I am a great admirer of the american artist Richard Schmid. He has a way of making his work look so fresh and not laboured. I did this oil sketch of one of his paintings called “Chicken”. The reason I spent time doing this is to learn more about the way he painted it and the colours used to portray the subject. He really makes use of his colours to unify the work and pull everything together. I would love to go to one of his workshop’s and learn more.
I loved this quote by American artist Charles Hawthorne – ”A sketch has a charm because of its truth-not because it is unfinished”
I did this study above of Charles Hawthorne painting “Untitled” to learn more about how he painted this study. I always try to start my day with a study as a warm up exercise. This gets me motivated for the next painting!
This morning I did a small study with dabs of oil using my palette knife. I was doing my morning exercises and enjoying the view. However I abandoned the stretches to reach for my paints in my studio. I loved the beautiful colours in the early morning light. The light effect was fleeting so to get it done quickly was essential.
Tegan my niece in Canada inspired this beach study. I enjoyed doing this monotone painting and adjusting tones accordingly to give the feeling and impression I was after.
This is an oil sketch on Canvas paper, using a limited number of tones. I thought this might be a good one to post for Valentines Day.
This is a study for a larger painting I intend to do. I have not decided what medium I will use yet. The grasses always surprise me how tall they are. I love the sand dunes on The West Sands St Andrews. They always inspire paintings.
Working on a textured ground I did this seascape painting, using Sennelier 38ml large oil pastels. I bought them recently and I am experimenting with them. Normally I use the smaller less chunky version. However I really liked the larger version as you can push the oil pastel around more easily. They felt comfortable in my hand. I love the strength of colour you can achieve with these oil pastels.
Yesterday was a good day for me to set up outside. It was bright but not sunny. I was inspired by a new jug I bought at Crail Pottery. You can see I put my colour studies behind my set up for reference which proved helpful.
I couldn’t resist painting this magnificent fellow who briefly visited the garden. This is a male Sparrow Hawk which has that blue grey back. Today a female Sparrow Hawk visited. She perched on the same post in the garden. She is quite different with a brown back instead of blue grey. I used only three oil colours plus white,prussian blue, translucent- magenta and cadmium yellow.
What wonderful weather we are having just now. I took the opportunity to work outdoors on some colour block studies. This is good for improving observational skills when it comes to colours. I did one study in overcast light and one in sunshine. The garden is coming alive with fresh buds on the plants. Birds were chirping away as I worked, who needs music when you are in the great outdoors! (or even your back garden!)