My apologies for being a bit late with the completion of this work and my blog update. For various administration reasons, my website went down and it has taken the best part of ten days to sort; not perfect timing for this sort of thing to happen ! This is a relatively small piece , 30 x 25 cm, 12 x 9″ and is painted on Ampersand board which I really like for smaller paintings. It will be up on Great White Art Gallery’s website in the New Year along with other work of mine so please have a look at www.greatwhiteart.com. Looking forward to starting new work as soon as 2017 is upon us. Until then I wish you all a peaceful and happy Christmas and may all your dreams come true in 2017. If you would like to be kept up to date with what I am up to in the next few months, please sign up for my Newsletter at the top of the Home Page. I will be sending out the next one early in 2017. Happy New Year.
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“I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it.” Vincent Van Gogh. This quote was completely right for this week’s post. I was certain this morning that the painting would be finished today. However, the more I painted in the detail, the more I realised I am still learning and that I have a way to go yet. Each time I thought I had completed one area, I would look across and see another area unfinished. I would work on that and then look back at the piece I had just been working on, and realised I still had more to learn. But at least I am learning. I think with a larger canvas, an artist can be freer, more expressionistic in style, using larger brushes and being braver with colour. With a smaller canvas like this one (10 x 8″) however, one has to tighten up, smaller brushes, more detail, less room for mistakes. Both canvasses work for me, and I enjoy the challenge of both. So it will be one more week on this piece to get all the details and colour right. Still not sure about a name yet either…
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Very much enjoying this smaller piece (12 x 9″) on Ampersand board again, which gives a smooth, controlled finish. Not sure how it would work on a larger work as you would lose that control but for smaller paintings it is a great surface to work on. I apologise in advance that this young woman will be smoking a cigarette ( to be put in at a later stage when underpainting is completed ). I was myself a cigarette smoker for years, and I am well aware of the health risks, hence giving up a long time ago. However, I do think it makes for a good composition and I feel the same about placing a glass of wine into a painting every so often; sometimes it just completes the piece. I haven’t decided on a title yet, but I feel this woman is thinking quite deeply about something; she is weighing up the pros and cons of something important to her and she has come out to the hallway to be on her own, have a quiet cigarette and just…….. reflect. The colours in the dress will be much more vibrant and jewel bright as time goes on and I…
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