Summer Studio Sale!
I’m getting ready to move into a bigger studio in the next couple of weeks! Change is afoot, as I am going to be able to concentrate on my bigger canvases. I’ll be having a special sale event /moving sale where you’ll get the opportunity to buy my smaller original paintings at a very preferential price for the duration of the event!
-Sign up for my newsletter as I’ll be offering the first look to my mailing list subscribers before I open it up to the public! There will be pieces ranging from 20 x 20 cm up to 50 x 50 cm available!
Wildlife Art Exhibition
This has been my first solo exhibition of work, taking place at The Green Man Gallery in Buxton. The Green Man is a collaborative venture operated by a group of local artists in residence. As such, the gallery is full of varied and very interesting work. I found the organisation to be faultless, leading to a really fun and enjoyable experience for my first show. Here are a few photos I took on the first day.
Big dog portrait of four dogs on a large canvas
I really like the challenge of painting a big dog portrait on a large canvas, and this week I made a start of three of them.
1) A brand new commission, which is a portrait of a family of four dogs, two Cockerpoos, and two Border Terriers. This piece its just shy of a metre in length, and 60 cms high.
2) A 60 x 70cm painting of a running horse
3) A 100 x 100 canvas featuring a seated black Labrador
I find that I need to do quite careful 'mapping out' on a big canvas before I begin to paint. Because of the size, it isn't possible to take in the whole piece at once and draw it by eye.
Measuring the proportions, using the dividers
I use dividers and sharpie pens to mark out sections of a painting, check proportions and ensure that there is space for everything I want to include. I do a quick plan on Photoshop, by creating a clipboard that is the same ratio as the canvas I am about to paint. Then I arrange the subject matter within the clipboard until I am happy to save it and use it. I then use my proportional dividers to enlarge the photoshop image and transfer it onto my canvas. I don't put any detail in at this stage, just a rough map of where everything is going to go.
I measure and mark out blocks where the main big shapes are going to be, in this case the four dogs faces,
Here is a short video clip of the beginning stages of the above commission. I'm going to film the entire process for my client so that she can watch the painting process all the way through.
The first wash of paint applied very thinly for a soft finish. Further layers will tighten it up and provide the details but for now, it stays loose.
Portrait of a Cavalier
Portrait of a Cavalier
November 24, 2017
This portrait is one that I painted with an exhibition in mind a couple of years ago, and she now hangs on the wall of the reception in Mutley's of Ashby boutique. I used loads of 'creative license' during the painting of this piece. I referred to the photograph (below, kind permission of photographer Kerli Toode) for the main concept and some of the details , and then added my own ideas to create a piece with individuality.
Here is the reference picture that I used for the Cavalier Spaniel painting, by kind permission of photographer Kerli Toode
The finished oil painting is 60 x 80cm in oils on stretched canvas
