Thursday, August 27, 2009

Bush Clown



I did this painting from a black and white picture. I imagined the colors that I wanted and I thought it would be best with a color scheme of green, red and blue. The picture virtually painted itself. Once again I feel a bit more work on the hands but I was excited to publish it on the net and will work on them some more at leisure.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Concentration



Hi, this is another portrait of Aurelio that I have painted. This time from a photo instead of from life. I've been reading a book on Rembrandt and looking at his portraits. I wanted to capture some of the light and dark that Rembrandt used but it didn't work to well on this picture. I need more dramatic lighting in real life to be able to try and attemt this. Over all I a am pleased with this picture. There might need a bit of improvement on the hands yet. What do you think?

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Dragon Delight



Hi, this latest painting is from my imagination, which is a tough thing to do when you are used to having references. It was an exercise. I must say I started off dreading doing this and had a bit of a think. Then I did a little sketch to see if it might work out on paper.

I chose a dragon to paint, as I love them. I am an avid sci fi fantasy reader. I enjoy all the stories with dragons and magic and a hero. I thought the dragon looked ferocious and so I drew some scared little fairies that the dragon had perchanced across. I stood there thinking what does scared look like and I thought big startled eyes and a wide open mouth, perhaps racing off screaming.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Critique night at pastel society



I took this painting along to a critique night at the pastel society. What an interesting night. Robert Wade was the artist critiquing. He was a wealth of knowledge and constructive in his opinion. As a result I have tried to tone the background down a bit so it is not fighting with the whole picture. He loves broad strokes and was fond of commenting on them in different pictures. I have utilised lots of lines in this picture which was confliciting to the judges opinion. The main thing is I enjoyed painting this picture, which inthe end is all that matters.

One of my favourite pieces for the night was a painting of a venetian mask with masses of feathers surrounding the mask. The detail in the body of the mask was magnificent with gorgeous contrasting loose feathers enveloping it.