The Madrasah of Ibn Shah

 The Madrasah of Ibn Shah was known throughout the land as a great seat of learning drawing students from across the world in search of knowledge and understanding. As it was considered a light of hope in a darkened world the lights were left on through the night as a symbol of what the madrasah represented. Many a student arrived at the door tired and bedraggled after a long journey to be welcomed in, given food and water and taken to a room where they can sleep and in the morning begin their education.

Well I seem to recall that I read this somewhere... or maybe not....

I am now on the roster of artists on the new Beyond The Every Day gallery that is run by Every Day Original. The gallery is different to EDO in that one can sell larger paintings without the price cap of $500 and is better for me as all the Orientalist paintings that I have sold so far on the site are really bargains in terms of size and execution as I have always regarded them as loss leaders to get more people interested in my work. I will continue to paint pictures for the EDO gallery that are posted bi-monthly. "The Madrasah of Ibn Shah" will be sold at a more realistic price in relation to the size and relative complexity. Any of these paintings posted on Beyond The Every Day that remain unsold will be shown at the upcoming IX art fair in October.

I followed the composition and lighting of my previous painting "Station Blue" and have chosen the style of architecture of Central Asia although I have taken many liberties as this is a Fantasy painting and not of a real place. A madrasah is a school for the teaching of Islam to children and older students and can be found in every Islamic country.

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

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

International Guild of Realism

 "Pawn" has been accepted for inclusion in the 16th Annual International Guild of Realism exhibition in June. It will be on show at the McBride Gallery in Annapolis, Maryland USA from June 10 - 24 with the Opening Preview and Reception on the 10th and 12th.

I am thinking of going over to the USA for the show as I have some friends in Maryland who are only an hour's drive away from Annapolis and seeing as I have been absolutely nowhere for two years due to Covid I feel like this is a good excuse to do something interesting again. I know it's only one painting but I feel like I'm going a bit stir crazy and need something that gives me a buzz again - I live in a great city but two years of admittedly getting a lot of paintings done and Netflix is enough now thank you very much. Of course WW3 could start in the interim so might have to change my plans...

Oil on linen 30" x 20".

The Madrasah of Ibn Shah - stage 7

 I was away from the studio yesterday so today was the first chance to get on with some painting. The process is slower because I am using some glazing, it always seems quicker when using opaque colours...

 I have worked on all the buildings inside the outside wall and it will be time next to work towards the light area in the doorway - hopefully tomorrow. I will adjust any values with glazes once the painting of the buildings is finished.

The Madrasah of Ibn Shah - stage 6

 Added another glaze of Phthalocyanine Blue to the sky and then worked on all the green/blue domes and insets in the architecture

Colours used: Phthalocyanine Blue, Phthalocyanine Green, Emerald Green, Cobalt Teal, Permanent Orange, Ultramarine Violet and Zinc White.

The Madrasah of Ibn Shah - stage 5

 Another glaze of Phthalocyanine Blue on the sky and another of the Prussian Blue/Permanent Orange mix on the rest... plus a thin wash of Phthalocyanine Green on the domes. I want to have some variety of colour in the buildings so the domes will have some green in them like they have in Central Asia.

The Madrasah of Ibn Shah - stage 4

 More of the same today, but the first glaze on the sky was with Phthalocyanine Blue instead of Indanthrene Blue as I might make the sky more Maxfield Parrish than I originally intended as the genre might expect these colours and resonate more with buyers.

I applied a second pass of the Burnt Sienna/Winsor Violet mix to the rest of the painting in readiness for the first pass of transparent blue over it.

The Madrasah of Ibn Shah - stage 3

 I'm probably going to use much the same colours as the previous painting "Station Blue" but introduce some more blue/greens for the domes. So the underpainting is with my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and the sky is a mix of Cobalt Teal and Warm White.

The Madrasah of Ibn Shah - stages 1 & 2

Stage 1

 I was quite happy with the colours and feel of my last painting, "Station Blue" so I decided to use them on my next Orientalist painting. I am now on the roster of artists on the new Beyond The Every Day gallery that is ran by the Every Day Original people. The gallery is different in that one can now sell larger paintings without the price cap of $500 that is on the Every Day Original gallery. This is better for me as all the Orientalist paintings that I have sold so far on the site are really bargains in terms of size and execution and I have always regarded them as loss leaders to get more people interested in my work. I will continue to paint pictures for the EDO gallery that are posted bi-monthly.

This painting is 22" x 16" so not too big a difference to the previous EDO pictures but will be sold at a more realistic price as far as my own work is concerned. Any of these for Beyond The Every Day will be shown at the upcoming IX art fair in October if they remain unsold.

The composition of this one will follow "Station Blue" in that there will be some orange light in the doorway near bottom left and everything else will be blues. I have chosen the style of architecture of Central Asian Islam although I have taken liberties as this is a fantasy painting and not of a real place... although I will try and make it look like a real place. A madrasah is a school for the teaching of Islam to children and older students and can be found in every Islamic country.

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

Stage 2

 

Station Blue

 After a bit of a gap since the last painting (see Stage 1 on this blog) I have got on with another in The Big Sky series and returned to an old favourite the abandoned gas (petrol) station. I wanted a bit of Maxfield Parrish in this one and used his trademark colour complementary of blue and orange. I was looking for a painting that was about design and colour and was hoping for the shapes to be strong enough to push it towards abstraction (at least in my terms of abstraction as far as my work goes!).

The painting is mainly made up of glazes and stopped adding them when I had got to the contrast I was looking for, I wanted it basically dark but still showing some detail. I'm actually quite happy with this one and have decided to use the same colours and feel for the next painting, another Orientalist piece.

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.

Station Blue - stage 4

 More of the same today, another glaze of Indanthrene Blue on the sky and another glaze of the Prussian Blue/Permanent Orange mix on the rest.

Station Blue - stage 3

 Now looking nearer to how it is intended. First of all I painted a gradated glaze of Indanthrene Blue ( a colour I have used a lot for evening/night skies) on the top part of the sky and the horizon. I then gave the rest of the painting a wash of the Prussian Blue/Permanent Orange mix before using the same mix to reinstate the darker areas taking care to leave the window at left still showing the warm underpainting ready for when I paint in the solitary light (also left a couple of adjacent areas showing the underpainting for the reflection on the underside of the canopy and on the ground immediately in front). I will progressively add more glazes to the sky and ground until I have the balance of silhouettes and darks to areas showing some detail. I don't want the whole painting to have detail in it.

Station Blue - stage 2

 Painted the first glaze on the sky, a mix of Prussian Blue and Permanent Orange thinned with Liquin. I then painted in a layer of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet on the building and landscape. As you can see I am leaving one window in the building with a light on so the final painting will be based on a green blue/red orange colour complementary.

Station Blue - stage 1

 It has been a while since the last painting as I have been getting on with other stuff and it took a long time to box up all the paintings that are off to the buyer in Singapore - they went off by FedEx this morning. I have also been sending selected paintings from The Big Sky series to galleries in the USA and realised that maybe I have invested too much in this project of getting gallery representation in the USA, if there is no interest it will be somewhat depressing and will feel like I have been wasting my time, a lot of it. So I have had a couple of days of a feeling I've had before, what is the point of all this, does the world really need another painting by me?! Well of course the answer is no it doesn't.... but in fact it just comes down to I need to paint them because it keeps me together mentally and physically so I paint for me not the world.

So with that in mind I managed to regain some inspiration this morning and get on with another painting in The Big Sky series... and felt much better straight away.

It's an old favourite theme, the abandoned gas (petrol) station but will look quite different to the previous one as there is going to be a Maxfield Parrish influence to this with a beautiful dark blue sky against a very dark foreground but I am painting it with a soft edge to everything (hopefully).

This stage is the drawing up and first pass on the tonal underpainting as well as a start on the sky which will be achieved with glazes. Colours used so far: Burnt Sienna, Winsor Violet, Zinc White, Warm White and Cobalt Teal.

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

Seventeen paintings sold

 Pat Wilshire at IX Gallery recently suggested that I do another online show particularly as he had a buyer in Singapore "that might buy four or five" who commissioned me last year for a large painting as well as buying some old book cover artworks. I put together a list of 45 paintings after going through the piles of artworks stored in my bedroom, scanned them and sent all the details to Pat a few days ago.

Seeing as the aforementioned buyer seemed to be interested in my work in "Realms of Fantasy" published by Paper Tiger in 1983 I sorted out all of the paintings that I had left from that book on a hunch and included them in the list. It turns out that this was one of the first fantasy books that he had bought so he had a soft spot for it... he bought them all plus ten more book jacket artworks and a more recent oil painting of Angkor (the largest one in the photo).

This amounted to $26,200.00 altogether less Pat's commission....

Ghost Station

 I actually finished this a few days ago but this is the first chance I have had to post it up. This is another in my The Big Sky series and I have returned to a favourite subject, the abandoned gas (petrol) station. This location does not in fact exist as it is made up of different elements of the real and imagined but is basically set somewhere in the Desert Southwest. I have been searching for a "look" to my work for quite a while now and this combination of the dark unsaturated foreground set against glowing luminous skies seems to be getting me closer. I am looking for a certain poignancy to the pictures and do not want to just paint pretty pictures as such although I am looking for elements of beauty... without being pretty. Maybe a difficult fine line to navigate.

I think I have enough paintings now that make a coherent grouping to make a start on seeing if I can get some gallery interest in the USA.

Oil on linen 30" x 20"

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

The Ramparts of Al Khafra sold

 Pleased to see that "The Ramparts of Al Khafra sold straight away yesterday on Every Day Original to a buyer that already has three (?) of my Orientalist paintings. Oil on linen 16" x 12".