Home and Dry

 This one in my "Home Land" series is actually based on a sky I took a photo of on my recent tour round the National Parks in the South West USA which I have stretched across the panoramic format of the picture. I wanted everything to hang off the bright sun with a relatively saturated palette for a change and have tried to get across the title by making it look pretty saturated by the rain storm that has now passed over the distant mountains with the people living in the farmhouse warm and dry inside. The location is somewhere like Montana but essentially this location does not exist and like all the others in the series is about the relationship between people living on the edge of what is possible within a potentially hostile environment with all the paintings trying to get across the vastness of American landscapes, something which I loved on my recent National Parks trip. For a change this one is not based on a colour complementary as there are most colours within this picture, slightly unusual for me. The next one in the series should be pretty rich in colour too.

Oil on canvas 31 1/2" x 12".

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

Every Day Original

 Just a reminder that my painting "Fuyu No Taiyo" is posted tomorrow 23 December on Every Day Original at 10.30 EST. Oil on fine cotton 12" x 16".

IX

 Pleased to see that I have been accepted for the Main Show at IX next year in Reading PA. Looking forward to meeting up with friends old and new... and making some sales! Can't expect it to go as well as this year though...

Home and Dry - stage 6

 I have roughed in most of the foreground now, ending up going nearer to greens than I originally intended but that's OK. 

New colours used: Naples Yellow, Permanent Sap Green and Brilliant Green.

Home and Dry - stage 5

 Sky and background pretty much finished, worked on the distant mountains today and now have decisions to make on the foreground colours. Poor light in the studio so stopped here for today and will review things in the morning over my breakfast coffee.

Home and Dry - stage 4

 Mostly finished the sky bar some tweaks on the falling rain and maybe a few glazes around the sun. Made a tentative start on the background mountains but the light is not great in the studio so I just washed a colour mix over a bit of it and left it for tomorrow when it's brighter - I quite like how it looks so I might go with it but all that will be decided over the breakfast coffee....

Home and Dry - stage 3

 First colour pass on the sky. looking a bit pallid at the moment so I will probably paint in some glazes in the right side of the sky as I want quite intense colors for a change.

Colours used so far: Ultramarine Blue, Kings Blue Light, Manganese Blue Hue, Dioxazine Purple, Lavender, Burnt Sienna, Permanent Orange, Cadmium Orange, Yellow Lake Deep, Turner's Yellow, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon and Warm White.

Home & Dry - stage 2

 Finished the tonal underpainting but left it here as I want to make a start on the first colour pass on the sky in the morning light of tomorrow. The final painting probably won't have as much detail indicated as it looks here, I want it to be moody and dramatic.

Home and Dry - stage 1

 

The next one in my "Home Land" series this one is based on a sky I took a photo of on my recent trip round the National Parks of the South West in the USA. The setting for this though is somewhere like Montana. I am going for some quite rich colours after the heavily desaturated last one. I stopped here purely because of the paint not being dry for a tonal overpaint and is not an indication that it is a snow landscape. I will finish this tomorrow. This is the tonal underpainting stage using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and applied with a brush and rag.

I think I have done enough isolated farmhouses now so after this one I will be looking for something different for the series.

Oil on canvas 31 1/2" x 12".

Fuyu No Taiyo

 Translates hopefully as "Winter Sun".....I wanted to paint something Christmassy (well it has snow in it) for my upcoming slot on Every Day Original on December 23 and also use it as my Christmas card. I thought it would be nice to have a Japanese theme for this one (Japan is about top of my current bucket list and am contemplating a visit next year) particularly because they have a lot of snow in the Winter. I had originally intended it to have a red/orange - blue/green colour combination but somehow it turned into a red/orange-violet combination which once it started to appear I was happy to go along with - I will use that combination for another painting down the line.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

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

Fuyu No Taiyo - stage 3

 It's been such miserable weather recently that I have been hardly going out so have been able to get on with this painting more than usual. I have probably finished the sky and background and have roughed in all the foreground and trees etc ready for hopefully finishing tomorrow. The colour of the snow etc was intended to be more of a desaturated blue/green but it has somehow ended up with these violets which is still fine as I like the colours so I will use that blue/green colour combination for a later painting. I am painting this for my upcoming slot on 23 December on Every Day Original.

Fuyu No Taiyo - stage 2

 Started to put in the sky and background trees and the underpainting for the temple. Originally I saw the colour of the landscape and temple as more green/blue but it's coming out more violet at the moment so I'm stopping here due to bad light anyway and will have a look at it tomorrow.

Colours used: Phthalocyanine Blue, Dioxazine Purple, Pale Violet, Lavender, King's Blue Light, Permanent Orange, Warm Light Yellow and Warm White.

Fuyu No Taiyo - stage 1

 I thought that I would get on with my next painting for my Infected By Art slot coming up on 23 December and thought I would make it vaguely Christmassy (it's a snow picture) so that I could use it as my Christmas card for this year (!). If it works out it will look very cold and beautiful.... The title means "Winter Sun" in Japanese (I hope).

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 fine cotton 12" x 16".

Phone Home

 I wasn't particularly happy with the last painting, I think it was too busy and unfocused even though it was a fairly accurate picture in terms of what I saw on my recent tour of US National Parks. I think that I will stay out of the sunlight and head for more of the shadows to which my work seems better suited.

This one is connected to what I saw in Utah etc but I have changed the lighting to something moodier, a kind of a dramatic quiet picture if that makes any sense.... even a bit poignant in terms of the title. I dithered about strengthening the orange in the sky but decided to keep it subtle. Based on a red/orange - blue/green colour complementary but kept pretty desaturated.

This will be heading for my upcoming solo show at Abend Gallery on Denver CO in March next year.

Oil on canvas 31 1/2" x 12"

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

Phone Home - stage 4

 Have nearly finished the background but needed to make a start on the foreground as I wanted to work my way back to the background as I wasn't sure what colours to use. I settled on a very desaturated orange/brown with lots of the cloud colour mixed in so that the sky and landscape relate to each other. This is just the first colour pass on the foreground and will work it up tomorrow when the light is better in the studio in the morning. I am dabbling with the idea of adding a tiny bit more orange into the sky but I will wait until the house and lights are in first.

New colour used: Oxide Of Chromium

Phone Home -stage 3

 Probably finished the sky and background but stopped here as I need a think about the foreground. It was originally going to be grassland but I'm toying with making it more like scrubland with bushes - will decide over tomorrow's breakfast coffee....

Phone Home - stage 2

 First colour pass on the sky and background hills. I want this very cool and desaturated based on a red/orange - green/blue colour complementary with the green in the greys hopefully setting off the orange tints in the sky and the warm yellow/orange in the windows of the house. Might put a tiny hint of lemon in the sky...

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

Phone Home - stage 1

 Not particularly happy with the last painting so I'm going back to a moodier picture with dramatic lighting which I think is my stronger suit and might avoid sunny daylight from now on! Due to issues with compatibility between my phone and computer I am having to take pics with my compact digital camera so the quality is not so good with this pic but it will have to do....

This is the initial 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 31 1/2" x 12".

On The Edge

 

The first painting for my solo show next year at the Abend Gallery to come out of my recent tour of the National Parks of the South West in the USA. I loved the vast scale of the landscapes and the big skies that hung over them and got most of my reference shots on the roads between the parks. Maybe because of the altitude (?) the contrast between the blue sky and the white clouds was so intense and I wanted to get that across in this painting, not sure I have and think I might leave the bright desert sun behind and return to the more familiar shores of evenings etc. The location in this painting does not exist (these are all kind of symbolic paintings) and is actually an amalgam of three different locations plus some imagination and invention. I'm fascinated by how people live in relatively hostile environments like this one somehow clinging on despite a lack of water, power and shelter from the relentless sun. You see individual houses or communities way out of town in the parched hills and land living in self-made buildings with seemingly no viable income source at least not from the land but every one of them has a car or truck parked nearby without which I am sure they could never survive. Living on the edge...

Oil on canvas 31 1/2" x 12".

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

On The Edge - stage 5

 Working on the land now and trying to work out the colours to use, I'm not used to painting sunny days! It's mainly complicated by the lighting idea I'm trying to paint of the area in sunlight at left contrasted with the land in shadow and the house when I get round to painting it.

New colours used: Permanent Sap Green, Brilliant Pink and Naples Yellow.

On The Edge - stage 4

 OK the sky is basically finished, I painted in some Lead Tin Yellow Lemon into the clouds which warmed them up a bit (can't really be seen in this pic). I also painted in some more sky and painted out some of the clouds to give the sky some space, it was looking too crowded.

On The Edge - stage 3

 I think I will need another day to finish the sky as it covers such a large area of the painting. We're getting there but none of it is finished yet, toying with making the sky even darker at the top....

On The Edge - stage 2

 First colour pass on the sky, looks like it will be about three days work before it's finished as it covers such a large area of the painting. I stopped here because I need to have a think about the clouds nearer the horizon which I will do tomorrow over my breakfast coffee. There is a lighting idea I have for the foreground which I don't know if it will work with the sky... we will see.

Colours used so far: Phthalocyanine Blue. Phthalocyanine Green, Permanent Orange, Warm Light Yellow, Unbleached Titanium and Warm White.

Art Renewal Center

 In the end three out of my five paintings that were Semi Finalists in the Art Renewal Center's 17th International Salon competition made it as Finalists and will be published in the forthcoming book.

"Binary Sunset" made it into Imaginative Realism

"The Night Owl" and "Home Sweet Home" made in into the Landscape category.

Binary Sunset

T

The Night Owl

Home Sweet Home

Living On The Edge - stage 1

 Provisional title, it might be called "On The Edge"...

This is really the first painting to properly come out of my recent tour of the US National Parks in the South West for my solo show next year at the Abend Gallery. I loved the vast scale of the landscapes I saw particularly on the road between the various parks and loved the vast skies that hung over these landscapes. I don't know how/why the contrast between the blue sky and the white clouds was so intense there but I took loads of reference shots of them as we drove around. This painting is all about that contrast and scale which I hope to get across although this location does not actually exist and is an amalgam of three different locations plus imagination and invention. I'm fascinated by how people live in relatively hostile environments somehow clinging on despite a lack of water, power and shelter from the relentless sun. You see individual houses or communities way out of town in the parched hills and land living in self-made buildings with seemingly no viable income source at least not from the land but every one of them have a car or truck parked nearby without which I am sure they could never survive. Truly living on the edge...

This is the first pass on the tonal underpainting using my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Dioxazine Purple thinned with Liquin and applied with a brush and rag. I will give it a second pass tomorrow.

Oil on canvas 31 1/2" x 12".

Out In The Cold

 The first painting after my return from IX last month.

After producing a number of fantasy oriented paintings for IX I am returning to painting work for my solo show in March at the Abend Gallery, Denver CO. I am considering changing the title of the series to "Home Land" as all the paintings are ruminations on the theme of home within vast American landscapes. This one is set in deepest Winter in maybe Wyoming (all these paintings are imagined landscapes and are not real locations) with a lonely farmhouse set in a vast snow landscape. The area of sunlight on the distant mountain was unplanned and was only going to have the sunlight picking out a few ridges but when the initial colour pass on the mountains had left that area with just the underpainting showing it occurred to me that it could be the whole area in bright sunlight. I will be developing this lighting effect in future paintings...

Based on a yellow/violet colour complementary (although very desaturated). Oil on canvas 31 1/2" x 12".

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

Out In The Cold - stage 3

 Pretty much finished the sky and after a desaturated blue wash over most of the landscape I painted in the first colour pass on the background mountains but stopped when I got to the light area at left as I need to have a think about it before proceeding - over tomorrow's breakfast coffee as usual.

Out In The Cold - stage 2

 First colour pass on the sky, I stopped here as a I need a think about how I'm going to paint the mountain which I will do over tomorrow's breakfast coffee.

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

Out In The Cold - stage 1

 Finally back to painting after returning from IX...

I am now getting back to producing work for my solo show next March at the Abend Gallery in Denver CO after a recent swathe of more Fantasy paintings needed for IX, nine out of twelve being sold at the event including seven on the first night.

I have returned to my "Point Of Light" series which I am considering changing to "Home Land" as all the paintings pretty much are ruminations on the theme of "home".... this one is set in deepest Winter in maybe Wyoming (all these paintings are imagined landscapes and are not real locations) with a lonely farmhouse set in a vast snow landscape with the usual light on somewhere in the building.

This is the initial 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 31 1/2" x 12".

IX 2024

Before

 I exhibited my work at IX at the Goggleworks in Reading PA last week after staying with friends in Maryland. They were going there as collectors to see if there was anything they liked to buy (there wasn't) and drove me up to the show. As we arrived a collector was sitting at the entrance who asked me if an older painting called "Faeral" was still available which it was so I made my first sale before even going in the building! A good start!

As I was setting up (aided by my friends Morgan and Jean) a couple of collectors that had bought off me previously approached me and asked if they could buy my latest painting "Tatooine Sunsets" which I had just put up on the screen... I said yes of course - another sold before the event had started, this was going well! The event itself started at 6.00pm and within the hour I had sold "The Vampire of San Polo" to a collector from New York and within I think half an hour another collector came along and bought four more! Oh I forgot to mention that "The Portal" sold to another collector couple in between so at the end of the evening I had sold seven paintings in the show plus "Faeral" at the entrance... the best I had ever done at IX....

The next day I sold "Red Lantern Street" and then nothing on the next day until finally on Saturday I sold "The Fire Temple of Ahura Mazda" to the collectors who had bought "The Portal" previously and who couldn't bear to leave the show without it.

During the run of the show on Wednesday I also sold "Yama Jinja" on Beyond The Everyday so all in all I sold eleven paintings during the time I was there including nine from the show itself - a record I would imagine I will never beat. 

Morgan suggested that I leave the remaining larger painting "Castle Of Lost Souls" at their house where they could ship for me from in case a buyer in the USA emerges. I then resolved to bring the last two smaller paintings back with me on the plane as hand luggage (I had brought two with me this way when I arrived) so this meant... no shipping back to the UK of unsold paintings, a first!

Hmmm I think I will go to IX next year....

After

 

 

 In the "After" pic you can see four paintings packed up in bubblewrap waiting for the buyers to take them away on Sunday the final day of IX.

Yama Jinja sold

 Whilst I was at IX in Reading PA last week (more on that in another post) I sold "Yama Jinja" through Beyond The Everyday, the first I have sold on this platform ran by Every Day Original. This was a painting intended for last year's IX but I was unable to attend. Oil on linen 22" x 16".

Tatooine Sunsets

 The last painting to be finished to take to IX later this month. This is the third Star Wars-themed painting I have done with the first two snapped up by collector friends in the USA so I thought that it would be nice to do another one as nobody really saw the first two! The move across from my Orientalist inspired work to Star Wars is not as much of a stretch as you might think. The Tatooine architecture has elements of the local architecture where it was filmed, Tunisia (?) and the buildings here on a desert mesa are  very similar to my mosques etc in desert locations in earlier paintings. There is meant to be a bit of Ralph McQuarrie in there too.... just spotted a little repaint to do before I take it to IX but this scan will do for the moment.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12"

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

Paintings For IX

 These are the paintings that I am bringing to IX this year in Reading PA. Eight are framed the rest will be hung unframed as I have not had a chance to get them framed for various reasons. It's my usual mix of Fantasy and Orientalism seasoned with a bit of Science Fiction and Horror.... I like variety. I will be shipping them in two batches and hope that they don't get lost/stuck in Customs which happened once before and did not make for a relaxing pre-event time with friends in the US while I frantically rang FedEx to find out where the hell they were. As it turned they got delivered on the day I was there to hang them in time for the Private View that evening.....please not again!

IX (Illuxcon) will be held at the Goggleworks in Reading PA from 23 to 27 October. If you're in the area come along it's quite a show!

Tatooine Sunsets - stage 3

 Mostly finished the sky but left it like this to make a start on the rocks below the buildings. Something tells me I need to get the colours and contrast right here first before I paint the rest of the picture.

Tatooine Sunsets - stage 2

 First colour pass on the sky and background as well as a second layer of the tonal underpainting on the landscape.

Colours used: Manganese Blue Hue, Kings Blue Light, Dioxazine Purple, Wisteria, Burnt Sienna, Brilliant Pink, Permanent Orange, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Lead Tin Yellow Lemon and Warm White.

Tatooine Sunsets - stage 1

 This is probably the last painting that I will finish in time to take to IX later this month. It is in fact the third Star Wars themed painting I have done recently but the first two were snapped up very quickly by collector friends in the USA so I thought that it would be nice to do one for IX as nobody has actually seen the first two (although one of them will hopefully be published in the upcoming Art Renewal Center International Salon book if it gets accepted as a Finalist). The move across from my Orientalist inspired work to Star Wars is not as much of a stretch as you might think - Tatooine is a desert-like planet and they used Tunisia (?) to film the Tatooine scenes with some of the architectural styles melded with the futuristic. Indeed the buildings in this one on a desert mesa are very similar to my mosques etc in desert locations in earlier paintings. Hopefully there is a bit of Ralph McQuarrie in there 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 brushes.

Oil on fine cotton 16" x 12".

The Somnambulist sold

 "The Somnambulist" has just sold through Abend Gallery Denver CO. A painting from my "The Sleeping City" series. I wanted a sort of dream/nightmare feel to this one, actually for all in this series come to think of it. Compositionally everything hangs off the central axis of the moon and figure but in an asymmetric way as a counterpoint.

Oil on linen 16" x 12".

International Artist Magazine

 "Steeltown" has been published in the new October/November issue of International Artist magazine as a Finalist in the Cityscapes Challenge. It remains unsold and is currently available at Abend Gallery in Denver CO. Oil on linen 22" x 16".

The Fire Temple Of Ahura Mazda

 This painting follows on from the previous one in that I decided to develop the warmly lit areas and expand it to be the main focus of the picture for this one. Once I was on that track it quickly occurred to me that fire could be a good subject and from that I thought about fire temples which actually do exist in one of the oldest religions on earth, Zoroastianism (Parsi in India). This is however a fire temple on number 11 and very much a Fantasy image so apologies at this point to any Zoroastrians who may see this! Ahura Mazda incidentally is a kind of godhead in this religion and a name I have loved and wanted to use in a title for many years!

This painting proved to be very tricky firstly because I wanted the brightest points of the picture to be the canvas white itself so I had to plan in advance where they were going to be which slowed me down in drawing it up... and secondly it was far more difficult than I first realised to translate the lighting of the previous street market scene into this scenario and it took longer than it really should have to paint the fires around the temple. I guess that lighting is ideal for market scenes at night!

This might be the last painting that I can finish in time to take to IX in Reading PA later this month... maybe time for another small one...

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

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

The Fire Temple Of Ahura Mazda - stage 8

 This has been a real slog sorting out the lower level of the temple. I had originally conceived it like the market scene in the previous painting and assumed that I could replicate the effect in this one... wrong. At least you could say that I have learnt from this if nothing else. I have had to take it very slowly as I try to work out how it is going look ( i.e. not like the market scene) and finally think I have come up with something of a compromise which I will finish off hopefully tomorrow. Hopefully it comes out good enough to take to IX next month....

The Fire Temple Of Ahura Mazda - stage 7

 You can't tell much in the pic but I have been working on the temple and probably ready to start on the ground level tomorrow. I haven't put any figures in yet to give it a sense of scale, these will go in tomorrow. Lots to resolve in this area...

Dream Street sold

 "Dream Street" has just sold to a buyer in the USA through Artfinder. Oil on canvas 12" x 31".

The Fire Temple Of Ahura Mazda - stage 6

 Gradually working my way around the temple adjusting as I go along. Hopefully I can sort out the platform at the foot of the large door tomorrow....

New colour used: Cadmium Red Medium.

The Fire Temple Of Ahura Mazda - stage 5

 Working my way down the temple now, the next tricky bit will be the transition of the detail on the temple from the dark at the top to the fiery areas at the bottom . The pic makes it all look a bit harsher than it is....

The Fire Temple Of Ahura Mazda - stage 4

 

Finished the background and sky and have started on the temple - long way to go yet!

New colour used: Yellow Lake Deep

The Fire Temple Of Ahura Mazda - stage 2 & 3

Stage 2

 Got caught up in doing my tax books yesterday and forgot to post the progress...

Stage 2 shows the finished tonal underpainting and stage 3 shows the first colour pass on the sky and background. The painting will be based on a green/blue - red/orange colour complementary and have realised that I have to make sure there is some colour variation particularly in the fiery areas.

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

Stage 3