At sea painting sea ocean waves girl beach

This painting has been sold



Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

I think it's nearly the end of this little beach series. Even in the height of summer the beaches we have been to have been somewhat off the beaten track - not so popular for the hordes but it suited us. I think this one was in North Wales.

New Blog

I have spent today uploading some larger pieces into a new blog specifically set up for that purpose. I no longer have my web site so needed some kind of portfolio for these works. Click here to see the new blog. It contains both sold and unsold works and I'll add to it whenever I complete a bigger piece. Obviously this will not replace my two daily blogs in any way. Thanks for looking.

(nodp)

On the beach figurative painting girl beach dog sea

Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

Sometimes you get a glance of a scene out of the corner of your eye - half a dog, half a figure. In this case the figure breaks a cardinal rule - never cut off your figures at joints of the body like ankles or wrists or neck. I wanted the challenge of breaking the rule yet having strong contrast around the focal point of the girl's face to pull the viewer's eye up and into the just-off-centre of the support or frame of the painting. The whole notion for painters of trying to fit life into a square or a rectangle, selecting and confining ourselves to just certain shapes and objects, is strange and interesting. And let's face it - a bit odd.

Clearing tables figurative painting waitress cafe sun europe

Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

Sometimes I like to describe things in a two dimensional way, getting away from perspective. The reference photo for this was totally cluttered and confused, there was so much information in it, but the key thing was this young woman waiting on tables and the sun just glancing off the back of her neck and shoulders. I therefore adapted most of the shapes and colours to create something new.

Two figures in a city square painting figures figurative classical architecture surrealist

Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

I found the figure of the woman more interesting than the figure of the man funnily enough. I imagined two or three women placed at different waiting points around this square, just still against the classical lines of the buildings. Might do that later.

Beach conversation beach sea painting figures seagulls

Acrylic and pencil on hardboard 7.5" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

To the sea girl sea beach england english sun

Acrylic and pencil on hardboard 8" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

I have been interested lately in looking again at the work of Richard Garrison who combines an interest in the human figure with a concern for geometric shape and form. You can probably see his influence here in this painting of the girl running to the sea. Although I wanted it to have a fairly abstract feel I also wanted to retain that fresh air, beach breezy environment.

An English sea seaside sea dog boat girl expressionist painting

Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8" This painting is not for sale

I'm pleased with this painting. I like the way the figure feels rooted in the scene but is part of the containing square of the support by linking her to the jetty or structure which you can see behind her head.

City walker girl woman street city sun

Acrylic on board 12" x 12" £105 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

I know this is quite different to other recent work, but hey, life is short and I wanted to try out a series predominantly with figures and a simple or abstracted background. I really enjoyed working differently here and hope to post a few more in the coming days. (But then as Hockney said "Don't pay any attention to what an artist says, just pay attention to what (s)he does").

Panelled room interior painting woman elizabethan english england hydrangea>

This painting has been sold



Acrylic on board 12" x 10.25"

I have been reading a book by a contemporary British painter, John Hammond, who works only in acrylics. He uses lots of glazing and I thought I would have a try at that once more. The result looks like water colour in parts. This is another figurative based on Haddon Hall. The figure here is to the left, seated and engrossed in a book.

Vigil woman interior window england english

This painting has been sold



Acrylic on hardboard 8" x8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

Remember the Haddon Hall series? I have taken a scene from that set of photos and introduced a figure. I have planned to paint those steps for a while and thought it was interesting with a figure in there. I love Hopper's 1920 ladies so I thought she could be wearing 1920s clothes. Actually the cloche hats are back - I just bought one!

The sun room interior sun figure painting

Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

A wealthy town house in Amsterdam inspired this painting.

The Reader interior girl reading surrealist

Acrylic on board 12" x 12" £110 (British pounds. Postage free on this item to anywhere in the world

Around five years ago when I was dreaming of starting to paint again I came across a painting of a girl with a mass of red Titian hair. She was wearing a blue and turquoise striped sweater. I can't find the book in the house but it's there somewhere. I've never been able to get that image out of my mind.

Woman in a blue jump suit interior cafe painting woman female reading

This painting has been sold



Acrylic on canvas board 14" x 11"

When I got up this morning and looked at the painting I did yesterday (see below) I was not at all happy with it. It seemed to be afraid of making a statement. I was going to re-gesso the board but instead I started working on it differently, using only my imagination and the knowledge of some of the items in the scene. I concentrated on circles and lines and came to the realisation that every single thing around us in nature and what man makes is made up of curves and lines.
Thanks for the commiserations about my shoulder. It's getting a bit better but leaving the paints alone is hard!

I did this yesterday. It was based on a photograph of a woman reading in a cafe in Amsterdam. It was not night time but it felt like it with the darkness of the cafe and the lamps lit inside. The yellow curved wall was a feature but I left a lot out and went a little way along to abstracting the shapes.

Self portrait 22nd October 09

Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

As you can see from the date in the title of this posting the painting was done last week. In fact most of the paintings I have posted since a week ago were actually completed around two weeks ago. What happened was that last Thursday I managed to trap a nerve in my back between the shoulders which has resulted in a lot of pain and numbness in my arms and hands. I am having to get back to painting very slowly, just do a small amount each day and keep taking frequent "posture" breaks. The problem arose after finishing the self portrait here and I am sure it was because I was straining to see in the mirror as I painted and was sitting at an awkward angle. I do sit down to paint and I'm not sure my equipment is in the best place etc. Does anyone else suffer from back pain, shoulder pain, ever have a trapped nerve through bad painting posture? In fact it would be interesting to know how many of you daily painters sit down to paint compared to standing up as you would if doing a bigger painting. If anyone knows of any good references/links for good posture for artists I'd love to hear about them!

Self portrait 21st October 2009

Acrylic on hardboard 6" x 6" £45 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

This is the first of a couple of self portraits I did last week. There is a story attached but more of that tomorrow.

Two small pots still life painting acrylic ceramics pots interior attic>

Acrylic on hardboard 6" x 6" £45 (British pounds)plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

An orange table cloth still life painting fruit interior blue jar>

Acrylic on hardboard 6" x 6" £45 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

Objects in the sun still life oil acrylic painting ceramics>

Acrylic on hardboard 6.5" x 6.5" £50 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

I started painting this on a bright but cloudy day. Suddenly the sun burst through and lit up these objects in quite an interesting way so I quickly got the bright notes down because I knew it wouldn't last long (and it didn't).

A young composer approached Mozart and asked what should he write: a saraband? a suite? a romance? a symphony? etc. Mozart looked at him and said "I think you should write a waltz". The young composer was a bit angry and said "But Mozart, you yourself wrote a symphony at the age of ten" and Mozart replied "Yes, but I didn't have to ask anybody's advice".
(thank you Malcolm Morley for relating this story in Joe Fig's book 'Inside the Painter's studio')

Orange and blue still life acrylic oil painting interior fruit ceramic>

Acrylic on hardboard 7.5" x 7.5" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

I am a few daily paintings "ahead" so this was actually completed a few days ago. A couple more still lifes to come.

Provencal bowl still life provence ceramic yellow green interior attic painting oil acrylic>

Acrylic on hardboard 8" x 8" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

This is quite different in treatment to the last painting although for both I used acrylics. I wanted to really get the depth of the yellow in this. I was looking back at some of my earlier still lifes and also enjoying getting back into that "cropped interior" look.

Portrait of a lady still life blue cream vase jug pitcher brown attic

Acrylic on board 10" x 8" £75 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

I bought this vase in a charity shop the other day. When I stood it on my old work table in the attic I thought it looked very feminine amongst all those masculine and abstract straight lines of boards and canvases etc. It took on an importance beyond its worth. (Sorry Henry James for nicking your title).

Crocosmia VI (flowers floral still life interior oil painting)

Oil on hardboard 7.5" x 7.75" £65 (British pounds) plus postage & packing (£3.50 to UK; £7 to rest of world)

This is the last of the Crocosmia paintings. Not sure what my next little series will be. I have a few options in mind, maybe some more still life, maybe some self portraits or maybe some more figurative-fantasy work. I'll just go with the flow as usual.

Sun sets on Stalybridge

I'm showing a few paintings on my other blog of sun set over my town, Stalybridge. Click here if you are interested in seeing them.

(nodp)