Ganges Sunrise - stage 4

 I have gave it another glaze of Lemon Yellow on the sky but I think it needs one more tomorrow... roughly painted in the water ready for tomorrow when I finish the water before the mist goes in and finally the boat to be painted in.

Ganges Sunrise - stage 3

 First I gave the sky a glaze of weak Lemon Yellow (which I need to do tomorrow as well) and then worked on the riverbank buildings etc. Once I have got the water in I can then start knocking it all back into the morning mist.

New colours used: Manganese Violet and Lemon Yellow.

Ganges Sunrise - stage 2

 First colour pass on the sky and strengthened the underpainting. I have already decided to paint it differently to how I envisaged and now will be lighter and mistier than originally conceived. This is the advantage of working on your own ideas, you can change things as you go along - when I was an illustrator once I had cleared the rough to go to artwork I had to stick to it as the art director etc would be expecting it that way and were rarely happy with unannounced changes!

Colours used: Dioxazine Purple, Manganese Violet, Permanent Orange, Burnt Sienna and Warm White.

Ganges Sunrise - stage 1

 Initial tonal underpainting for "Ganges Sunrise" which is destined for my slot next month on Every Day Original. I am basing the colours and the sun on my previous painting "Binary Sunset" as I liked them quite a lot. It is also based on a memory of getting up before dawn to go down to the river Ganges at Varanasi to see the sunrise - one of those moments that you never forget.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

Binary Sunset

 As the previous Star Wars painting was quite well received (and sold) I decided to do another one this time a moody landscape of the planet Tatooine with the binary suns low near the horizon at sunset. In my mind I saw it quite moody and dark with oranges and pinks in the sky which somehow to me seemed to fit in with a lot of Star Wars visuals I have seen previously. I also chose a widescreen format that I used to work with quite a lot ten or so years ago which I felt would suit the filmic look that I wanted and tied in with the production stills and matte paintings by Ralph McQuarrie and Michael Pangrazio. 

The transition from my Orientalist landscapes of mosques and minarets to this one is actually quite logical as the main building is just another variation on that theme but this time Science Fiction instead. I don't particularly want to do many Science Fiction/Star Wars paintings but depending on how this one is received I do have an idea for another Star Wars landscape this time of the planet Naboo which I fancy painting like an Albert Bierstadt...

This painting has already sold to the same collectors that bought my previous Star Wars piece who had been watching it's progress on this blog after seeing the initial sketch which piqued their interest.

Oil on canvas 39" x 16".

A step-by-step progress through this painting can be seen in previous posts on this blog.

Binary Sunset - stage 10

 The last progress post before the finish.... I am now working on the last area of the painting, the buildings. I'm having to take it slowly as it's tricky working out the colours. Still looking quite like how I saw it in my mind's eye at the onset although I had originally planned it to be darker but I think I've got it about right...

Binary Sunset - stage 9

 I finished most of the foreground  so tomorrow should be able to finish it off and make a start on the buildings. It's taking longer as it's a larger picture and have to keep stopping to work out how to paint the next area coming up... it's a fantasy so there is no reference as such...

Binary Sunset - stage 8

 Decided to work on the rocks below the building first. When I'm happy with that area I can apply the colours and lighting to the rest of the foreground. I want it on the dark side but not too dark so I'm going quite carefully. I also need to make sure that there is some variety of colour in the rocks and don't want them to be too monochromatic....

Binary Sunset - stage 7

 More of the same really, have pretty much finished the background and now about to start work on the foreground rocks and landscape. Kind of looking how I intended....

Binary Sunset - stage

 Painted out the light area on the main cloud as it seemed to distract from the binary suns which are the lightest part of the painting. Started work on the background landscape but didn't get a lot done as I lost the morning going to an appointment out of town. This is actually starting to look like how I saw it in my imagination...

Binary Sunset - stage 5

 Strengthened the colour in the sky and made a cautious start on the distant landscape as I need to keep it not too light and not too dark.... breakfast coffee tomorrow will be needed to see where I'm going.

New colours used: Manganese Violet, Prussian Blue, Brilliant Pink, Yellow Lake Deep, Cadmium Yellow Pale and Lead Tin Lemon Yellow.

Isle Of Tears and Souk Al Medina sold

Isle Of Tears

 Two more paintings from my online show on IX Arts called "The Farthest Shore" have sold to a buyer in New Orleans as a present for his wife, "Isle Of Tears" and "Souk Al Medina". That makes four out of the eleven I had painted to exhibit at IX this year have now sold. 

"Isle Of Tears"  oil on linen 22" x 16"

"Souk Al Medina"  oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

Souk Al Medina

Binary Sunset - stage 4

 First I painted an early rough colour pass on the sky and then strengthened the underpainting on the landscape. The sky will be warmer when it's finished. I am toying with the idea of it being mostly middle tones and darks but paintings can have a mind of their own and it might go the way that it wants to.... tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee will be a good time to make some decisions...

Colours used: Ultramarine Blue, Kings Blue Light, Pale Violet, Dioxazine Purple, Burnt Sienna, Permanent Orange, Zinc White and Warm White.

Castle Dracul sold

 "Castle Dracul" which is part of my online exhibition called "The Farthest Shore" on the IX Gallery which started on November 1st has just sold to a buyer in Arizona. This was originally a painting in my "Snow" series and also returns to an occasional series called "Vampires Of Venice" although in this case Nosferatu is in Transylvania... I wanted it to look very cold with the only warm colour in the turret window where all sorts of nasty things are probably going on.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

Binary Sunset - stage 3

 Finished off the basic tonal underpainting and now to decide on colours.... over breakfast coffee tomorrow....

Binary Sunset - stage 2

 Halfway through the tonal underpainting as I decided to stop here as there was too large an area to paint in one day and I didn't want to hurry and make some mistakes which I will regret later. I decided to move the suns further to the right as it was compositionally better.

Binary Sunset - stage 1

Just a working title for the moment.... as the previous Star Wars painting was quite well received I thought I would paint another one this time a moody landscape of Tatooine with the binary suns low near the horizon at sunset. This is quite a logical progression from my recent Orientalist landscapes and am hoping that it works out well as I already have an interested buyer who has first refusal when it's finished. If other people are interested I might paint another although I don't want to be known just as a Star Wars artist. I have chosen a widescreen format to reflect the matte paintings by Industrial Light & Magic and the production art of Ralph Mcquarrie. I am used to working in this format as I did lot of widescreen paintings about ten years ago.

This is just the "drawing up" stage using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and applied with a brush before I paint the tonal underpainting using the same paint mix tomorrow.

Oil on linen 39" x 16".