Edwardian Club - Almost a Speed Gouache

This has been lying around for a long time (hence the 'almost a speed gouache') but today I just felt the urge to complete it and it has worked out well. It's taken from a television programme - can't remember which one - and I liked the ambience and the challenge of the lighting.

"Edwardian Club"
Gouache on Cartridge Paper - 13" x 10"

Equise - Vatican Procession

Lately I have become obsessed with a magnificent photograph I have of a procession in the Vatican and I am determined to paint it in oils, but as it is so different from anything I have attempted before, I decided to do a small sketch in gouache. Sketching is all well and good and I learned masses here but for some reason I hadn't worked out that the sketch should be the same size, or as close in size, to the intended final work as possible. Also, I should be painting on much finer paper but I did capture some of the essence of the event and as this is a much more complicated and scenic work than I have tacked for a long time, I think it shows the beginnings of something worthwhile. I have a lot to learn about proportion and process and I knew this even when I had sketched this out in a separate pencil sketch a few weeks ago. What I do know is that this scene can only be painted in oils; incense smoke cannot, I repeat 'cannot', be rendered with gouache!  Please forgive the use of the word "equise" for sketch.  I am going to use this for my work in oils and use 'sketching' for pencil, graphite or charcoal works. Fancy.  Lots and lots to learn. As always.

"Gouache Sketch - Corpus Christi Procession"

History of Art Challenge Blog - July

Well, being a week late for my submission to The History of Art Challenge Blog is not too bad considering I chose a very difficult visual to paint. Why I do this I don't know. Well I do - it's because I fall in love with a photograph, or object or scene, and just want to render it myself or maybe pay some sort of homage to it. I love Byzantine Art and the one thing that shouts out for me from this period, is the use of gold and icons. However, gold is very difficult to portray and I struggled here with the massive gold doors, but managed, in the end, to replicate some of the mystery of the colour. The photograph was sent to me by a friend who found it on the internet, and I cannot find it anywhere so I cannot give it proper attribution even though I would love to. This is an interior of an Eastern Orthodox church, and judging from the interior, it would be very late Byzantine indeed, but the remnants of that long era are still present with the abundance of icons and gold. Very mysterious these churches, but totally enigmatic eye candy for this artist.

"Byzantine Church Interior"

Gouache on Watercolour Paper - 13" x 13"

The Virtual Paintout - August Challenge

I was rather angry with myself for not submitting a painting to the Virtual Paintout Challenge last month because the delicious location was Hong Kong. Hong Kong has all those incredibly seductive back roads and neon lights, a painter's delight, and I was hoping to find something similar to get to grips with for this month's challenge, but Prince Edward Island in spite of all its pristine beauty, doesn't seem to have a "wrong side of town". Most places do have a more 'interesting' and downtrodden sector of their urban landscape. On my 'tour' of Prince Edward Island I scoured for something a little different from the endless greenery with houses all in a seemingly homogenized vernacular and I eventually settled on a shopfront with complicated reflections and a glowing interior. The screenshot I take from the actual photograph is always a little more diffused than the original scene on Google Maps, obviously, but in one way that adds to the possibilities of painterly fun, but this one was a bit more complicated than I had anticipated so it took longer. I always do that and must stop! Maybe if I painted on a smaller format and was more spontaneous I could save time and send in more than one entry to this best of all blog challenges for artists. Thanks again to Bill Guffey and The Virtual Paintout for this challenge! If you are new to this challenge, I encourage you to go to Bill's blog and see the interview he had with CBC Connect, Canadian Television for a super round-up of this month's challenge. Wonderful and well-deserved publicity and some of the paintings are up as well.

"Shopfront - Queen Street, Charlotteville, PEI, Canada"
Oil on Gessoed Board - 12" x 12"

Scene painted from Google Maps with permission.

Google Map link to this scene.

Screenshot of actual scene.

Bedroom - Interiors Series - No. 1.

I decided recently to try my hand at painting interiors. I knew this would be a tough call because I haven't tackled interior scenes since my school years. My attraction to this bedroom scene was the glow of the yellow and the strong contrast between light and dark caused by an overhead light. I chopped and changed my style and process a few times, tried glazes which took ages, and then in the last few days decided to complete it no matter what. I have learned so much from this work, that I am going to do a series of interiors when I have lots of time. There are so many mistakes and I felt that it wasn't good enough to 'publicise' but then again, also decided full disclosure of my work is not a bad thing either.

Bedroom Intepretation 1.

8" x 8" - Oil on Canvas