The Night Owl - stage 5

 I just have the front of the foreground building and maybe a few tweaks here and there to do tomorrow and it will be finished. Still difficult to photograph....

The Night Owl - stage 4

 More of the same today, worked on the foreground building at left and the mid ground buildings at right as well as a final going over of the background, all using the same colours. Still difficult getting a decent photo of the painting, the scan of the finish will show what it really looks like.

The Night Owl - stage 3

 Really difficult to get a decent pic of this one, it's bluer and softer than it appears here...

I decided over my breakfast coffee to keep some of that brown/purple in everything as opposed to the more obvious one of having everything in blues and this also gives it more variation in colour. Didn't get a lot done today, mainly worked on the sky and background buildings but I think I'm on the right track.

Extra colours used: Phthalocyanine Turquoise and Ultramarine Violet.

The Night Owl - stage 2

 I first gave it an overall transparent wash of Phthalocyanine Blue, Phthalocyanine Green and Permanent Orange thinned with Liquin and applied with a rag just leaving the area where the lit window will be. It's actually softer than it looks here, hard to get a decent photo of it with an iPhone (my usual DSLR camera is playing up). The opaque paints start to go on tomorrow.

The Night Owl - stage 1

 The sixth painting in my "Snow" series this one kind of follows on from the last one with the Edward Hopper influence - there is a sideways nod to Hopper in the title too...

I'm combining my "Snow" series with my inclination to having a solitary light on in a building at dusk or nighttime with this one. I want something very moody, probably in desaturated blues (apart from the orange light in the window) but who knows, the last one was meant to be like that but it just went it's own way. I will definitely be giving it a transparent blue wash over the whole painting (apart from the lit window) first and then .... desaturated blues?

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".

Lonely Street

 The second of my paintings to have this title... it's the name of the street, "lonely" isn't an adjective... Actually as a friend pointed out there is an implied story in here and I know what my back story is to this but I like other people coming up with their own stories for this so maybe it can also be titled "Lonely Street" with "lonely" as an adjective...

This is the fifth in my "Snow" series and references my work from some years ago when it was influenced by Edward Hopper although I also see a bit of Magritte in there too. This one is actually influenced by a Hopper etching called "Night Shadows". I wanted a surreal and mysterious feel to this one with a strong design that relies on a good placement of the figure within the composition. I originally saw this in my mind as based around desaturated blues but the painting had other ideas about that and came out in this violet/orange combination which is fine with me. Even the falling off of the brightness of the snow towards the right was unplanned...

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

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

Lonely Street - stage 3

 Still feeling my way through this one, working on bits I know what to do with, leaving the other bits until later. I originally conceived this in mainly desaturated blues but it seems to want to go in it's own direction so I will follow it and see how it comes out.

New colours used: Manganese Violet, Pale Violet, Brilliant Pink and Naples Yellow.

Lonely Street - stage 2

 First I gave the whole painting a wash of transparent desaturated blue/green which helps to unify the colours at the onset. I then decided to start on the lit side of the building at left quite tentatively at first as I felt my way along as to what colours to use for the buildings. I also painted in some snow on the corner overhang to help me work out the values - the snow is not going to be a bright white, more of a light spearmint green. I'm leaving it now to have look at it over tomorrow's breakfast coffee to see if I like how it's going.

Colours used so far: Ultramarine Blue, Ultramarine Violet, Phthalocyanine Green, Burnt Sienna, Permanent Orange , Zinc White and Warm White.

Lonely Street - stage 1

 Actually this is the second of my paintings to have this title.... it's the name of the street, lonely isn't an adjective...

This is the next painting in my "Snow" series and references my work from some years ago when I painted a lot of paintings influenced by Edward Hopper. I want a strong design with the placing of the figure important to the composition. Not sure what colours to use yet but am veering towards desaturated blues but that will be decided over tomorrow's breakfast coffee.

I'm looking for a surreal mysterious feel to this one... where is everybody? The only footprints in the snow are his. What has happened? Or maybe it's just too early in the morning for anyone to be about...

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".

Koyasan

 

The next painting in my Snow series and have returned to a Japanese theme for this one. Although this is a real location I have moved things around for a more interesting composition although only people who have been there will notice! I was trying out a different colour combination for snow on this one, basically adding whites to my usual tonal underpainting mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple. I wanted a white-out effect of snow and freezing icy air which I have achieved to a point  but part of me wishes I had pushed it more and made it way more subtle by taking things back into the icy mist... maybe I will try that on another painting...

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

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

Koyasan - stage 4

 

OK I now have things ready for knocking everything back into freezing mist now that I have put in the foreground. As I said in the last post it will be critical for me to get this mist right and to make sure that is works spatially - I did knock the background back a bit more this morning but going carefully.

Koyasan - stage 3

 Didn't have a lot of time to work on this today but made a start on knocking back the temple and background trees... but not there yet. I think that I will paint in the foreground tomorrow before I finish the background as it is quite critical how the balance of the lights and darks are, it has to look very cold and snowy but still having enough darks in it to give it structure.

Koyasan - stage 2

 I have now finished the temple ready for knocking back tomorrow with some freezing mist over it. I then knocked back the background trees with a mix of the sky colour and made a start on the foreground trees but thought that I would stop there to see if I was happy with them in the morning - not sure about the branches with the snow.

Colours used: Ultramarine Blue. Dioxazine Purple, Burnt Sienna, Zinc White, Titanium White and Warm White.

Koyasan - stage 1

 

This will be another of my Snow series of paintings this time with a Japanese theme. This is the tonal underpainting stage using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin applied with a rag and brush. I have evolved this part of the underpainting stage by not actually "drawing" it up first with a brush and then waiting for it to dry before the tones go on and instead blocking in quite loosely the main design with a rag and then applying the paint with flat brushes and have by this method shaved a day off the painting time.... shown at the end of this post.

The finished underpainting actually gives a false impression of how the painting is going to look as many areas will be knocked back as I go on when I start to put in the snow - some of the detail will disappear and is only there as a guide for me to see where things are like the details on the temple. I am also using a different colour combination for this one which will be whites on brown/blues instead of variations of blues as I normally do.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

Chang Rila

 

The first painting of 2023 is another in my Winter series that I am now renaming as the "Snow" series as that is what this series will be about. 

This one is a fantasy landscape of Bhutan with the the building based on Bhutanese architecture and the background Himalayan peak being from a different area of this mountain range... it's a fantasy right?!... I was originally basing this on the Alpenglow light effect on mountains at a certain time of the day but once I had painted in the mountains against the sky I liked it as it was and didn't want to f*** it up so I left it like that and changed things accordingly. This is the advantage of working for yourself as you are your own Art Director and can change things without clearing it with somebody else. I will try the Alpenglow effect on another painting later on in this series.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

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

Chang Rila -stage 4

 Had a few problems trying to work out the colours on the building and then after blocking in the detail for the rocks I decided to break up the whole area with some cloud coming in as it was compositionally better. The snow goes on the rocks tomorrow when I might be able to finish it...

Chang Rila - stage 3

 I quite like how the mountains have come out but they are not how I intended but unless I change my mind between now and tomorrow I will leave them like this and attempt alpenglow on another painting instead.

Colours used: Pale Violet, Genuine Chinese Vermilion, Brilliant Pink, Permanent Orange, Warm Light Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Light and Lead Tin Yellow Lemon.

Chang Rila - stage 2

 I realised the best way to proceed was to block in the base sky colour and run washes of colour over the rest so that I can work on top of it when it's dry tomorrow. The alpenglow effect on the mountains is already evident..

Colours used: Ultramarine Blue, Ultramarine Violet, Kings Blue Light, Phthalocyanine Turquoise, Permanent Orange and Yellow Lake Deep.

Art Renewal Center

 

The Art Renewal Center announced the Finalists and awards for the 16th International Salon yesterday and was pleased to have it confirmed that I have three paintings in it this year, my best tally so far. Didn't win an award of course...

Chang Rila - stage 1

 The first painting of 2023 is another Winter painting this time of a fantasy Bhutanese landscape with plenty of snow everywhere but the focus will be on the Alpenglow on the background mountains. I am dithering with having something in the near foreground but don't know if I need it - no doubt a decision on that will be made over tomorrow's breakfast coffee. The building is based on Bhutanese architecture but the mountain background is from a different area of the Himalayas... it's a fantasy, right?!

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".

Castle Dracul

 The second in my Winter series and I fancied doing a dark Vampire painting.. well why not? I could kind of see it in my mind as to how it should look but it was a question of values. I wanted it dark but not too dark as to the castle just turning into a silhouette although I did want it to loom mysteriously in the background. In the end I went for values grouped around middle to dark and decided on a blue/green - red/orange colour complementary but quite desaturated although I still wanted the whole picture to have a nice general colour to it. Traces of the warm red/brown underpainting show through in the castle and foreground trees to relieve the otherwise monochromatic look it would have had and I decided to have an orange light in one window in the castle as a counterpoint to the rest of the painting in blue/greens. I wanted the Vampire to have a spectral look about him so he is painted as if blending into the frosty air near the ground- he is actually walking across ice but that is difficult to get across.

Gratifyingly a nice lady who has bought a previous Vampire painting off me contacted me before the painting was finished with a view to buying it which makes this the first painting I have sold before it was finished other than private commissions of course.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12",

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