I think it is so important to work direct from life whenever possible. It is a great way to improve your drawing and painting skills. I thought beginning of a new year what a good time to do a self portrait. I don’t have to arrange for a sitter to do my work I have a subject at hand. You can tell I was concentrating as I was sketching.
Recent cycling trips through the woods at Morton Lochs have inspired this painting. Pastels are a good medium for capturing the luminous light through the trees.
This is a small painting of a favourite beach walk. It is waiting to get picked up from the framers at present.
A few weeks ago I did a study sketch of this little girl heading to the beach. I shared that as a blog post. Here is the finished painting.
Preparation is underway for the Pittenweem Arts Festival 2013 from Sat 3rd August until Sunday 11th August. I will be at my usual venue, 18 West Shore. I look forward to seeing folks there!
I have not long finished this painting it is now at the framers. When we were leaving Shetland and on our way to the airport this dramatic sky caught my eye. The image stayed with me and I just had to paint it.
I am just back from a holiday in Shetland visiting family. This is my first time visiting the Island. What a beautiful place teaming with wildlife. The sketch above was done in situ at the top of a sand dune (see photo below). I am eager to get down to producing some paintings from my outdoor studies.
Bucket and spade and off to the beach! I love doing these sketches of kid’s at the beach. I look forward to doing this in colour.
I like to switch to working in different medium’s. This keeps me on my toe’s and reminds me of the pros and cons of the materials I am using. I did this painting using watercolour paper prepared with a thick coating of gesso. I approached the painting by applying a wash of warm colour and lifting out the lights with a damp paper towel. I liked the texture the gesso gave to the paper.
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.