Challenge No. 6 - City Rooftops.

This was a stinking hard challenge for me. I struggled with it like mad but ended up saying: "I AM going to make this work!" This is my latest submission for Karin Jurick's latest Different Strokes for Different Folks blog challenge. Karin put up a photograph of a view she had taken from her hotel in San Francisco and my first impression was that it was a beautiful photograph, with such icy, sharp contrasts and brilliant light. Of course this would not be easy to interpret realistically for me in the limited time I have on weekends, so I thought I would just let rip with something more loose and spontaneous.

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS' DAY

25 October 2009

"Room With A View"

Oil on Gessoed Board - 12.5" x 12.5"

Challenge 3. - Madison Avenue, New York City

After not having submitted a painting to the previous 'Diana' challenge on Different Strokes for Different Folks, I was ultra-determined to get this one in by the deadline. I am learning constantly through these challenges as it has been years and years since I have painted seriously and this one gave me a couple of surprises to say the least. I should not have laid down the first colour in acrylics (just to speed things up a little) as it spoiled the surface for the oils. In addition, the surface of the gesso was too rough in the first place, so I couldn't render the fine lines I wanted to, and, most frustratingly of all, the format was far too small for the effects I intended to create. However, this is my first cityscape and even though I didn't have much fun with the skyscrapers, I loved the adventure I had with the cars. What's next?

Madison Avenue -New York

Oil & Acrylic on Gesso Board - 9.25" x 12.5"

Whacky Close-up

Challenge 2. - Beach Family

I just wish I had more time to take this challenge to the level of detail I was looking for. I just didn't 'get there' because I can only paint on weekends at the moment. I loved the scene in the photograph Karin Jurick gave us for this challenge; excellent light, crisp, clear with a magnificent stretch of sea and I felt there was something of a processional and solemn feel to the figures; a stillness even though they were in fact 'doing' something. For some reason or another it felt ancient to me and I wanted to create a feeling of the long-distant past, with a nod to illustrations in children's books, but again, if only I had more time I could have pumped up this allusion. I am also not going to paint on canvas again for something this detailed. The edges bevel downwards and for the photograph I have had to crop of about 2mm on either side which is a nuisance. This whole painting would have been much easier on board - we learn as we go along. So here is my second submission to Karin Jurick's 'Different Strokes From Different Folks' blog.

Beach Family - Hastings, 1066

Oil on Canvas - 10" x 12"

Challenge 1. - Sushi

This is my first submission to Karin Jurick's blog "Different Strokes from Different Folks". It was one heck of a challenge and a really unusual subject. I don't like sushi so intuition really wanted to de-food the objects and take the situation as far away from eating as possible; a sundrenched beach somewhere, just a hint of it. Here it is:

Sushi

Oil on Canvas - 8"x 10"