The Magic Sky

Cover

 I have finished designing a new book of my work which I am expecting back from the printers early next week. It is called "The Magic Sky" and features new work painted since my last book published in 2016 "Dreamland". It is an A4 format softback containing 80 pages with 91 new paintings previously unpublished and all new content throughout. The work is divided into 6 categories: The Big Sky, Imaginative Realism, Orientalism, Vampires of Venice, Brighton and Landscapes. The book will sell for £15.00 plus postage which I still have to establish for sending to the UK, USA and the EU. When I get the books I will be able to go to The Post Office and work out the prices then.

Below are some sample spreads.

The Big Sky

 

Imaginative Realism

Orientalism

Vampires of Venice

Brighton

Landscapes

Al Madina Mashriq

 Glowing under a moonlit sky lies the fabled city of Al Mashriq. A city of trade and splendour it has become one of the richest in the Moslem world as it occupies a strategic position at the junction of many trade routes and it is said that anything and everything can be found in the souks and bazaars of the shining city if you look hard enough. The largest hill is crowned by many richly decorated mosques from which you make your way through the bustling bazaars down to the port and all the entertainments that you would expect from such a place. High on another hill sits the City Palace famed for it's luxury and magnificent state rooms occupied by the dazzling court of Mashriq which can be seen at the right of the picture. It is said that the glow of the city lights acts as a beacon for those that are traveling towards it through the dangerous lands around the city roamed by tribes of robbers and plunderers drawn to the heavily laden caravans filled with the luxury goods that Madina Mashriq is famed for...

Well that's one story, maybe true maybe not...

Another Orientalist-inspired small painting that is potentially going up for sale on my upcoming slot in late July on Every Day Original. It was originally conceived to have just some lights but once I had put in the underpainting it became obvious that it should glow in the night sky from a multitude of them.

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.

Southwest Art

 As I was a Semi - Finalist in the Art Renewal Center's 15th International Salon this year I had the chance to get an advertisement (at a discount rate!) in the ARC feature in the current issue of the Southwest Art magazine published in the USA. Seeing as the subject of my painting was a mountain/butte called "Tower of Babel" in the Arches National Park in Utah and therefore a Southwestern landscape I figured it might be useful to show this painting to possible collectors in this area as I hope to get them interested in my "The Big Sky" series which is predominantly of Southwestern landscapes.

Al Madina Mashriq - stages 2 & 3

Stage 2

 In stage 2 I have finished the sky using the following colours: Ultramarine Blue, Phthalocyanine Blue, Ultramarine Violet, Pale Violet, Permanent Orange, Lemon Yellow, Zinc White and Warm White.

In stage 3 I have roughly put in the darks in the cityscape and leaving way too many lights at the moment. Tomorrow I will make sense of it all... hopefully! The dark colour was a mix of Prussian Blue, Permanent Orange and Zinc White.

Stage 3

 

Al Madina Mashriq - stage 1

 I haven't painted anything for a while as I have been working on a new book of my work, more about that soon...

This is another Orientalist painting aimed at my next Every Day Original slot coming up on July 28th. The title is a rough translation of The Shining City in Arabic... rather handily "mashriq" also means East or Eastern so it can also mean The Eastern City. I'm planning on a nocturne with the moon in the sky above the city of mosques and buildings with many lights on, most of the city and foreground boats will be pretty much in silhouette.

This is the initial tonal underpainting stage using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and applied with a small bristle brush, a flat brush and a rag.

Oil on linen 16" x 12".

The Gardens of Alqamar sold

 I forgot to mention last week that this painting sold within hours of posting on Facebook to a buyer in Louisiana. I need to paint some more of these but I'm currently involved in writing a new book of my work which is taking up a lot of time.

Oil on linen 16" x 12".

The Hippogriff of Calton Hill sold

 A painting from 2008 has just sold through Asgard Arts. A group of eight artists including myself were given the use of a house in Edinburgh in which we all set up in different rooms, put our work up on the walls and then did daily demonstrations of how we worked to the public during the Edinburgh Festival for three weeks. It was put together by Cliff Wright who had painted some Harry Potter book covers and as Edinburgh has strong connections with the books and JK Rowling the exhibition was centred around his work for the books and the private collection of a collector of Harry Potter memorabilia (the collection had to be displayed in a huge perspex case for insurance purposes).

I actually haven't read the books or seen any of the films but I thought it was logical to paint something Harry Potter-related for the show. I went to stay there for a few days a couple of months before the show to collect reference and then painted this ready for the exhibition, a fantasy of a fantasy in a way as I have no idea if one of these creatures actually did this in the books...

Oil on mdf 18 1/2" x 18 1/2"

The Gardens of Alqamar

 Deep in the Maghreb in a land that we now call Morocco lived an enlightened ruler named Ibn Abbas. He was famed for his inquiring mind and intellect but most of all he was famed for his travels in the Muslim world. On one of his expeditions he found himself in Rajasthan where he visited the splendid courts of the Mughal rulers in one of which he fell in love with the beautiful Nizam, a daughter of the court of Jodhpur. It was deemed by both parties that a marriage would be of great benefit to their respective houses and after an elaborate wedding ceremony Ibn Abbas brought Nizam back to his palace, The Alqamar. To make her feel at home he had a Mughal style mosque built next to the palace that was designed in such a way with shining white marble that it would shimmer in the moonlight. Nizam and Ibn Abbas spent many evenings wandering the gardens, the warm air gently rustling the leaves of the palms and the gentle sound of water splashing in the fountains and pools...

Well that is the legend but maybe I just saw this in a dream...

Another Orientalist painting this time of an Islamic garden, a subject that I am surprised I haven't done before and in fact has already gave me an idea for another one that I will start very soon. As usual I have given it a back story to give it some bogus reality to what is in essence a fantasy to which end I have combined Moorish and Mughal architectural styles to emphasise that it is just that, a fantasy in the tradition of The Arabian Nights.

Oil on linen 16" x 12".

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

The Gardens of Alqamar - stage 3

 Another pass on the sky into which I mixed some violet as it goes nearer to the horizon. Worked some more on the dark masses of foliage to get a better design to them and then did some preliminary work on the mosque to knock it back a bit ready for tomorrow.

I used the same colours as yesterday plus Ultramarine Violet.

The Gardens of Alqamar - stage 2

 First colour pass over the whole painting. I will need to make the dark tonal masses of the trees join together more to make some interesting shapes as the silhouettes will be very important fro the composition to this one. The final painting will be darker and moodier than here with much less contrast between the background mosque and the foreground.

I want a quiet composition for this one with the emphasis on verticals and horizontals, quite different to how I normally work when I am looking for diagonals to add some dynamism to the composition.

Colours used : Phthalocyanine Blue, Winsor Green, Emerald Green, Permanent Orange, Lemon Yellow and Zinc White.

The Gardens of Alqamar - stage 1

 After a bit of a break from painting including making a start on designing a new book of my work I am now back again with another Orientalist scene. I realised that I haven't done one of an Oriental garden which is surprising as it's a pretty obvious thing to do! It started out as a moonlit scene of a mosque behind some trees in an oasis but something bugged me about it and I left it a day to stew in my subconscious and then realised as usual over my breakfast coffee that it would be great as an Orientalist garden lit by moonlight. I am deliberately mixing Mughal and Moorish architectural styles to emphasise that this is Fantasy...

This is the first "drawing" up phase of the underpainting with a bit of tone added ready for the final tonal underpainting tomorrow. I used my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and applied with a small bristle and a half inch Flat brush.

Oil on linen 16" x 12".

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