Alla Prima Again

Another happy hour spent with the paints and a clementine. Main concern getting paint on the board and avoidance of too much time spent in attempting to refine it. 

Now that I've had a couple of hours to reflect on it there are myriad improvements that I could make but they will have to wait till next time. Issues that come to mind are variety of edges, stronger value changes and better colour mixing, particularly in the greens.

After that an apology for a less than perfect photograph, a bit too much reflection in the background darks being the main problem.

Tomorrow a variety of fruit!

Clementine - Oil on gesso board 7" x 5"

Alla Prima Exercise

With just a little painting time this week I thought I'd attempt a small alla prima piece and chose a subject that was fairly straightforward a bit of fruit. At this point I should point out that the picture is very much based on the work of Julian Merrow-Smith who produces a lot of alla prima work, I believe he makes a work every day as well as his more considered work. Well worth looking up if you are interested in still life, in particular.

I'm also getting used to working on gesso board which is a new support for me. The main difference I'm finding is the speed of absorption and the necessity to use thicker paint. This, I think, makes it a suitable medium for alla prima work. 

Lemon - Oil on gesso board 7" x 5" ( After Merrow-Smith)

A Little Venice View for My Sister

One of my lovely sisters turned sixty last week so it seemed a good idea to use my recent Venice trip to provide a little something for her to hang on her newly decorated sitting room. The result is below.

Salute from Riva degli Schiavoni - Oil on Gesso Board

Another Venice Sketch

Another from my recent Venice trip. Apologies that I'm just visiting the same spots as so many others before me, but generations have been spot on in their choice of spots from which to take their inspiration. In some senses I feel I have to get some of these out of my system before being a little more experimental. I just love the place and am already working on getting back next year.

Salute - Oil on canvas board 12" x 10"

Back in Harness

Yes, it's been some time since I posted here but the summer has been taken up with a lot of travel, mostly with family, so painting has taken a place on the back burner. However, las week I had the opportunity to go to Venice with my painting gear as a 'baptism of fire' in taking up the brushes again.

It was to be an interesting week as the last time I'd been there I'd found myself a little overwhelmed in terms of painting and I spent a long time analysing why I found it so difficult. La Serenissima is the most wonderful of places but it certainly tests the mettle of anyone wishing to render its wonders in paint. This is a subject that I may return to wen I've had time to absorb the experience of the latest trip.

Here are two examples from the series of oil sketches that I made on the streets during my stay. 

As always any comments, advice or criticism are welcomed.

Rio dei Mendicanti - Oil sketch on canvas board 12" x 10"

Salute at Dawn - Oil sketch on canvas board 12" x 10"

Framed Portrait

As promised in my last post here is the finished portrait as it returned from the framer's.

Geoff has been a stalwart of Durham County Cricket Club for many years, adopting a variety of roles. Last season, in spite of a mid season heart attack, Geoff coached the club to their third County Championship. I couldn't resist including the trophy in the picture. 

Geoff Cook - Oil on Linen 40" x 30"

Portrait - Geoff

Once again an apology for neglecting the blog. One of the reasons is that I've been working on a large portrait and I promised the sitter that I wouldn't show it at all until he'd had the opportunity to see it finished. This happened last week.

The portrait comes about as a result of me deciding that I wanted to attempt making a couple of large portraits. I further wanted to make pictures of people who were known beyond my immediate circle of friends, adding a different pressure to getting the exercise to a decent conclusion. One of the people I contacted was Geoff Cook, coach at the Durham County Cricket Club. I explained to him what the nature of my project was and he readily agreed to give me some time when I could make a few sketch notes and take lots of photographs. That in itself was a pleasant experience as Geoff is a real gentleman with plenty of interesting conversation.

The day of reckoning arrived last week when I took the piece up to the Cricket Club to meet Geoff. Imagine my relief when he reported being delighted with the finished result and so it comes to you via this post. The picture is now off at the framer's and I'll post the finished, framed work when it returns. In the meantime here is a photograph of Geoff and the picture and below is a detail of the head from the portrait.

Two Geoffs 

Geoff Cook - Detail from 40" x 30" portrait, oil on linen