Infected By Art

 Pleased to see I have had two paintings accepted for Infected By Art Volume 10, the companion pieces,  "Low Tide, Jebel Moussa" and "The Domes of Jebel Moussa". They are of course day and night versions of the same imagined location. And both unsold...

 

A Perfect Day

 I have decided to expand the scope of my The Big Sky/Roadside America series to include the return of themes that I was working on ten years ago, in this case the threatening shadow which had made an appearance in the previous painting "Groceries". I chose a comfortable suburban setting, the location being a housing area that I remembered seeing in a city called Bowie in Maryland when I was staying with a couple of lovely art collectors who lived in the area.

I was after the contrast between the suburban house on a lovely sunny day and the threatening shadow looming towards it from an unknown source - it's not a tree or a normal shaped building so what is it? And those trees in the background, they look a bit dark and foreboding? Maybe things are not so hunky dory as the setting would indicate. As usual I'm not entirely happy with the painting but this will have to do for this one...

There are number of themes that run through this series which I will elucidate in due time.

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

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

Diana Ospina

 In the early 2000s I painted this large portrait of a lovely Colombian lady called Diana Ospina who was a language student in Brighton at the time. In those days I was experimenting with gold paints, bronze powders and acrylics very much under the influence of Klimt, indeed in the very late 90s I went to Vienna specifically to see as much Klimt as I possibly could and came back loaded with inspiration.

This was one of the last paintings from my "Gold Period" and was trying out blues against golds and coppers using decorative motifs drawn from her South American/Colombian background. I think I exhibited it in my Brighton Festival Open House that year and after that it went into storage.... along with my "Gold Period" as I moved on to pastures new such as chalk pastels and eventually oils.

A couple of times over the years Diana who was now living in Italy got in touch about the possibility of me giving the portrait to her but they came to nothing for whatever reason I'm not sure. Finally we came back into contact very recently and have finally arranged to get it to her. A cousin came along yesterday to pick it up in his car and he will now organise sending the painting to her. It is pretty large compared to the sizes that I normally work in and hope that he can get it to her in one piece!

Acrylics, gold paints and bronze powders on MDF 20" x 56"

 

A Perfect Day - stage 4

 The sky was looking too gloomy so I painted a happier blue into it using a mix of Zinc White, Manganese Blue Hue, Permanent Orange and Lead Tin Yellow Lemon.

To get the idea across there must be quite a contrast between the seemingly ideal suburban setting and the looming ominous shadow coming into the picture.

I then worked on the house which will be hopefully dry tomorrow so that I can give it a slight warm yellow glaze.

A Perfect Day - stage 3

 Decided to put some more structure to the trees instead of being uniformly dark and put in the colour underpainting for the house. Didn't get much done today as I was playing boules on Brighton seafront in the afternoon...

Moonlight Encampment sold

 An early Orientalist painting from 2017 has just sold through Artfinder to a lady who has a number of my Orientalist paintings already. Looking forward to seeing a photo of them together on her wall.

Oil on linen 16" x 12".

A Perfect Day - stage 2

 Roughed in some colour into the sky, trees and lawn. I need to warm up the colours a bit tomorrow and the trees remind me of Magritte which is no bad thing. I have decided to paint this not too naturalistic to see if that conveys the idea better. It could be that I should have painted it differently, I guess I will see tomorrow when I start working on the houses.

Colours used were: Manganese Blue Hue, Winsor Violet, Permanent Sap Green, Chrome Green, Permanent Orange, Naples Yellow, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon, Zinc White and Warm White.

A Perfect Day - stage 1

 So this one marks the return of themes that I was working on ten years ago, in this case the threatening shadow. I have deliberately chosen a comfortable suburban setting, the location being a housing area I remembered seeing in a town/city called Bowie in Maryland when I was staying with a couple of lovely art collectors who lived in the area.

I want everything to reflect the contrast between the suburban house on a lovely sunny day with the threatening shadow looming towards it from an unknown source - it's not a tree or a normal shaped building so what is it? I'm after a feeling of existential threat to comfortable normality.... there are bigger themes running through the Roadside America paintings which I will elucidate in due time.

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

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

Groceries

 I realised a few nights ago that it was too limiting to be just focusing on old road signs and abandoned buildings for my locations for my Roadside America/The Big Sky series. "Groceries" makes a first move to expanding the scope to include themes that I was working on ten years ago, a more surreal, darkly humorous feel to the imagery when I was using a lot of threatening shadows in usually urban cityscapes.

This one is a halfway house to that direction in that I am combining an abandoned building with shadows rushing into the foreground from an unseen tree etc which hopefully gives it an edge of unease to what could otherwise just be a pretty picture. In fact that is what I am trying to avoid, painting pretty pictures. The slight change of direction will be more apparent in the next one, "A Perfect Day" which I started working on yesterday.

"Groceries" was quite tricky because all the lighting is invented and a lot of thought went into the colours I used to try and get it right - the colours remind me of old Kodachrome colour film which gives a slight nostalgia which I like as another ingredient to stir into the mix.

Oil on linen 30" x 20".

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

Groceries - stage 7

 Pretty much finished the grocery store now apart from a few tweaks and some lettering to go on.  I will then start on the ground around it, this is when I find out if the lighting is really going to work, I'm looking for that finely-judged combination of beauty mixed with a certain menace from the high contrast streaks of shadow and light over the possibly snowy ground.

Groceries - stage 6

 Worked more on the building will hopefully finish it pretty much tomorrow. Had a problem working out how the light was going to work against the shadow areas on the windows... how much does the glass reflect in the shadow areas for instance.... I'm just winging it as ever and hoping it works out in the end.

Groceries - stage 5

 Kind of finished the background trees and have made a start on the abandoned grocery store still using the same colours.

 I'm kind of warming to this painting now once that I made a start on the building I have a clearer idea as to how it will look when finished. I wasn't sure up to this point and although it isn't (as usual) turning out how I intended I will go with what I have and make the best of it.

Groceries - stage 4

 More of the same, worked mainly on the tree behind the building today as I need to get it looking OK due to the size and prominence in the picture. If it doesn't look good it will throw the rest of the painting. Hopefully will start working on the building once I have tweaked the background, I might leave the ground around it until I have made a good start on the building.

Groceries - stage 3

 First colour pass on the background trying to paint as much of it wet in wet as possible.

Colours used: Manganese Blue Hue, Pale Violet, Permanent Orange, Cadmium Red, Yellow Lake Deep, Cadmium Yellow Light, Lemon Yellow, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon, Zinc White and Warm White.

Groceries - stage 2

 A second pass of the same colours from yesterday finishes the tonal underpainting. Tomorrow we start the colour...

Groceries - stage 1

 I have been thinking about working larger for a while now but haven't found the right subject yet. This one is at least 30" x 20" so it's a start....

I'm hoping to get a more painterly feel to this one so hopefully I won't be tempted to paint it too tight. A low Winter sun is hitting a broken down grocery store in New Mexico to which end I have used two colours for the tonal underpainting, my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin for the shadow areas and Transparent Maroon, a Winsor & Newton colour for where the sunlight falls - the idea of using two colours came to me last night just before I went to bed.

Oil on linen 30" x 20".

Pump Jacks

 Another Roadside America painting, this one located in Texas, hence the oil field jacks. As ever I take a relatively ordinary location/subject and then give it some nice lighting/sky to give (to me) a certain poignancy and gentle melancholy... I am trying to avoid the more obvious picturesque landscapes and even to an extent to avoid Americana too. There is something that fascinates me about the American landscape as opposed to my own in the UK, it might be that it's the space and scale that I find missing over here. There is also a residual fascination left over from all the American TV series and films that I have watched over the years and I think that filters in as well.

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

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

Isochron Scepter

 I am pleased to say that I did indeed receive 5% of the sale price of "Isochron Scepter" from the very kind collector that auctioned it. I sold it in 2015 for $450 before prices went skyrocketing for MTG artworks. It is very laudable that the seller felt that the artist should receive a cut of the presumably healthy profit and I can only hope that other MTG artists benefit from future sales! Well done that man!

Pump Jacks - stages 2 & 3

 Oooopps! I have forgot to post updates on the painting...

In stage 2 I gave the upper sky a transparent glaze of a mix of Ultramarine Violet and Permanent Orange and then roughed in the landscape with mixes of Burnt Sienna/Winsor Violet and Permanent Sap Green/Winsor Violet.

In stage 3 I have roughed in some clouds with a relatively transparent mix of Ultramarine Violet/Permanent Orange in readiness for tomorrow when I finish the clouds with a more opaque mix of those colours with Manganese Violet and a touch of Warm Light Yellow. I also added a little more orange to the sky to warm it up and intensify the colour a bit.