Montparnasse staircase (2)

Oil on hardboard 24" x 20"

Thought I would have another go at this with a slightly different viewpoint and a more "painterly" approach (what is a 'painterly approach'? I am using that expression but I'm not clear what is generally meant by that). Enjoyed getting back to working on a hard, resiliant surface like hardboard.

Ellie with perspex box

Conte on paper 16" x 12"

This is from last night's studio session. Ellie was seated on the floor on cushions but leaning on a perfectly clear perspex box. It was quite hard to see what was happening inside the box as it was reflecting not just her body but other objects,shadows and colours of things around. The box is nearest to us in the picture.

Montparnasse staircase (re-worked)

Oil on Daler Board 20" x 16"

When I entered my apartment building in Paris earlier this year I was struck by the beauty of the staircase and how it reminded me of the one Hopper painted of the place he stayed in rue de Lille in 1906. It is one of my favourite paintings of his. I am cross with myself now that I did not do any on the spot sketching or studies of this staircase whilst I was in Paris so now I am paying the price and having to work from my photos and my memories of it. Painting it just took me back to each day of my holiday when I practically ran down those stairs to begin my art filled adventures. (I didn't run back up them by the way - more a kind of hauling motion). Beautiful Paris. They seem to preserve their buildings not because it is fashionable to do so but because they have an innate sense of the value of history and good design.
(Since first posting I have darkened the top right hand corner wall to give more solidity to that part of the staircase)

Ellie reclining

Charcoal pencil on paper approx 18" x 10"

Graphite pencil on paper approx 18" x 14"

Ellie was the model again yesterday evening. She is a joy to draw. Each image took about one hour. She kept the same pose all evening but I moved position half way through.

Claire (detail)

Oil on hardboard 12" x 12"

Last night's Studio session offered us Claire dressed up as a Quaker lady. I have severely cropped the image here to just show you her head. I'm not too happy somehow with the whole zoomed out thing. As I was painting I kept thinking - Whistler's mother - but when I Googled "Whistler's mother" to look at young James' effort, my goodness, what a lovely painting that is. I remembered it as being rather dark, uninteresting and a bit gloomy but it isn't - it is full of colour and sensitive paint handling.

Mrs Worthington's daughter

Oil on hardboard 24" x 24" Please contact me if you are interested in purchasing this painting

Here is the re-work of "Facade" below. When they demolished our very nice town hall they left only the facade and some of the internal stone pillars and stairs. It gives the impression now of an open air theatre – maybe that was the intention but I doubt very much that our civic dignatories at the time had any such cultural concessions in mind. I have always wanted to pose figures in there and paint them, so again I suppose it was natural that this young woman should offer her services (via my imagination). The title comes from the song written in 1947 by Noel Coward : "Don’t put your daughter on the stage Mrs. Worthington". I’m not going to give you the background story here because it will make the blog entry too long but if you are interested, just Google it.
The original Facade underpainting had a figure, then I added another and in the end I had three figures in there, then I scrapped them all. I tend to work better with ideas on the actual painting board rather than in sketch books. I also decided to do the re-work with quite dense paint, totally covering the underpainting.
I like Hopper's figures' introspection but I also like the idea of putting "normal" people in "normal" surroundings doing rather unusual things. I've often felt like dancing round that area myself, on my own, but then they would come and lock me away. Shame.

Stockport Art Guild 90th Anniversary show

I am proud to be a (relatively new) member of Stockport Art Guild which was formed in 1919. It is the Guild who organises the figure drawing and painting sessions I go to each week. I am also proud to have two recent paintings in this Anniversary show. Anyone reading this who lives locally don't hesitate to visit the show at Stockport Art Gallery. It is on until 28th November. There is a wonderful variety of work on display.

Facade (Work in progress)

Oil on hardboard 24" x 24"

I have tried painting the facade (all that is left) of our town hall before but I feel I have been a bit more successful this time. This painting took me about 5 hours in total and I managed to complete it in one sitting. I did a lot of underpainting in acrylic and thinned down water mixable oils. Not wanting to lose the richness of that work I then switched to straight oils with no thinners or mediums - just almost dragging the thick paint on to allow some of the underpainting to show.
Ok - now it is a few days later and I am having second thoughts about this and have started to do some more work on it. So I'll post version 2 when I am ready. Will keep you posted.

Jessica

Pencil on cartridge paper approx 10" x 8" each

It was interesting to try to map in some of the background in the profile drawing because there were naturally other figures there but in relative darkness to the profiled model. Again I worked without my glasses and felt I had explored the forms more freely particularly with the full face view. I am reading Harold Speed on drawing. It is downloadable from the Internet - a 1930s book but they are often the best. Thanks for the ref Carolyn. And thanks Jessica for providing the inspiration.

A day in the life of a small town (re-worked)

Oil on canvas 24" x 24"

Canvas works differently to hardboard. For me it is a totally different experience. The paint wants to go on more softly and gently blur itself into the surface. It can be an advantage but it's not always what you want. Nevertheless I think it works ok here.
Having said that I did subsequently re-work this painting, using a more thickly loaded brush and no thinners. So maybe it wasn't what I wanted after all. Huh.

Stuart

Pencil on cartridge paper approx 16" x 11"

This is from the studio session last Thursday evening. Only just got round to posting it. I used a 6B and an 8B graphite pencil and took the opportunity to map in the darker background and some of the chair legs at the top. It was an interesting vew to tackle. I felt the pencils freed me up in a way that perhaps the charcoal didn't which I know is not most people's experience. Trust me to be different.
Another new thing that happened was that normally, as I am short sighted, I use my specs for working on the drawing/painting surface but look over the top of them to study the motif - in this case the live model. But for some strange reason I shoved them to the top of my head and just did the whole thing without them. When I realised at the end of the drawing and I put them back on I could see lines and marks I had made which I liked and felt added life to the piece. You can't really see that here in its reduced size.

The yellow dog

Oil on hardboard 24"x 24"

There is a lady walks around Stalybridge and she always dresses so elegantly with gloves and high heeled shoes and black stockings. From the back you would think she was in her mid thirties but when she turns round it is clear that it is unlikely she will see seventy again. She never seems to speak to anyone, just walks round the town sometmes with a light shopping bag in her hand. I have lent her a dog for this foggy walk around Stalybridge. It's probably Ash. Everytime I go to paint a dog it ends up being Ash!
The reason this big painting follows on so quickly from the last big painting is that I had to do the two of them together to let layers dry in between. That is the one thing I don't like about oils - even a half a day drying time irritates me and I am realising I have to have more than one piece on the go at any one time.

Dandelion bride

Oil on hardboard 24" x 24"

This is based on some shots I took last November on a foggy day down by the canal. Of course I didn't see the bride. She just walked into the painting with her wilted dandelions held loosely in her hand. This scene is so iconic to me, the quietness now of these old factories and chimnies disappearing into the fog of the past. Hey, I am learning how to scumble in oils! I thought I could only do that with acrylic.