Well I've been missing from these pages for some time and got to thinking it was about time that I broke cover and made my excuses.
In some ways the painting activity has been somewhat limited for all of the usual reasons but for one or two others as well. The main one being a commitment to work on my portrait work with a view to producing two large scale portraits and for me this has been a big task in terms of technique and application. The project is not yet complete and as I promised the subjects that I would not let anyone see them until they had had the opportunity to view them in completed form. Hence no blogging about the developing work, much as I would have liked to share the progress with you all.
However, there are I couple of things that I can share. The first is an unusual work for me. I was approached with a commission to produce a caricature of a group to be given to a chap who was retiring from work. As the gift was to be a surprise I only had a couple of photographs to base the work on. I spent a lot of time doing preliminary sketches to inform the final piece and it was with some trepidation that I presented the finished work to the people who asked for the work to be done. Thankfully they were pleased.
Off to the First Tee - Watercolour and Pen on Not paper 16" x 12"
My second picture in this post is one produced on a recent visit to the Norfolk Painting School. Regular readers will know of the high regard for Martin Kinnear and his workshops. My recent visit was to explore the use of glazing techniques as used by a variety of Masters. This was my favourite piece made as a study of a work by John Atkinson Grimshaw. Atmospheric effects courtesy of subtle glazes. I can see me trying more of this style in the future.
Back to my portraits, hope to be able to share them soon.
Study after Grimshaw - Oil on board 24" x 20"
