More still life

Apples are two-for-one at the local supermarket, so I painted two instead of one.

I painted this in just over a hour, before starting work this morning. I learned a lot both in terms of studying the subject and starting to really get a feel for how oil paint behaves.



Oil on canvas board, 8x6

Pepper in a box

I'm still experimenting with my new oils. I've seen a lot of still life paintings of fruit and veg on blogs that I follow and so thought I'd give it a try. I struggled a bit as the light isn't always very good at this time of year, but it was a useful exercise nonetheless - one which I shall definitely be repeating. Despite all the usual grumbles.. too much detail, too small brush, etc. I'm pleased with my first attempt and am posting it mainly so I can look back on it, to measure my improvement in months to come.

Another plus. I don't get to use much red paint with concentrating mostly on landscapes, so it was a nice chance to mix some different colours!



Oil on canvas board, 8x6

View from Houndkirk Moor

Another month means another pay day! This month as a treat I bought myself some oil paints. I decided to go for the Winsor and Newton, Griffin Alkyd, fast drying range and I've got to say I'm impressed. Having never used oils before I did a couple of small tests before deciding I needed paint something more substantial. It's going to take me a while to get used to how the paints behave and react, but already I'm loving the fact that colours I've mixed on the palette don't dry out, like they do with acrylics.



Oil on canvas board, 8x6

Grenoside Wood

It was a lovely clear day, Yesterday, so I went out into the Peak District with the intention of doing some sketching. On arrival, I soon realised it was still far too cold to sit for any length of time. I settled for photographing the scenary, instead.

Today whilst going through some older photos I found a woodland scene that I took around 17 years a go and just had to paint it.



Acrylic, 8x6.

Bluebell Wood

This scene brings back happy memories of a walk I went on last May with my wife, Maggie. It was a lovely quiet, sunny day and the walk finished at a pub that served great food.

The painting was supposed to be a lot looser than my previous attempts and started off that way - but then I couldn't resist adding in the smaller details. Still it's a step in the right direction. I'm going to have to get somebody to hide my smaller brushes, next time!

More Acrylic dabblings

Some more 8x6 practice paintings that I managed to squeeze in, in between work and everything else. the first two are based on photographs taken last summer and the third is my take on a portion of painting by Acrylic Artist John Hammond, from his excellent book 'free expression in acrylics'.

I definitely think I'm falling into my usual trap of cramming too much detail into a small space, so I'm going to concentrate on doing several faster, simpler and more painterly studies, next.

A touch of colour...

One of my new years resolutions, if you can call it that, is to do more drawing and painting on location. I'm fairly happy with the way my sketching has been progressing but wanted also to be able to capture the lighting of a scene. I tried my hand at watercolour last year with some success but am still not sure if it is the medium for me and as oil paints sound quite daunting to a novice, I decided to give acrylics a go. After a couple of tests on paper I dived in with this painting, done on 8x6 canvas board with four colours and titanium white, using photos taken last summer for reference.

Portrait Practice

I've not drawn many people before and since members of my family refuse to pose for me, I decided to use google for reference. Sat with sketchpad in front of monitor, each one took around an hour to complete. I found the experience very enjoyable and am pleased with the results. I think I'm going to try some faster character sketches next.

Mollie

I've finished work now until the new year and for the next five days it's just me and the dog at home. Her name is Mollie and she is a four year old English Springer Spaniel...

Gillott 303

Several weeks have past since my last post and I've still not managed to get out to do any sketching; what with work commitments and all the rain we've had, lately. I've got more than three weeks off over Christmas, so if the weather holds out I intend to make up for lost time.

In my spare time I've been experimenting with a Gillott 303 dip pen using Speedball ink and it is definitley my new weapon of choice. The variety of line widths achievable by varying the pressure on the nib are outstanding. Here are a couple of examples I did in my lunch hour...