woman in blue II 10" x 8"

oils on winsor and newton canvas board

ok so i didn't take up bungee jumping as my vocation in life.... instead i turned her around a bit or maybe i turned my easel around and here she is from another perspective.

woman in blue 8" x 10"

oils on winsor and newton canvas board

i have been driven to despair by this woman. over a week of studies... just when i thought i had sorted something out about art, it comes up and says 'you got a heck of a lot to learn'...
so here are some of the phrases in my head that stopped me throwing all my charcoals and paints and brushes out the window: slow down... what is that colour, really think about which way it is going.... a lot of artists take months or years to sort out a painting.... maybe a cup of coffee and cheesecake will make you feel better about your painting... i wonder what charcoal tastes like.... i won't try that again... i've never done hand-gliding or bungee-jumping...slow down with that paint brush for goodness sake...

study III 16" x 12"

charcoal and chalk on canvas paper
this portrait has kept me at the easel for over 5 days. i initially started painting with the model present; then i came home and continued the painting but wasn't happy with how it was going; then i decided to draw using reference photos... no, still not right; then i started the painting again... worse; then with a determination and an early start yesterday, and several hours later, this is the result.
i also drew on canvas paper and loved the freedom that it gave with charcoal (though not so for oils which seem to dry too quickly for my liking).

study II 11" x 16"

charcoal and pastel on paper
SOLD
i have spent days doing portraits in charcoal and although dissatisfied with the result, i learnt something... i hope. meanwhile, i came across a photo i took recently at the start of autumn at the reservoir near my home and spurred on by my music i decided to do it in charcoal. i had specifically set out to photograph skies and water: water because i love how it sparkles and dances in the sun; and clouds because i have always loved them. my earliest memory, as a child of 5 or 6, lying in the garden looking up at the clouds passing by and imagining how wonderful it would be to travel on one to another land. i even choose my cloud depending on how friendly it looked as some looked liked gargoyles. from that first memory to this, my first real attempt at drawing these.

study I 11" x 16"

charcoal and pastel
SOLD
yesterday i went to an art class: the model, a young woman, was brilliant... after 2 hours of charcoal drawing, i left the class with a blank sheet of paper. devastated by my incompetence and lack of ability, i dragged my feet out with head hanging. hands covered in charcoal dust, i wiped a tear before it became noticible to anyone... i leave the rest to your imagination. the others had not responded in the same way as i did, and jollyed away home.
so i decided today, as i couldn't bring the model with me, i would do the next best thing and work from a recent photograph. and i am banned from oils until i have done several studies. my self imposed ban probably won't last but at least i got one charcoal drawing to an okayish stage.

solitude 12" x 16"

oils on winsor and newton canvas board
i spent quite some time working on a charcoal study of the values before i attempted the painting. he was an excellent model, constantly maintaining the same pose for the two hours with only a few yawns and one break in between! unfortunately the model couldn't be there during the oil painting stage (i think that would have tested his patience too far) so i took some reference photos after the sitting to complete this painting. backgrounds fascinate me and looking at other artists' work and the backgrounds they use, i still seem to come up with my own version... :))

funk, chic and attitude

oils on winsor and newton canvas board
how do you title a painting? the titles i use often seem like a factual statement of items painted. however, sometimes on a more emotional level, the painting responds... perhaps obvious only to the painter. thus, my excuse for the title. this young woman is the gentlest of indviduals i know and it was good to glimpse this side of her. (i have made some changes to this since the first time i posted it... more greens etc)

woman in profile 16" x 14"

oils on winsor and newton canvas board
i started this one some weeks ago and then left it as i couldn't work out how to move forward on it. today something said finish it.... so after several hours of focus on those skin tones and shadows this is the result. but i have a sneaky suspicion i will do something to it tomorrow. meanwhile on to the next...

attached 14" x 10"

oils on winsor and newton canvas board
it was a chilly spring day, a walk in the forest, a moment... a glimpse of a heart... if we have the vision to see.

artist as still life 14" x 10"

oils on winsor and newton canvas board
ok a strange subject, composition, expression... but this is how i feel sometimes after hours of painting that turn to mud and i think i should apply for a real job. however, don't you think there should be a thought bubble above his head? i wonder if my fellow bloggers can suggest something funny or serious that he might be thinking....

the rose garden 10" x 8"

SOLD
oils on winsor and newton canvasboard
a beautiful sunny day and a walk in the rose garden... i hope i have done justice to the moment.

differences 10" x 8"

oils on gessoed hardboard
this painting was started some weeks ago and worked on repeatedly over a period of time. how can a clump of garlic and a shallot give one so much anxiety? the title was just an instinctive response.... recently i have been working on a commission for a portrait, which i will post with the owner's approval.
after thought: a comment from Chuck Dilmore about the anxiety i felt made me realise that it was a result of having a certain image of what i wanted to achieve in mind before i started the painting and as it developed i became more and more worried as it was not going as i initially intended. it was put away and when i did rework it i had come to an acceptance of the painting as my 'style' and thus the title. suddenly everything falls into place

three pears 10" x 12"

oils on canvasboard
i think it was Bongart who said 'make lots of starts and the finishes will take care of themselves'. it has been some time since i posted as i made 'lots of starts' but bad finishes. it was frustrating as each painting became more and more distorted with every additional brushstroke and for each i had such high hopes. however, it was not a waste (well of paint, yes) but a valuable experience in understanding oils better, learning more about my own preferred style. perhaps i am taking the roughest road to understanding but somehow a few falls and grazed knees are quite memorable experiences:))

bottle of water 16" x 12"

oils on newton and winsor canvas board

one problem i have found with still lifes is the changing light. I could use a proper set up with lamps but prefer natural light. being in Scotland, sun and cloud are in constant competition. So i need to take reference photographs and for this i have found a use for my younger son: officially appointed, unpaid. He can get to all angles, pliable as a chimney sweep. And I move the set up around and let him know when the sun is about to appear from behind a cloud. he has microseconds to take the photographs before another cloud appears.

empty bottles 12" x 12"

oils on winsor and newton canvas board

i had this small collection of bottles lying in the back of a kitchen cupboard, bought many years ago. i like what happens to sunlight through coloured glass. it is rather like looking up at the sun through the swaying of tree branches, everything sparkles and dances. as a result i was mesmerised while painting this one:)

little dreams

a fellow blogger sent me this link. as i struggle with my next painting, it lightened me up to keep going with a laugh.
Thanks W. R. Jones

glass of cherries 12" x 12"

oils on newton and winsor canvasboard
this setup had the elements that make me skip a heartbeat: glass, cherries and the play of light on these. although i started off with very controlled brush work, as it progressed my instinct got the better of me...

three persimmons 8" x 8"

oils on winsor and newton canvas board
i have destroyed several paintings since my last post. still trying to reign in that mad painting hand. this is the second painting of the persimmons, the first one was another victim of my impatience.

on another note, a warm thank you to Jala Pfaff, an immensely creative artist for awarding me the Bella Sinclair Award (her July 26th post). Check out her blog if you haven't already.
as i have already received this sisterhood award, i just wanted to say thank you to Jala for thinking of me:)

man in hat 16" x 12"

oils on winsor and newton canvas board
what kind of man/brother/father/uncle/husband/uncle/friend is he? i know nothing about him except his face is polished by the weather. my interpretation is a visual scan of a beautiful face. i often wonder if people realise what beauty they have in their faces... i would paint every face i see: each is so special.

plums and bottle 12" x 12"

oils on winsor and newton canvas board

this painting was started and restarted so many times as i tried to get the composition right and several times i almost gave up. somewhere in the back of my mind the words 'an oil painting can never go wrong' kept me persevering. i think this works for me sometimes and other times i think well i'm so glad there is turps and i can wipe it all down and use the canvas again. i enjoy painting glass, and the plums had such deep rich attractive colours with a translucent splash here and there.

shallot half 8" x 8"

oils on winsor and newton canvas board
Another slice of anything sliceable. the unfortunate thing with fresh produce is that they wither and dry quite quickly. this shallot 'gargoylised' overnight and reared it's internals to positions that made it difficult to visualise the fresh cut form of the day before. the second picture shows the set up with my 'patented' wire:)

slice of orange 8" x 8"

oils on winsor and newton canvas board
i have spent the last few days building up a painting of sunflowers... but i had to put it aside as it needs a fresh approach. so it sits facing the wall until we can face each other again. the orange slice was my way of reigning myself in, controlling the rush of visual information. the most problematic part was the set up: behind this sliver of orange lies a skewer and metal wire to help prop it up. i enjoyed making this one and with my inventive scaffolding i might try a few others in a similar vein.

sunflowers between the lines 12" x 12 "

oils on winsor and newton canvas board
i bought these flowers several days ago and told myself i would not paint them but just enjoy them as they are. but sunflowers have such strange expressions and limbs and tangly bits... okay, so i needed to paint them. the newspaper just happened to be lying around my room, an old copy which, would you believe, had an article about van gogh and his ear? nothing strange about that really because i had kept it for that specific reason. the text on the paper was as it was when i wrapped the flowers.

not forgotten... 10" x 8"

oils on winsor and newton canvas board
during one of my walks about the house during this illness i found that someone had knocked off the head of one of my geraniums and left it to wither.... as a child i used to try and grow geraniums but never had enough to buy good soil so i grew them in peat. they always died and i was always saddened that they withered, never mind flowered. now i grow quite a few of them, and each one is precious...

kettle 20 x 20 cm

oils on winsor and newton canvas board
I enjoy painting vessels and if they have reflections and light splashes it is a bonus. There was a lovely early morning light tinged with blues and purples coming through the doorway on to the dark stove.