Smoke City - stage 4

 Plodding away at this one as I have a lot of social stuff going on at the moment so not getting a lot done in a day. Won't get much done tomorrow either!

Smoke City - stage 3

 First colour pass on the sky and some preliminary work on the buildings near the sun. I am intending the colours to be desaturated apart from some warm colours around the glaring sun.

Colours used: Ultramarine Violet, Permanent Orange, Yellow Lake Deep, Cadmium Yellow Light, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon, Zinc White and Warm White.

Smoke City - Stage 2

 Finally finished the initial tonal underpainting. I felt that I needed the structure of all the buildings to be in place before I proceed to colour. It is now ready for the desaturated blue wash to go over all the areas apart from where the warm light is going to be.

Smoke City - stage 1++

 Not getting a lot done at the moment (nice weather!) but I'm building the foreground underpainting slowly as I need to get it right, I think this picture has some promise so there's no point hurrying it. Once the underpainting is finished it should be relatively straightforward to finish... relatively.

Stamboul Moon sold

 

"Stamboul Moon" sold pretty much straight away when it came up for sale on Every Day Original. It was sold to a lady in Alabama who has nine of my paintings now in her collection.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

Smoke City - stage 1+

 I didn't get a lot of time for painting today and didn't want to hurry it (I was hoping to get this done today so it would be ready for the blue wash tomorrow) as some careful design and composition of the foreground will be so much for the better.

Stamboul Moon

 "Stamboul Moon" comes available for sale today on Every Day Original at 10.30 EST.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

Smoke City - stage 1

 Yes you guessed it, I gave up on "Sun City". I finally decided that I could have carried on with it to finish but it would only have been an OK painting which is really no use to anybody. It wouldn't have been a sellable painting so I'm better off putting my time and energy into a better painting. I think "Smoke City" has a much stronger look and content to it. It's loosely based on a number of Midjourney pieces but it might change direction a bit. At present this is a half completed tonal underpainting which I will finish tomorrow but I quite like the dark shapes coming out of the mistiness (which could be smoke) and might develop that further...

I will probably do another painting called "Sun City" later in the series... this is the third in my "Into The Sun" series.

I have used my usual colours for the underpainting, a mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and applied with a rag and flat brushes.

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

Sun City - stage 4

 I came very close to abandoning this painting for the reasons stated in the previous post particularly since I have started working out what I want to do with the next painting "Smoke City". However I didn't feel like drawing it up this morning so I occupied my time with carrying on with this one again. Who knows what I'm going to decide over tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee... do I stay or do I go?....

Sun City - stage 3

 I've painted in some washes of transparent colour using a couple that I rarely use, Yellow Ochre and Transparent Oxide Red. To be honest I'm not sure about this one and may abandon it and start something else... to be decided over tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee. It might work out OK ... but merely OK probably isn't good enough...

Sun City - stage 2

 I have finished the initial tonal underpainting still mostly undecided about the colours I'm going to use but that's OK I needn't decide until tomorrow. I feel that the right hand side diagonal of the sidewalk needs breaking up but I can't think of anything (in fact the whole of the right side of the street needs breaking up), I think "Steeltown" worked because of the variety of shapes and surfaces on that side but I think it's too late to change this one and will carry it on as it is..... I can already see what I need to do for the next painting....

Sun City - stage 1

 The next in my "Into The Sun" series this one is kind of a companion piece to "Steeltown" in my "Sleeping City" series in that it has a similar industrial setting and indeed composition. I stopped the tonal underpainting here as I need to have a good think over my breakfast coffee tomorrow about the colours I am going to use. The obvious way would be to have everything in dusty reds and oranges with the blinding sun at the end of the street but I am toying with trying to incorporate desaturated green/blues in the foreground areas to contrast with the yellows and oranges where the sun and sky are....

I am using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin for the underpainting.

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

El Camino Del Sur

 The second in my "Into The Sun" series in which I decided to leave the Orientalism for a while and do something for my "Roadside America" series. Originally I was going to try something vaguely Bernie Fuchs but as I expected it went it's own way although it was useful for learning how to adapt my usual tonal underpainting methods for a daylight sky after all those recent nocturnes. One reason for doing some daylight paintings (apart from just having a change) was hearing a recent comment from a US gallery owner who pointed out that buyers tend to avoid the "dark" and prefer lighter daylight paintings ... in the US anyway. I'm not sure if that's true but there's no harm in doing daylight paintings anyway. On the subject of the "dark" I try to give my nocturnes a mysterious, magical feel which I think lifts them away from being depressing and also I'm trying to do stuff that nobody else is doing by mixing beauty and mystery together into often ordinary locations which I reckon when people "get" it will promote sales. 

So the title refers to this road that is heading South into the sun, maybe going on holiday ... or is it a nuclear detonation? I do like ambiguity...

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

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

El Camino Del Sur - stage 3

 I have worked over most of the painting today so that it will be dry for tomorrow when I hope to finish it. 

New colours used; Emerald Green, Brilliant Pink and Pyrrole Red.

El Camino Del Sur - stage 2

 

As expected it hasn't come out much like a Bernie Fuchs but that's the first colour pass on the sky.

Colours used: Burnt Sienna, Dioxazine Purple, Cobalt Teal, Permanent Orange, Yellow Lake Deep, Cadmium Yellow Light and Lead Tin Yellow Lemon.

El Camino Del Sur - stage 1

 OK so after a few changes of subject matter I have started the second in my "Into The Sun" series. I decided to leave the Orientalism alone for this one and have gone for something that would fit into my "Roadside America" series. It is really a trial run on trying something nearer to Bernie Fuchs as I have realised that he used thin washes of colour that he then rubbed away which is something that I have been doing for quite a while. I'm sure it won't come out like a Bernie Fuchs but it might look alright. Tomorrow should be fun as that is when I start washing yellows, oranges and green/blues into the sky... I think I know how I'm going to do it...

This is the usual tonal underpainting using the Burnt Sienna/Dioxazine Purple mix thinned with Liquin and applied with a rag, flat brush and cotton buds.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

Dori Hinoiri

 I stumble out of the nocturnal sky and emerge blinking into the sunlight of a new series called "Into The Sun" which I envisage as a series of contre jour paintings that will hopefully be a nice counterpoint to the previous nocturnes. I was originally going to use the colour red as the theme for this series but once I had embarked on this one I realised that there was more scope with this theme. I might well use red in this series though so I wouldn't have completetly abandoned the original idea.

The title hopefully reads in Japanese as "Sunset Street"... if it doesn't then multiple apologies! It's loosely based on a Midjourney piece (shown at the end of this post) which I used for the basic location but as you can see I have somewhat changed things.

Midway through this painting I had been posting updates on the progress when three people commented that I should leave it alone as they thought it was finished.... well it wasn't as far as I was concerned and continued to tinker with it but I bore in mind their comments and tried to be very subtle with my subsequent tinkering. As usual I'm not sure about this one but maybe I'm too close to it and it's OK...

Oil on linen 22" x 16"

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

Midjourney

 

Dori Hinoiri - stage 6

 I have tinkered away on most of it in order to get it ready for finishing tomorrow. That's when I knock back and bring forward the shadow areas and light burst. It won't look vastly different to this ... but I will know what the difference is...

Dori Hinoiri - stage 5

 I post the progress of all my paintings on Instagram as well as this blog and I had three people urge me to stop right where I was on the last stage and leave it..... but I'm afraid it really isn't finished so I have carried on but am bearing in mind their comments and resolving to hold back on the detail to just a few areas. I was and indeed am still not happy with the sky so I have made a start on improving it but I need to go slowly so I don't cock it up so am now leaving alone until tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee when I will reconsider then where I'm going with this.

I have also changed my mind on the series that I am now painting and have changed it from "Red" to "Sunburst" as I fancy painting... well, sunbursts as it kind of follows on from the previous nocturnes in that each painting will be about a single light source but instead of the Moon it's the Sun.

Riddle of The Sands sold

 "Riddle of The Sands" has just sold to a buyer in Japan. This is the second painting that I have sold to Japan recently, shipping is expensive but it's nice to break into another area of the world for sales.

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

Dori Hinoiri - stage 4

 I decided to paint in the basic lighting effect I'm looking for and then will sort out the details later on. This also helps me with the basic design of the painting too.

Dori Hinoiri - stage 3

 Struggling a bit but I think I can rescue it - I think what I need to do tomorrow is to put in the dark areas to show me the structure that I'm working with in terms of tone and then I paint in the areas where the detail goes. I was originally going to put in details and then hide certain areas with the dark tone but I think that's a long-winded way of going about it.

New colours used: Dioxazine Purple and Pyrrole Red.

Dori Hinoiri - stage 2

 Taking this quite tentatively at the moment. I decided to give it the overall look I'm after first and then work into it afterwards. It's all about the burst of sunlight, the red glow that comes from it contrasted against the dark areas around the edges of the picture. This will need some careful thought over tomorrow's breakfast coffee as how to proceed, maybe it's time for the dark areas next and work towards the light... maybe not.

Colours used so far: Cobalt Teal, Kings Blue Light, Quinacridone Red, Permanent Orange, Yellow Lake Deep, Cadmium Yellow Light, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon and Warm White.

Below is the Midjourney piece I am using as the basic structure.

"The Ruins of Qalat Qadim" sold

 Pleased to report that "The Ruins of Qalat Qadim" has just sold to a collector in Alabama who has around four or five of mine already. These nocturnes have proved popular and will get back to doing more but I fancy doing something different first and it looks like I'm embarking on a new series called "Red"...

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

Arabian Night

 Here are six of the seven paintings (one already sold) in my "Arabian Night" series. It looks like the top one has also sold and the bottom one sold yesterday... four left folks!

Dori Hinoiri - stage 1

 OK trying something different now and am going to stumble out of the nocturnal sky into a bright sunny sky with what looks like the first in a new series called "Red". I love this colour in paintings but I always struggle with it as although it's an intense colour it is also quite dark so I have to rethink my lighting effects. I did a series of red paintings a few years ago to no great results so this time I'm hoping to put it to bed with what I've learned over recent series...

Hopefully the title reads as "Sunset Street" in Japanese!

This is the initial tonal underpainting stage but I'm using a mix of different colours this time - Alizarin Crimson, Transparent Oxide Red and Quinacridone Red thinned with Liquin as usual. I'm hoping this mix colour will keep the reds (and yellows) purer but at this stage you cannot tell what I'm going to with it....

The location is loosely based on a Midjourney piece which I will show in tomorrow's post update but I am only using the general structure of it as this will be all about the lighting.

Oil on linen 22" x 16"

Riddle of The Sands

 This looks like the last one in the "Arabian Night" series for a while. They were basically Orientalist nocturnes and despite the title of the series were not all set in Arabia! This is obviously The Sphinx in Gizeh, Egypt and have chosen a view of it near to when Western archeologists first started to dig it out of the sands as a nod to my inspiration source, the Western orientalist paintings of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I originally envisaged this one to be kind of Atkinson Grimshaw in Egypt but once I had made a start on the sky I realised that it was going to go it's own way in the manner of how I have been painting moonlit skies recently so maybe I will save that idea for another painting one day.

I quite like how it is slightly off-centre and kind of sets up a slight tension in the design.... Based on a blue/green - red/orange colour complementary with the blue/greens kept pretty desaturated.

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

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