Babworth - stage 1

This is a private commission for some friends that were married on a beautiful sunny day at this church in Nottinghamshire that has connections to The Pilgrim Fathers. It was a lovely Summer day with a clear blue sky, sunlight dappling the ground in front of the church and Summer flowers amongst the gravestones. I am setting the clock to 2 pm which is the time they got married and will try to recreate that special day in this painting. This first stage has been "drawn" up with a small bristle brush using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and turpentine.
I will have to leave it now until Tuesday when I return from a few days away.

Midgard sold

A picture that I painted for last year's Illuxcon has just sold to an American buyer who chose it from my website. 
The proportion of sales this year off the net compared to through galleries is over 80% to 20%. Are the days of dominance by galleries over, is it now the time that artists don't need them any more? I don't seem to although I would like to place my Roadside America series in one somehow, someday.......
"Midgard" is oil on canvas 39 1/2" x 16".

Adult Books

After the recent series of more "fantasy" oriented paintings for Illuxcon I have got back to another one in my Roadside America series. Certain things I have learnt from this recent work are being carried across to inform my Roadside America series. In this case I have used transparent colour only for the sky and more opaque colours for the land and buildings. By keeping the colours in the sky transparent you can get the sky to glow with colour and look more natural than trying to paint it in opaque colours.
The picture is actually of an adult book store on the outskirts of Detroit and I have tried to emphasise the dichotomy between a mundane and in this case tawdry urban scene with a romantic evening sky setting. I quite like the subtle surrealism of the central cloud mimicking the shape of the billboard as though it was disintegrating in the air. 
Oil on linen 20" x 16". There is a step-by-step progress through this painting in previous posts on this blog.

Bridge Of Sighs sold

My painting from 2011 "Bridge Of Sighs" has just sold through Asgard Arts. It was originally painted to a brief from a prints company in the UK which stated the colour range that it should be painted in, I think the location was up to me as long as it was Venice. I think the print sold poorly as I don't remember any royalty cheques of note! 18 1/2" x 18 1/2" oil on board.

Adult Books - stage 8

Managed to paint in the lettering on the signs which I will finish off tomorrow as indeed I hope to finish off the rest of the painting as I will be away for the weekend. This painting has taken too long to finish!

Adult Books - stage 7

Well as usual I don't seem to have got much done again today, not helped by overcast skies making the studio too dark to paint in by 3.00. Worked on the buildings and signs today ready to finish them off hopefully on Thursday as I have to go to a funeral tomorrow and will be away all day.

Adult Books - stage 6

Again, didn't get a lot done today due to dealing with other things but worked a bit more on the clouds and then painted in some of the background and worked on the central building a bit. The sky is not how I was going to do it but I like it as it is and will save the original sky idea for the next one in the series.

Adult Books - stage 5

For some reason I don't seem to be getting a lot done on this painting at the moment although it has been quite dark in the studio and as I like to work in daylight only I have been getting on writing my second article for Artists & Illustrators magazine instead.
I have put in the first yellow glaze on the sky and made a start on the clouds - quite like the way the nearer cloud mimics the shape of the billboard, I think I will keep that!

Adult Books - stage 4

Damn, the sky wasn't dry enough for me to put down the first yellow glaze today so I got on with some preliminary work on the buildings other than painting in a stronger orange on the sky nearer the horizon.
I really need to get the sky colour near to how I want it before doing anything else as this will set parameters for the saturation and values for the rest of the painting.

Adult Books - stage 3

Getting the sky ready for the yellow glazes - I often end up with the clouds in skies being too dark in relation to the rest of the picture (photographs always give the dark values in the sky and land a similar value in dusk pictures) and am making a determined effort to keep the darkest value in the clouds lighter than the middle to dark values in the rest of the picture. When on location at dusk if you squint your eyes you will notice that the sky is lighter than you think in relation to the land.
I then made a start on painting in some darker values in the buildings etc - I want the painting to be rich in colour with a glowing sky against a subtler rich but darker foreground, the lightest part of the picture being the illuminated sign saying "Adult Books".

Adult Books - stage 2

Today I put down a tonal colour underpainting mixing Lukas Number 5 Medium into the paint so that it would be dry enough in the afternoon to paint a second layer over the foreground. The sky is going to have a big influence from a recently discovered colour study by Frederick Church called "Sky At Sunset, Jamaica" which will be achieved by layers of glazes and scumbles that I hope will look almost luminous against the foreground buildings.

Adult Books - stage 1

After a good few weeks away from painting due to Illuxcon and getting my tax books done I am finally able to get back. The two main streams of my work tend to inform each other and what I have been doing for Illuxcon wherein I have been concentrating on colour and atmosphere is now being applied to my Roadside America series. This picture is of an adult bookstore on the outskirts of Detroit but I intend the painting to be all about the sky; a glowing evening sky will sit behind a subdued foreground of buildings and road barely lit but not too dark and silhouetted against the moody sky. I have shot this first stage in artificial light as the nights are drawing in and is too dark in the studio to shoot by daylight. I have "drawn" it up with my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin using a small bristle brush.

Nomination for Artist Of The Year 2015

I have been nominated for "Artist Of The Year 2015" in Artists & Illustrators magazine, a shortlist of 50 paintings. My painting "Drive Thru" can be voted for on the magazine's website and will be exhibited at The Mall Gallery in London from 22-27 February 2016. 
Vote for me!

Here is the link to the magazine website:
http://www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/shortlist2015