Sunday 24 December 2017

HAPPY XMAS & A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR IN 2018

Happy Xmas to all my followers and all those who visit this blog. Sadly my friend Mick Carney died recently at the early age of 70. I met Mick on a Charles Reid workshop and subsequently two more. A great guy who will be missed by his family and friends.

As I reach my eightieth birthday tomorrow I have been mulling over what to do with the blog. I don't have a great deal to say these days, and would just be mainly repeating myself so take the view if you have nothing to say don't say it. I think I'll continue  for a while, even though traffic is decreasing, due no doubt to my lack of activity. It will mainly feature my own stuff with the occasional foray into other subjects.. Goodbye Mick is was great knowing you, a man of many talents.

Sunday 10 December 2017

INDEX

I have just updated the Index. This is accessed via JUNE 2014. I hadn't realised I had not done so recently. For those who are newish to this blog there is a lot of good stuff - even if I say so myself - to be perused. Click on Close - top right hand corner, then scroll down until you get down to JUNE 2014. I know there are more sophisticated ways to set up an Index but unfortunately my skills fall short of this. Apologies.

Friday 8 December 2017

Recent Paintings

Here are my latest efforts.



This and the painting next were done as part of our AVA subject of 'Autumn'. A hedgehog on the lookout for food.



See above. This one has found an apple!



So was this.




This is an uncompleted sketch done for the 'Autumn' subject. I keep meaning to do some more work on it. A bit redder than the actual painting.





This subject for the AVA was 'Looking out of a door or window'.




Same as above




This is an American comedienne, although I don't know much - or anything about -despite her apparent fame. Shown here with pet.





Red Squirrel - Winter scene. The actual painting isn't quite as red as shown above.




Another 'Winter Scene' - I believe this is a Redpoll/



Squirrel showing he doesn't like the snow and cold either!

These paintings were done on either Khadi hand-made paper or  Waterford High White. The exception is the red squirrel, two above, which is Britannia Rough. I did have a spell using Britannia, which is a Hanhnemuhle paper, one side is quite rough with a  pattern that some might not like, while the other is smooth. I haven't tried to paint on the smooth side so don't know if this is feasible. If you can cope with it a very good budget option.


Saturday 2 December 2017

Watercolour Paintings 37

Here are Decembers batch of watercolours. I have indulged myself a little with paintings from some of my favourite artists. Some of the others are new to me but worth further exploration.




Gerard Hendriks


Gerard Hendriks


Stan Miller



Alvaro Castagnet



Robert Zangarelli




Winslow Homer





Arus Muradyan



Mika Toronen (?)




Adisak Soisuriya




Charles Reid



Charles Reid




Gerard Hendriks




Janine Galizia



Z L Feng




Trevor Lingard


That's it folks.




Monday 13 November 2017

My Latest Paintings

These are my latest efforts, mainly done at AVA sessions on Thursday mornings.



This was my first attempt at Charles Darwin. All 16" x 12" Waterford High White unless otherwise stated.



Young Indian girl, probably in captivity.




This exercise at the AVA was to use only shades of grey.




Old Indian - Staedtler Pigment liner ranging from 01 to 08. This particular set of 6 pens is apparently exclusive to Cass Art (who now have a shop in Bristol).The reason I tried this was I've been attracted to a variety of drawings, using various types of pens/pencils and  wanted to try this technique out . I was quite pleased with this result but another attempt at a female head was a failure. 



Indian Chief - Mixed feelings about this one. Some of the old illustrations I use as a guide are quite blurry and  with very hard edged black and white photos. Detail is lost in the shadows and they are difficult to interpret - at least by me.




Second Attempt at Charles Darwin using another guide photo. This was my original attempt at which point I was unsure what more to do. Yvonne, our AVA leader, suggested I needed to do a little more so I pondered it for a while then finished off as the final version shows. Khadi Hand Made paper supposedly A3 but it seems more like 15" x 11".




Charles Darwin - see comments above. This is more like what I am aiming at.




The actor Kit Harrington as Jon Snow in Game of Thrones.



A Chelsea Pensioner. This was done in response to the subject at a recent AVA session 'Remembrance'

The colours used on these subjects tend to be mostly grey mixtures using Ultramarine or Cerulean Blues with Burnt Umber or Transparent Brown (Schmincke).  Daniel Smith Indigo in  various dilutions for the hat. This is PB60 Indanthrene Blue with black. At full strength it is very dark.

I accept the above is a mixed bunch - just my work over the last few weeks. The only ones that I am  happy with are Charles Darwin and Kit Harrington. The pen and ink one isn't too bad. The others? Could be better. 

The next subject at the AVA is 'Autumn'. I've already started four different drawings and painted a little detail  on three of them. The reason I've painted the detail in is to see if the painting will work.  Of course it may not even now but two of the three look on the right path. Hopefully I'll post them in due course. You'd think after seventeen years I"d know exactly where I am or wanted to be. Still searching though for the magic formulae or at least still not reached a standard that is good enough consistently. Perhaps I never will as time is running out!

Wednesday 1 November 2017

Watercolour Paintings 36

Here are Novembers batch of watercolours. A very wide variety of styles and subjects.  Many are extraordinary examples of the watercolour artists range and I marvel at the brilliance of many of these artists. Quite a few are unknown to me.



Catherine Rey



Robert Wade



Alexander Miras




Dusan Djukar



Gerard Hendriks





Bev Jozwiak




Joseph Kote




Asian Artist - unable to translate name




Edo Hannema





N. B Gurung




Unknown  unable to translate name.




Aparah Townh




Hement Mokod




Ewa Ludwiczak





Wu Shang- Fen



Xi Gvo




Yuko Nagayama




Gajanan Shelke




Virgil Carter



Aud Rye




John Cooney




Gulshan Achari






N.B Gurung



Aunghtef Lwia




Thomas W Schaller



Chien Chung Wei




Roberto Zangarelli




Jonathan Kwegyir aggrey



Stephie Butler




Boonkwang Noncharoen



Michal Jasiewicz



I'm not confident I have all the names 100% right so please correct me if you can.