YOP self portrait

Hello!

The final Year of Painting challenge (for this year) on the Painting Friends forum was a self-portrait. I draw and paint quite a few portraits, as it’s my favourite subject, so for this one I wanted to try something a bit different – different medium, different approach, just to freshen things up a little… 

I wanted to do something other than my usual head-and-shoulders type portrait, and I'm pleased with the way this one turned out. I covered my paper with charcoal, and used a putty eraser to lift out the pale areas. This is a really forgiving approach, as it's so easy to correct the shapes, lifting charcoal out, putting it back in, until eventually it comes together...

Charcoal on pastel paper (A4 W&N pastel paper pad)

Painting outside, kind of

Hello again

One of my art goals for this year is to give landscape painting one last go, and see if I can muster any enthusiasm for it by painting outside, from life, rather than from photo refs. As it happened, the December/January Year of Painting challenge on the Painting Friends forum was to either set up a still life, or paint en plein air. I decided to go for it, despite it being the middle of winter and thus rather cold, windy and wet... in the end I actually painted from the relative comfort of my car...

First off, here's the painting. It's acrylic 12" by 8". I was painting for about an hour or so.

 

Here's a pic of what I was looking at - it's the village cricket team's pavilion, and the cricket field beyond:

And here's my set up - I had the pochade box on my lap. Just about enough room!

I have to say that I enjoyed the experience, so maybe there's hope for me and landscape painting yet. I'll have to get a portable easel if I want to actually paint outside the car one day - if anyone has any recommendations, let me know. Not the greatest painting ever, but I was pleased enough with it for a first outdoor attempt! Roll on the warmer weather!

Serendipity

This one was painted for the YOP challenge over on the Painting Friends forum, where the reference for this month was a beautiful white rose (madmum on wetcanvas, thank you!)

Serendipity means a 'happy accident' or 'pleasant surprise'; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful without looking for it. That's what happened here...


I wanted to have a go at doing something delicate, but that kind of went out of the window rather quickly, as I managed to paint a big beige mess. Then I decided to add in some shadows, which made things much, much worse. It was awful. It was heading for the bin, then I decided to see just how bad it could get if I got the pens out, and... well, I actually really like the end result! It is not subtle or delicate, which was my original goal, but I love the structural feel, and the ink coss-hatching reminds me a bit of copperplate etchings. 

So, unexpectedly, I'm actually quite pleased with it, and as a bonus I've discovered an approach to floral paintings that I would never have otherwise thought of.


4" by 6", watercolour and ink.

Year of Painting - cardinal

Here's what I did for this month's Year of Painting challenge, over on the Painting Friends forum, a study and a sketch (maybe I'll do a painting one day!). I'm not familiar with this bird other than from photographs (it's North American) but it looks fairly similar to the waxwings we sometimes see here in the UK in the coldest of our winters. Ref photo courtesey of mensatic at Art Morgue, thank you!

Both are around the same size, 8" by 6" (ish). I did the ink and wash sketch first; I went in with the paint first, putting down general areas of colour where I saw them, then refined with the pen, then back in with more paint. For the wc study I did a quick freehand pencil sketch first, followed by several fairly thin washes.


The ink and wc sketch was done very quickly, the wc study I took more time over. Having done the sketch definitely helped when I started the study (I did them side by side, on the same piece of paper).


Watercolour/watercolour and ink. 8" by 6".

Year of Painting no 5

The ref pic for the Painting Friends forum Year of Painting this month was a seascape. Never having painted the sea before, this was a bit of a challenge for me!

I like the long letterbox format, which I think works well here. I like the overall colour scheme, with that greeny aqua feel. Not keen on the land mass in the top corner; it looks a bit like a big storm cloud. I’m not pleased with the figures, which I think look rubbish! I debated whether to include them or not, but they act as a good point of scale for the scene.

I would love to spend some time at the coast, watching and painting the water. Hmm, maybe a few days away are beckoning!

Acrylic on canvas, 8” by 20”

YOP 4

Here's the next in the Year of Painting challenge on the Painting Friends forum.

This was from a lovely but busy reference photo from mr sandbanx on Wet Canvas.


My aim with this YOP ref was to try to imagine I was on holiday (if only!) and that I was in situ with pen and watercolours, sketching the scene. I have seen a lot of beautiful journal-type art along these lines, and I am always impressed - there's a real sense of being there, a unique capture of a moment, or an afternoon perhaps. So for this YOP I sketched in ink (no pre-drawing with pencil) and tried to capture the scene as if I was actually there...


...I think I need a holiday!


12" by 9", ink and watercolour.

Year of Painting 3: Koi

The Painting Friends Year of Painting challenge last month was Koi. I decided to try for something delicate.

Watercolour, 5" by 7".

I used a bit of clingfilm to try to get a watery ripply effect, which I think worked OK, but I failed to get the lost edges I had in mind.

Year of Painting 2: Still Life

Over on the Painting Friends forum, the Year of Painting has reached month 2. The reference for this month was a still life set-up, and I decided to have a go in acrylics.

Acrylic, 10 by 14"

My version is much simplified from the reference photo - the original had a stripey tablecloth for a start (and that looked way too difficult!). I think I could have been braver with the colours in the white cloth, but I like the texture I managed to get (applying paint with a palette knife), and I like the overall feel of the finished painting.


It was fun to do, as always, and it's great to try out different approaches and subject matter. Though I do think that I prefer painting still lifes from life, rather than from a reference photo, so I'll have to make the effort and set some up I guess...

YOP 1

Over on the Painting Friends forum there is a challenge running - a Year of Painting (YOP). Each month a reference photo is supplied which we all paint and then share on or after the 20th of the month. Along with the painting, we are encouraged to share our thought processes, sketches, studies and goals, the idea being that having this kind of focus really will make you think about your painting approach.

The theme for the first month was landscapes - my absolute bugbear. And the two refs provided didn't fill me with joy either! However, I gave it some thought and went and researched some landscape painters, including Bruce Docker, one of my favourites. My first effort was very much in his style.

 I then thought I'd try something a bit more 'painterly', while trying to keep the energy of my first effort, so this is what ensued:

Both are acrylic, 8" by 12" on acrylic board.

I actually quite like both of these, but the first is my favourite. I think I'd like to be able to paint something that sits between the two styles - I love the energy and almost abstract shapes that come out of the first approach, but it looks a bit 'cartoony' for my liking. I am going to persevere with this approach for landscapes, and I might even venture outside and try a bit of plein aire painting, if I can work out a system for outdoors acrylics. Watch this space, as they say!