The Baby Elephant

10x14"

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How the painting looks framed (painting is not supplied framed)

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I got this Elephant from eBay and almost used it a number of times. It's time has come.

Fruitscape - sold

6x8"

This is a result of two failed paintings. The other two were nothing like this one but I painted way too tight and scraped them. I just made this painting up with no references and just painted, always clears the cobwebs when you lose direction.

How the painting looks framed (painting is not supplied framed)

Tree Line - sold

8x6 inches

How the painting looks in a frame (painting is not supplied framed)

Painted in a flat light this was a struggle in getting the tones right. Much easier with a direct light on the subject. Happy with the result however.

Pear wins an Award

8x8 inches

Available through Evergreen Art

Pleased to let you know that my painting 'Pear' has just been awarded 'Finalist' in the Boldbrush Painting Competition. This puts the painting in some very illustrious company!

Blue Pot - sold

8x12 inches


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This is a reworking of a recent gallery bound painting. I was happy with the overall concept but not the overall composition and so I have gone over the painting completely, changing and adding aspects until I was happy. 

I am offering this painting on eBay by auction over 5 days, starting bid £150. This is larger than my usual eBay size.

How the painting looks in a frame (painting is not supplied framed)

My Lightbox

This is my main stage as I look at it whilst painting. I can raise or lower it etc. It's nothing fancy just a couple of cardboard boxes raised on a cabinet. I have a piece of perspex on there to keep it level, it also means I can use reflections if I want. There is a spotlight with a daylight bulb to the upper left to light the subjects.

I have a new area sorted were I will be using my available, almost, north light for when I paint during the day. Most of my paintings from the last year were done from this box.

Tin Can - sold

8x8 inches

I was holding this painting back for a gallery but as I have changed my palette I have decided to put it on eBay as I would rather paint future paintings with my changed palette.

Violet Haze - sold

8x6 inches

Experimental piece, playing with greys. I like greys and I may develop this style.

Whiskey with Apples - sold

8x6 inches

My Tools

Here are my main tools. My colours (at the moment and ignore the left hand side colour stains) are, from the top and left to right, Ivory Black, Yellow Ochre Light, Burnt Sienna, Titanium White, Ultramarine Blue, Cad Yellow Pale and Bright Red. This is based on the Zorn palette but is now a standard limited palette. I am trying to find the least amount of colours I need to paint any subject, but this is a personal development thing based on my likes and dislikes not someone elses but the Zorn palette was a good place to start.

I will be doing some paintings with a three colour palette which you will see in the near future.

I put the white in the middle as a divide between cool colours, to the left and warm colours to the right. 

If you didn't catch my earlier info on my studio my palette is a 16x12 mdf board, stained with umber, with a perspex top. I mix my paint on the perspex. Many artists use glass but I feel perspex does the same job, is lighter and cheaper and therefore easily replaced - which I need at the moment as I am changing and experimenting often.

The brushes are all Rosemary brushes. I mainly use filberts but I do use a flat here and there and a palette knife. All paints are artist grade Windsor & Newton.

Lewis Hamilton - WIP

Have been asked to produce a Formula 1 painting and took the opportunity to paint my first portrait.

Had a few goes before I got to here. I found it easier to carve out the main shapes with a tissue into wet paint and then find the form from there. Capturing a likeness is a challenge, even more so with a famous face. I could have just squared up a photo but I would not learn much doing that.

I'll be doing more portraits as tie goes on.

Late Afternoon - study - sold

10x8 inches

This painting is from a photo I took on Friday using my mobile phone! I don't prefer photos as reference, in an ideal world I would paint on the spot but I am just not geared up for that at the moment - that elusive thing called time, but I will do some plein air this year for sure.

Using photos is just a case of knowing the pitfalls. I think it likely I will be doing landscapes I design myself using numerous photos as reference to come up with a pleasing painting.

The foreground shadow and the blue sky which points to the focal point are additions to the photo reference to improve the overall composition.

Farm Track - study - sold

7.5 x 6 inches

This is a little landscape where my main goal was just to do a landscape. I have concentrated on still life for very good reason but it's time for me to paint different subject matter too.

This is a good example of a painting going well because the original idea is sound. I have found one of, perhaps the most important stage of painting is the original idea and design. I am more selective now in what I paint rather than just getting something done.

The suggestion of cloud to the left is a good example of adding something not in the original reference to enhance the picture as this cloud points and leads the eye to the tree, the focal point. Many of the lines in this picture converge on the tree. Simple works :)

I am very loose in my approach to subjects preferring to design as I go but it helps if the original needs little help.

The greens are done with yellow ochre light + black, with touches of violet for the cools and cad yellow pale and blue for the warms. I might scale this up for a larger painting,

New Blog, New Direction

I have made many changes over the last few weeks. Most are ongoing and are likely to change themselves as time goes on - more of that in further posts.

This new blog is mainly about me wanting to open up more after two years learning to paint. I have loads of learning to do but feel I have done enough to at least have something to say with some experience behind me.

So this new blog gives me fresh starting point to talk more about how I paint etc.