Three birthday portraits

Today my family and I are heading out to a birthday party – a joint 21st birthday party. Three of my daughter Lottie’s friends, Charlotte, Josie and Jessie are gathering with family

and friends to have champagne and cake. We discussed as a family what to get for their presents and after some discussion the idea came that each should have their portrait painted – in secret and therefore as a surprise.The best we to do this we thought was to ransack through recent photographs trying to locate the most appropriate images. After some searching three were found. Two photos were taken in Malia, Crete during summer so both Jesse and Charlotte had tanned faces. The third photo was taken this winter in Sheffield, resulting in Josie

having a very pale face. I decided to be true to the photographs and besides, I had two weeks to complete all three.

I knew that they had to be glamorous in the paintings, any blemished would disappoint because image is everything! No way could I ever attempt a Lucian Freud painting style with these three!

So the paintings are now complete and gift wrapped, we are setting out shortly to the part – I hope they like their portraits?

PS – I think they did!

Painting seashells

As March arrives I am beginning to think of seaside trips. I still have several weeks to wait before heading off to St, Ives again. Continuing on the small paintings theme I recently found a jar of sea shell gathering dust in the bathroom.

I decided in the quest for a subject that these might be fun to try and paint. A new challenge at the very least.

My efforts are here. They are both 5″x 7″ – oil on board. The board is covered with a canvas layer so the surface is not very smooth and therefore not the best for detailed work.

The pain of trying to get tickets for the big exhibitions – What’s going on?

Well I didn’t get to see the Leonard recently at the National Gallery. So I will have to try and see these paintings in their home galleries, as they are spread across the world a pretty impossible and expensive task I should think? Virgin of the rocks, Lady with an Ermin, the Last Supper - all missed. The reason is not for want of trying – it has been booked up for months. The only (slim) chance is to queue up from early morning at the gallery in the hope of getting a ticket. So that’s 100 miles of travel each way and I might come away empty handed

We are now in the age of the ‘blockbuster’ exhibition. Vast crowds are turning up to see works of art – yet the galleries, who must be raking in the cash with these exhibitions, seem intent on reducing the numbers who can see the works. This apparently came after the Van Gogh exhibition a couple of years ago where people complained that seeing the letters was nigh on impossible due to the crowds. So galleries want to create a better experience for punters.

So why not open the gallery until say 10pm for the blockbuster show? Wouldn’t this give everyone a chance? The ticket sales alone would cover the staffing costs I’m sure.

I recently tried to book for the Hockney at the Royal Academy – no chance – booked up solid. I’m now trying to get tickets by another means and if this fails I’ll miss this show also.

Yesterday I tried for Lucian Freud a the National Portrait gallery. Fully booked for weeks however I DID manage to get tickets for late March. I had to go via ticketmaster website where the process was not pleasant due to a timing process whereby entering your details into their system was timed in minutes at every stage, if you did not complete in the allotted time the system bounced you and put the tickets that you were seeking to buy back on the market. For the slot that I wanted there were 3 tickets available and I wanted 2. I got them but it felt like an eBay bid. Aldo charged £1.50 for the privilege of having to print out the tickets!!!!

Great to see so many folk heading to see great art – but does the process of getting in have to be so shit?

Working Small

I was given six small canvas covered boards for Christmas as a stocking filler.  They’re pretty good for use in painting studies and I have produced quite a few. I’m pleased with the results so far.

Most of my new work this year are still life.  I have painted a selection of simple household objects however fruit dominates for some reason? I suppose practice makes perfect – I’ll just keep working on this theme for the time being. If nothing else I think they are relaxing to do.

There is no intellectual message in these paintings. They are what they are – fruit painted against a black background.

Why black? Black is the darkness and you have to paint the darkness to get the light.

There is a hint that the objects are resting on a base of some kind they are not just floating in space.

My interest in the old still life painting school and the use of Chiaroscuro is the determining factor in these paintings.

My first post of 2012

Although I haven’t posted in several weeks I have been busy painting. It has been a difficult time, mainly due to (a) the distraction that is Christmas and (b) January and the constant gloom and my inspiration has been low

That said, here are a couple of painting finished this month. I have two smaller ones – still wet – that I will upload soon.

This summer it is Warwickshire Open studios http://warwickshireopenstudios.org/ I will be busy preparing a body of work for this event. In 2010 on the last day of the Open Studios fortnight – I sold my very first painting for £30 to the first person who walk ed through the door. I know she lives in Cheltenham – she took the painting with her, it was still wet in places! I am looking forward to seeing how people respond to my new works.

A painting for a friend

This is Taz.

I was commissioned to paint Taz, the first animal that I have ever attempted to paint, by a group of colleagues at Leamington Wine. Our ‘boss’ there Anita, loves her dog Taz. Due to a change in her domestic arrangements this year she had to move into a flat where pets are not allowed.  This meant that Taz had to be looked after on a permanent basis by friends in the North West.  It was suggested to me by others in the shop team that a painting of Taz would be a nice house warming gift for Anita’s new flat.

Photos of Taz were secretly taken during walks and emailed over to me. After about 30 photos I found one that I thought would work. It shows Taz’s baleful look plus his favourite object, his ball, was also in the shot.

I drew the image on a linen canvas and began blocking in the colours. In all it took about 7 hours to paint. Not all in one go however as different layers needed time to dry.

We all presented the painting to Anita last week. I think she liked it!?

The wonderful Mr Duggins

 I popped over to my local art  gallery last week to take a look at Leamington Artist James Edward Duggins (1881-1968).

Born in Leamington he travelled to St. Ives as a young man to study painting. Following this he returned to Leamington where he not only painted wonderful impressionist scenes of the Warwickshire countryside, he also ran a very successful photography business.

I didn’t know anything about J.E. Duggins but I was blown away buy his paintings.

Done in a thick impasto stile with wonderful blobs of paint and brush marks he had a real knack of capturing the light of the the scene he painted. Every brush stroke has been laid down with precision to create the effect that he wanted to achieve.

I had the opportunity last Friday to hear a talk about his life from his grand daughter – Helen Cunliffe who talked with passion about her grandfather.

This was for me, an inspirational show.

The exhibition continues at the Leamington Art Gallery until 12 February – try to catch it if you are able.

I like this quote…

 Picasso is touring a school with someone who wants to know why the institute of education is failing the children. Picasso asks a roomful of six-year-old children, “Who here is a painter?” All hands go up. “Who here is a dancer?” “Who is a singer?” All hands go up. “Who here is a storyteller?” All hands go up. He walks down the hall to where the seventeen-year-old children are taking classes and he asks the same questions. Few, if any hands go up. “There’s your problem,” says Picasso. “Schools train our children not to be painters, dancers, singers, and storytellers.”

My friend Michael

This is one of my first portraits. I actually completed it in Summer 2010 and have exhibited it since then. It has also appeared in a local arts publication.

Michael is a very old friend of mine. We worked together in the early 1980′s in London as youth workers. He is now a deputy headteacher of a special needs school in Salford where he has specialised in getting some very big names to his school do art and performance work with the kids there. Damien Hurst is one who gave his time.

I was sitting in a pub with Michael in October 2009 in a Lake District pub and thought I would take a few photos that I might use as reference material for a portrait. Under the finished version there are two other ‘Michael’s’ that did not work at at all.

I would do it differently now. My skills have improved. However he liked the result and after a year or so of showing it I gave it as a present in September. I think it is hanging in a good place in his house. As usual the work is oil on canvas.

Autumn Fruit

Oil on paper 2011

Following on from my earlier post today I thought I might upload a couple of fruity pics. Once again painted on special paper.

Subject matter speaks for itself. I rally enjoy doing this kind of subject matter. it isn’t radical art or breaking new ground but it is fun and helps me to develop my practice.

Oil on paper 2011