Online study

I have been doing an online study course recently, led by American artist Larry Seiler.  Other than a few issues finding my way round the site used (ArtistsNetworkUniversity) the content has been really valuable.
We have been doing exercises concentrating on getting good value contrasts.  This is an area that has proved difficult for me in the past, and together with the discipline of working small and fast I think the long term results will be beneficial.  I just hope I can translate what I have learnt when I revert to my normal, undirected, plein air work.

These are the three pieces I submitted for week three, they are all oil on gessoed paper (a new substrate for me - I will blog about that later) 5x7" (another 'new for me') done with a very limited palette and three pre-mixed tones of each colour.

I will go back and do bigger paintings of some of these.  I look forward to what we have to do for the final week.

Can't do one without the other

Faith in pastel

This is Alyssa's little sister Faith, who is four now.  I couldn't do one without doing the other.  I now need a picture of their little brother Sam, who is equally as cute, but in a boyish sort of way, then I will have a full set.

Faith
Pastel on Ingres paper
21 x 28 cms

Painting faces

Alyssa in pastel

My mum has come to visit in the mountains.  It is very hot which makes painting at altitude very tiring so we have been sitting in the shade of the awning on our terrace painting faces.  

My favourite medium for these is pastel, and due to the small size of the works I find pastel pencils ideal.  My biggest problem is keeping the image fresh.  The temptation is to go back in again and again, perfecting, adjusting and generally fiddling.  

I like to be able to see the pastel strokes and the texture of the support, but I do like to get a decent likeness (for me it a portrait isn't worth it's weight in paper if it isn't recogniseable, although there is a huge gulf between being recogniseable and achieving a good likeness!

This is my niece Alyssa, my brother's eldest daughter, aged 7.  She lives in California and will make a perfect Prom Queen in due course.

Alyssa

Pastel on Ingres paper

21 x 28 cms

Tuscan Tree Studies

Trees are something that painters love or hate.  All that green, all those shapes, in watercolour I have devised my own method of approach, but in oils ???  I am more accustomed to painting light clours first, then darks, but to work totally in reverse really gave me brain ache. (Or maybe it was the wine at lunch)
So today was a day of tree studies.  Sessile oaks, Pines of every description, Olive groves. So much to choose from. And it rained. Very hard.
My first choice was a huge Sessile Oak. It was hard enough to get a clear view from ar away enough to fit onto a small piece of paper.

After lunch the sun made a brief appearance and I chose a tree perched precariously on the top of a cliff that I could paint from the cover of a nearby shelter in case the rain came back with a vengeance.

Sessile Oak Study

Wooded Cliff

Oils on paper 20x20cms

My paintings are always for sale.  If you are interested please email me.

A dismal day in Tuscany

The weather wasn't at it's best to start with.  Our task for the day was to paint the same view in the morning light, then again in the afternoon light.  Sadly the light was pretty flat and remained constant for the entire day.  So - only the one painting this day.  I did try to do other late afternoon light versions late in the week but none of them were finished due to pressures of time.

What a revelation to find I can paint in oils on good quality watercolour paper.  It needs further treatment to ensure its archival properties, but any works sold will be suitably mounted and sealed.  Many thanks to Maddine Insalaco of Etruscan Places for the information and research.

Gloomy day across the valley. Armena
Oils on Paper  20x20 cms
My paintings are always for sale.  If you are interested please email me.

Time for an oil change

I spent a week in Tuscany lately, with Maddine Insalaco and Joe Vinson of Etruscan Places.  It was a pretty intensive week of Plein Air oil painting, which is not something I normally do, but I really enjoyed it.  Here are a selection of my paintings, (after I had reviewed them and make some small modifications - mainly adjusting the contrast and intensifying a few darks.  There are some more - but I will post those when I have had chance to finish them off.

This is the first - a view from the terrace of our accommodation (which I can really recommend - more of that later).  The umbrella pines and tall spiky Lombardy pines are so typical of the area.  These line the approach road to the farm and stand proudly silhoutted on the hillside.  The olive groves below provided problems of their own due to their regular patterns and softly stated colourings.
This is still a work in progress.  Seeing it on screen really shows up what I need to alter!! I will re-post when it is adjusted.


Umbrellas and Lombardys - Armena
Oils on paper 20x20cms
My paintings are always for sale.  If you are interested please email me.