The Madrasah of Ibn Shah

 The Madrasah of Ibn Shah was known throughout the land as a great seat of learning drawing students from across the world in search of knowledge and understanding. As it was considered a light of hope in a darkened world the lights were left on through the night as a symbol of what the madrasah represented. Many a student arrived at the door tired and bedraggled after a long journey to be welcomed in, given food and water and taken to a room where they can sleep and in the morning begin their education.

Well I seem to recall that I read this somewhere... or maybe not....

I am now on the roster of artists on the new Beyond The Every Day gallery that is run by Every Day Original. The gallery is different to EDO in that one can sell larger paintings without the price cap of $500 and is better for me as all the Orientalist paintings that I have sold so far on the site are really bargains in terms of size and execution as I have always regarded them as loss leaders to get more people interested in my work. I will continue to paint pictures for the EDO gallery that are posted bi-monthly. "The Madrasah of Ibn Shah" will be sold at a more realistic price in relation to the size and relative complexity. Any of these paintings posted on Beyond The Every Day that remain unsold will be shown at the upcoming IX art fair in October.

I followed the composition and lighting of my previous painting "Station Blue" and have chosen the style of architecture of Central Asia although I have taken many liberties as this is a Fantasy painting and not of a real place. A madrasah is a school for the teaching of Islam to children and older students and can be found in every Islamic country.

Oil on linen 22" x 16".

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

International Guild of Realism

 "Pawn" has been accepted for inclusion in the 16th Annual International Guild of Realism exhibition in June. It will be on show at the McBride Gallery in Annapolis, Maryland USA from June 10 - 24 with the Opening Preview and Reception on the 10th and 12th.

I am thinking of going over to the USA for the show as I have some friends in Maryland who are only an hour's drive away from Annapolis and seeing as I have been absolutely nowhere for two years due to Covid I feel like this is a good excuse to do something interesting again. I know it's only one painting but I feel like I'm going a bit stir crazy and need something that gives me a buzz again - I live in a great city but two years of admittedly getting a lot of paintings done and Netflix is enough now thank you very much. Of course WW3 could start in the interim so might have to change my plans...

Oil on linen 30" x 20".

The Madrasah of Ibn Shah - stage 7

 I was away from the studio yesterday so today was the first chance to get on with some painting. The process is slower because I am using some glazing, it always seems quicker when using opaque colours...

 I have worked on all the buildings inside the outside wall and it will be time next to work towards the light area in the doorway - hopefully tomorrow. I will adjust any values with glazes once the painting of the buildings is finished.

The Madrasah of Ibn Shah - stage 6

 Added another glaze of Phthalocyanine Blue to the sky and then worked on all the green/blue domes and insets in the architecture

Colours used: Phthalocyanine Blue, Phthalocyanine Green, Emerald Green, Cobalt Teal, Permanent Orange, Ultramarine Violet and Zinc White.

The Madrasah of Ibn Shah - stage 5

 Another glaze of Phthalocyanine Blue on the sky and another of the Prussian Blue/Permanent Orange mix on the rest... plus a thin wash of Phthalocyanine Green on the domes. I want to have some variety of colour in the buildings so the domes will have some green in them like they have in Central Asia.

The Madrasah of Ibn Shah - stage 4

 More of the same today, but the first glaze on the sky was with Phthalocyanine Blue instead of Indanthrene Blue as I might make the sky more Maxfield Parrish than I originally intended as the genre might expect these colours and resonate more with buyers.

I applied a second pass of the Burnt Sienna/Winsor Violet mix to the rest of the painting in readiness for the first pass of transparent blue over it.

The Madrasah of Ibn Shah - stage 3

 I'm probably going to use much the same colours as the previous painting "Station Blue" but introduce some more blue/greens for the domes. So the underpainting is with my usual mix of Burnt Sienna and Winsor Violet thinned with Liquin and the sky is a mix of Cobalt Teal and Warm White.