Kasbah Layla - stage 1

 The fourth in my "Arabian Night" series this one is actually set in Morocco so not really Arabian.... This is an imaginary Berber Kasbah fortress village in the Atlas Mountains area of Morocco where the architecture is quite distinctive and different to other Islamic architecture. This one is a follow on from the previous "The Empty Quarter" in that I will be using similar lighting but there will be more emphasis on the reds in the foreground Kasbah set against the blues of the sky.

This is the initial 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 Empty Quarter

 The Empty Quarter or Rub' Al Khali occupies the bottom third of The Arabian Peninsular and as the name suggests is a very tough environment populated by nomadic tribes and was famously crossed by the Western explorer Wilfrid Thesiger which he wrote about in his book "Arabian Sands".

This is the third in my "Arabian Night" series and is the nearest so far to the title of the series. It brings together things I have learnt in recent series such as "The Sleeping City" such as keeping the colours quite desaturated with my penchant for Orientalism. I wanted to get across something of the scale of this desert and the isolation of the lone figure within it although one gets the impression that he is not intimidated by this hostile environment and is actually enjoying the view just as we are.

Based on a red/orange - blue/green colour complementary but kept quite desaturated. Oil on linen 22" x 16".

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

The Empty Quarter - stage 4

 The background and sky are pretty much finished so today I painted in the hills and dunes on the left and roughed in the foreground dune at right ready for tomorrow. I can have a look at the foreground dune tomorrow morning over my breakfast coffee and make final decisions on how I wish to paint it.

Abend Gallery

 

Station Blue

I have two paintings in an exhibition starting today at the Abend Gallery in Denver CO, USA. The exhibition is called "Contours of Nature: An Exhibition of Landscape Art" and runs from today 26 April to 10 May. My paintings are "Station Blue" and "Refuge", both nocturnes one set in the South West of America the other one in West Sussex UK.

"Station Blue" Oil on linen 22" x 16"

"Refuge" Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12"

Refuge

 

 

The Empty Quarter - stage 3

 First colour pass on the sky trying out the more desaturated look of recent paintings just adding the barest touch of yellow to the area around the moon. The sky is a bit softer than it appears here so that it goes back into the distance a bit more. A moonlit night in the Arabian Desert....

Colours used: Phthalocyanine Blue, Phthalocyanine Green, Dioxazine Purple, Manganese Violet, Burnt Sienna, Permanent Orange, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon, Zinc White and Warm White.

The Empty Quarter - stages 1 & 2

Stage 1

 The Empty Quarter or Rub Al Khali is the third in my "Arabian Night" series and is of all so far, nearest the title of the series. It brings together things I have learnt in recent series and my penchant for moonlit skies although as like recent paintings I am going to keep the colours relatively desaturated and avoid the usual Maxfield Parrish colour strength that is usually used in this kind of Orientalist fantasy. I want to get across something of the scale of this desert and the isolation of this lone figure within it although one gets the impression somehow that he is not intimidated by this hostile environment and is actually enjoying the view, just as we are.

Stage 1 is the initial tonal underpainting using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and applied with a rag and flat brush.

Stage 2 is the final underpainting with a wash of a mix of Phthalocyanine Blue, Phthalocyanine Green and Permanent Orange thinned with Liquin and  painted over most of it apart from the areas where the colour will be towards yellows and oranges (blue/green - red/orange colour complementary).

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

Stage 2

Al Sahra

 The next painting in my "Arabian Night" series, this one has been painted for my upcoming slot on Every Day Original on 23 April. My slot has been moved forwards from the 28th to the 23rd of every other month and had to get "Al Sahra" painted quicker than normal but it seems to have turned out OK. I have carried on with what I learnt in my "The Sleeping City" series using more desaturated colours into this series... it's nice to know that there is always more to learn in oil painting... 

A word about Every Day Original... my normal price for a painting this size is $850-$900 so the paintings I sell on this portal represent quite a bargain at $495 especially as EDO take 25% commission and I always so far lose money on shipping costs too. I am going to have to charge more for shipping to USA customers for instance as $60 is barely half of what it costs me...

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

Al Sahra - stages 1 & 2

Stage 1

 Sorry a bit remiss of me, I have been so busy trying to get some paintings off to America and trying to get this one finished as soon as I could that I forgot to post the progress pics. I have actually just finished it so that hopefully it will be dry tomorrow so I can scan it and post on Every Day Original as there are only a few days before it goes live on the site (April 23). 

Another in my "Arabian Night" series so another nocturne this time of a small village/town on the edge of what looks quite an unhospitable desert although the lighting makes it look quite romantic.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

Stage 2

 

Chang Rila sold

 

"Chang Rila" has just sold to a buyer in the UK through IX Gallery. Fortunately he lives in a relatively near town to me on the South Coast of the UK so he is going to come over to me to pick it up and have a look at some other paintings.... I have quite a few so this might take some time!

"Chang Rila" was a painting from a recent series called "Snow". Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12" I was trying to get the lighting effect called "Alpenglow" which I didn't quite get so I will have another try at a later date...

The title alludes to a famous mythical place in the Himalayas...

The Rain Temple of Iro Ki sold

 "The Rain Temple of Iro Ki" has just sold to a buyer in Japan through IX Gallery. It is particularly pleasing that it is going to Japan as I have only recently become interested in Japanese culture mainly through the woodblock prints of the Shin Hanga movement in the 1930s so I wasn't sure for instance even about the titles I chose for my Japanese paintings. I didn't want to offend anybody if my title meant something other than what I thought it meant! Also I guess I must be doing something right if it is accepted and bought by a Japanese person...

Oil on linen 22" x 16"

Midnight Medina

 I am carrying on the general theme of nocturnes with a single light source that began in "The Sleeping City" series into a new series called "Arabian Night" of Orientalist paintings. Oddly enough though this painting also looks a bit like Venice at night, a subject that I have painted many times over the years and which I feel I need to return to... whether this series morphs into Venice is unclear at this point. 

This painting is based on a Midjourney piece but as you can see as I use Midjourney as a composition generator I have really only used the structure and lighting and everything else is redrawn/invented in terms of content. The Midjourney piece can be seen at the bottom of this post.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

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

Midjourney

Midnight Medina - stage 5

 I worked mainly on the lit area today, realising that as it is the focal point of the picture so I needed to put some reasonable detail in it which took a bit of time and research. I am using architectural styles from different Islamic traditions deliberately to emphasise the fact this place only exists in the imagination and is all about mood and atmosphere. Hoping to finish it tomorrow.

Midnight Medina - stage 4

Pretty much sorted out the background and have made a start on the rest of the street. It's going to be about warm versus cool so the cool blue background will contrast with the warm foreground - the area lit by the light will be much warmer than here, I think what I'm going to do is paint in towards it as I want the lit areas to be very local to the light source.

It has occurred to me that this single light source nocturne feel would also suit Venice at night, a subject that I have painted a lot previously but maybe I can add to it with what I have learnt over recent series.... is this going to be the next series?

Midnight Medina - stage 3

First colour pass over the whole painting which now shows how I'm going to light it and what colours I'm using. Looking at it now I can see already that I need to tweak the architecture on the background mosque... I think that I am naming the series "Arabian Night"....

Colours used so far: Indanthrene Blue, Dioxazine Purple, Prussian Blue, Kings Blue Light, Burnt Sienna, Permanent Orange, Yellow Lake Deep ans Zinc White.

Midnight Medina - stage 2

 The finished initial tonal underpainting before I add some blue glazing tomorrow. The painting will be based on an orange/blue colour complementary and maybe not so desaturated as previous paintings as I think stronger/warmer colours will suit the subject matter... although that could change. As can be seen I'm carrying on the theme of a single light source in a nocturne like the previous series.

Midnight Medina - stage 1

 Although I have finished (for a while) "The Sleeping City" series I am carrying on with the general theme of nocturnes with a single light source but this time using what I learnt in that series to inform a series of paintings on another favourite subject, Orientalism. I was wondering what to do next and then it seemed blindingly obvious to carry aspects of the previous series on into Orientalism just as the "Snow" series segued into "The Sleeping City" series with "Lonely Street". Theoretically at least this series (so far unnamed) will be nocturnes in Orientalist cities but as I like to develop the theme with variations so it may work out to be something different....

This one is based on a Midjourney piece but as you will see I have really only kept the basic structure and lighting as I have redrawn most of the actual contents. This is what I like to use Midjourney for, as a kind of composition generator, the actual piece is shown at the bottom of this post.

This is the initial "drawing up" stage before I add the tone for the initial tonal underpainting which I will do tomorrow (I didn't start this until this afternoon, normally I do both stages in one day... if I have "drawn" it up in the morning it will be dry to add the tone in the afternoon) and uses my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

Midjourney

 

The City Awakes

 

I think it's time to move on from the "The Sleeping City" series at least for a while but I thought that this would be a nice coda to the present run of paintings as we see the city start to wake at daybreak. I have pushed the lighting on this one to try and show the first burst of sunlight hitting the still darkened streets to try and get the idea across better. I decided to have just one figure in the street to keep in with previous paintings, maybe he's off to his cleaning job in one of the office blocks...

I am rarely happy with a painting and this one is no exception as I'm not sure if I like the colours I used but maybe I'm too close to it and need to think of how it must look to somebody seeing it for the first time. Ho hum.

No idea what the next series is going to be...

Oil on linen 22" x 16"

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

The City Awakes - stage 3

 I'm feeling my along with this one, I have put in the basic buildings on the left and did some work on the foreground building at right but then stopped as I need to get it clear in my head how to proceed. I am going to have steam vents and generally have it softer and mistier than it looks here but I have a feeling I need to paint in the street first and finish the buildings before I add the atmosphere...