The April Challenge

The latest in the monthly series of paintings that I do with my friend Peter Ward. (www.watercolourfanatic.blogspot.com)

Peter has been making pictures of native americans for some time and this is the one that he chose for our latest joint effort.

This was the photograph that Peter sent at the start of the month, a dramatic image with strong contrast and a strong set of features.

Just for a bit of fun I had a bash at doing a finger painting on the iPad before getting out the paints.
Ostaho Indian - iPad painting

I then set about rendering the image with watercolour. I was keen to try and get close to the value range of the original photograph but had some difficulty in getting sufficient depth in the darks without building up that with overlaying washes. This tends to degrade the painting as the paint loses brilliance. All in all an object lesson in paint application. More pigment required in the first pass.

Another interesting exercise.
Ostaho Indian - Watercolour on Not paper 12" x 9"

Travelling

We're spending this week travelling around, spending a couple of nights in Wales and a couple at a family wedding in Cheshire. The trusty sketchers box and a couple of brushes, along with a book of watercolour paper are in attendance. The pictures below are a couple of pages from the sketch book and represent quick efforts to record places we have been.

Sea Front Llandudno - Watercolour on Not paper 12" x 10"

Rhuddlan Castle - Watercolour on Not paper 12" x 10"

March Project - Monument Valley

This was the photograph I chose for the March renewal of my monthly project with my friend Peter Ward (watercolourfanatic.blogspot.com). The picture was taken on a trip during 2010.

My first thought on this was that the composition was awkward for a painting, so I decided to use the elements, slightly rearranged, and change the format to landscape. The next decisions were in relation to producing a convincing depth of field.

Roll on next month and a new project.

Monument Valley - Photograph

Monument Valley - Watercolour on Rough paper 16" x 12"

Finger Painting

Something a little bit different this time. As regular readers will know it's been a problem recently getting out and much of my recent work has been still life at home. This last couple of weeks have seen us helping out with the grandkids so painting time has been limited, so I came up with the following idea - give finger painting a try on the iPad, something I've been promising myself for a while. Now this really is something different.

The first job was to find an appropriate application to use and having investigated two free applications I found myself less than convinced as I was having a great deal of difficulty getting sufficient control to drum up the confidence to complete a piece. Then I had a stroke of luck I saw a piece by an American artist, David Kassan, in Sunday's newspaper. A quick scout around the web and a couple of demonstrations on You Tube and I decided to risk £3.99 on a programme called ArtRage. The big attraction of this application was the apparent ability to simulate some of the techniques used in oil painting. It was possible to mix, blend, create impasto and use palette knife techniques.

Having acquired the application and done a minimum of making the acquaintance of the controls, a break in the babysitting allowed me a short respite to give it a go. The subject matter suggested itself, one of the grandkids. I thoroughly enjoyed producing the picture below, gaining interesting insights into the potential of the programme. The result isn't the best likeness but it did afford the chance to try some of techniques mentioned above and I particularly like the way it is possible to produce texture.

Another diversion to explore.

Oliver - iPad finger painting

Stuck in the Kitchen

So the spirits have conspired once again to keep me from packing the oils. Emergency baby sitting and other jobs all fell on the days when the sun shone and the wind receded. Today back to gales and rain, but the kitchen has become my bolt hole on days like this. So another still life appears.

Still life March 10th - Watercolour on Rough paper 20" x 16"

Christchurch Earthquake

In the Carney household we've been watching daily images of the terrible events in Christchurch. They have a particular poignancy for us because at this time last year we spent a month travelling round New Zealand and one of our last ports of call in that wonderful country was the beautiful city of Christchurch.

Pictures of the wrecked Cathedral took me back to a lovely day I spent with my watercolours and sketch book sitting in front of that building where I was entertained by people like the gentleman pictured who use the square as a 'Speakers' Corner'. The doorway that you see in the background is the main entrance to the Cathedral. The date on the page is February 16th 2010.

Speakers' Corner and Christchurch Cathedral - Watercolour sketch

February Project

This month my partner in crime Peter Ward (www.watercolourfanatic.blogspot.com) set a stinker. He sent a number of pictures of this barn/ farmhouse saying he had painted it a number of times and been unhappy with the results. The first job was to decide which image to choose and then decide on an approach.

The image that caught my attention was the one below and what attracted me was the range of foreground shadows. The perspective was another challenge.

Barn - Photograph by Peter Ward

Barn - Watercolour on Not paper

I've just viewed Peter"s version of this subject and I recommend that you view it, it's a cracker.

Now to settle down and find a challenge for next month.