Mini Abstract 5.

A quickish gouache and water colour mini-abstract done this afternoon, just to let off steam.  This worked out as I intended but it would have worked out far better in oils.

"Mine Field"  

Mini Abstract - 9.52 x 9" - Gouache and Watercolour on Watercolour Paper

Collage 1 - First Collage Experiment

It's been 21 months since I last posted to this blog for one reason or another.  I am not going to explain too much about the work below except to say it's my first foray into collage.

I adore the engravings of Gustave Dore and combined a few vertical images of the same engraving and just reconfigured the scene, just for fun.

"Gustave Dore - Reconfigured"

Mixed media on MDF Board - Photocopies, Acrylic Paint - 12" x 12"

This is the original engraving I worked from.

The collage has this image multiplied three times.

New York at Night - Speed Experiment II

I haven't been painting lately - long, very uninteresting story behind that. However, today I decided to get out of the fog and just start up with something 'small'. I have loved the photo that this work is based on for so long I decided to paint it this afternoon before the impetus died. I thought it would be a little too complicated as I haven't painted for so long but it wasn't.  I guess I had stared at it for so long that there were no strange corners.  (It's frightening how quickly one's skills level drops). I somehow breezed through it and, again, even though the paper was slightly too rough to accommodate all the fine brushwork I was aiming for, I am happy with it.

"New York City Blurred II"

Gouache on Watercolour Paper - 8.5" x 9" (Approx.)

Sketch for Window Abstract - Speed Experiment

Another quick(ish)sketch. This is taken from a photograph of a shop window and I intend to paint it in oils on a much larger format at some stage, but I just wanted to work my way through it to see if I really liked what was going on in the photograph. I did. However, again like the previous post, I am working on a format that is just too small and the effects I want will only work in oil. One good thing is happening though with all these ultra-quick sketches and experiments is that I am seeing more opportunities than I did previously.

"Store Window" 

Gouache on Watercolour Paper - 6" x 6"

Portrait Sketch - Speed Experiment

This is another quick 'sketch' done in about 30 minutes.  It's from a photograph, not life, and some of the proportions are way out but I'll give myself some leeway here as I was doing this so fast.  I was trying out some new brushes using a 'dry brush' technique in some places which works well for modelling the face.  Only doing this in gouache picks up the paint underneath so I wasn't always getting the effect I intended.  Acrylics for quick sketches like this might be my next purchase at the art materials store.

Quick Portrait Sketch

Gouache on Cartridge Paper

New York at Night - Speed Experiment

I haven't painted for ages and I'm not bothered about this for some weird reason but today I gave myself an small exercise which is helpful. The objective is to paint any photograph within 30 to 60 minutes as fast as possible and try to get it as close in essence to the photograph. Some of the effects of a blurred night shot in New York were captured but I made the mistake of painting on too small a format. If I had wanted to capture some of the minutiae of the scene I would have to double up in size.

"New York Blurred" 

Gouache on Watercolour Paper - 5" x 5.5" (Approx.)

Experimental Gouache

I am in the process of doing a painting for this month's Virtual Paintout and the gouache sketch below is a detail of a glass display box in a novelty shop in Lido di Jesolo, which would have been the subject of one of my paintings had I not de-selected it. I rejected doing it in oils as a final work because I didn't think it strong enough compositionally and I eventually found a better source visual to work from which I am quite excited about. I only did this to have some free-wheeling time this afternoon as I was frustrated at not having done a complete work for a while and I have two on the go (with first coats drying) which I might be able to put up next weekend, time permitting. In a strange way this was quite challenging as I tried to get a luminous and transparent effect and find the exact greens to use. Nearly there, but doing this little sketch blew away some cobwebs and gave me a few ideas for future paintings.

 Experimental Gouache - "Store Display - Lido di Jesolo" 

Gouache on Watercolour Paper - 4.25" x 4.75"

Experiment 3.

Last night I was desperate for a reference to work from to continue my weekly experiments and I couldn't find anything inspiring from my recent photographs. I always keep my camera with me wherever I go and lately I have been taking really weak photographs, so I searched my Picasa files for a reference and found a Henri Fantin-Latour flower painting. Nobody can paint flowers like Fantin-Latour and I don't know what came over me but I thought I would try and copy this work. I feel most of the time this genre can go no further and no additional flower paintings are necessary, but I became totally absorbed with the technical challenges and forgot about any latent snobbery I have towards realism. Obviously I couldn't pick up many of the nuances in his work because I was working in gouache, but I adored the murky effects of the stems and foliage in the glass vase and I think this work of mine has turned out quite well. One thing I have noticed is that I haven't quite captured the elegant spaces between the flowers in the original work as mine are a bit too squashed together. It has been a revelation to observe how he captured flowers, a subject I have never had any ambition to paint, but even doing this small "Experiment" has taught me something important about placement of objects in space. I could add a few more brushstrokes here and there to lift it up a little, but I am leaving it in case I go too far and end up with mud.

"Sketch - Homage to Henri Fantin-Latour"

Gouache on Watercolour Paper - 8" x 7.5"

Experiment 2.

I really don't know how I dare post this, but I am not in the mood to edit my work right now. I feel like showing what's coming off my shaky little production line as it goes along. I might delete all my mediocre work at the end of the year as a gift to myself but posting on my blog helps me in very strange ways. Long ago I promised myself I would do a sketch or small watercolour each night to keep the old elbow greased with the obvious goal of learning a little faster than I would if I only painted on the weekends when time, good lighting and 'studio' set-up was more conducive to supporting good work. Last night I started this homage to my favourite self portrait of Rembrandt. I had previously done it in charcoal and liked it apart from the fact that some of the proportions of his features were slightly wrong. In this much smaller work, the same problems arose in capturing his features accurately. I did a tracing and found that tracing marks do not take on watercolour paper very well and even though the face is much closer to the original portrait than my charcoal work, it is frustrating to discover that only a millimetre out of exactitude can totally destroy a work. I retraced over it tonight which improved it slightly and tried to hide some of the mistakes with pen and ink and pastel. It's a start, even though a little rough and tumble.

"Sketch - Homage to a Rembrandt Self Portrait"

Watercolour, Pen and Ink, Pastel on Watercolour Paper 6" x 7"