I love starting a new painting, always so exciting working out the composition and the colours. Sometimes I think I should leave a work at its first stages, as there is that loose impressionistic look to it which can be very appealing. However, the perfectionist in me then weighs in and I have to be very careful not to end up with a too ‘tight’ finished piece. Wish me luck. The model I worked for this time came and worked with me one evening alongside a wonderful potter/sculptor who had some great ideas about styling and lighting. We used his home as the backdrop to the photos and between the three of us came up with some fabulous images. My model just seemed to know which poses to settle into and turned up with beautiful dresses and accessories. I am delighted with the results as you will hopefully see in the next series of paintings beginning with this one. I went to see the ‘Beyond Caravaggio’ exhibition in London recently and yet again was overwhelmed by his use of chiaroscuro, the lights and darks in the paintings and this is what I am aiming to achieve myself. A long haul…
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This was an interesting painting to complete as I wanted to keep a slightly impresssionistic feel to the work but also wanted to work up the detail on the two figures, particularly the lemon yellow dress. If I had detailed the background too much I think that a) it would take attention away from the couple in the foreground and b) the work would become too tight and ‘chocolate box’ in appearance. I am happy with the finished painting. Next week I begin a series of paintings using photos I took recently of one of my favourite models in a new setting. I am hugely excited about this and can’t wait to get started. Keep a check on the Blog for updates. I am looking forward to getting back to interiors again. Great White Art gallery in Bristol (www.greatwhiteart.com) just completed a two week exhibition on Pop Art and several of my Line Art acrylic paintings were featured. If you are in Bristol do drop by and have a look. They are a sister gallery of Clifton Fine Art gallery three doors up on Perry Road (BS1 5BG). I have just sent out my latest Newsletter with news about two upcoming…
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Beginning to work up the detail on this painting and I think it will be finished next week when I can get get down to the fine detail. It is never easy trying to get a balance between an impressionistic looser style of painting which I want to get right on the background and a tighter more controlled finish on the girl’s dress and the skin tones. We shall see…what I don’t want is to end up with a ‘chocolate box’ style of painting. This can happen if the artist starts using smaller and smaller brushes, so I have resisted the temptation to go below a size 3 brush. However next week may change that… I still haven’t got a title yet in my mind so if anyone has any ideas, please send me a Tweet. My Twitter followers haven’t let me down in the past! The original photo was taken in Verona, Italy and the lovely building in the forefront is the Arena which is massive and still in very good condition. I was totally blown away by Verona, stopping off there on my way through from Milan to Venice on the train. It is a truly…
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I think this painting will benefit from a slightly looser style as I do not want to paint in all the detail in the background. Painting in the people, the shutters and windows etc will take the eye away from the main composition which is the couple, she in her brilliant yellow dress. I will, however, put some more emphasis on the Arena as it is such a spectacular building. Shadows will be important and I am making use of the complimentary colours on the Colour Wheel used by artists everywhere. So against the lemon yellow of the dress I will use my favourite shades of blue, purple and light blue for the foreground and the same in the Arena, although adding in a touch of Naples Yellow and Burnt Sienna here. Michael Harding paints are so wonderful for this sort of work as the pigments are amazing, so jewel like in comparison to other paints. More expensive, but worth the layout. The view, by the way, is Verona in Italy where I spent a great couple of days on my way through from Milan by train to Venice. I hadn’t planned to stop off here, it was an…
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‘Artists are people driven by the tension between the desire to communicate and the desire to hide.’ D.W.Winnicott I am driven by my passion to paint and I love putting up my works in progress week by week as I enjoy sharing the process whereby I get to the finished artwork. BUT… there is the other side of being an artist whereby I not very forceful and spend a lot of time alone, by necessity, at my easel quite happily. So yes….. tension! With this work, I was in Verona a couple of years ago, sitting on a bench in the sunshine with my camera to hand in case something caught my eye for a possible painting. I suddenly saw this young woman in a lemon yellow dress and the contrast with the shadows of the ground and the Arena amphitheatre to me was perfect. Yellow and purple are opposites on the colour wheel and compliment each other, so I will be painting layers of purple and blue over the lilac grey of the ground and likewise on the walls of the Arena. I think this composition will work. If you would like to be kept up to…
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Really enjoyed completing the detail on this painting. When I think a work is finished, I turn it upside down to check details again, as mistakes will always show up, not sure why. The same is true if you look at a work in a mirror. Maybe the eye gets too attuned to the work and you can no longer see the wood for the trees. Whatever it is, it works every time. I was tempted not to put in the fabric detail in the sofa, but in the end am glad I did as it adds emphasis. It’s always difficult not to overwork a smaller painting. Bigger works involve bigger brushes so less chance of that! Building up of glazes adds delicate layers to the work, which works well on smaller paintings. It has also been interesting painting square for a change. The Ampersand board has been a real find for smaller works. The smaller brushes glide so smoothly over the surface. I wanted to convey the eager anticipation before a girl goes out on a date, something I remember from my youth :-). It’s such a happy feeling and the anticipation is sometimes more exciting than the actual…
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I am really enjoying the painting this week. As I said last week, I was told that a touch of red adds pizazz to an artwork and I realised again how true this is. I love the contrast between the red of the sofa and the black of the dress and adding a touch of red and black to the flesh tones is really pulling the composition together. It’s a gentle piece, a girl getting ready to go out, waiting for the phone to ring to say the taxi has arrived to take her on her date. I put the glass of wine in as she might be nervous and needs some Dutch courage, or maybe she is just having a glass of wine as she relaxes. The book is discarded as she is ‘nearly ready’. Much looking forward to the detail next week. This is a square painting for a change and is painted on Ampersand Board. 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 usually send these out quarterly so will be…
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A smaller painting, square for a change, and for the first time painted on Ampersand board on the recommendation of a fellow artist. It is a lovely smooth surface to work on and works well for smaller, detailed works. Not so sure how it would work for large paintings as the surface is so smooth. Will give it a try sometime. I feel this is a story of a girl getting ready for a night out. She has the glass of wine to relax with while she gets herself ready; the book is now abandoned as she fixes her shoes and waits for the phone to ring telling her the taxi has arrived. The dress has deliberately been toned down in colour to compensate for the bright red of the sofa. Red and black are favourites of mine as can be seen in my Line Arts. An art dealer once told me that a touch of red sells paintings and now I always look out for that in famous paintings .. Turner comes to mind straight away, Caravaggio another! If you would like to be kept up to date with what I am up to in the next few months,…
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Am much happier with this painting now, having struggled last week for some reason. I have enjoyed adding in the final details and getting the horizontal lines straight enough so that the eye of the viewer is not immediately drawn to them (hopefully). Layering on glazes help to soften the skin tones and add depth to the man’s shirt. Lastly, it’s the adding in the touches of pure colour which complete the work for me. There is always a danger of adding in too much colour at this stage and then the painting ends up looking overworked. I have taken a few touches out as a result and I am now satisfied with the final composition. Could not resist making the guy’s bum a little neater too…. If you would like to be kept up to date with what I am up to in the near future, please sign up for my Newsletter at the top of the Home Page. I will be sending out my next one at the beginning of November. I am also on Instagram and have a a Facebook page called Miche Artist.
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Mid course on this piece and partly happy and partly not 🙁 Adding in my touches of blue and pink are definitely working and I will add in more next week once I have stepped back from the painting for a few days. Sometimes I get too enthusiastic with the splashes of colour and the result is overworked. I am also happy with how the dress is coming along, the shape and tones are working well. Not happy though with the girl’s face and spent too long on it this morning. I trained as a portrait artist and am spending too long trying to get a likeness, which is not necessary in a figurative painting such as this. I WILL get it right by next week…. I also need to work more on the man’s shirt, starting with the edging on the shoulder seam which needs to be raised a bit; the arm is looking too short at the moment and I think that is the reason why. If you would like to be kept up to date with what I am up to in the near future, please sign up for my Newsletter at the top of my Home…
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