Castle of Lost Souls - stage 6

 Knocked back the towers on the castle and then made a start on the foreground. Feeling my way along as I work out what colours to use, I think I have done enough as a base to work on in a couple of days time to finish.

Castle Of Lost Souls - stage 5

 Finished the castle and rocks, just need to knock the central towers area back and then I will start on the foreground - I will paint the shipwreck last.

It's becoming obvious to me that my main influence at least in my Fantasy/Imaginative Realism work is paintings from the later Victorian era and Golden Age American Illustration.  I can see so many artists work from that period from Ferdinand Keller, Scandinavian Landscape painters, Symbolism, Tonalism and then onto people like Maxfield Parrish....

Castle Of Lost Souls - stage 4

 The sky is mostly finished but am waiting of finishing the castle and rocks first for final adjustments. It has been tricky working out the colour transition as the castle and rocks go from left to right and meet the sky. Not a good photo actually as it all looks a bit rough here..

New colours used: Naples Yellow and Manganese Violet.

Castle of Lost Souls - stage 3

 I have roughed in some colour over the whole painting using a desaturated blue/green on the castle and cliffs. The sky is looking warmer than I intended at the moment so will have a look at it over tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee and make decisions about the sky then.

Colours used so far: Dioxazine Purple, Phthalocyanine Blue, Phthalocyanine green, Burnt Sienna, Permanent Orange, Yellow Lake Deep, Yellow Ochre Deep and Warm Light Yellow.

Castle Of Lost Souls - stage 2

 Finished off the tonal underpainting ready for the desaturated blue wash tomorrow. I used the basic structure for the castle that I drew up yesterday and let the brush suggest shapes within it to elaborate the buildings and the cliffs and rocks that it sits on.

Castle Of Lost Souls - stage 1

 Continuing with my marine theme this one will be quite different to "Sea Of Light" in that I return to things melancholy and beautiful. Hopefully a very moody piece based on a desaturated blue and orange complementary, it has a shipwrecked sailing ship at the base of cliffs leading up to a melancholy fortress... all ye abandon hope here... 

As with all these marine paintings they are partly an exercise in learning how to paint ocean water better, when happy with the results from what I have learnt this will inform the next gallery paintings in my "Point Of Light " series.

This is the preliminary pass on the tonal underpainting which I will finish tomorrow before a desaturated blue wash goes over it. As usual I have used a mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and applied with a rag and brush.

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

Sea Of Light

 The companion painting to the previous "Sea Of Shadows" is another one that is focused on me getting better at painting water in particular ocean water. I wanted to flood this one with light to reflect the title and give it an optimistic feel as opposed to my usual beautiful melancholia. The light burst was thrown into the mix as I was doing the tonal underpainting and is a theme that I will continue to develop as I would like to use it in my gallery work series "Point Of Light"... not quite sure how yet and it might necessitate a change of title for the series... It was interesting working out how to paint the clouds as they needed to be dramatic but not dark and threatening and possibly broke some new ground with this.... it seems I learn something in every painting.

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

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

Sea Of Light - stage 7

 Having to take it quite carefully now as I approach the boat and the light burst. I have kind of finished the water now and have roughed in the boat. I have changed my mind as to how I am going to paint the boat but as usual I will make final decisions over tomorrow's breakfast coffee.

Sea Of Light - stage 6

 

Part of the reason for this and the previous couple of paintings was to get my painting of water up to scratch... well one day I'll get there. I struggled with this today but maybe I have got a few things going which I will look at tomorrow morning over my breakfast coffee and see if I'm on the right track.

New colour: Cobalt Teal

Sea Of Light - stage 5

 I have been working on the mid ground mosque and trees but stopped here as I need to look at it with fresh eyes tomorrow, something bugs me about it.... it might just need knocking back slightly...

Sea Of Light - Stage 4

 Darkened the sky slightly at top left, roughed in some green into the trees and then the first colour pass on the mosque (well most of it).

Sea Of Light - stage 3

 First colour pass on the background mountains, I left the sky pretty much alone today and will go over both tomorrow to knock back etc, Trying to keep it light and airy.

New colour used: Ultramarine Violet

Sea Of Light - stage 2

 First colour pass on the sky which I took quite slowly and carefully as it needs to be kept light and subtle yet still relatively colourful if the lighting idea of the light burst near the boat is to work - the whole of the painting has to kept light and airy to suit the title.

Colours used: Kings Blue Light, Manganese Violet, Burnt Sienna, Permanent Orange, Naples Yellow Reddish Extra, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon and Warm White.

Sea of Light - stage 1

 Apologies for a dearth of recent posts but I have been unable to access my blog for new posts until today when a Mac expert managed to reconnect me - a new Google Sign In procedure caused all the problems....

This is the tonal underpainting stage of the companion painting to the previous "Sea of Shadows" the progress of which I was unable to post. I have a burst of light by the boat, a motif that I might develop as a visual device and an alternative to the points of light that I have recently been playing with. Whether there is any mileage for this in my "Point of Light" gallery work series I'm not sure yet.

I want this one to be full of late afternoon light as a contrast to the relatively gloomy "Sea of Shadows". 

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

Dawn Fortress - stage 4

 I think the mosque needs some tweaks tomorrow before I glaze/scumble in the morning mist. Hopefully I hope I can sign it off tomorrow afternoon...

Dawn Fortress - stage 3

 Painted in the basic fortress and rocks and the first colour pass on the morning mist at right. Hoping to get in the mosque and sea tomorrow ready for a final colour pass over the whole painting and finish on Sunday. That's the plan anyway...

New colour used: Ultramarine Violet.

Dawn Fortress - stage 2

 To get the sky how I want I first have to paint in the pink and then glaze the blue over it (on the right hand side). In the meantime I have gave the rest of it a desaturated blue/green wash. The painting will be based on a blue/green - red/orange colour complementary.

Colours used so far: Phthalocyanine Blue, Phthalocyanine Green, Dioxazine Purple, Burnt Sienna, Quinacridone Red, Permanent Orange, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon and Warm White.

Dawn Fortress - stage 1

 This is kind of a study for a forthcoming larger painting in my "Point Of Light" series. I have realised that I need to get some paintings done for upcoming Every Day Original slots as well as needing work to take to IX in October. It looks like I will be exhibiting the Point Of Light paintings at the Abend Gallery in Denver CO early next year and need about 15 for the show and have done 5 so far so I need to press on with both directions at the same time...

This will have an interesting light and colour to it which I will carry over to the larger painting but need to try my hand at painting water first so this is where I will start. This could be an old Crusader castle taken over by the Ottoman Turks who have built a mosque in it and is probably located on the coast of Turkey... not that this ever existed as it is of course a fantasy....

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 brushes.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

The Outsider

 

This is the fifth in my new series that has a working title of "Point Of Light". 

A modest house on a well kept plot sits on a ridge amidst a poor neighborhood near a derelict petrol (gas) station, in the background is a distant brightly lit city skyline. The person/people that lives here seems comfortable to live away from the conventional norms of modern life represented by the glittering city and quietly get on with the way they want to live albeit in possibly reduced circumstances - a price they are happy to pay.

Each painting in this series is designed to make the most of the elongated panoramic format and I always saw this one in my mind as three horizontal strips, the night sky, the glittering city and the dark foreground. I think the next one will be connected to water, maybe a lake or the sea..... or maybe reflections in puddles.....

Oil on canvas 39" x 16". I always give the canvas three extra coats of gesso sanding down between coats to fill in the weave a bit so that it is nearer to my preferred painting support of linen.

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

The Outsider - stage 7

 I think I have put in enough on the left side of the foreground and have made a start on the foreground road. With a bit of luck I should finish it tomorrow..... maybe I will tweak the broken paving on the abandoned gas station tomorrow too...

The Outsider - stage 6

 When will I learn my lesson? I have struggled again with the foreground area left of centre because I hadn't really worked out what was going there. Now I like to wing it and make things up as I go along but I must remember to do that only after at least deciding the objects going in there... then I'm free to improvise. Anyway after a few hours of going nowhere I decided to put in a derelict petrol station as the line between the foreground and background needs to be broken up. Other assorted posts and buildings will go in tomorrow.

New colours used: Chromium Green and Manganese Violet.

The Outsider - stage 5

 Leaving the sky alone and see if it looks alright later on. Have made a start on the distant city skyline but stopped before I finished the right side as I will look at it tomorrow morning over my breakfast coffee to evaluate if it is going OK.

New colours used: Brilliant Pink and Manganese Blue Hue.

The Outsoder - stage 4

 More work on the sky today trying to get it right and ready for the lights of the big city to go in with lots of subtle changes...let's hope it looks good enough tomorrow morning so that I can start on the city...eventually.

The Outsider - stage 3

 Actually it's really stage 4 as I forgot to post the first colour pass on the sky... so this is the second colour pass on the sky. I have some reference for the sky but I have largely ignored it and am making it up as I go along. I have mostly used a rag to paint the sky and am just starting to use a brush on it. I think it's on it's way but will need at least another colour pass tomorrow before the sky is finished. Then on to the city lights...

Colours used so far: Phthalocyanine Blue, Phthalocyanine Green, Cobalt Teal, Permanent Orange, Naples Yellow Reddish Extra, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon and Warm White.

The Outsider - stage 2

 Finished the initial tonal underpainting and hoping I have the scale of the distant city right - I can probably make the buildings bigger if I need to. I have a choice of colours of the sky, one based around pinks and oranges and the other with added desaturated blue/green. I will choose over tomorrow morning's breakfast coffee....

The Outsider - stage 1

 The next in the as yet unnamed series this one as I planned is an urban piece. All in this series try to make use of the panoramic format with this one having a city skyline running right across the picture, something you'll have to take my word for until I finish the tonal underpainting tomorrow. A well kept modest house sits on the edge of a big city surrounded by vacant lots and industrial buildings - whoever lives here have their own thing going as they quietly get on with it the way they want to live their lives....

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

Oil on canvas 39" x 16".

The Safe House

 The fourth in this as yet untitled series of metaphorical landscapes is set somewhere in an imaginary Kansas as I wanted a flat horizon with a house looking lonely and exposed in the vast featureless landscape. I wanted to paint something compositionally simple in contrast to the previous painting that was full of incident but this of course has it's own potential problems in that everything that is there must look right as the eye is not distracted by superficial detail. For some reason I kept thinking of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz...

I spent a lot of time on the sky as due to it's dominance it had to look right and in the end deviated a lot from my original reference but I think it succeeds in looking rather threatening!

The next one will have an urban setting...

Oil on canvas 39" x 16".

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

The Safe House - stage 5

 OK the sky is finished bar a few tweaks later on perhaps so I have roughed in the house (left all the windows at the moment as I haven't decided which one/s will have a light on) and made a start on the foreground Fall grassland. This will be the next tricky area, something simple in general shape will need still to look interesting....

The Safe House - stage 4

 I have deviated more and more from the original reference for the sky as time has gone along but at least it's getting nearer. The trouble with a simple composition is that everything in it has to be interesting and look right as there is no extraneous detail to distract the eye so it has been important to get the sky right. Just maybe I can finish it tomorrow...

Colours used: Phthalocyanine Blue, Dioxazine Purple, Ultramarine Violet, Burnt Sienna, Permanent Orange, Naples Yellow Reddish-Extra, Cadmium Golden Yellow, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon, Warm Light Yellow and Warm White.

Samui Fuyu sold

 "Samui Fuyu" was sold yesterday on Every Day Original, the first sale of '24.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

The Safe House - stage 3

 Once I had introduced the oranges in the sky at left I developed it so that it stretches across three quarters of the storm cloud. The next problem is to integrate it into the lighting on the right on the clouds, I have made a start but felt I should stop here and reassess it over tomorrow's breakfast coffee. When the storm cloud is finished I have to paint in the distant clouds in sunlight on the right. 

I am posting the original sky reference to show how I usually deviate from the original reference often for compositional reasons and invariably change the colours.

Reference photo

The Safe House - stage 2

 

First colour pass on the sky and a long way to go yet. I am introducing more orange into the clouds as there is something about it that I like, let's hope it works out. I will be in London tomorrow do no more progress now on this until Thursday...

The Safe House - stage 1

 The next painting in the current series this one is set somewhere in Kansas as I wanted a flat horizon for this one as the house must look as lonely as possible within a vast featureless landscape to get the visual and metaphorical idea across. I wanted paint a landscape that is in sharp contrast to the previous one, going from a landscape full of incident to something extremely simple in terms of content. By having such a simple composition causes it's own potential problems: everything must look right as the eye is not being distracted by superficial detail so I need to make sure that the clouds aren't too simple in terms of tonal variation and the foreground grassland must look right too.

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 brush.

Oil on canvas 39" x 16".

Infected By Art

Binary Sunset

 A big thank you to the jurors of Infected By Art 12 who have accepted two of my paintings for inclusion in Infected By Art 12, "Binary Sunset" and "Castle Dracul".

"Binary Sunset" is oil on canvas 39" x 16' and "Castle Dracul" is oil on linen 16" x 12". Both are sold.

"Binary Sunset" was a rare foray into Star Wars territory and "Castle Dracul" into Horror...

Castle Dracul

 

Passing Through

 For various reasons (explained in earlier posts on this blog) this has taken a long time to finish. The third in this as yet unnamed series of metaphorical landscapes this one has a nod to the Hudson River School which is appropriate as they are all American landscapes although none so far of a specific location and all are basically imaginary. I had a specific design to this painting in my head at the outset, a composition that made use of the panoramic format with dark hills at top taking up two thirds from the right, all the landscape at bottom being in shadow and an area of brightly lit mountains in the background in the remaining third of the picture at top. As the landscape is in shadow this would be a suitable tonally darker area for the campfire to be at a third in from the right - most of my paintings are based on The Rule Of Thirds in terms of composition.

This series is centred on a common theme of a small lit area in a usually vast landscape of some kind with this particular one being a metaphor for our individual journey through life, we are literally just passing through... through the vastness of the physical world and the complexity of society and all that that brings. That's why it's a camp fire, something temporary...

Oil on canvas 39" x 16".

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

 

Passing Through - stage 15

 Nearly there, I just have the foreground tree to paint in and then some tweaks here and there and it's finished. I hope it was worth it!

Passing Through - stage 14

 Painted in the foreground rocks at left and indicated where the camp fire is going ready for tomorrow.

This painting has taken longer than I anticipated, maybe because of the relative complexity and certainly because I made it harder for myself by not putting in the whole underpainting before I went to colour, I reckon I could have saved a couple of days at least... I guess you learn something from every painting.

The painting is a metaphor for our individual journey in life, we are literally just passing through.... through the vastness of the natural world and the complexity of society and all that that brings. That's why it's a camp fire, something temporary....

Passing Through - stage 13

 Painted in the landscape at left up to the rocks which I will work on tomorrow. Hopefully just a couple more days left to finish it, it's been hanging around too long on my easel. I think now it's looking like the colours and lighting that I originally conceived, lots of rich Autumn/Fall colours all in shadow.

New colour used: Naples Yellow.

Passing Through - stage 12

 Finally got the rest of the underpainting done for the foreground and at the end of the day I have just found some reference that will help me sort out a problem area in the middle of the foreground which I will paint in tomorrow.

The next one in this series is going to be a sky piece...

Passing Through - stage 11

 This painting has been slow going, I guess because I'm trying to make an invented landscape look real or at least something like a Hudson River School painting...At least I've learnt a lesson: get the underpainting finished before you go to colour. I think it would have been quicker to paint if I'd had a bit more patience and finished the underpainting instead of steaming on with the background with the foreground unresolved. I have worked out the land at left and have just worked out the rest of the foreground but it's too late in the day to make a start.

Passing Through - stage 10

 OK pretty much finished the bottom of the background hills, I think tomorrow is time to paint in the underpainting on the foreground before I paint in the riverbank and camp fire.

Passing Through - stage 9

 Finished the background hills for the moment, tomorrow I move on to the trees across the riverbank behind the campfire. Once I have some darks in the foreground I will know how much to knock back the background hills, if they need to....

Passing Through - stage 8

 I'm leaving the distant sunny landscape alone now and will tweak it if it needs it later on. Really glad I painted in that underpainting on the hills as I was able to get in a lot of work on the first colour pass today and should finish them tomorrow

New colours used: Permanent Sap Green and Oxide Of Chromium.

Passing Through - stage 7

 OK that's it for the background, I'll tweak it later ... made a start on the hills in shadow before realising that I really needed to give it some structure first so I worked up the underpainting which should now give me a good base to work on. All I need to do is to work out the colours...

Passing Through - stage 6

 Blimey, nearly there on the background, tomorrow morning's session should finish it.... been a slog, not helped by me changing my mind on the colours... I really need to make a start on that background hill in shadow....

Passing Through - stage 5

 Slow progress so far as I struggle with the colours in the sky and background. This is due to me having a specific idea as to how the colours will go in the rest of the picture and need to get the sky etc right before I proceed. Hopefully tomorrow...

New colours used: Kings Blue Light and Yellow Lake Deep.