Asgard Arts. 

Oil on board 12" x 12".

Sheltering Sky - stage 3

 

The sky is pretty much finished and have painted another layer of the Burnt Sienna/Winsor Violet mix over the rest of the picture. I don't want the shelter to be prominent so I will need to tonally merge it against the background cloud a bit, the whole focus of the picture is meant to be the sun not the shelter.

The Lost City sold

 I am pleased to report that the buyer who bought "The Endless City" on Every Day Original has just bought it's sister painting "The Lost City". I always seem to do well when I paint Orientalist paintings (OK there are few still unsold) and I'm glad that I chose that theme for my Every Day Original slot. I guess that I should paint some more but first I want to get a couple more Tonalist paintings under my belt as well as paint a commission so I guess we're talking about later next month before I do another one.

Both 16" x 12" Oil on linen.

The Endless City

 

Sheltering Sky - stages 1 & 2

 This is another in my series of Tonalist paintings of the Brighton and Hove seafront where I live, although the subject really is the mood of the painting, the location is secondary. I quite liked the warmer colours in the last one in this series so I have resolved to do another one, a sunset, a subject I tend to avoid as they can be so corny.

The first stage is the tonal underpainting for which I used a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and applied with a small bristle brush and a rag.

The second stage is the first colour pass on the sky. The colours I used were: Ultramarine Violet. Manganese Blue Hue, Permanent Orange, Yellow Lake Deep, Lemon Yellow and Zinc White.

Oil on linen 20" x 16".

The Endless City sold

 

"The Endless City" has just sold on Every Day Original after about ten minutes being advertised, I wish I could sell all of them as quick as that!

Oil on linen 16" x 12".

The Lost City

 

I have painted this as an alternative to "The Endless City" for my Every Day Original slot coming up on 13th November. Continuing with the Orientalist city idea this one is of a forgotten city that is gradually being overwhelmed by desert sand dunes. I rarely do sunsets as I find them a bit corny but I thought that it would suit this one and have kept the colours relatively high key and saturated  to suit the Fantasy content. 

I have to make my mind up today as to which one I am going to put up on EDO.

Oil on linen 16" x 12".

There is a step-by-step progress including the colours I used in previous posts on this blog.

The Lost City - stage 4

 Roughed in some colour on the landscape and will have a look at it tomorrow morning and assess how to finish it. I think I need to get the background in next and then work forward from that. That breakfast coffee time will determine it....

The Lost City - stage 3

 The sky is pretty much finished now so I will be moving on to the landscape tomorrow. I haven't quite got it fixed in my mind as to what I want to do with the landscape at the moment but no doubt all that will be resolved over tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee!

The Lost City - stage 2

I darkened the land and buildings with another coat of the Burnt Sienna/Winsor Violet mix and then made the first colour pass on the sky using the following colours: Ultramarine Violet, Manganese Blue Hue, Permanent Orange, Lemon Yellow, Yellow Lake Deep and Zinc White.

Musée D'Orsay sold

 An older painting of Paris has just sold through Asgard Arts. The painting was the result of a visit to Paris in the winter of 2005 when I was still experimenting with oils. I was interested in broken colour and the effects of colour mixing in the eye/brain that was utilised by The Impressionists and Pointillism so it was very apt to try these things out on a painting of Paris!

Oil on board 181/2" x 18 1/2".

The Lost City - stage 1

 I am painting this as an alternative one to put up on the Every Day Original page on the 13th of this month. It's another Islamic-style city like "The Endless City" but this one has been deserted as it is engulfed by waves of sand. Planning on keeping the colours warm, probably based on oranges and violets although the final decision will be made over tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee...

This is the first tonal underpainting stage using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and applied with a small bristle brush and a rag. I will run another coat over the land before I start the first colour pass on the sky tomorrow.

The Tower Of Babel

 My painting from earlier in the year "The Tower Of Babel" has been selected as a Semi-Finalist in the Landscape category of the 15th Art Renewal Center International Salon. I think that this is the first time that I have had a painting accepted for a category outside of Imaginative Realism and seeing as I want to be known in the USA Fine Art field as a landscape painter this is most welcome. Also as a Semi-Finalist my painting will get a bit more exposure within the catalogue itself, a mighty tome with many artists' work within. I have been accepted for the past five years but this is the first time as a Semi-Finalist....

Time To Go Home

 This is the second time I've used this title but what the hell... after painting a few fiddly pictures recently I fancied getting back to my Tonalist series of the Brighton/Hove seafront very near to where I live. Instead of a nocturne I thought that it would be a nice change to paint a daylight one albeit with plenty of clouds. I quite like this warmer palette after so many colder moonlit pictures so I think I will do a few more for this series and for the next painting I am starting aimed at selling on Every Day Original.

Oil on linen 20" x 16",

Details of what colours I used can be found in previous posts on this blog.

Time To Go Home - stages 1 & 2

 I have used this title before but what the hell.... After painting a couple of quite fiddly pictures recently I fancied getting back to something Tonalist that is about colour and mood so I thought that it would be nice to do another Brighton/Hove seafront painting but instead of a nocturne this one would be daylight albeit with plenty of clouds! The sky is from a photo I took years ago on Brighton seafront one winter afternoon as a snowstorm approached from the East and five minutes later you couldn't see much at all as the snow got going.

The first stage was the tonal underpainting for which I used my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and applied with a small bristle brush and a rag.

The second stage was the first colour pass on the sky and another layer of the underpainting mix on the land. Colours used for the sky were: Ultramarine Violet, Manganese Blue Hue, Permanent Orange, Yellow Ochre Deep, Yellow Lake Deep, Lemon Yellow and Zinc White.

The Endless City

 I have painted this for sale for my slot on Every Day Original which comes up on 13 November as I didn't have anything that was suitable/small enough for their criteria. I thought that I would paint an Orientalist piece as these seem to sell quite well and have combined this with a skyscape which I know is what Every Day Original suggested when I was  first invited. The sky is meant to be ambiguous in that it could be night or day or if not that then at least has a magical dusty light to it. It is a fantasy city, vaguely Arabian Nights in which I have used different architectural styles from different parts of the Islamic world.

Oil on linen 16" x 12". There is a step-by-step progress through this painting in earlier posts on this blog.

The Endless City - stage 5

 I have been working on the buildings today, when they are all in and before I paint in the foreground tree and foliage I will give the cityscape a thin scumble to highten the dusty appearance and to give it more of a sense of distance.

The Endless City - stage 4

 I have painted in some tonal mixed transparent blue over the buildings and will then start painting them to finish tomorrow. It won't be as contrasty as it looks here and will make it softer. Any other decisions will be made over tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee...

The Endless City - stage 3

 Pretty much finished the sky using the same colours as yesterday and then I put some dark tones into the buildings using the paint mix for the underpainting. This helps me for tomorrow when I make a start on the city and gives me a better idea of how I am going to paint it when it comes to tomorrow's morning coffee when decisions are made on colours etc. I am planning the sky to be ambiguous, kind of a halfway house between a night sky and a daytime one.

The Endless City - stage 2

 First colour pass on the sky using mixes of Prussian Blue, Permanent Orange, Lemon Yellow and Zinc White.

The Vampire of Ponte Storto sold

 Just had a message that the first of my "Vampires of Venice" paintings has sold on Artfinder. I enjoyed painting them so at some point I will do some more but have another commission to get on with as well as getting something ready to put up for sale on Every Day Original so will wait awhile.

Oil on linen 20" x 16"

The Endless City - stage 1

 I am painting this as a possible picture to sell on my slot on the Every Day Original site in mid-November. Any work sold on the site must be no larger than 18" x 12" and should sell for a maximum of $500; I actually don't have anything that size already painted which is why I am painting this. I had some feedback from them that my paintings of skies would be of interest so I am combining a moonlit sky with an Orientalist theme as I seem to do quite well with Orientalist images when it comes to sales.

This is the tonal underpainting stage which was "drawn up" with a small bristle brush first using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and then the tone was applied with a rag using the same paint mix.

16" x 12" oil on Winsor & Newton Smooth Cotton Canvas.

Street Corner Blues

 I didn't post any progress photos of this painting as it was a commission and I think the person that commissioned it should see it first before anybody else. A very nice French lady from London wanted this painted as a present to her boyfriend and they drove down from London yesterday to pick it up. As always I face these moments with trepidation when the buyer sees their painting for the first time, doubly anxious this time as it needed to be liked by two people not one so when I let them into the studio I feared to hear words like "Oh" or "Hmmm..."

Anyway I worried needlessly as they both loved it so I felt emboldened to explain the design and colour choices that I had made as I painted the picture. She had seen my work on the internet and told me the paintings that she liked so we talked on the phone and narrowed down the subject matter and feel that she was looking for. We settled on a theme that I was working on some ten years ago, buskers in deserted city streets and after a couple of pencil roughs I went ahead with the final painting. I equate buskers with painters like myself; they basically show what they can do and then hopefully people will give them money for it... and I am just the same, I paint pictures on spec and then hope that....people will give me money for them.

It is based around a yellow/violet colour complementary, oil on canvas 23 1/2" x 23 1/2".

Street Corner Blues - stage 1

 

This is a commission that I am now painting for a nice lady in London and is actually the second painting with this title but I'm using it again because it seemed appropriate. A return to my urban scenes with buskers, the client asking for it to be not too American despite the diner in the foreground. I changed it to "Cafe" and removed a foreground fire hydrant and replaced it with a London-style bollard, I guess the background could be any big city. There will be a few people around in the background but no cars. 

The lighting is planned to be a warm afternoon sun hitting the foreground with most of the buildings across the street in shadow with a thin strip of sky in the middle.

This is the first stage of the tonal underpainting using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and applied with a small bristle brush, a 1/2" flat and a rag.

Oil on linen 23 1/2" x 23 1/2"

The Lonely Night

 

This is the second painting that I have done of this location on Hove seafront near where I live, the older one shown below. This is another Tonalist painting that is an accompanying one to the previous, a gallery owner told me many years ago to think in pairs as a collector might be tempted to buy both when they see them together. Debating whether to show some of these to an art gallery a few streets away in Hove and overcome my disdain for UK galleries....

I tried a different colour for the underpainting on this one with the violet showing through and giving the whole painting a colder cast than normal. At some point I will try other colours like green but I have acommission to get on with now so that will have to wait.

Oil on linen 20" x 16".

There is a step-by-step progress through this painting including the colours I used in previous posts on this blog.

The Lonely Night - stage 3

 

Second colour pass and maybe in a position to finish tomorrow, taking shape now with sky pretty much finished. Same colours used as yesterday. I still maybe will do one more but this time using a very different underpainting colour as the purple is not that dissimilar to my normal Burnt Sienna/Winsor Violet mix. Also need now to get working on a commission too...

The Lonely Night - stage 2

 This is the first colour pass over the whole painting, adjusting for a different underpainting colour to what I'm used to.

This stage always gives me a good idea as to how to proceed as I begin to see it as I imagined it. Colours used were: Ultramarine Violet, Indanthrene Blue, Burnt Sienna, Permanent Orange, Lemon Yellow, Unbleached Titanium and Zinc White.

The Lonely Night - stage 1

 

This is actually the second painting I have done of this location on Hove seafront about fifteen minutes walk from where I live. This will be another Tonalist painting but this time I am trying out a different underpainting colour which is a mix of Ultramarine Violet with a bit of Burnt Sienna in it which I thinned with Liquin and applied with a small bristle brush and rag. I want to try out a few different colours on this one (or I will use pretty much the same ones as "Pier") and see how they look.

Pier

 So I'm getting a grip on Tonalism, it's all about the mood not the subject matter and I managed to hold myself back from how I would normally paint this which is the "Illustrative" approach; as an illustrator you compose and paint it all to best show the characteristics of the subject to it's full advantage i.e. Illustration is part of Packaging you could say. Here the subject matter is secondary to the mood and colour.

This is the Palace Pier in Brighton, the city where I live but I have made it quite small and in the distance yet because it is lit it is still a secondary focus to the picture. I like to compose in triads, here we have three light areas spaced out across the picture in a hopefully interesting way; the distant pier, the Moon in the sky and the moonlight on the water by the kiosk.

Oil on linen 20" x 16"

There is a short step-by-step progress through this painting including which colours I used in previous posts on this blog.

Pier - stage 2

 First colour pass roughly painted in. Trying to resist the temptation to put much detail into the foreground kiosk, the detail in the foreground planking is only there as a guide for a few hints of light hitting them, most of that will disappear.

Colours used: Ultramarine Violet, Indigo, Permanent Orange, Lemon Yellow and Zinc White.

Pier - stage 1

 OK finally hoping to do something Tonalist without being distracted by other ideas along the way. It should be a pretty moody painting of Brighton's Palace Pier from the beach but as in proper Tonalism it's the mood and lighting that is important not the subject so I am painting it with the focus on the sky not on the kiosk or pier.

This is the tonal underpainting stage with a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and applied with a small bristle brush and rag.

Oil on linen 20" x 16".

Cuckmere Shadow

 

Although this was meant to be a Tonalist painting, because I became intent on trying to get the landscape in sunlight to glow against the shadow it took it away from being a Tonalist painting... maybe the next one will be! Compositionally I tried to have three distinct bands of colour not being broken up with a foreground tree as I usually do, the placement of the clouds at left being the result of the original tonal underpainting wash-in when this was the last bit to go in and I decided I that I liked the placement of the light area as it was. 

This is a favourite landscape of mine, the Cuckmere Valley about half an hour from where I live.

Oil on linen 20" x 16".

There is a short step-by-step progress through this painting including the colours I used in previous posts on this blog.

It's Nice To Get Out sold

 An older painting from when I was painting my local seafront in Brighton has just been sold through Asgard Arts. I was fond of ironic titles in those days as a couple walking their dog struggle against the wind while a storm approaches. Bracing they used to call it.

Cuckmere Shadow - stage 3

 Spent the day just feeling my way along with the colours; I kind of know what I want but not totally sure how to achieve it! I have left the Tonalism idea and concentrated on trying to get the sunlit landscape to glow against the foreground shadow.

Using the same colours as yesterday.

Cuckmere Shadow - stage 2

 This is the correct title btw.... OK this is the first colour pass which is giving me a good idea about which colours do and don't work.

Colours used were: Prussian Blue, Winsor Green, Ultramarine Violet, Bright Green Lake, Emerald Green, Permanent Orange, Burnt Sienna, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon, Warm Light Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Light and Zinc White.