City Of Light - stage 1

 This will be another painting hopefully heading for IX in October. I want this one to be very soft with fuzzy shadows and fuzzy light so that it has an atmosphere of heat, dust and moonlight. It has origins in Midjourney but as you will see it only acted as a trigger as MJ does in any of my paintings where I use it - it is shown at the bottom of this post.

This 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 brushes. I will probably do another pass with this colour on the city before I do the final desaturated blue wash over most of it.

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

Midjourney

 

Land Of Snow

 I fancied painting something in blues and Maxfield Parrish came to mind so a painting of his called "Hilltop Farm" which I have always liked became the inspiration for this painting. I really like the colours and lighting so I thought that I would keep to the basic design of a dark foreground tree set against a typical Parrish blue sky but of course redesigned everything with a castle (German/Italian architectural style that Parrish used a lot) instead of a farm with some lights on and a hint of sunlight in the distance (orange/blue complementary).

This is potentially another painting heading for IX in October. Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

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

Land Of Snow - stage 4

 Have painted a couple more blue glazes in the sky and the speckles are getting worse so I have to decide tomorrow if I'm going to have to paint a more opaque blue over the sky to get rid of them. I have also painted the first pass on the snow in the foreground.

New colours used: Indanthrene Blue, Pale Violet and Kings Blue Light.

Land Of Snow - stage 3

 After I had painted the next wash of the blue in the sky I noticed some annoying speckles appearing which I had forgot happens when adding layers of pure colour to canvas. I don't want to lose the luminosity of the white of the canvas at the bottom of the sky but I need to try and mix in maybe some Zinc White into the Phthalocyanine Blue and see if I can hide the speckles before the next layer of blue goes on. Otherwise I think I have the foreground ready for the snow to go on.

Land Of Snow - stage 2

 I first mixed up a relatively desaturated blue/green and washed it over the sky with a rag. I then mixed up a desaturated blue/green and painted it into the tree etc starting to bring out some of the shapes bearing in mind that there will be quite a lot of snow going on there later. The beginnings of the Maxfield Parrish feel are beginning to show.

Colours used: Phthalocyanine Blue, Ultramarine Violet and Permanent Orange.

The Pharoah's Barge sold

 "The Pharoah's Barge" sold as soon as it was posted up on Every Day Original yesterday at 10.30 EST to a buyer in the USA who already has a couple of my paintings in his collection. I originally took it to IX last year but couldn't find a buyer which is why I thought I would try it on Every Day Original.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

Land Of Snow - stage 1

 This one is actually going to be very Maxfield Parrish in blues and violets but doesn't give any indication of this at this stage. I am again looking for a glowing sky, in this case blue and am leaving the single bright light source alone for a bit. I have gone for a German architectural style for the castle which again is in keeping with Parrish's fondness for this or Italian architecture for his work. I just painted in a basic tree shape and then let the brush create shapes as it moved around the painting.

This is the initial tonal underpainting using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and mainly applied with flat brushes.

Oil on fine cotton 12" x 16".

Dusk On The Nile

 I wanted this one to look like the 19th Century landscapes of Hermann Corrodi and the Orientalist colour retouched postcards that were around in the early 20th century. After some struggling with the sky I think I got near to what I was looking for by keeping all the other colours subdued against the sky that I wanted to glow. This painting was a bit of a change as I usually compose pictures with a dominant shape/object in the foreground but this time no one element was meant to dominate the composition as I wanted the pictorial vintage postcard look.

This will be another painting that I hope to take to IX in October. Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

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

Dusk On The Nile - stage 5

 I added a desaturated blue glaze at the top of the sky and then painted the first pass on the water reflections after finishing the palm trees and boats. I'm glad I used darker and softer colours on the water as now finally the sky starts to work as a glow. It will need a final tweak on most areas tomorrow and then it will be finished. It is now kind of looking like an old Orientalist landscape painting/vintage postcard....

Dusk On The Nile - stage 4

 I toned down the top of the sky as it was all too yellow although it is difficult to photograph so the colour you see here isn't accurate either. I have also roughed in the palm trees and the felluccas so that it is ready tomorrow for the water reflections to go in once the sky is finished.

New colours, Yellow Lake Deep, Manganese Violet and Zinc White.

Dusk On The Nile - stage 3

 I managed to paint the first yellow glaze in the morning on the sky and water, then painted in the landscape (first pass) and then later in the afternoon painted a second yellow glaze on the sky and water. It's actually more yellow than it looks here. I'm leaving the reflections in the water until I have the top half of the picture nearly finished. More glazing tomorrow...

New colours used: Kings Blue Light, Naples Yellow Reddish Extra (Old Holland), Cadmium Yellow Light and Lead Tin Yellow Lemon.

Dusk On The Nile - stage 2

 First I gave it another wash of the Sienna?Purple mix, then left it to dry until later afternoon and gave it the first wash of the desaturated Blue/green wash.

New colours used: Phthalocyanine Blue and Phthalocyanine Green.

Dusk On The Nile - stage 1

 That's a provisional title...

I am planning this one to look like the old 19th century Orientalist landscapes of Hermann Corrodi with a big warm evening sky and all the trees etc quite dark against it. So for a change no single light source as such, just a glow in the sky. I usually compose pictures with a dominant shape/object usually in the foreground but this time no one shape is designed to dominate (maybe the feluccas, just) and everything is about the location and the lighting.

This is halfway through the initial tonal underpainting which I will finish tomorrow and uses my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and applied just with a brush so far.

This is another painting that I intend to take to IX in October. Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

Hatsuhinode

Another painting I am intending to take to IX in October which continues my popular Japanese themed series, "Hatsuhinoda" means the first sunrise of the New Year. It could also be seen as the next in my "Into The Sun" contre jour series too. I am very much interested in single light source paintings these days whether they be nocturnes or daylight scenes. This one was a bit more of a struggle as I had a medical emergency to deal with at the time, hopefully I will be OK until the operation (not a big one) on 4 September. I am obviously hoping that I have recovered by 12 October when I fly out to the USA for IX....

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

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

Hatsuhinode - stage 5

 I thought that I might finish it today but got caught up in working on the lighting.

New colours used: Lead Tin Yellow Lemon and Naples Yellow-Reddish Extra (Old Holland colour).

Hatsuhinode - stage 4

 Made the sky a bit more interesting and then painted in the trees on either side before making a start on the temple.

"Hatsuhinode" is the first sunrise of the new year in Japan....

Hatsuhinode - stage 3

 Progress has been very slow on this one as I have been dealing with a medical problem. I managed to paint a desaturated blue/green wash on the trees, bridge etc and a first pass on the sky. It can now be seen what the lighting idea is for this one.

Hatsuhinode - stage 2

 I managed to finish the initial Sienna/Purple underpainting this morning which meant it was dry for this afternoon's very desaturated blue wash to go on. This will only sit underneath the opaque desaturated blues that are to follow which will be a bit different to the violet hue that it has at the moment (unless of course I change my mind over tomorrow's breakfast coffee and go with the violet). As you can see I'm leaving the areas where the sun and it's reflections are which will be subdued yellow and orange/pinks to contrast with the greys.

Colours used for blue wash: Indanthrene Blue and Permanent Orange.

Souk Al Medina

 After about a two week break from painting that I think I needed (although that time was filled with doing my tax and dealing with a medical problem) I am back to work as I have just realised that IX is not far away and I need to get some paintings ready to take. In a way I'm the victim of my success in that many paintings I intended to take have already sold so I have the potential dilemma of marking some upcoming paintings as not for sale so that I can take them to IX in mid October - is this a mistake and should always sell when someone wants to buy it?

I have had to abandon for the moment the series I was working on, "Into The Sun" (which wasn't going that well anyway) and indeed the next series I had in mind, "The Golden Hour" so that I can build up some stock for IX.

This one is loosely based on a Midjourney piece shown at the end of this post and is a return of a favourite theme, Orientalism. These nocturnes have proved pretty popular with buyers so I need a few more to take to IX and indeed while waiting for this to dry for scanning I have got on with the next one, a Japanese-themed one that have also been popular with buyers....

16" x 12" Oil on fine cotton .

There is a short progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog.

Midjourney

Hatsuhinode - stage 1

 While "Souk Al Medina" dries I have got on with another painting destined for IX in October and returned to my popular Japanese themes. "Hatsuhinode" is the first dawn of the New Year in Japan which I thought would be a nice title seeing as it's a sunrise/dawn painting. I'm planning on this one being quite moody with the low sun near the horizon off set my the misty desaturated colours of the rest of the painting.

This is early days as it's only halfway through the initial tonal underpainting but I need to let this dry so that I can finish it tomorrow. If I can finish it early enough I hope to paint in the secondary transparent desaturated blue wash by the end of the day tomorrow.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

The Almenara Art Prize

 Quite a while ago I entered some paintings into the Almenara Art Prize, an art institution based I think in Barcelona. They have now released some of the results starting with the Online Section that have been accepted, the paintings that will be exhibited in Barcelona are yet to be announced - somehow I don't think I'm going to make that but at least I had three accepted for the Online show. "A Sidestreet In Madurai" is already sold but the other two, "Ice" and "Keeler"are available and indeed are up for sale on the website.

A Sidestreet In Madurai

Ice

Keeler

Souk Al Medina - stage 4

 Sorted out the background mosque and have made some inroads into the buildings at right. Despite being based on a Midjourney piece I am still having to think a lot about the colours, design and content as I go along.

New colours used: Cadmium Yellow Light and Yellow Lake Deep.

Souk Al Medina - stage 3

 A first colour pass on the sky and then I thought that I would put in the darks so that I can judge all the warm light areas that are coming in next (after I have finished the background mosque maybe).