Three Sheep

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14 x 10 in  -  36 x 25 cm.    

This was also a "challenge painting" from a shared reference photo. I cropped a much larger reference down to these three fellows. The theory behind this approach is roughly.

• Get an interesting set of shapes. It is good if they intersect the edge of the painting. This is why I choose this particular crop of the reference photo all three heads shapes cut a boundary.
  


• Draw (and Paint) the shapes with reasonable accuracy. My drawings are quick and freehand but I am always trying to get the key core shapes. For example, that ear of that sheep. Not just any ear but that ear.
  


• Paint the tones correctly. Get the darks (correctly) dark and the lights (correctly) light.
  


• The color then won't matter - If you get the first three things right then almost any colors will work.

It can be surprisingly hard to get the tones correct when using strange colours so the painting stage needs more thought and preparation than you might expect.

After all that did it work - I will leave you to judge but it was fun to paint.

Lilacs in the Jug

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13 x 9 in  -  33 x 22 cm.    

This was another weekly net challenge painting. This reference in particular was a classic "good to paint" image. By that I mean it has good strong basic shapes and even better these shapes intersect the boundaries.

I messed up with the central clump of leaves. I should have left them alone after a pass (or two) but I could not resist trying to make them darker. However the Charles Reid type splatter at the end improved the painting a notch or two

Purple Glories

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14 x 10 in  -  36 x 25 cm.    

This appeared to start off OK but fell off towards then end. It was another net challenge to paint it in just two hours. After it was finished I could see the cause of the problem.

I had painted in it a classical watercolor approach base or mother wash and then added latter washes each getting stronger. However I should have made the original mother wash in the lower green area MUCH darker then when all the other layers were done the bottom of the painting would have set off the lighter petals in the upper half really well.

Instead I tried to paint more and more green layers into the bottom area and it ended up too much of a mess.

Lunch on the Beach

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9 x 13 in  -  22 x 33 cm.     I started this one a couple of months ago, I put it aside when it started to become too meticulist. (Meticulist is my invented word for paintings that become far to tight, to meticulous). While a meticulous style works for some people it is not where I want my head to be.

The ref for this painting was a corner of a snapshot taken on holiday last year. One of the delights of digital cameras is that you can make use of snippets of a frame like this that would otherwise just be ignored.

Did it work? Well it came out better than I was expecting a half way. The presence of the bodyboard, not painted until it was nearly finished, works well to place the couple in the space of the beach.

At the Mall

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9 x 13 in  -  22 x 33 cm.     Another try at figures in a street scene. Not as well turned out at last weeks attempt (18th Aug) but you have to keep trying.

Sun Hat

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13 x 9 in  -  33 x 22 cm.    

This is painting did not come out a well as I wished. While it look reasonable in this small format there are a quite a few "could have done better"s about it. I don't normally show the ref image in this blog but this time I will make an exception so you can see the sort of feeling I was trying to get.

A big pat on the back to any one who recognises the fellow and yes, he is a well known UK watercolourist.

Figures in Blue

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10 x 13 in  -  25 x 33 cm.     This is another painting that was done from a ref photo shared over the net. We are not to take longer than two hours. I probably went a little over time in total as I did the drawing in front of the TV last night.

The figures aren't too bad. They do follow the reference quite well but the composition as a whole is a bit "so what". But if you don't practice you won't improve.

New Red Hat

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14 x 10 in  -  36 x 25 cm.    

Well the portrait aspect has come out OK but the strength of tone of the red v blue overwhelms the face too much. I probably should have been less strong i.e. more 'hi key' on the red as it is so very hard to strengthen the tones on such a light toned face and still have it look good. And we would not want to leave the model with a 6 o'clock shadow would we?

I should also have thought of a better way to have 'blue in the middle of red'. The way I picked has not worked too well, no merging of colours. I rejected the simple idea of wet cobalt into wet cad red as that would have produced a nice but unwanted purple. Note to self try out ideas it future next time.

Edmonton from Afar

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10 x 14 in  -  25 x 36 cm.     This was painted in a couple of hours from a reference photo put up on the web for a group of us to paint. I like it when I can attempt to break a "rule". Here that of course the rule in question would say that I should not have had such a strong division right across the middle of the composition. Did I pull it off? You decide.

Two Sold

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14 x 9 in  -  36 x 22 cm

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14 x 10 in  -  36 x 25 cm.    

Today is the last day of the Wokingham and District Art Group show. Two of my paintings have sold, which is very pleasing.

I framed these two a year ago as part of my submission to join the art group. While there is alot about them, that I like, there is a lot that I wish was better. But isn't that the way with the world.

Fishing Boats on the Beach - after Van Gogh

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11 x 16 in  -  28 x 41 cm.     The painting above, is a copy I did a while ago, of a watercolor by Vincent Van Gogh. The image below is his orginal.

You can sometimes (they keep moving the link) get to a larger web copy of the original painting by clicking on the image or by clicking here. Vincent also did an oil of the same view which you can see here. I much prefer the colors of the watercolor. What do you think?

New Home

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8 x 5.5 in - 20 x 14 cm.

I painted this as a House Warming present. This is the first fime I have tried to de-stress an area of a building, the upper floor which is not part of their home. Have I pulled it off? You decide.

I am pleased with the figures who are just about recognisable and also (to me) look to be happy.

Adendum
Here are the couple with the painting.

Cuban Car - No 6

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5 x 7 in  -  13 x 18 cm.     This is the last, certainly for now, of these Cuban Cars.

Cuban Car - No 5

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5 x 7 in  -  13 x 18 cm.     This time you can see the driver sitting in the vehicle. The driver of the Taxi is female and I think you can still see that in the painting.

Cuban Car - No 4

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5 x 7 in  -  13 x 18 cm.     So it is to my series of Cuban Cars, you can get to the reference image if you first click on the image to see the bigger verson in my gallery.