Castle Dracul - stage 4

 Really hard to photograph this painting, not helped by my normal camera having problems so I'm using my iPhone camera. The painting in reality is softer and more mysterious than it appears here but this will have to do until I scan it. Quite difficult to get the values right on this one as I'm looking for a specific light which I am getting now but you can't really see it in the photo. Just occurred to me that this will be the last painting of 2022...

Castle Dracul - stage 3

 Changed the colour and tone of the sky a bit and painted the first colour pass on the castle which will disappear a bit in the frosty air when I finish it tomorrow. Tricky getting the tonal range right on this one, I want it mainly the dark end of the middle values and then the snow has to be a certain value too... will wing it as I go along. I also might put a single yellow/orange light in a window on the tower, we will see.

Colours used: Prussian Blue, Phtalocyanine Blue, Dioxazine Purple, Permanent Sap Green, Permanent Orange, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon, Zinc White and Warm White.

Castle Dracul - stages 1 & 2

First stage

 Continuing with my Winter theme for some reason this image came into my mind and thought hell, why not? Previous vampire paintings have sold well and this will hopefully look a bit different to the plethora of vampire paintings out there already... hopefully. I am setting it on a cold, dark, frosty, Winter's day in Transylvania, how dark I am yet to determine and will decide that over tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee.

I am basing it on a desaturated blue/green - red/orange colour complementary.

First stage is the tonal  underpainting, the second stage is after washing some desaturated blue/green over it.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

Second Stage

 

Refuge

 This is looking like the first in a series of Winter paintings as other ideas have come out of this one for some more. I like the basic simple theme of a place of warmth amidst a cold but beautiful landscape which I think I can develop in different ways. I wanted this one to look really cold, trying to get over the sound of your footsteps muffled in the snow and freezing air with in the distance a promise of warmth and homecoming. A bit sentimental for me? Dunno, I think it has elements of something universal, something that everybody has experienced in the cold Winter months...

Based around a desaturated blue/orange colour complementary, there were only five colours used in the whole picture. The location is somewhere near Pulborough in Sussex UK from a photo I took forty years ago in Autumn, for the painting I made it nighttime and added the snow.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

There is a short step-by-step progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog.

IX 2023

 Pleased to report that I have been accepted for next year's IX in Reading PA in October 2023. Looks like some people will be going who I haven't seen for a while.

Refuge - stage 2

 First colour pass on the background trying to keep it dark and soft... and looking very cold. This is of course the meaning of the title, the warm light in the window symbolising refuge from the cold dark night. It might be my Christmas card this year...

Colours used: Prussian Blue, Permanent Orange and Zinc White.

Refuge - stage 1

 

A painting to celebrate the end of a bloody freezing couple of weeks in the UK!... mind you it's now raining all day as the warm air meets the cold....

This will be a nighttime winter snow picture with just a single warm light on in the distant house based around a blue/orange colour complementary. I actually tried painting this before many moons ago but for some reason I can't remember I ended up putting my fist through the canvas in frustration of it not going where I wanted it to! I must try and find the photo....

This is the tonal underpainting stage using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and applied with a rag and flat brushes.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

Torii

 This one has a slightly chequered  history in that it was originally conceived with a Japanese Torii gate in the background which I then had second thoughts about. But after posting the first stage on Instagram I got some feedback from a couple of people that I should indeed put the Torii in and also to make it foggy which the first stage kind of suggested. I thought about this and decided to go along with these suggestions. I wanted to keep it pretty unsaturated in colour but still to base it on a blue/orange colour complementary. This will probably be my last tree paintiing for a while... but who knows I might change my mind.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

There is a short step-by-step progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog.

Torii - stages 2 & 3

Stage 2

 I didn't get a chance to post yesterday's progress so here are both stages to date. In stage 2 I sketched in the silhouettes of the Japanese Torii gate and temple after some suggestions from people on Instagram to include a Torii gate and to make it foggy which I thought were decent suggestions. I then roughed in an early pass of a mix of Phthalocyanine Blue and Green and Permanent Orange on the tree and left it at that.

Today I painted a second pass of that mix on the tree and then painted in a desaturated mix of the same colours but mixed with Warm White and Lemon Yellow over the background together with a mix of Permanent Orange, Lemon Yellow, Yellow Lake Deep and Warm White near the horizon. After that the light wasn't good enough to work any more in the studio so I have left it like this, besides which I would like to have a look at it over tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee and see if I'm happy with where it's going - I might for instance decide to knock the tree back into the fog....

Stage 3

 

The Gate of Bab Al Shams

 

Just taken a short break from the tree paintings to return to an Orientalist picture for my upcoming slot on Every Day Original on the 28th of December. This is an imaginary gate in an imaginary city maybe somewhere in North Africa with my hopefully correct (but with my apologies if it isn't) Arabic translation for gate of the sun which is of course the whole point of this painting. I wanted it looking hot and dusty and went for an analogous colour combination based around yellow/orange although at one point I did dither about introducing a tiny area of it's complementary opposite, blue/green... but decided against it. I enjoy painting old and weathered masonry and buildings particularly if they are Orientalist and is in fact just about the only time I use relatively thicker paint, something I would like to do more of but doesn't seem to suit my style apart from buildings...

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

There is a (very) short step-by-step progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog.

New Tree Painting - stage 1

 

While "The Gate of Bab Al Shams" is drying before I can scan and post it I thought I would get on with another painting particularly as I am stuck indoors with a cold at the moment. This was (and still might be) going to have a Japanese Torii gate in the background but I wasn't sure if it worked compositionally so I have left it to tomorrow when I will decide over my breakfast coffee.

This is the underpainting stage using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and applied with a rag and flat brush.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

The Gate of Bab Al Shams - stage 2

 I think I got the spelling wrong originally, this should be right. First colour pass on the foreground and a thin yellow on the sky. I want this in warm dusty colours but debating whether to vary them slightly with a few bits of green/blue Islamic tiles on the walls... will decide over tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee.

Colours used so far: Dioxazine Purple, Burnt Sienna, Genuine Chinese Vermilion, Permanent Orange, Yellow Lake Deep, Naples Yellow, Lemon Yellow and Zinc White.

The Castle of Eternal Tears sold

 The day after I had finished painting it "The Castle of Eternal Tears" was sold via social media....

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

The Gate of Bab Alshams - stage 1

 Time to get on with a possible painting for my upcoming slot on Every Day Original later this month so I have gone over to some Orientalism for a bit. This is an imaginary gateway to an imaginary city somewhere in North Africa. The title contains the Arabic words for sun and gateway which is precisely what this painting will be about. This is just the tonal underpainting stage using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and applied with a rag and flat brush.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

The Castle of Eternal Tears

 This will be the last tree painting for a while as I get on with a painting for my upcoming slot on Every Day Original. As with most of the others this painting has it's roots in a Midjourney piece (shown at the bottom of this post) although in this case I only used the tree as once I looked at it for a while it triggered the idea of a castle in the background which in turn suggested a very wintry scene and then the title just came to me straight away. Once I had the title I felt that the painting should reflect it so I decided to make it quite a bleak scene with the castle only suggested through a haze of frosty air. I kept the colours desaturated based on an orange/blue colour complementary. I had finished the tonal underpainting and was just packing up my paints when I had the inspiration to rub out to the canvas white a wan sun (although I guess it could be the moon) with a rag. I think this now makes the painting although maybe it would have been bleaker without it - I just can't resist the temptation to add beautiful lighting to a painting... I kept the shape of the castle quite squat and wanted to avoid it looking like a fairy tale castle.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

There is a step-by-step progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog.

Midjourney

The Castle of Eternal Tears - stage 4

 Roughed in the tree, tweaked the background and then started to work into the tree some more before I had to stop at lunchtime and meet some friends on Brighton seafront for an afternoon of boules. What a hard life. Hoping to get it nearly finished tomorrow...

The Castle of Eternal Tears - stage 3

 Worked on the background which is now relatively finished apart from something I am planning to do to the castle tomorrow. After this I actually roughly painted in the foreground tree but was unable to get a decent photograph of it in the failing light so will post tomorrow.

The Gathering

 This was finished a few days ago but has taken a while to dry before I was able to scan it. Another tree painting with it's roots in Midjourney (shown at end of post) I changed the main tree entirely but otherwise kept to the spirit of the original Midjourney piece... looks a bit Disney?....

So what's going on in the forest?... aliens? fairy's? fireflies?... I like the little light at the bottom left corner that was in the Midjourney piece too; brings to mind (if it's fairy's for instance) of a more chaotic fairy that's always late for everything and is hurrying to meet up with the rest...

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

Regret I never posted much of a progress on this one!

The Castle of Eternal Tears - stage 2

 I have decided to paint it quite gloomy (to reflect the title),  desaturated and cold so basing it around blue/greys. I also made a decision to have a wan sun near the horizon to relieve all the dark and middle tones.

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

Below is the original Midjourney piece...

Midjourney

 

The Castle of Eternal Tears - stage 1

 While "The Gathering" dries before I scan and post it I thought that I would start another tree painting, this one set in Winter and quite cold and desaturated. Again it has it's roots in a Midjourney piece that somehow triggered the idea of a dour castle in the background with the title arriving out of the ether the moment I thought of a castle going in there. I have a few directions I can go with the lighting of this one and will make the final decision over tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee.

This is the tonal underpainting stage using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and applied with a rag and a flat brush.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

A Sacred Space

 This is another tree painting with it's roots in a Midjourney piece (pun intended). I liked the pooling of light at the bottom of the tree and somehow triggered a memory of when I came across the remains of a Wiccan (?) ceremony in the ancient yew forest of Kingley Vale some years ago. The people that know about these things will notice that I have mixed together two seasons as corn dollies are associated with the end of the harvest season whereas I have set them in an Autumnal/Winter scenario.... artistic license in operation.... 

I am kind of thinking that I could have left out the artefacts and might have been a better painting but I liked the idea of the painting having more of a context to it rather than just being a straight landscape painting.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

There is a step-by-step progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog.

Midjourney

 

Kingley Vale

The Gathering - stage 1

 While "A Sacred Space" is drying before I can scan and post it I am getting on with another tree painting with it's roots in a Midjourney piece (pun intended). I have changed the main tree completely but otherwise using an adapted version of the Midjourney piece as per the lighting etc but missing out the lights at the top. Maybe it's a gathering of faery folk?... natural phenomena? Aliens?

This is the tonal underpainting stage using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and applied with a rag and flat brush.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12"

Midjourney

 

A Sacred Space - stage 5

 Kind of finished off the background but won't know until the foreground is properly in. The painting is based on a red/orange - green/blue colour complementary... it's just a question of getting the right blue I want. The painting looks a bit better than it does in this photograph so I think it's basically on track....

A Sacred Space - stage 4

 Getting all the basic background in today, planning on getting it to look right tomorrow when the paint is dry. I'm not panicking yet...

A Sacred Space - stage 3

 

First colour pass on the background, Early days yet, the colours should work but need another day on the background to knock it into shape. Basically following the colours of the Midjourney piece.

Colours used: Dioxazine Purple, Indanthrene Blue, Phthalocyanine Green, Permanent Sap Green, Cobalt Teal, Burnt Sienna, Permanent Orange, Yellow Lake Deep, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon and Zinc White.

A Sacred Space - stage 2

 Didn't get a lot done today apart from a second pass of the warm underpainting colour mix on the foreground. I like the transition from the warm foreground areas to the cool background in the original Midjourney piece and am going to try and replicate this in the painting. As far as I can see the rest of the painting will be done with a cool blue/green mix so that the foreground warm areas pop. Will have a long hard look at it over tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee....

The Singing Tree

 Carrying on with the tree theme this is another painting with it's origins in Midjourney (shown at end of post) the title immediately arriving before I started painting it so I guess the painting wanted to be called this. As usual the Midjourney piece triggered the idea of some steps leading to a kind of platform at the base of the central tree and as the painting wanted to be called The Singing Tree it seemed obvious to have a small figure there with the pose maybe suggesting someone was singing... to the tree? Anyway the painting is as much about lighting as anything else and after initially thinking of having a Maxfield Parrish look to it I decided to go for a misty morning light instead. With all these tree pictures I want them to look like a painting as opposed to the more photographic look that I tend towards.

Oil on fine cotton 12" x 16".

There is a short step-by-step progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog.

Midjourney

 

A Sacred Space - stage 1

 While I wait for "The Singing Tree" to dry I thought that I would get on with another one in this tree series, This one also comes out of a combination of a Midjourney piece, my imagination and memories of seeing the remains of a Wiccan (?) ceremony in Kingley Vale some years ago. The Midjourney piece (shown at the bottom of this post) triggered the idea by the way the light has pooled into one area below the tree and immediately put in my mind what I saw at Kingley Vale that morning.

For this tonal underpainting I thought that I would try a number of colours instead of the usual monochrome. The colours I used were: Burnt Sienna, Dioxazine Purple, Permanent Orange, Yellow Lake Deep, Manganese Blue Hue, Phthalocyanine Green, Lemon Yellow and Zinc White.

Oil on Fine cotton 16" x 12".

Midjourney

 

The Singing Tree - stage 2

 Starting to work into the central tree and the foreground tree at left. Decided not to go for a Maxfield Parrish feel as I was contemplating and went for a misty morning in the forest look instead. Still using the colours I started with yesterday.

The Singing Tree - stage 1

 Well I seem to be carrying on with this tree theme so here's another one. I'm still not particularly happy with the first two so I'm having another go. As before this is from a Midjourney piece that is the trigger for the painting, the title arrived immediately so I'm staying with it as obviously the painting wants to be called this. There will be a small figure at the top of the steps. 

I tried something different with the tonal underpainting on this one and used a background blue colour in the top half and then used a warmer mix for the rest of the tree and foreground etc.

Colours used: Prussian Blue, Transparent Red Oxide, Dioxazine Purple and Permanent Orange.

Oil on fine cotton 12" x 16".

Midjourney

Daphne

 I was originally intending to start a figurative painting of Hecate Greek goddess of The Underworld but seem to have been sidetracked into one of my periods of trying things out (seems to happen about once a year particularly after I have been to IX) so as ever I'm willing to see where this goes. The current theme seems to be trees so I will follow the trail and see where it leads, hopefully what I learn will inform the Hecate painting when I get to start it. 

I have been trying some things in Midjourney which has set me off on this current trail. The Midjourney piece that was behind Daphne (which is at the bottom of this post) came out of the jumble of shapes on the left looking like a fleeing figure which in turn led to the idea of having a figure of Daphne the Greek goddess being turned into a tree by Apollo. I decided to just go for it at the tonal underpainting stage and see what I could come up with using the basic shape of the tree in the Midjourney piece as a starter. As ever I am not totally over the Moon as to how it has come out but maybe I'm just too close to it. I already have the idea for the next tree painting...

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

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

Midjourney

Daphne - stage 3

 This actually is the stage it was a couple of days ago and is now nearly finished although as always struggling with the figure...

Daphne - stage 2

 I'm kind of seeing where the painting wants to go and is already looking different to my original intention. That's fine as long as it looks OK at the end! I will have a look at it with fresh eyes over tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee and see where to go next.

Colours used: Prussian Blue, Dioxazine Purple, Pale Violet, Cobalt Teal, Permanent Orange, Cadmium Yellow Light, Yellow Lake Deep, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon and Zinc White.

Daphne - stage 1

 Initial tonal underpainting for "Daphne", a painting that wasn't in my plans but it seems it wanted to be painted so here goes. Head not sorted yet, basically winging it from an initial Midjourney piece shown at the bottom of this post.

My next painting was meant to be a figurative picture based on reference photos I took last week of my usual model Naomi Wood of Hecate Greek goddess of The Underworld but I was trying some things out on Midjourney for it and accumulated quite a few useful images but not that applicable to the painting I'm planning. The one below suggested a fleeing figure on the left which triggered the idea for this painting as well as trying to see if I can paint a blue over some of it like in the MJ piece.

Colours used for underpainting: Transparent Oxide Red and Dioxazine Purple.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

Underworld

 

Finally getting back to painting after a three week lay off....

This is kind of a study for a larger upcoming figurative painting of Hecate Greek goddess of The Underworld. While waiting to get the reference shots of my model Naomi Wood yesterday I thought I would get on with a trial of how I might do the background in the meantime. I played around with Midjourney for a while and came up with the image below which I used as a guide. It was originally tempting to leave as it as a monochrome as it was looking OK but that wasn't the point of the painting (I can always paint another monochrome one later) and wanted to try and get across the idea of an Underworld landscape underneath the sky where no direct sunshine permeated, an airless place dimly lit and mysterious. I included a Classical temple in the distance to connect with the idea of a Greek landscape. Look out for the eyes...

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12"

There is a short step-by-step progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog.

Midjourney

 

Underworld - stage 3

 Painted in some colour into the sky and painted in the rest of the foreground trees. I stopped here as I need to look at all this over tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee to see the way forward. It was tempting to leave it all monochrome but that wasn't the purpose of this painting and is meant to be kind of a study for the upcoming "Hecate" painting. The idea behind this is having a kind of daylight sky (although it is ambiguous and could be a night sky) to separate it from the trees and landscape below as though it is another world where daylight doesn't penetrate. This may or may not work...

Colours used: Phthalocyanine Blue, Manganese Blue Hue, Phthalocyanine Green, Emerald Green, Pale Violet, Permanent Orange, Lemon Yellow, Pale Light Yellow and Zinc White.

Underworld - stage 2

 

Worked on strengthening the foreground trees today although not all finished yet. Tomorrow I paint in the other colours in the sky as this is not going to be a monochrome painting.

Colours used so far: Phthalocyanine Blue, Prussian Blue, Phthalocyanine Green and Permanent Orange.

Underworld - stage 1

 Finally getting into painting again after a three week lay off due to going to the USA for IX and then dealing with stuff like my tax accounts when I got back. 

I have noticed that the prizewinners in art competitions that have a Fantasy bias are always figurative works and never landscapes so I am moved to see if I can come up with something figurative next. To this end I have decided to paint a picture of Hecate, the Greek goddess of The Underworld and have my usual model Naomi coming over on Thursday for the photographic session for the figure of Hecate. In the meantime I have decided to get on with a small study of how I might approach the background...

This is the initial tonal underpainting which was first blocked in with a rag before I started to use brushes using a mix of Prussian Blue, Phthalocyanine Green and Permanent Orange thinned with Liquin.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".