Haboob

 This lighting was originally going to be used on a Vampires of Venice painting but I changed my mind over my breakfast coffee and decided it would better suit a dust storm (Haboob: Arabic for dust storm) in an Orientalist setting.

Just outside a desert city a Haboob has passed through and the air is full of settling sand with the low sun dimly shining through it. In some encampments near the oasis outside the city gates some nomads hunker down for the rest of the day in their tents and light some fires to cook their evening meals.

I have a collection of vintage postcards of The Middle East and wanted some of the feel of the ones that had been hand-coloured of desert scenes. This painting is a possible for my upcoming slot on Every Day Original in late May.

Oil on linen 16" x 12".

There is a short step-by-step progress through this painting including what colours I used in previous posts on this blog.

Haboob - stage 2

 First colour pass on the sky and background. Feeling my way a bit on this (as usual) as I am not sure how dark/light and murky to make everything yet. This will do for the moment and is far enough along for me to look at tomorrow morning over my breakfast coffee and decide...

Colours used: Ultramarine Violet, Manganese Violet, Burnt Umber, Permanent Orange, Genuine Chinese Vermillion, Yellow Lake Deep, lemon Yellow and Zinc White.

Haboob - stage 1

 Tonal underpainting for "Haboob" (Arabic for dust storm - a word I like the sound of). This was originally going to be a Vampires of Venice painting but I didn't feel moved enough to paint it and and as so often happens, over my breakfast coffee yesterday I changed direction and realised that the lighting situation I have in mind would suit a desert dust storm much more. This will be a possible painting for my slot next month on Every Day Original, but got to see how it turns out first!

I used some slightly different colours for this tonal underpainting as I think they will better suit the colours that I intend to paint over the top. They were: Burnt Umber, Transparent Oxide Brown and Winsor Violet mixed as usual with Liquin.

Oil on linen 16" x 12".

The Domes of Jebel Moussa

 I like to have a bit of fun with titles and with these Orientalist fantasies that I paint I try to come up with something slightly overblown the way that they were titled in Victorian times when Orientalist painting was at it's height (generally speaking). Apologies to Muslim scholars etc for this one, I know that Jebel means mountain but I think that it can mean rock as well (I stand to be corrected!) and I think Moussa is more Sub Saharan African but that's alright, these are fantasies and I deliberately mix up architectural styles to emphasise the point that these are not real places, more "Arabian Nights" in feeling. I had originally planned this to be beside a river with palms and feluccas around the rock with the buildings on top but midway in drawing it up I lost confidence in that idea and decided to stop and have another look at it over my breakfast coffee the next morning when I decided to situate it on a sea or lake shore. When the tonal underpainting was finished I dallied with the idea of painting it in daylight instead of night time as the underpainting kind of looked that way but I stuck with the nocturne deciding to maybe do another one of this but in daylight at a later date. I had an Atkinson Grimshaw -like sky for this in mind but as is often the case with a painting it kind of went it's own way and came out like this.

Oil on linen 16" x 12".

There is a short step-by-step progress through this painting including the colours I used in previous posts on this blog.

The Domes of Jebel Moussa - stage 3

 I didn't get any work done on it yesterday as I was in London for the private view at the Mall galleries. This is the first colour pass on the rest of the painting. It is put in quite roughly but gives me a good idea as to how the lighting is working.

I am working within quite a limited palette and using the same colours as before but will take advantage of the red/orange complementary to the green/blue by having a few orange lights on in the buildings.

Still toying with the idea of painting a daylight version too at some point...

Royal Society of British Artists

 

Madurai

I am going to the private view of the Royal Society of British Artists annual exhibition on Wednesday 14 April at the Mall Galleries in London as I have three paintings accepted for the show. One of them, "Madurai" has already sold and it would be nice if I could sell another one but it's good to be in the exhibition if for no other reason than it's good for the CV!

"Madurai"was painted after a trip to the city in Tamil Nadu, India a few years ago and I wanted to try and get across something of the dusty chaos of an Indian city street. It was also a return to painting in square format on mdf, something I have not done in a number of years. Oil on mdf 18 1/2" x 18 1/2".

"Pier" is one of a series of Tonalist nocturnes of the Brighton/Hove seafront where I live. Oil on linen 20" x 16".

"General Store" is one of a series of paintings of American landscapes mainly in the South West called "The Big Sky". Oil on linen 30" x 20".

Pier

General Store

 

The Domes of Jebel Moussa - stage 2

 First colour pass on the sky - over my breakfast coffee this morning I was tempted to paint it as a daylight picture as the tonal underpainting was looking at that time but in the end I though that it would be more interesting to keep it as a nocturne. I also gave the tonal underpainting another pass of the Burnt Sienna/Winsor Violet mix to darken it ready for the colour to go on.

Colours used were: Phthalocyanine Blue, Phthalocyanine Green, Permanent Orange, Burnt Sienna, Naples Yellow, Lemon Yellow and Zinc White.

The Domes of Jebel Moussa - stage 1

 Apologies to Muslim scholars etc, the title is of my own invention, I know Jebel means mountain in Arabic but I think it can also mean rock... which the buildings stand on here. Originally I had this planned as the rock situated in a river situation with feluccas and palms etc but I got halfway through drawing it up yesterday and lost confidence in that idea so I stopped and decided to look at it again over my breakfast coffee today... which I did and changed my mind to having it by a sea or lakeshore.. I'm going for an Atkinson Grimshaw kind of moonlit sky and going to paint it in quite a limited palette.

This is the tonal underpainting stage which was first "drawn " up with a small bristle brush using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin, the tone was then added with a rag using the same colour mix.

Oil on linen 16" x 12".

Orogrande

 This painting kind of lies in two recent series I have been painting, "The Big Sky" and "Magic Light". Another American landscape of the Desert South West this time in a small town called Orogrande in New Mexico incorporating a recurring subject  of my work, the deserted gas (petrol) station in the middle of nowhere. The sickly green light on the building implies that it could still be in operation and is that a light on in one of the battered pumps?

The whole picture is keyed to the light on the building which I made the brightest part and then made sure that the moon was a bit more subdued so that the eye goes to the building first and the landscape second. I quite like how the broken pumps look a bit like Wall-e and give the painting a slightly more surreal edge.

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

There is a step-by-step progress through this painting including the colours I used in previous posts on this blog.

Orogrande - stage 3

 Pretty much finished the sky and have roughly painted in some colour on the rest. I want to have a sickly light on the building so decided to paint some of that in and then try out some colours around it and see what works. This will be enough for me to look at in the morning and work out where to go from here.

Same colours as previous plus: Naples Yellow, Bright Green Lake, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon, Alizarin Crimson and Genuine Chinese Vermillion.

I quite like how the broken gas pumps look like Wall-ee...

Orogrande - stage 2

 

First colour pass on the sky deciding to keep things quite Tonalist so far.

Colours used: Phthalocyanine Blue, Phthalocyanine Green, Winsor Violet, Ultramarine Violet, Burnt Sienna, Permanent Orange, Lemon Yellow and Zinc White.

Orogrande - stage 1

 This one is kind of in between two series of mine: "Magic Light" and "The Big Sky". I am getting into a single light source somewhere in a painting and intend in this one for it to be a light on the right side of the disused petrol (gas) station building, toying with it being a sickly blue or blue/green. What ever colour I choose tomorrow morning over my breakfast coffee will set which colour complementary I use. I'm looking for a certain mood so will probably paint this more in terms of Tonalism... but we'll see what we decide tomorrow morning.

Orogrande is a small town in New Mexico and as ever I'm drawn to painting another disused gas (petrol) station in the middle of nowhere, the wan light either indicating that perhaps something is still working on this site or nobody remembered to turn off the light when it closed down.

This is the tonal underpainting stage and was "drawn" up with a small bristle brush using a mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin, the tone being applied with a rag using the same mix. I have been increasingly painting in square format but I just didn't feel it was right for this so went back to rectangular.

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

Snow On The Sagebrush sold

 "Snow On The Sagebrush" has just sold to a collector in Utah which is the location for this painting, nice to sell it to somebody that lives in and knows the area! 

Oil on linen 20" x 16"