Floral Painting
I find flowers so difficult to paint. They can be structural, but delicate; with light both reflected by, but also travelling through, petals and leaves. To achieve true softness and believability is such a challenge. In many ways, I don’t…
Bergamots on a Delft Plate
In more palette experimentation, I didn’t use any earth colours in this painting; relying on a palette containing Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Red Medium, Alizarin Crimson, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue and White. I again used minimum medium and found the texture…
Beacon
I used a more subdued palette for this painting of a lemon, where nonetheless, the subject seemed to shine out of the darkness. I made a conscious effort to use little medium, put down thicker paint and not fuss the…
Yellow and Green
A little citrus still life with some stronger colours than those usually found on my palette – namely Viridian and Pthalo Blue. I was particularly interested in the light shining through the glass bottle and reflecting its beautiful green on…
Giving things some time
Completed before Christmas, this painting was so difficult to bring to resolution, the only reason I kept it was because I persevered too long to scrap it. Firstly, I set up in a very dark corner of the studio where…
Lone Feather
Found on a walk where I saw 11(!) Red Kites, a couple of Buzzards, a Woodpecker and many little Partridges. I don’t know which bird this feather is from, but my guess is that it is a raptor of some…
Life’s a peach
A straightforward still life painting. I’m still enjoying the Arches oil paper – which definitely seems to encourage a different kind of brushwork – or maybe I just have more confidence in experimenting. Either way, I wanted to keep this…
Basil and Fred
Another painting on paper, this time larger at around 10″x 12″. I find green a tricky colour to use. Depending on the combination of yellow and blue used to mix it, it can sometimes feel quite thin and under-powered. Then,…
Experiments on paper
I’ve been enjoying using Instagram for the last few months. I pretty much keep my activity entirely related to art, and have discovered some great inspiration from the people I follow. Recently I’ve been noticing quite a few artists working…
Finally some Bulbs of Garlic
Garlic bulbs seem to be very popular with artists as a still life subject. This is the first time that I have painted them – in a dark corner of the studio, with a red onion for company, fading into…
