Painting Mhòr

"Growing Pains"

2012-02-27T19:14:00.000Z

Digital painting

I decided to warm up the week with a little digital painting. This was done in Artrage, a program that is new to me, so I'm still getting to grips with it. After playing around with the demo and hearing lots of good things about it from other artists, I decided to take the plunge and get myself a copy. It's similar to Corel Painter, but has a much simpler range of brushes. That said, it's comparative simplicity is what I like best about Artrage, and although you don't have as many brushes to choose from as you do in Painter, it still feels like there's more than enough for what you need.

I especially like the clean, work-friendly interface of Artrage, and the ability to pin reference photos alongside your working canvas. I also like the fact that the brushes are very responsive - there doesn't seem to be as much lag time as I normally experience with comparative tools in Painter.

I'll post up more bits and pieces about Artrage but for the moment suffice to say I'm well impressed with it. For more info head over to www.artrage.com

More progress...

2012-02-24T10:25:00.002Z

Bit more progress made on this baby - and a better quality photo this time. The main painting is nearly done so I'll probably move on to doing some work on the lettering next.

I'm wondering if this little tribute to Melvyn Grant and Iron Maiden will in fact make me a better guitar player?

Ha! Doubt it!

Old guitar...new paint job (in progress)

2012-02-22T18:28:00.000Z

Thought I'd share a work in progress photo of a little personal project I'm working on just now...

For ages now I've been meaning to repaint an old guitar of mine which I bought way back in 1997. I'm a big fan of Iron Maiden and really wanted to have a go at doing the artwork from their Fear of The Dark album. Melvyn Grant was the original artist and he produced what was - and probably still is - my favourite piece of album art of any band. You can see his original painting here.

This is the first time I've ever tried doing any sort of guitar paint job. I'm using brush and oils as opposed to the conventional airbrush approach used by most artists for guitar artwork. So far it's going ok, but keeping the paint as smooth as possible is the tricky part. It will be important to have a smooth finish so the final lacquering / polishing can be done without any problems. I'm having to build up the paint layers quite thinly, so soft sable brushes, lots of medium and plenty of patience are the order of the day! The other challenge is keeping hairs and dust (and wandering domestic animals!) off the wet paint.

I've still some ways to go with the main painted area, plus I'll be adding lettering and painting the guitar headstock. The sad thing is once it's all done I'll have to wait two or three months for the oils to dry fully before any lacquer can be applied, but hopefully the end result will be worth the wait. I'll post up more photos when the whole project is a bit further on.

Gypsy head concepts

2012-02-18T09:37:00.003Z

One of the things I was working on this week was a gypsy head tattoo design. These are some early digital sketches I came up with. The idea is for it to be a collaborative effort, with me providing the line art and the tattoo artist deciding how he/she wants to render and colour it. The final artwork will probably be much more stylized, but these initial tonal studies help visualise various concepts and explore different angles, hair and costume etc. If and when the project makes it to the next stage, I'll follow up with another post showing the final line work.

A little fantasy diversion...

2012-02-17T11:28:00.000Z

After the serious work of trying to imitate William Turner I wanted to indulge in something a bit more lighthearted. Here's a little fantasy character I developed. Not sure what he's called or what his story is yet, except that he's about to meet some sort of hapless end at the hands of a much taller foe. The idea started out as a quick sketchbook doodle that I enlarged and worked up into the pencil drawing above. The added the colour digitally. All in all, good fun was had!

After Turner: The Fighting Temeraire

2012-02-15T21:54:00.002Z

16 x 20 inches,

Oil on canvas

(commissioned work)

Well, you wait three weeks for a blog post and two come along at once. One of my commissions for this month was a copy of William Turner's famous Fighting Temeraire - or to give it its full title, The Fighting Temeraire being tugged to her last Berth to be broken up, 1839. It's a powerful image and a painting full of symbolism. Turner called it his 'darling' and bequeathed it to the nation when he died in 1851.

I have to admit, trying to do some sort of justice to the beauty of the original painting was a huge challenge, and by the end of it I was left in no doubt about Turner's genius as a painter (not that I had much doubt to begin with mind you). Although this isn't necessarily my own favourite Turner painting, I found my appreciation and liking for it grew steadily each day as I tried my best to do paint a passably good reproduction.

Sometimes, it seems, copying the work of a master artist is as much a lesson in eating humble pie as it is a lesson in how to better your own skill.

Yoda meets Norman Rockwell

2012-02-15T21:21:00.000Z

I was very flattered this week when I heard my Yoda painting had made it on to the excellent humour blog ItsFunnyTo.Me in a spoof of Norman Rockwell's famous triple self-portrait. Rockwell did the painting in 1960 as a cover illustration for the Saturday Evening Post (see the original here) and I believe it now hangs in the Norman Rockwell Museum in Massachusetts.

For a regular dose of good humour, be sure to visit ItsFunnyTo.Me

"Harmonica"

2012-01-25T09:25:00.000Z

10 x 12 inches

Oil on canvas

£120

It's been a wee while since I did any movie star portraits. Visitors to the blog will know I'm rather fond of painting characters from Westerns, and this guy is somebody I've been meaning to do for a while - Charles Bronson as Harmonica from Once Upon A Time In The West.

I sometimes find it quite a challenge painting indoors during the Scottish winter because of the light - or rather the lack of it! I have a couple of strong daylight bulbs that I use, but to be honest I don't think they truly imitate natural daylight as claimed. Quite often the light they give off feels too cold, too white. With this portrait the light seemed to be a hindrance and I had to work hard to get the skin tones and temperature I wanted. However, I got there in the end and I think my perseverance was rewarded with good results. In future I might start experimenting with other bulbs to try and make the ambient light in my studio a little warmer.

There are quite a few paint layers on this one so drying time will probably be a bit longer than normal. If you're interested drop me an email and I'll let you know as soon as it can be safely shipped.

Portrait commission - One happy family!

2012-01-24T09:03:00.001Z

16 x 20 inches

Oil on canvas

(commissioned work)

This painting was a first for me in many ways - first commission of 2012, first time I'd painted a group portrait (well, more than two people that is), and first time I'd painted full figure portraits. I knew it would be a challenge, particularly trying to capture a good facial likeness of everyone on a scale much smaller than I'm used to working on, so I was a little bit anxious about that before starting. However, once the painting got underway it really came together well.

The subject of the painting really carried me through on this one. A family on holiday together, all smiles and sunshine, having a brilliant time together. I knew I had to bring all that good feeling out in the painting and celebrate it. I think I managed to achieve that, so I was well happy in the end.

Sketching Angus McBride - part 2

2012-01-21T14:13:00.001Z

The pirate Henry Every (after Angus McBride)

11 x 11 inches

Pencil and conté on paper

I recently finished a large, five-person portrait commission which I'll be able to post up later next week. I needed a break away from the paints before starting on the next project, so I spent some time indulging in my favourite diversion of browsing through my art books in search of renewed inspiration.

Warriors And Warlords - The Art Of Angus McBride is always among the first books I reach for, and I can highly recommend it to anyone, especially if you're interested in historical illustration. I've mentioned my love and admiration for McBride's work before, and previously did a couple of sketches of characters from his paintings (see earlier post). This follow-up drawing is another vignette, this time from the brilliant painting Angus McBride did for Osprey Publishing to illustrate the exploits of the pirate Henry Every.

I haven't done much drawing on toned paper before, nor have I really experimented with mixing pencil, conte and chalk etc. I love the way it looks though, so have definitely been inspired to do more drawings like this.

January sale

2012-01-07T10:23:00.002Z

I know that it sometimes takes time to sell a painting. And I know one has to have patience whilst waiting for a buyer to come along. But I have to admit that I'm not always that good at this waiting game. It's not that I'm impatient per se, it's just that I hate to have my paintings stashed away and out of sight for too long. I'm happier knowing they're hanging up, being enjoyed by people - that's part of why I painted them after all, to enjoy the process of creation, to allow others to own and enjoy the results, and of course to make some kind of living for myself along the way.

With that in mind I decided to pick some of my unsold paintings from last year and offer them at a reduced price to see if my trusty blog visitors might be further tempted. Since this is my first time doing this, there are some paintings from 2010 here as well.

The montage above shows the 8 paintings I've chosen. I've listed the links and price details below (postage cost is additional). Please drop me an email me if you are interested in any of the paintings or would like to know more.

1. "Leia" - sale price £50 (was £80)
2. "Cheyenne" - sale price £70 (was £100)
3. "Yoda" - ~~sale price £50 (was £80)~~ SOLD
4. "Yul Brynner" - sale price £70 (was £100)
5. "Adendorff" - sale price £50 (was £80)
6. "Over A Barrel" - sale price £50 (was £80)
7. "My Favourite Thing" - sale price £35 (was £55)
8. "The Joker" - sale price £50 (was £80)

Happy New Year

2012-01-02T10:24:00.004Z

9 x 12 inches

Acrylic on board
£90

A very happy New Year to everyone! I hope you gave 2011 an enjoyable send-off and welcomed in the New Year with good spirits and high hopes. I'm looking forward to the promise of another year and seeing what it will bring. It will be my first full year as a full-time artist so I'm naturally excited about the opportunity to create a lot more art and hopefully many more commissions.

This is my first painting of 2012 and was originally supposed to be my final painting of 2011. However, I simply didn't have enough time to finish it before the bells. Like my previous cycling painting this one is also done in acrylics, and once again I decided to set aside my brushes and use a palette knife instead. I have to say, I'm absolutely loving working this way for a change. If like me you sometimes want to avoid painting in too much detail - but can't quite help yourself - then I highly recommend using a palette knife. It really forces you to focus on form and values rather than getting bogged down in too much detail. I'm certain I'll be keeping the palette knife out for more cycling art and, who knows, I may end up incorporating it into my portrait work as well.

New blog! - Painting The Peloton

2011-12-30T14:15:00.000Z

9 x 12 inches

Oil on acrylic
£90

It has been my intention for a while now to publish a separate blog devoted entirely to my cycling paintings. Cycling art is something of a niche area for me - as indeed it is in the world of art buyers and collectors - and I think my cycling portfolio also differs from the rest of my artwork in terms of style. I like to be expressive with these paintings. They're certainly not abstract, but my technique is much looser and more impressionistic than my other subjects. And although I haven't done all that many cycling paintings it is something I'm keen to develop in 2012. So with the New Year nearly upon us I thought now would be a good time to get the ball rolling (or should that be wheels rolling?) and announce the launch of 'Painting The Peloton', an entirely new cycling art blog for fans of cycling and cycling art.

Don't worry, Painting Mhor will still continue as it is. I'll still publish my cycling paintings here as well, but for those of you who are only (or mainly) interested in my cycling art and don't mind an extra bit of cycling related content that goes with it, be sure to subscribe or visit the new place - Painting The Peloton.

The above painting was done to mark the launch of the new blog. It shows the Norwegian cyclist Edvald Boasson Hagen on his way to victory during stage 17 of the 2011 Tour de France, his second win of the Tour for Team Sky.

Turner painting demo

2011-12-28T08:56:00.000Z

Just time for one more post this year. I completely forgot that I had set my webcam rolling when doing my little study of Turner's 'Dutch Boats In A Gale' a little while ago. So, after some quick video editing and the addition of some music by Hans Zimmer, here's is another speeded up painting demo for you to enjoy. Sorry the production quality is once again not great but hopefully I'll be able to put together more polished demos next year.

I should mention that I'm a big fan of the music of Hans Zimmer. I listen to a lot of film scores and soundtracks when I'm painting and he is definitely one of my favourite composers. This particular piece is from his score for the latest Pirates Of The Caribbean film - On Stranger Tides, for which he teamed up with the extremely talented Rodrigo Y Gabriela. I haven't seen the film but the music just brilliant.

Portrait commission: "Susie"

2011-12-26T20:38:00.001Z

Oil on canvas

8 x 10 inches

(commissioned work)

Merry Christmas to everyone out there. I hope your holiday is a good one. My sincere thanks to those of you who bought or commissioned paintings from me this year, and indeed everyone else who visited the Painting Mhor blog and showed an interest in my work. Becoming a full-time artist this year has been a huge step for me but the support and encouragement I've received so far means I'll be heading into 2012 with high hopes and plenty of self-belief.

One of my final commissions of this year was of Susie, a handsome tortoiseshell cat. I wouldn't normally reveal the age of my sitters but I'm sure Susie won't mind me telling you that she is 18 years old and still going strong. I'm told Susie spends most of her time asleep these days, but when I met her for a quick photo session before doing the painting she was remarkably alert and happy to pose for the camera. That certainly made my job easier, so thank you Susie!

Portrait commission: "Father and son"

2011-12-21T16:51:00.000Z

10 x 12 inches

Oil on canvas

(commissioned work)

This is the second of two double portraits I was commissioned to paint last month. As with the previous one, the reference for both portraits was taken from the same photo although in this case the figure in the background was a bit further away so I had to enlarge his image slightly so that the two portraits in the actual painting were of similar size rather than having the younger man in the background appear too distant. It wasn't a problem to do this, but it is a good reminder that you need to be cautious when painting from photos. It's important to study the reference and determine what to adjust and what to leave out. The reference should inform the painting but never dictate your decisions, especially when it comes to colour and composition.

Portrait commission: "Grandad"

2011-12-14T18:03:00.000Z

10 x 12 inches

Oil on canvas

(commissioned work)

This is the first of two double portraits I was commissioned to do last month (the one other one is just having a few finishing touches added to it so I'll post it at a later date). The little boy playing with his grandad made for a wonderful subject.

"Double Digging" - Free print offer!

2011-12-10T15:25:00.003Z

I'm not sure if artists are in the habit of running 'special offers', but I thought to myself, well why not? And so I have a little promotion at the moment to help encourage my painting sales and commissions. As mentioned in an earlier post, the prints of my 'Double Digging' painting turned out really well and so for an indefinite period I'll be giving away one of these prints for free to every customer who either commissions a painting or purchases one of my originals. (The offer is limited to one print per customer and the normal price of the print is £15)

Speaking of originals, there's still time for me to get one to you by Christmas if you haven't yet done all your festive gift buying. Here's the quick link to everything that I currently have for sale. As always, don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions about my work or would just like to leave some comments.

Portrait commission: "The Dreamer"

2011-11-30T13:02:00.002Z

8 x 10"

Oil on canvas

(commissioned work)

Another recent portrait commission which turned out quite well I thought. Often the reference photos I use or am given for portraits commissions tend not to have big expressions, so this one was a bit different and enjoyable to paint because of the animation in the sitter's face.

Portrait commission: "The Islander"

2011-11-28T14:51:00.004Z

8 x 10 inches

Oil on canvas

(commissioned work)

This is another recent portrait commission. I always enjoy painting portraits from a three-quarters or profile view. I think it makes for a more natural looking study of a person, partly because the sitter is never usually looking at the viewer.

I liked the palette in this one too - a nice mix of browns and oranges that seemed to complement the skin tones.

In the studio: oil paints

2011-11-24T11:40:00.004Z

I haven't used oil paint long enough to have experimented with lots of different brands, but I thought I'd do a quick post to share with you what I have used and what works for me so far.

When I first started using oils I used Winsor & Newton's range of fast drying oil paint called Griffin Alkyd, and I continue to use them today for many of my paintings, either alone or in combination with other brands. The Griffin paints dry fast - usually by the next day unless you're painting very thickly - which is a great help when you're working to tight deadlines or have a lot of work to get through. They have a fairly low odour and are not expensive, but their downside is a weaker pigment loading and covering power compared to more expensive brands.

In my paintbox I also have colours by Daler Rowney and Lefrance & Bourgeois, both of which I can heartily recommend. I often mix these colours with the Griffin ones so that I get the best of bost worlds - stronger pigments but also faster drying paint. Sometimes the only Griffin colour I have on the palette is Titanium white, of which I'll add just enough to my mixes to get that 'next day' drying time I need.

All in all, it's a gradual process of experimentation and discovery for me, not least because of the expense involved in buying oil paint! There are lots of brands I've heard great things about and would love to try - e.g. Michael Harding, Sennelier, Schmincke, Rembrandt to name just a few. Buying one or two new tubes of untried paint is always an exciting prospect, but it's always good to hear what other people recommend before taking the plunge. If anyone cares to make their own suggestions on good oil paints to try, then I'd love to hear them.

Portrait commission: "Mayo Man"

2011-11-21T17:45:00.003Z

8 x 10 inches

Oil on canvas

(commissioned work)

I've been busy of late with several more portrait commissions. Here's the first of them that I'm able to post - a gentleman from County Mayo in Ireland. I applied the oil paint quite thinly on this one, almost in watercolour-like washes at times. Sometimes it's good to vary your approach to a painting and try new techniques. It keeps it interesting and helps develop your creative skills I think.

More portraits to follow soon.

In print: "Double Digging"

2011-11-14T10:58:00.003Z

Gicée print

Image size: 5 x 7 inches

Paper size: 8 x 9 inches

£15 + postage

Those who have been following my blog since last year might remember this painting I did of a little boy happily playing on the beach with his two spades. It's one of my own favourites from last year's portfolio and so I decided to have some prints professionally made of the painting.

The prints really did turn out very well. The paper is Somerset velvet enhanced, which is 255gsm and has a lovely textured surface rather like a heavy watercolour paper. The image has a one inch white border on the top and sides and a two inch border on the bottom.

The print is an open edition but I've only had a short run made to begin with, so don't hesitate in dropping me an email if you fancy grabbing one for yourself. And of course, there's always Christmas to think about, even if like me you'd prefer not to...just yet.

After Turner - A study of "Dutch Boats In A Gale"

2011-11-09T11:11:00.004Z

5 x 7 inches

Oil on linen

For sale (£75 + postage)

I wanted to take a break from my usual portrait work and do something a bit different. This a small, quick study I did of J M W Turner's 'Dutch Boats In A Gale' (also known as 'The Bridgewater Sea Piece' after the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater who commissioned the painting). It was painted in 1801 and is now on loan to The National Gallery in London.

The original is a whopping 64 x 87 inches compared to my 5 x 7 inch study. As you can imagine, I didn't make any attempt to details here. Instead, the study was all about observing the composition and light and trying to capture something of the overall drama of Turner's original as Dutch sail boats threaten to collide in the stormy sea.

In the frame: "Jack Vettriano"

2011-11-07T14:37:00.006Z

40 x 40 cm

Oil on canvas

£420 / £325 (framed / unframed)

Here's a quick follow-up post to my earlier one about my portrait painting of Jack Vettriano. Unfortunately the painting wasn't selected for the RSA's winter exhibition, so I'm going to be making it available to buy direct from me until I'm able to find a gallery that would like to show it.

The painting is available framed as shown, or I can supply it without the frame should you prefer to choose your own. The canvas itself measures 30 x 30 cm. The overall dimensions with frame are 48.5 x 48.5 cm. Postage will be quoted in addition to the price given above.

Please email me if you are interested. Thank you.

Portrait commission: "The Spirit Merchant"

2011-11-01T10:00:00.003Z

10 x 12 inches

Oil on canvas

(commissioned work)

This is another portrait commission I finished recently. The title was the customer's idea, and I like the humour of it. It seems to suit the character of the minister, who I'm told is a very jolly, good natured man.

If you are thinking about getting in touch to enquire about a portrait or other commission, then don't hesitate to get in touch. I am still available to take on commissions in time for Christmas.

Clint Eastwood portrait demo

2011-10-31T08:22:00.005Z

Following on from my last post, here is the short demo I mentioned of me painting Clint Eastwood as Private Kelly from Kelly's Heroes. There's about 8 hours of raw footage condensed into less than 3 minutes, so it goes pretty fast! This is the first time I've tried something like this, so apologies the video quality and lighting aren't perfect. I'm planning to share these demos with you as often as possible, and hopefully I should be able to improve the video quality once I get a better setup.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this first offering. And in case you're wondering, the song is 'Burning Bridges' by The Mike Curb Congregation, which was used as the main theme in the film.

"Private Kelly" - Clint Eastwood portrait

2011-10-26T15:17:00.009+01:00

30 x 30 cm

Oil on canvas

£165 + postage

It's been a wee while since I painted my favourite portrait subject, but here he is again, this time as Private Kelly in the highly enjoyable Kelly's Heroes from 1970. As ever, painting this guy was a whole load of fun.

I'll have a follow-up post very soon where you can watch a short time-lapse video of me painting Kelly. Nothing high tech I hasten to add - just a web cam and a homemade rig, so picture quality won't be fantastic, but hopefully enough folks will find it interesting to have made it worthwhile. It was my first attempt at filming one of my paintings and I hope to add more soon.

"Jack Vettriano" - a portrait

2011-10-25T13:48:00.011+01:00

40 x 40 cm

Oil on canvas

£420 / £325 (framed / unframed)

This is the second of my two portrait submissions for the open exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy in Nov / Dec. It's a painting I'm daring to be rather proud of (although not so daring as to have high hopes the judges will accept it into the show). The portrait is of a man whose artistic talents I greatly admire and who is, as it happens, a fellow Fifer.

Jack Vettriano doesn't need any introduction from me of course, but you may be wondering about the younger looking Jack in this painting. It's based on some tv footage from 1992 when Jack was in his early forties. It's interesting to see him in his Edinburgh flat surrounded by his paintings, talking quietly but enthusiastically about his life and work so far. He wears an old jumper and a pair of overalls which are covered in oil paint, and his long hair looks wild and unkempt. He talks about the long hours he puts into his work, and you are left in no doubt as to just how many hours he means. Here is a man for whom painting is everything, who probably slept, washed and ate grudgingly because it was all time that could have otherwise been spent at the easel.

It's hard not to admire that sort of passion in an artist. Vettriano is a great talent, but it is that passion, coupled with the sheer dedication and hard work of the younger Vettriano that I love to be inspired by. I doubt he ever expected to have the wealth and fame that eventually came his way, but I often think about the sheer excitement he must have felt in those early days when he first realised he was at least going to be successful enough to earn a living from painting. For me, that's a very satisfying part of any artist's story.

"Pipe Smoking Man"

2011-10-22T14:41:00.005+01:00

13.5 x 17.5 inches

Oil on linen

(sold)

This is one of two portrait paintings I'll be submitting next week for the Royal Scottish Academy's open exhibition which runs from the 12th November to 18th December in Edinburgh. It'll be my first time submitting work for this show so I don't really know what to expect. No doubt the standard of artwork will be high and the competition for selection pretty tough, but I'm staying hopeful at least.

I'm grateful to one of my customers who sent me a photograph of his friend whose portrait he thought I'd be interested in painting, and whose fascinating features and obvious character became the inspiration for the painting.

For those who are interested, the painting is done on a very fine weave Italian linen. It's a lovely (and expensive!) surface, but its smoothness took a bit of getting used to since most of my paintings are done on a more textured canvas. I'd certainly use it again, but perhaps not for portrait work. Nevertheless, I am very pleased with how the painting turned out. I don't recall exactly how many hours went into it, but it certainly felt like a lot!

I'll post up my second submission next week.

In the studio: palettes

2011-10-20T12:06:00.002+01:00

When it comes to oil painting I've tried using just about every type of palette you can imagine: wooden ones, plastic ones, glass ones, bought ones and homemade ones. Now, finally, I've settled on using disposable paper ones.

Like much of kit in the studio, palettes are a matter of personal preference. I liked the traditional feel of wooden ones, the whiteness of plastic ones and the smoothness of glass ones, but in the end I always got tired of cleaning them at the end of a session. Oil painting is messy enough without the added chore of scraping and wiping paint from your palette. I would sometimes forget to clean them too, and if I'd been using fast drying mixes of oil colour then that was the end of that palette. So, after destroying yet another plastic palette I decided to give the paper ones a go.

They come in pads of tear-out sheets in various sizes, and I usually buy the largest possible since it's more economical and gives me a good area for mixing. I can get good mileage from a single sheet and for a small or medium sized painting one or two sheets is usually enough. It's also handy being able to keep your palette from the previous day if you want to remind yourself of what colour mixes you were using.

Paper palettes do mean an additional expense of course, but I think this is largely offset by what you save on cleaning materials and, more importantly, the big time savings they bring. So if you paint in oils or acrylics and fancy saving yourself a bit of time and effort, I can certainly recommend them.

Portrait commission: "The Blackman"

2011-10-18T13:17:00.004+01:00

10 x 12 inches

Oil on canvas

(commissioned work)

Another portrait commission I recently finished. I liked the yellow background in this one. Choosing a background colour can be difficult sometimes, simply because there's so many ways you can go. But the advantage of oils is that you can easily wipe out something that doesn't work and then try something else. Often (although not in this case) it's a gradual process of trying one colour, partially wiping it off, laying in another colour, wiping that off, etc...until I arrive at something I like. It's a two-handed job when I do this: paintbrush in one hand applying the colour, whilst in the other I hold a towel for wiping and spreading the paint. Fingers get used a lot too.

When deciding what colour to try out for backgrounds, I'll often take a colour that's already in the figure or the face and try a variation of that. In this case I took the yellow braiding on the figure as my cue and used a cooler yellow for the background, darkened here and there with some of the blacks and blues of the man's clothing. What I'm aiming for is a colour composition that harmonises well but is also interesting to look at.

I don't have a strict method for starting or finishing a painting with the background. What I always do, however, is paint on a toned canvas. Getting rid of the white is always my first step, although the initial tone I lay down will almost always be reworked as I go.

In the studio: easels

2011-10-12T12:31:00.005+01:00

I thought it was about time I started using the blog to share more than just finished paintings. If folks are interested I'm going to sprinkle in some photos and a bit of chat here and there about my work space, the materials and equipment I use, my process, techniques, tips, and anything else I can think to pass on. I should say up front that it's not art gospel or the advice of an expert. It's simply me talking about the way I happen to do things. Of course, when you're blogging into the void it's hard to know if anyone really cares about this sort of stuff, but what the heck. I'll do it anyway.

First up I thought I'd show you the two easels I use. I have a Mabef desk easel, which until recently was my mainstay. It's good for the small size canvases I often use and is nice and portable. It served me well for a long time but since August I've been using my wall easel instead.

I found the design for the wall easel on this blog after searching around on the web for ideas on how to save money by building my own easel. The great thing about this wall easel is that it does not take up the floor space that a free-standing one would. It's also quick and easy to step back from and view your painting in progress, and because it's vertical you are seeing the painting at the same angle as you would when it's finished and hanging up. If you prefer to sit down when painting, or if feet get a little sore from standing, it's a simple job to slide the canvas down and pull up a stool or chair.

All in all it only cost me the price of a few strips of softwood and some screws and bolts. Yes, it's a bit crude looking, and you need a wall where you can have it permanently installed, but it works a treat. I can certainly see myself using it for a while to come.

By the way, the portrait pictured on the wall easel above is a current work in progress. More on that in a later post.

Portrait commission: "The Stickman"

2011-10-10T18:54:00.002+01:00

8 x 8 inches

Oil on canvas

Commissioned work

This is the final painting I did recently to complete a series of portraits of four brothers from the Carlisle family in Ireland, all of them artists in their own right. Lindsay Carlisle, depicted here, is a craftsman who is a talented stick carver. If I had to pick a favourite of the four I'd probably choose this one. I like the colour and the extra bit of crispness and detail, as well as natural, relaxed pose of the sitter.

My website is launched!

2011-10-06T14:55:00.005+01:00

www.kevinjacksonfineart.com

I'm delighted to announced that my long awaited website has today been launched. I say long awaited but really it hasn't been that long, it just feels that way!

The website will be a good place to browse and enjoy my artwork, find information about commissions and see what's available. I'll still be keeping the Painting Mhor blog very much alive, so if you like a bit of extra chat and more of the nitty gritty behind the paintings, then be sure to keep visiting me here as well.

I would like to extend a big thank you to Fergie Meek at Cyberpict Developments for his expertise and hard work in bringing the website to life. If anyone out there has need of a professional, experienced web developer then I can heartily recommend his services.

So, without further ado, please go visit my new site! And if you have any comments, suggestions or feedback, I would of course be very glad to here from you. Thank you!

Portrait commission: "The Artist"

2011-09-28T19:16:00.005+01:00

8 x 8"

Oil on canvas

(commissioned work)

Another portrait, another Carlisle and (as my commissioner Bert would say) another character of Ireland. This time the gentleman's name is Eric and as you've probably guessed from the painting and the title, Eric is also an artist. In fact, I'm told all the brothers in his family are artistic. I don't know an awful lot about Eric except that he is a painter and has an exhibition coming up later in the year. For me, this was a really enjoyable portrait to do. I like painting folk with hats at the best of times, and the addition of the paintbrush gives the piece a lot of character I think. When I heard that Eric loved the painting I was very pleased.

Portrait commission: "Defender Of The Country Way Of Life"

2011-09-27T21:23:00.002+01:00

8 x 8"

Oil on canvas

(commissioned work)

Here's the second in the series of portraits I'm working on just now. This time the portrait is of Bert Carlisle, the gentleman who has commissioned this particular series. It was another very enjoyable painting to work on and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

The painting's title comes from the fact that Bert has been involved for many years with the Countryside Alliance, a membership body established to protect rural life and the interests of all those who love the countryside. It carries out conservation work and campaigns across a broad range of issues from the retention of local village shops and post offices, to the opposition of commercial netting of Atlantic salmon.

Bert was founder Chairman of the Countryside Alliance in Northern Ireland, having been approached by their mainland body when he retired to help them set it up on the island. The organisation is now a thriving one and Bert remains its President in Northern Ireland. In many circles he is affectionately known as 'Beggar' Carlisle on account of his pestering for donations and memberships to aid in conserving the rural way of life. Although I have not met Bert myself, I think I've learned enough about him to appreciate the gentle irony of that nickname.

I hope folk enjoy seeing this series of portraits as it unfolds. More to follow soon.

"Joe" - Clint Eastwood portrait - Limited edition print

2011-09-26T16:45:00.003+01:00

Digital print (limited edition of 10)

Image size: 20 x 20cm

Paper size: 25 x 27.5cm

£10 plus postage

Up until now I've never offered prints of any of my paintings, but having now located the services of a reputable print-maker I thought I'd test the water a little bit by offering a couple of my paintings as short, limited editions.

First up is my portrait painting from last year of "Joe" the Clint Eastwood character from A Fistful Of Dollars. I received lots of great comments about this painting and the original was snapped up quickly, so I thought there would be some interest from people who might like a print of it.

The edition is strictly limited to just 10 prints, each one numbered, titled and signed by me. They have been printed in the UK by Studio One Frames Ltd to Fine Art Trade Guild standards and they're available to buy now from my Etsy store. Grab one while you can!

Portrait commission: "The Fisherman"

2011-09-22T09:46:00.005+01:00

8 x 8"

Oil on canvas

(commissioned work)

I'm working at the moment on a series of 8 x 8 portrait commissions which I can now start to share with you on the blog. This first painting is of David Carlisle, who was himself an artist and has now passed on. From the little bit I was told about him, David divided his time between painting and working as a gillie and manager at the famous salmon fisheries on the River Moy in County Mayo. By all accounts he was a talented wildlife artist and had exhibited in New York and other places. I hope he would have been pleased with this portrait of him.

My Etsy store is now open!

2011-09-19T09:22:00.007+01:00

Although portraits and other private commissions continue to provide me with the majority of my income as an artist, I have been giving more thought recently as to the best place to sell some of the movie character portraits and other small paintings that I find time to do in between commissions. After considering various venues I've decided to try out Etsy, where I now have a selection of my paintings available to buy. I'll be adding more of my works there in due course.

Etsy is an terrific, easy to use website where people can search, browse and buy original works of art and craft directly from the artist. It's very much built around the needs of people who are looking to buy art for themselves or as a gift, whether they are searching for something in particular or just browsing for something that might catch their eye. If you haven't heard of Etsy, you should head over there for a look. And of course, be sure to visit my store when you do!

Click on the image above or click here to visit my Etsy storefront.

"The Joker"

2011-09-12T15:39:00.010+01:00

8 x 8"

Oil on canvas
Sale price: £50 (was £80)

I started this painting ages ago and barely got an hour into it before abandoning and moving on to something else. After watching The Dark Knight for the second time a few days ago I decided it was high time I dug the canvas out again and finished what was started. I'd say it's more of a Heath Ledger inspired Joker as opposed to it being a true likeness. Hopefully my rendition of The Joker manages to convey at least some of the terrifying madness that Ledger portrayed so brilliantly.

"Le Professeur"

2011-09-07T11:34:00.006+01:00

8 x 8"

Oil on canvas

£70 plus postage

Another cycling painting and probably my personal favourite so far. A real pleasure to paint.

This is Laurent Fignon, a French cyclist who won the Tour de France in 1983 and 1984, and narrowly (and famously) missed out winning it a third time in 1989 when he lost to the American Greg LeMond by just 8 seconds, the smallest ever margin of victory in the Tour's history.

Fignon retired in 1993 and sadly died in 2010 after battling cancer for more than a year. During his career he always stood out in the peleton because of his ponytailed hair and circular glasses. It was those glasses, together with his college background and tactical skills as a bike racer that earned him the nickname 'The Professor'.

"Full Flight"

2011-09-05T15:10:00.006+01:00

8 x 8"

Oil on canvas

£70 plus postage

Here's another little cycling painting I finished today. It's based on one of the HTC Columbia riders, Tony Martin, flying downhill during a stage from the 2009 Tour de France. This year Tony won the opening stage of the Tour de France.

As with my other cycling paintings, this one ended up being loose and painterly. It just seems that this particular subject has that effect on me and I feel compelled to paint it like this. A lot of the colour mixing was done on the canvas, dragging one pigment through another, and I tended to daub the paint on - no thinners or mediums used this time. Despite the looseness, I find that painting like this does still need plenty of thought and judgement. There's not really any randomness to it, apart from the occasional 'happy accident' that you hear artists talk about.

I expect it'll take a week or more before this one's dry and safe to ship. In the meantime if you are interested in buying just let me know.

"The Lurker"

2011-08-31T16:16:00.004+01:00

I took a break from the oil paints today to finish off this illustration I've been doing in short bursts. It started life as a pencil doodle which I scanned in and finished in Painter. It's very much a Lovecraft / Cthulhu inspired bit of artwork - some sort of demonic, tentacled terror, waiting and watching just on the edge of your dreams...

"The Green Wave"

2011-08-29T08:45:00.005+01:00

30 x 20"

Oil on canvas (commissioned work)

Here's the seascape painting that I mentioned in an earlier post. At 30x20 inches this is the largest canvas I've done to date, and it's also my first seascape in a long time, so from the outset this commission felt like a good challenge. I was surprised, however, at how quickly I got into working on the larger scale, and I now find myself looking at some of my older paintings and thinking how small they are!

The final painting differs a little from the composition of the first thumbnail I did. A few adjustments at the customer's request meant removing some of the rock masses and extending the main breaking wave off the right of the canvas. This really made the wave the main feature of the painting, so I was conscious of building everything else around this in terms of tone, colour and how the viewer's eye moves around the painting.

All in all it's been a very enjoyable painting to work on and I certainly hope to do more seascapes (and indeed landscapes) in the future.

"Jill McBain"

2011-08-26T14:55:00.009+01:00

12 x 10"

Oil on canvas

Another portrait from Once Upon A Time In The West, this time of Claudia Cardinale who plays the part of Jill McBain, around whom the plot unfolds. I spent much longer on this portrait than my previous one of Jason Robards, not because it demanded longer but because I made a lot of changes in the tone, colour and (especially) the background. It took time to arrive at something I liked, but that's just the way of it sometimes. In this case the dark background and deep reds were what I finally settled on. They seem to complement Cardinale's character and beauty.

I often like to discover those sort of things as I paint - to make the decisions as I go so to speak rather than figure everything out beforehand.. It keeps the whole process of doing the painting much more intuitive and enjoyable. That does mean the painting can take longer to complete sometimes, but the end result is usually better for it because I'm always stepping back and assessing what's working and what's not, rather than always relying on the reference material or a colour study.

"Cheyenne"

2011-08-18T15:08:00.008+01:00

12 x 10"

Oil on canvas
Sale price: £70 (was £100)

I haven't done any portrait paintings for a while so it was good to get back to doing another this week. This is one I've been meaning to do for a while - Jason Robards as 'Cheyenne' from Sergio Leone's western masterpiece 'Once Upon A Time In The West'. Actually, I've been meaning to paint portraits of all the major characters from this wonderful film. And I will, very soon hopefully. I wanted to do Cheyenne first however since he is probably my favourite. Robards plays a great part, as he did in so many films throughout his career. He's one of those actors you watch on screen and you just absolutely believe he is the character he's playing.

This is definitely one of my favourite portrait paintings so far. I always felt in control and the whole thing just seemed to come together at the end in the way I wanted it to. It's not often that a painting goes so smoothly like that, but it's a great feeling when it does.

"Summer's End"

2011-08-16T15:13:00.009+01:00

9.5 x 6"

Oil on board

I recently finished the seascape painting I mentioned in an earlier post, and would have posted that on the blog today but I need to wait a couple of weeks before I can deliver it to the customer first. Instead, here's a little landscape I knocked out this afternoon. I haven't done a lot of landscape painting, so this one is about me getting in some practice as much as anything else. But it was also about me experimenting with technique as well, working loosely as I did with a brush and palette knife (the latter I rarely use), and keeping the paint much thicker than I normally do. It was good fun and I like how it turned out. The painting has a tranquil feel to it - maybe even a touch melancholy? - and the colours are quite autumnal I think, hence the title.

'The Studio' art gallery, Killin

2011-08-12T21:46:00.002+01:00

A quick blog post to give a mention to 'The Studio' - a fine art gallery and framers situated in Killin, Perthshire. The gallery is now holding a number of my paintings so if you're in the area and fancy a peek then you should certainly make a point of stopping by for a visit. The gallery has a wonderful selection of paintings by various artists and its proprietors Ron and Sheila Allner are sure to give you a warm welcome.

For more information and contact details you can visit their website at www.thestudio-killin.co.uk

I've had a good week at the easel so more painting updates coming soon!

"Da Boss"

2011-07-29T16:27:00.005+01:00

More digital sketchy stuff. You never know what you'll get next with this blog. I'm hoping that's a good thing ;-)

Not much to say this time except there's nothing quite like being your own boss.

"Talking Irons"

2011-07-19T20:41:00.002+01:00

As promised, just keeping the blog topped up with some odds and end. Here's a little digital sketch I turned out the other day when I was winding down and had an hour or so to play with. Strange how the sketchbook stuff can be the most fun to do sometimes. Maybe it's because it's loose, spontaneous and there's no pressure involved!

Portrait of Glen the dog

2011-07-18T18:14:00.005+01:00

8 x 10"

Oil on canvas

(commissioned work)

I recently finished this commission for a portrait of Glen the dog. Glen was a 15 year-old collie cross, and a very handsome looking fellow judging by the photograph I was given to paint him from. He's sadly passed on now, and his owners must be missing him a great deal, but it sounds like he was well loved and had a great life. I hope this portrait brings them a smile as they remember their faithful friend.

I'll be starting work on the seascape commission next and it's likely to keep me busy for a wee while I think. I like to keep other smaller paintings and drawings on the go whenever I'm doing the bigger stuff however, so hopefully I'll still have little odds and ends to keep the blog topped up in the coming weeks.

"The Manx Missile"

2011-07-03T08:53:00.006+01:00

6 x 6"

Acrylic on board
£60

I thought I'd celebrate the start of this year's Tour de France with another cycling painting. I used some of the tv footage from the 2009 Tour for reference, and this particular painting is based on the final sprint in Paris, which was won by Mark Cavendish (aka "The Manx Missile"). He had an absolutely fantastic Tour that year, winning a total of 6 stages; but the Green Jersey eluded him, and was claimed by the Norwegian Thor Hushovd, whom you can see in the background. Here's hoping Cav can do well again this year and maybe win that jersey. Go Cav!

I decided to use acrylics for this painting, which I haven't used in a long time. It feels like a bit of a breakthrough for me in terms of using acrylics. I worked with them for years and never got comfortable with them. The great advantage of acrylics is they dry fast. The great disadvantage of acrylics is they dry fast. They just never suited my way of working, but when it comes to doing these small cycling paintings they are perfect.

No doubt I'll be doing a few more of these during the next three weeks (besides riding my bike of course...)

"Flamenco"

2011-06-15T20:37:00.007+01:00

16 x 21"

oil on board

(commissioned work)

I finished the flamenco dancer commission today and was keen to post up the finished painting. This one has been a real pleasure to do, and I would certainly enjoy doing similar pieces. It was also good to work on a larger scale than I've recently been used to, and I'm hoping it will be a good stepping stone for when I move on to the 30 x 20 seascape that's in the pipeline.

The picture quality isn't the best I'm afraid, so apologies for that. I'll try and post up a better version soon. I find photographing oil paintings to be maddening at the best of times, and I seemed to have more bother taking a snap of this one than I normal would. It's a bit dark and fuzzy but still preferable to my initial attempts which seemed to catch far too much glare. One of these days I'll figure out a good set-up for taking photos. I suppose it's a reminder of just how much better it usually is to see a painting in the flesh.

One year later...

2011-06-10T08:22:00.004+01:00

I realised this week that my blog would be one year old today. Happy birthday Painting Mhor. Where did a year go?

It would have been good to mark the occasion by posting a new painting, but I'm currently working on the flamenco dancer commission so I'll just have to be content with a few words. Mind you, it's the 'words' bit that I usually find difficult when it comes to doing these posts, so I'll try not to ramble on too much in this one.

Looking back, I'm pleased I managed to keep the blog going through it's first year, and with fairly regular updates, except for a couple of quieter months. I didn't exactly take the internet or the art world by storm, but then again I was pleasantly surprised in other ways: more visitors than I expected, a handful of subscribers and followers, a few generous comments and, encouragingly, some very welcome sales and commissions along the way.

I'm pleased, too, with the number of paintings I've done in the past 12 months. Admittedly these have been quite small works, but all in all it's still far more than I've done in any previous year, and that was really the motivation behind starting the blog - to get me painting more.

But quantity counts for nothing if there's no quality to it, and so I suppose the real motivation behind me wanting to paint more is me wanting to paint better. I want to paint, but I want to paint well. I can see I've improved in the past year, and I can feel my confidence has grown, even though it's still shaky at times. Artists can be a horribly self-doubting bunch and I'm no exception. Yet there have been a decent number of paintings that I dared to be pleased with; just as there were others where I know I could and should have done better with. The main thing at the end of it is whether or not I'm making steady progress, and I think I am.

It's for that reason that I feel excited about what I might be able to achieve. If I have a plan for the next year then it is simply be to speed up that progress. And when I say speed it up I mean speed it up a lot! There's a huge distance to cover if I have any chance of being the painter I want to be. Put simply, I can't afford to hang about. If the last 12 months have been a brisk walk, then the next 12 will be an all out sprint. It could be a bumpy road but I'm sure good things lie at the end of it. I hope you'll keep visiting to see if that's true.

Cheers,

Kevin

Stormy seascape roughs

2011-05-28T00:13:00.008+01:00

I was delighted to receive another commission recently, this time for a 30 x 20" seascape painting in oils. It'll be my largest painting to date and I'm very much looking forward to getting started once I finish my current commission for the flamenco dancer. In the meantime I thought I'd post up the digital roughs I have been working on this week in preparation.

The brief was nice and straightforward - a stormy sea with rocks and a lighthouse. It took me a quite a few attempts to eventually arrive at a composition that I liked and had all the necessary ingredients. I wanted to make the wild, stormy waves the centre of interest, framed by the rocks, and so decided to push the lighthouse into the background. I've perhaps pushed it too far back so I might adjust later to bring it forward and make it more noticeable. Of the three images above my main working one is in the middle, with a darkened version below to give an idea of how the painting might look if it was a night storm. I found it easier to work in black and white to begin with and then add the colour later. The colour version at the top gives me an idea of the sort of palette I might use, although the colours are fairly loose at this stage.

The roughs are more detailed than I'd normally make them - enough to make them nice little digital paintings in their own right I think - but I'm feeling a lot more comfortable about doing the final painting with all that detail already worked out. It's a big canvas after all (big for me that is!) so I don't want to leave too much to chance as it were. As one of my favourite landscape artists Scott Christensen said, ugly is one thing but big and ugly is another thing altogether!

Colour roughs #2 and #3

2011-05-21T21:56:00.005+01:00

It's on to thumbnails 2 and 3 for my current commission. After some feedback from the client the figure has become a flamenco dancer, the pose more suitably energetic, and (in the case of number 3) the wine glass and smoke pushed to the background. Of these two, I much prefer the first one with it's more dramatic lighting. I'm also concerned that having the wine bottle and glass in the other one is too distracting. The object were only supposed to be an extra bit of detail as suggested in the brief, but they perhaps command too much attention because of the overall composition and the fact that they connect with the figure's eye-line. Either way, the client's opinion will help decide it, so we'll see. This is what doing the colour roughs is all about though - a chance to figure out what works and what doesn't and to make sure the final painting is going to be close to what the person making the commission has in mind.

"Zombie Stomp"

2011-05-20T22:48:00.004+01:00

(Pencil / Adobe Photoshop)

I heard the world is supposed to end tomorrow so thought I should make my last doodle something appropriate. Something tells me it's probably just more hokum and I'll still be around for tea and biscuits tomorrow, but I'm happy for this excuse to draw a zombie in the meantime.

Happy judgement day, whatever that means for you.

Colour rough

2011-05-19T09:40:00.008+01:00

Rather than just being a showcase of finished artwork, I'm thinking my blog should also be the place to share the rough stuff - sketches, concepts, preliminary studies and so on. It'll be a good way to keep the posts more frequent and hopefully another reason for folk to stop by more regularly.

This digital rough is one I did for the commission I'm currently working on. Hopefully I'll get client approval to take it forward, but of course there may be adjustments to make, large or small. The brief was fairly loose: a female figure, red dress, wine or cigarette (or both). The scope for interpretation is fairly broad, so an initial thumbnail or two is always a good way of making sure I'm on the right track regards what the customer wants.

Even though the final painting will be done in oils, I really enjoy doing these initial colour studies in digital. I can work quickly and it's easier to make adjustments later on after the client sees them. In this case I sketched the figure in photoshop before transferring the image to Corel Painter for painting. Before starting the final oil painting, I will do a few more preliminaries just to tighten the drawing a bit and establish some more of the detail. Because I'm not painting from any photos or models, this will mean I have a helpful reference for when I do the final painting.

p.s I was getting a bit tired of the old blog template. Too much black! So here's everything brightened up a bit. Hope you like it :-)

Sketching Angus McBride - part 1

2011-05-17T11:01:00.004+01:00

I thought I'd keep the blog topped up with some sketchbook stuff while I work on new paintings. Here's a couple of quick pencil vignettes I did of paintings by the late Angus McBride, both of which I think he did for titles by Osprey Publishing.

I've long been a fan of Angus's work. He was such a prolific and masterful illustrator, and an endless source of inspiration for an aspirant like me. His paintings for the roleplaying games of Iron Crown Enterprises were what first got me addicted to his talent, and then latterly I started discovering his wonderful historical illustrations - and I am still am discovering them, such is the huge amount of work he produced in his lifetime.

Copying the work of other artists is not something I've really done since I was a boy, but I think it's something I should try and do a bit more of now and again. People say you should study the masters, and Angus McBride was certainly one of those - a complete master. 'Le Magicien McBride' they called him.

More fantasy art...

2011-05-08T20:31:00.005+01:00

Here's another fantasy art painting recently completed. I haven't yet thought of a title for it, but that's not really important. It's more of a portfolio piece. I imagined the client might be a publisher looking for a book cover illustration and let that shape the composition. The painting is based on an idea I had back in 2009, for which I did an oil painting back then but was never all that happy with. This new version is much different and I'm a lot happier with it.

I'm planning to do more digital pieces for my portfolio over the coming months, but I've got another commission lined up for my next piece so it'll be back to the oil paints for that. I'll share the results of that in my next blog post once it's done.

"Strider"

2011-04-16T22:19:00.005+01:00

Long time no post! After taking a break from the oils for a while I decided to dust off my graphics tablet and spend some more time working in digital. This painting was just finished today. It's a depiction of Strider from Tokien's The Fellowship Of The Ring, from the scene where Frodo and his companions first encounter him. It's one of my favourite parts of the book and I've always wanted to have a go at illustrating it. Tolkien's passage describing Strider is wonderfully evocative, and worth quoting in full:

"Suddenly Frodo noticed that a strange-looking weather-beaten man, sitting in the shadows near the wall, was also listening intently to the hobbit-talk. He had a tall tankard in front of him, and was smoking a long-stemmed pipe curiously carved. His legs were stretched out before him, showing high boots of supple leather that fitted him well, but had seen much wear and were now caked with mud. A travel-stained cloak of heavy dark-green cloth was drawn close about him, and in spite of the heat of the room he wore a hood that overshadowed his face; but the gleam of his eyes could be seen as he watched the hobbits."

My digital painting skills still feel like they've a long way to go, but I'm fairly happy with how this one turned out. Onwards and upwards hopefully!

"Yul Brynner"

2011-02-27T21:21:00.011Z

10 x 12"

Oil on canvas
Sale price: £70 (was £100)

As someone who is a huge fan of westerns, it seems a bit strange to admit that it took me quite a while to get round to watching all of The Magnificent Seven. I'd seen parts of it many times before, probably during its numerous Saturday afternoon screenings on the telly. And even though I must have been too distracted or too impatient to sit through the whole thing, my young mind was forever imprinted with at least two faces of 'the seven' - those of Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen. I suppose those are the two actors whom most people could at least name if you asked them to try and list all seven.

Faces aside though, it's probably the voice of Yul Brynner that I remembered the most - deep and powerful, but sort of reassuring at the same time. Like you knew he had a mean streak but was really one of the 'good guys'.

When I decided to paint this portrait of Brynner as the mercenary leader Chris Adams, I couldn't paint his voice of course. Nor could I paint that distinctive walk of his. And when he's wearing his black hat, it's difficult to show off the trademark shaven head. But even without those characteristics, I think I've managed to capture something of the spirit of Brynner as Adams. It was a really enjoyable portrait to do and I'm pleased with how it turned out. The next question is should I go on and paint portraits of the remaining six? Well, I'm not committing to that just yet, but it would be very cool!

p.s. You'll notice I've also posted up an extra photograph of the painting this time. I thought a side view would be a good idea, since it lets people get a better impression of the painting as a finished canvas. I'll try and do this in future posts as well.

"The Man With No Name"

2011-02-15T13:02:00.007Z

10 x 12"

Oil on stretched canvas

(commissioned work)

I didn't expect a return to Clint Eastwood so soon after my painting of him last month, but I was pleased to have recently received a commission to do another portrait of this big screen legend. As with my last painting, this one is based on Clint as the character Manco from the second film in the Dollars trilogy, For A Few Dollars More. I know I've said it before, but I really couldn’t get tired of painting this man. If anything if becomes more enjoyable each time. Perhaps it's because I feel I get to know a character a bit more with each painting. It's sort of like exploring a landscape I suppose. At any rate, I was very pleased with how this one turned out and hope to be able to paint him again sometime in the near future.

Incidentally, I’m always keen to hear from anyone who would be interested in commissioning artwork for themselves. Most of the commissions I’ve done to date have been of film characters, but I’m equally happy to paint other persons or subjects should you have something or someone else in mind – it could be a sports personality, friend, family member or even just yourself. And I paint pet portraits as well. You’ll find a bit more information on my commissions page, and of course the first thing to do is just email me and we can have an initial chat about what you have in mind.

Hope to hear from you soon!

"Sprint Finish"

2011-02-08T11:15:00.007Z

9 x 9"

Oil on board

I decided to stay with the cycling theme for my latest painting. I went for something more ambitious this time and ended up doing a solid painting session of about 10 or 11 hours! (with a couple of short meal breaks in between of course). I'm pretty pleased with the end result and I hope you'll agree it was time well spent.

The painting is inspired by one of the stages of the 2003 Tour de France, the year when le Tour celebrated its 100th birthday. A group of riders come round the final bend and sprint for the finish line as the crowd cheers them on. The eventual winner was Alessandro Petacchi (pictured 2nd from the left), who won four stages in total that year.

One of the great things about paintings like this is that you don't really have to think too much about colour harmony. The colour is the harmony. Normally I'd be restricting my palette and trying to use as few tubes of paint as possible, but when it comes to painting a bike race there's the opportunity to throw all that out the window. Scenes like this are all about colour and vitality, energy and movement. It's very enjoyable to have the freedom to use so much colour and to lay it down almost wherever you want without having to worry about whether it looks right with what's around it.

"The Yellow Jersey"

2011-02-01T19:03:00.009Z

6 x 8"

Oil on board

(sold)

Besides painting, I like to spend some of my time on two wheels, something I've been doing regularly for about five years, and even more since joining my local cycling club in Stirling. There's nothing better sometimes than a long road ride in good weather with good company (although the weather in Scotland is usually not as reliable as the company!).

I've always wanted to try my hand at painting some cycling scenes, and finally got round to finishing my first attempt. The sport of road cycling has so much colour and energy to it that I knew I wanted to try and capture as much of that as possible. My approach was to try and keep it fast and loose and to not get caught up in fussing with any details. I wanted to capture a sense of movement and energy in the painting as the rider in yellow powers his way up a hill somewhere. It's quite an impressionist style I think, and I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

A quick word of thanks to my friend and fellow cyclist Owen Philipson, who has let me use some of his cycling photographs as reference material for this and future paintings. If you are at all interested in cycling (particularly cycling with a Scottish perspective) then you should pop on over to his blog, The Drum Up.

"Forest In Sunlight"

2011-01-26T19:18:00.012Z

9 x 12"

Oil on canvas

Sometimes I know exactly what I want to paint and other times I find myself waiting around until inspiration or an idea strikes. The latter was the case for this painting, which I finished today. I had originally planned on doing another portrait painting, and had gotten as far as choosing a subject, but when it came to getting started my enthusiasm seemed to just evaporate. I put the canvas away and instead started browsing through some old photos from last year. I found one from our summer holiday in Dumfries when we visited Caerlaverock Castle. Behind the castle there is woodland which you can walk through and which hides the site of the original castle.

The photograph was the spark I needed and I used it as a basic reference to do this painting. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I think the dark shapes of the trees against the dappled light coming through from the background makes for quite a strong composition.

I found myself taking photos of the painting at various intervals as it developed, more for my own benefit really, but I thought people might like to see for themselves, so I decided to post them up. If you're interested, take a look at the new demo page I've added and feel free to ask any questions you might have.

"Dead End"

2011-01-23T22:51:00.006Z

13.5 x 11"

Watercolour on illustration board

(nfs)

Here's another one 'from the vault' so to speak. I painted this back in 2008 and it's one of the few watercolours I've ever done. I mentioned before in the blog that I've always been a big fan of fantasy art, but in recent times I haven't painted all that much in the way of pure fantasy subjects. It was good seeing this one again whilst rummaging through some old artwork the other day, and it has certainly awakened a yearning to get to doing more of this, my bread and butter stuff.

It's always tempting to look at old paintings and think how you would do them differently now. My style, approach, technique (and ability I hope) have evolved over the past few years, and there are plenty of paintings that I'm quite happy to keep closeted away, but this one has stood the test, almost. It's interesting to think how I would do things differently now when looking at older paintings, and if I was painting this again I'd probably want to do it in oils and go for a much darker setting rather than having it flooded with light. That said, the original has the illustrative quality I wanted at the time, and I like how the details of the drawing are preserved by using lighter tones.

It would be good to do some more watercolours this year I think - although I seem to say that about everything! I've got something new on the go just now though so I hope to post that up next.

"A Time Before Man"

2011-01-21T10:09:00.011Z

6 x 9"

Oil on canvas board

(sold)

I've started a couple of paintings over the past week and ended up abandoning them for one reason or another. It's just how it goes sometimes and I know I should be more accepting of these false starts and not beat myself up too much. But I always do. I know most other artists have good days and bad days (or good weeks and bad weeks) and that there is valuable learning and progress made from paintings that aren't working out or finishing up how you want them to. Time spent on these isn't wasted time - far from it - but it takes some effort to persuade myself of this. Spending all day or all evening on a painting only to wipe it out or throw it away just kills me every time.

Suffice to say, my past couple of painting sessions have been like this. I like to keep the blog warm so I dug something out that I painted a couple of years ago. This was one of my first efforts using oils, having painted mostly with acrylics up to this point. I am quite fond of this little piece. It was a work of pure imagination, except for the tiger-like creature in the foreground for which I used a bit of reference material. My idea was to depict a scene from a sort of prehistoric or other world, a place where mankind had no dominion and the land was completely wild and unspoilt. If I remember right I was looking at a lot of work by the great Frank Frazetta at this time as well, so there was probably some influence from his work on the choice of subject. I was very pleased with the colours and the composition, and the almost abstract feel to the whole thing. It really felt like pure painting.

Hopefully I'll regain my stride and be back to the recent stuff with the next post. If I was to break down the stages of any painting I do it would be this: Inspiration = Motivation = Application. For me, the first two have always been essential and sometimes I need a complete break away from painting for a few days in order to rejuvinate them. I wonder what ways other artists deal with these blips?

"Manco"

2011-01-10T20:37:00.010Z

8 x 8"

Oil on stretched canvas

(sold)

I think there are some faces I could never get tired of painting. Clint Eastwood has to be one of them, especially his western characters. Having done a portrait of 'Joe' from the first 'Dollars' film I decided to do another one, this time as his incarnation as Manco from A Few Dollars More where. I'm sure it won't be very long before I have the urge to complete the trio.

I'm really pleased with this portrait. It's probably my favourite so far. It was done relatively quickly, mostly in one sitting, which is something else it shares with my last painting of Clint. I sometimes find that if I spend too long on a painting, if I get too fussy with it, if it becomes too painstaking, too laboured, then whole thing gets in danger of losing it's energy. By working more quickly, with fewer, more confident and 'chunkier' brushstrokes I seem to be better able to harness that energy and keep it on the canvas. The end result is a painting that is much more captivating. At least, I think so...

"Winter's Peak"

2011-01-05T20:56:00.011Z

5 x 7"

Oil on canvas board

Here's another small, quick landscape painting inspired by the recent cold and snowy weather. I heard today that last month was officially the coldest December in the UK since records began. Ouch! At least the nights are drawing out now. Whether or not winter has peaked or not remains to be seen though.

This is the western end of the Ochil Hills where the two summits of Dumyat dominate the horizon and rise up suddenly from the flat plains of the Forth Valley below. The westerly summit is called Castle Law, which is shown in the painting; to the right is the gully that divides it from the summit of Dumyat proper.

I never cease to be awed by the beauty of these hills or the way their appearance can change depending on the time of day or the season. I think they are especially majestic in winter when covered in snow like this - it feels like a real luxury to have them virtually on my doorstep. Painting them was very enjoyable and, once again, I feel myself working up to doing a larger landscape at some point soon.

I'm quite pleased with how this one turned out. It's one of those paintings you need to stand a few feet away from to really enjoy. I was careful to paint contrasting tones on either side of the peak - cool blues and greys on the shadow side versus the warmer white and browns on the sunny side. You might be surprised at how far off pure white the brightest highlights are. They're actually a mix of titanium white with small amounts of red oxide and Japanese yellow (from Lefranc). I could have gone brighter still but didn't need to in the end. Keeping something of your value range in reserve is always a good idea I think.

"Winter Slumber"

2011-01-03T13:53:00.008Z

5 x 7"

Oil on canvas

(sold)

Well, 2011 has arrived and a new painting year awaits. Hopefully things will move onwards and upwards for us all.

I decided to kick things off with a small landscape painting, something I haven't done much of really - small or large. This is a view of the Ochil Hills near to where I live, where we've had record snowfalls this winter. I quite liked the composition and tonal arrangement of this one so might work it up as a larger painting at some point. I'm hoping to do more landscape paintings this year, amongst other things, but I'm just keeping them small to begin with so I quickly get through a few warm-up pieces. A few more of these will follow hopefully.

"Pat Garrett"

2010-12-31T13:55:00.012Z

8 x 8"

Oil on stretched canvas

(sold)

Well, here's my final painting of 2010. I'm still enjoying doing these small character portaits, so I hope anyone who visits my blog is also liking them. What started as an idea for doing something different has turned into a regular thing, and I think I will continue doing them into next year. There are so many cool film characters I still want to paint!

This one is of James Coburn from Sam Peckinpah's 1973 classic, Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid. Coburn plays an outstanding role as the moody, reluctant Sheriff who's hired to bring in the kid. I could go on and on about how much I love this film, but instead I'll just encourage you to go and watch it for yourself. If you like westerns, you'll not be disappointed - I guarantee it.

I should also say that the soundtrack for the film was written by Bob Dylan, who also has an acting part. Whilst doing the painting I listened to the music and became totally absorbed by it. Everyone's heard of Knockin On Heaven's Door, but I think it can only be fully appreciated when you hear it in the context of the film for which it was written. Very moving stuff!

I hope 2010 has been good for you. My best wishes to you for a great New Year.

"Yoda"

2010-12-19T22:48:00.010Z

8 x 10"

Oil on canvas
(sold)

It's been good to get back to the paints again after a little unplanned hiatus. I'm looking forward to the festive break, which should be a good chance to catch up on some other paintings I had been meaning to do this month.

Here's another Star Wars portait - like you needed me to tell you that! This is my first ever portait of character who is...well...not real, if you know what I mean. I quite enjoyed that aspect of it - having the opportunity to add even more life and believability into the face of a puppet. Of course, that's not intended to take anything away from the creators of Yoda. Quite the contrary. Stuart Freeborn, the make-up artist who originally designed and built the puppet, and Frank Oz, who operated him and provided that legendary voice, did an incredible job of bringing to life one of the most memorable characters from the Star Wars films.

Incidentally, Stuart Freeborn also designed and built the costume for Chewbacca, so I look forward to doing a 'Chewie' portait one day soon!

"Pike" and "Dutch"

2010-11-26T12:46:00.010Z

"Pike"

8 x 8" oil on canvas (commissioned work)

"Dutch"

8 x 8" oil on canvas (commissioned work)

Here are two paintings that I recently completed for a private commission. Both are portraits of characters from the brilliant 1969 film The Wild Bunch, directed by Sam Peckinpah. Pike Bishop is played by William Holden, and his faithful sidekick Dutch Engstrom is played by Ernest Borgnine. It's a beautifully shot film with wonderful cinematography, and the explosive finale is one of my favourite film endings of all time.

Commissions can be challenging to do sometimes, but I think they can also bring out the best in you since you're working hard to please a customer. These ones were especially enjoyable because the subjects are something I would have liked to get round to painting anyway. It would be good to paint other characters from the film one day - probably the other members of Pike's outlaw gang, and certainly Robert Ryan who gives a great performance as Deke Thornton, the erstwhile friend with orders to chase them down.

"Dewey"

2010-11-13T10:01:00.003Z

8 x 10"

Oil on canvas (NFS)

A quick apology first of all to my blog subscribers. For some reason the subscription service I use decided to resend some old posts over the past couple of days. It seemed completely random, and I've no idea what triggered it, but it appears to have sorted itself now.

The gremlins also got to my contact form as well, which I suspect hasn't been working properly. If you've tried to get in touch please do so again, as there's a good chance I never received your message. I've replaced the form with my email address so you can use that to contact me instead from now on.

Ok, enough about the gremlins. Back to the painting...

I was asked recently if I ever painted cats. Well, the answer was no, I hadn't. I'd done pencil sketches but never any paintings, which is odd I suppose since I am a big cat lover and have had them as pets for many years. So, I decided to put that right with my next painting. This is Dewey, our 7-month old kitten and one of two cats who bring a lot of joy to our household (our other cat also bring us assorted dead prey from time to time...)

I enjoyed painting him a great deal. The fur was a challenge because it is so dark and I had to really look hard to find the highlights. I mixed varying amounts of magenta into the black paint to make the colour a bit more interesting and avoided the temptation to go too dark. I think it worked quite well.

I'll be working on some commissions next, so the blog might not get updated for a wee while, but I'm looking forward to posting up those paintings when they're done.

"Leia"

2010-11-08T22:09:00.047Z

8 x 8"

Oil on stretched canvas
Sale price: £50 (was £80)

Before anyone has the chance to point it out, I thought I should try and restore the gender balance a little bit in my portrait subjects. I haven't done many female portraits, so seeing as I'm still in the mood for painting some Star Wars characters, here's one of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia.

I found myself having to work quite hard to capture the likeness in this one, but I think I got there in the end. I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out, especially with the background colours and the cool phthalo green that I used as the painting's overall dominant colour. It's a pigment I haven't used much until now but I think it worked quite well in this painting.

November is shaping up to be a good month for me and I've lots more paintings in the pipeline, including some commissioned pieces I'm excited about starting. On the subject of commissions, I've added a page to the blog with some information on this (see link at the top of the page). If you're interested in getting in touch to discuss a commission, this will give you some details, and you can use the contact form to get in touch.

"Old Ben"

2010-11-04T14:26:00.018Z

8 x 8"

Oil on stretched canvas

(sold)

I feel like I'm hitting my stride with the portrait paintings at the moment. My approach, technique and confidence just seem to be gelling together nicely. I must admit, some of these paintings will be kind of hard to part with (that's assuming that I am fortunate enough to entice some buyers out there) but I suppose that's a good thing. If I like them that much, then other people just might feel the same...

I'm sure most people will not need any introduction to this famous actor and character, but in case you do this is Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi, or 'Old Ben' the hermit as he's initially known at the start of the 1977 film Star Wars. Guinness reputedly never enjoyed working on the film, but that's certainly not something that comes through in his great performance. It's said that when he was once greeted by a young Star Wars fan who claimed to have watched the film over a 100 times, he nodded and said "Promise me you'll never watch it again." It's funny, you can just hear Guinness's voice saying those words.

"Ali"

2010-11-02T19:17:00.008Z

8 x 8"

Oil on stretched canvas

If I had to paint nothing but portraits from now until my last day, I would probably be quite happy. So many individuals, so many individual faces. And not enough time to paint them all!

Here's one I did have time to paint though - Omar Sharif as the character 'Sherif Ali' from the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia. What an epic film! Ali is my favourite character from it, and I really enjoyed painting this portrait of him. As with the last portrait I did (of Clint Eastwood), I decided to limit my palette to three colours - black, white and (this time) burnt sienna. Again, it's amazing the range of colours you can get from those three - reds, greens and greys in abundance.

Having a good week at the easel. I hope it lasts!

ps. If you have a film character you'd like to see me paint (or anything else for that matter), why not drop me a message and make a suggestion. It would be nice to do something that someone else has in mind.

All the best,

Kevin

"Bonnie Scotland"

2010-10-31T20:35:00.008Z

8 x 10"

Oil on stretched canvas

(Contact The Studio gallery, Perthshire)

October hasn't been the most productive of months for me painting-wise. Too much 'other stuff' going on (and none of it good), but I should be getting back into the swing of things now.

I wasn't sure what to call this one. I had thought of something like 'Farewell to summer', since the clocks went back today and summer time officially ended, but as I was painting it the blue and white of the boy's shorts kept making me think of the the Soltaire. Maybe there's some sort of symbolism in the pebbles that the boy is carrying as well. Stones of destiny perhaps? Whatever, I ended up feeling a touch patriotic, hence the title.

Back soon :-)

"Joe"

2010-10-11T19:50:00.013+01:00

8 x 8"

Oil on stretched canvas

(sold)

"I don't think it's nice, you laughin'..."

This is the 24th painting I've done since starting the Painting Mhor blog back in June. If I had to choose a favourite of those 24 then this would be it - not quite the portrait with no name, because The Man With No Name (Clint Eastwood's character from the 1964 film A Fistful Of Dollars) was in fact credited with one - Joe. He was a man of few words but his words were usually pretty memorable!

I liked how this painting turned out. It feels more like how I've always wanted to paint but usually haven't quite managed to. I was determined to stay focused with it, to make my brushstrokes fewer, bolder and more deliberate. I didn't want to fuss with details or start blending the paint too much. I wanted to be able to choose a colour, apply it and move on to another bit of canvas as much as possible. I also limited my pallete to just three paints: Titanium White, Lamp Black and Indian Red. Even with just those three colours it's amazing the range of greys, browns, pinks and reds you can get.

So...

...this painting is for sale...Ok, ok, for anyone who's just burst out laughing, can I refer you to the Eastwood quote at the top of the page? ;-). When I first started my blog I didn't give any thought to selling my paintings. I knew that I might get round to trying - eventually - but it wasn't a priority. And it still isn't a priority I suppose, in that painting doesn't paying the bills (at least, not yet). Presumably like a lots of artists, however, I would be lying if I said I wouldn't give up the day job in an instant if it meant being able to paint for a living. Whether that dream could ever become a reality is another thing entirely of course, but who knows. There's no harm in trying, right?

At the very least I hope I did make you laugh, even though my mule doesn't like it. ;-)

"Gandalf the Grey"

2010-10-09T22:10:00.008+01:00

Digital painting (Corel Painter)

Quality painting time seems to have eluded me during the past week or two. Probably for that reason I found it easier to do another digital piece rather than the oil painting I had originally planned. When your set up and clean up time only involves switching the computer on and off, you can't beat it, especially if you've only got a spare hour here or there.

The idea for this one came after playing around with a few sketches and eventually ending up with a drawing that made me think of Gandalf from Tolkein's Lord of The Rings. Old man, beard, pointy hat and staff - it can only be one man, right? It's not any particular scene from the books - just me imagining the old wizard making his way through some dark and dangerous forest somewhere in Middle Earth.

Hope you like!

"In The Spotlight"

2010-09-29T21:18:00.010+01:00

8 x 8"

Oil on stretched canvas

(Contact The Studio gallery, Perthshire)

At the University of Stirling one swan manages to stand out from the others, with a bit of help from the evening sunshine.

This is the second painting I've done that's been inspired by walking around the campus of Stirling uni (see the first one here). If you can forgive the rather unlovely 19060s architecture, the campus is a very pleasant place to take a stroll or just sit, relax and enjoy the natural beauty around you. It is situated on a 310-acre estate with a large loch and surrounding woodland that are home to an abundance of wildlife such as swans, ducks, oyster catchers, squirrels and rabbits. (And lots of other creatures I'm not intelligent enough to know the names of!)

In case anyone has been wondering, I am planning to start offering my oil paintings for sale soon. When I first started the blog its main purpose was to motivate myself to paint more and to have a place to show and share those paintings. Now that it's a bit more established and I'm confident of keeping it going, it seems logical to take the next step and start properly sharing my work. My hope is that by being able to buy my paintings, people will have an extra reason for visiting the blog and enjoy having the opportunity to view the artwork in the way it's supposed to be viewed (ie. in person!)

So, hopefully I'll have an update on that with my next post. Till then...

"Head study #2"

2010-09-20T23:13:00.006+01:00

Digital painting (Corel Painter)

Another portrait / head study done with a charcoal and chalk style in mind. I quite like doing drawings like this where you can use the white of the 'chalk' to represent both highlights (as on the skin) and colour (as in the white colour of the hat). It's the same as in the previous drawing where I was used white as a highlight and also to represent the gentleman's white hair.

"Head study #1"

2010-09-17T00:07:00.006+01:00

Digital painting (Corel Painter)

It's back to digital for this latest post. As with any other medium, I think I'm making steady improvement simply through lots of practice. As mentioned previously, I'm using Corel Painter, and the wonderful thing I'm discovering is the excellent range of brushes that it offers, many of which allow you to draw and paint in ways that mimic traditional media. And if you can't quite find a brush to suit your particular need, it's easy to customise your own.

Although it's early days as far as my digital work goes, I feel pretty sure that I'll always want to produce work that has the look and feel of traditionally drawn or painted art. For this piece, my aim was to achieve a chalk and charcoal like effect, which I think I've more or less managed to do. Hope you like it.

It's a slightly unimaginative title however - sorry! At least "Head Study #1" should mean there will be a Head Study #2...

"Arum"

2010-09-04T15:19:00.008+01:00

10 x 8"

Oil on stretched canvas

Here's another painting from my recent visit to Pittenweem in the East Neuk of Fife. When you think of the East Neuk you think of the beautiful coastline and the picturesque fishing villages dotted along it. Pittenweem's harbour area is one of my favourite, and its easy to see why it's such a source of inspiration for many artists. I've never actually painted a fishing boat before - or any boat for that matter - so this was the perfect opportunity to have a go. This particular vessel, the "Arum" caught my eye because of the way it was nestling in the shade against the harbour wall with the sunlight angling down and catching the top of it.

I'm wasn't sure where the name "Arum" comes from. A quick look on Wikipedia told me that it's a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants of the Araceae family. So, there you go - a little bit of botanical knowledge to spice up the blog. Of course, it might have absolutely nothing to do with the name of the boat in question :-)

"Gunslinger" - sketch

2010-09-01T23:18:00.008+01:00

Digital painting (Corel Painter)

I thought I'd post up a preliminary study for a painting that's been in the pipeline for a while now. The idea was to do a cowboy or gunslinger type character - something with a Wild West theme to it.

I had this particular pose in mind - a dark, shadowy figure standing outside a saloon, daring anyone to get in his way. I did a couple of quick drawings, liked them, and so jumped right into the oil painting. Big mistake! It wasn't long before I completely lost my way, grew frustrated with it and threw in the towel. The problem was I didn't haven enough information to do the painting. The line drawing was fine, but I hadn't given any thought to what the colours were going to be, where the light was coming from, what the values would be.

Fast forward to today and, having left my gunslinger alone for a few weeks, I was ready to have another crack at him. This time, rather than diving into the painting, I concentrated on getting the lighting and values all worked out. I knew I wanted the lighting to be quite dynamic and atmospheric, and after a lot of trial and error I came up with this. It's hard work trying to completely invent a lighting scenario, but it's worth it for the reference it gives you when you get to the final painting. Sketching this one digitally was also helpful because I could experiment more easily and could quickly erase mistakes and try again. The whole process was one of pushing and pulling until I got something I liked.

The next step will be to do some colour sketches, which should be more straightforward I think. After that it'll be on to the final painting. Hurrah!

"Swan"

2010-08-31T12:36:00.005+01:00

8 x 8"

Mixed media (oil on canvas, Corel Painter)

Here's another first for me - a fusion of traditional and digital media. It's mostly oil on canvas - in the sense that it was about 90% complete when I decided to scan it into the computer to make some final adjustments. I wasn't entirely happy with the overall hue and decided to play around until I got something I liked. I also added a bit more colour digitally.

The portrait is of the character 'Swan' from the film Jeremiah Johnson (see my earlier post for a portrait of Redford's character). Swan is the daughter of the Flathead chieftain who gives her to Johnson as a gift. The character is played by Delle Bolton, an actress whose film career seems to have started and finished with this one role. I tried finding out more information on her but this was one of those rare occasions when the great world wide web couldn't help. As far as I can tell, Delle played this one part (and played it very well) before going on to do other things.

"Sea view"

2010-08-30T00:11:00.006+01:00

Digital

Corel Painter / Adobe Photoshop

This is a first for me - a digital painting. I mentioned in an earlier post that I was going to be trying my hand at it and so here's my first effort. Well, not my first effort exactly, but my first one that I think has any worth to it. It was done using a Wacom Intuos 4 tablet and Corel Painter, with some final adjustments made in Adobe Photoshop.

The scene was inspired by a recent trip to the Pittenweem Arts Festival in Fife. It was a flying visit but it was a gorgeous day and we had time to stroll along the seafront where there were lots of people like this fellow who were enjoying the sunshine and fine views, not to mention the excellent artwork on show.

It takes some getting used to digital paint, but in many ways it's no different than any traditional media. You still have to make the same creative decisions about composition, lighting, colour, value etc...And you still have to draw and paint! I can do better I think - I'm sure I can - but for now I'm pleased enough with these first baby steps as it were.

"Jeremiah Johnson"

2010-08-20T21:32:00.010+01:00

8 x 8"

Oil on canvas

£45 plus postage

I'm not going out of my way to paint portraits of bearded men (honest!), but there is definitely something I like about painting facial hair. Perhaps it's because it helps break up the face a little bit and provide some more variety of tone and texture; or maybe it's just that it seems to add a bit more character. Whatever the reason, the character in this case is Jeremiah Johnson in the film of the same name (released in 1972). I'm hoping there is enough of a likeness that I don't really need to tell you that the part was played by Robert Redford.

I decided to do a sort of monochromatic painting this time, almost like a sepia toned photograph, which seemed to fit with the rustic feel of the film. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, so I'm thinking of doing a few more portraits like this of the other characters in the film.

SCA illustrations

2010-08-18T08:35:00.005+01:00

A couple more paintings from a while ago, just to keep the blog warm. I was commissioned by the SCA (The Scottish Childminding Association), which publishes a quarterly magazine, and the illustrations were used as part of an article that was discussed the issue of young children being less active these days, spending more time in front of computers and the tv rather than playing outisde.

The client wanted illustrations with a cartoon feel to them, with strong colours and simple shapes. I spent time working out the drawings before scanning them into Photoshop to do the colouring. At that time I hadn't done much in the way of digital art, but I enjoyed the freedom it gave me to easily experiment with the colours. The style of the illustrations was also something new for me, so I was glad I could turn my hand to doing something different, and the client was very pleased. It was also very nice to get paid for my artwork ;-)

Speaking of digital artwork, I recently purchased a Wacom Intuos4 graphics tablet, which arrived today. Although traditional drawing and painting mediums are my main interest, I wanted to start experimenting with digital to see how I might integrate its tools with my current techniques and to try and improve my overall methodology. It'll be a steep learning curve but I'm quite excited about it. I'll use the blog to post updates on how that progresses.

"Caradhras"

2010-08-15T08:39:00.009+01:00

10 x 6 1/2"

Watercolour and acrylic on illustration board (NFS)

When I first started this blog my intention was to only post up new and recent artwork that I've done. I'm going to stick to that - mostly - but there will be times when I'm doing other things or working on larger paintings that are taking longer to finish. Rather than let the blog go silent for too long, I'll post up something from the past that I think people might like. After all, most of it has never been seen.

This painting is from a couple of years ago. I fancied illustrating something from The Lord Of The Rings, and chose the episode where Gandalf leads the fellowship through the Misty Mountains. The party are forced to divert through the Mines of Moria after a snowstorm on Caradhras blocks their way.

The painting is one of only a few watercolours I've ever done, and I combined it with a bit of airbrushed acrylics which seemed to work well. I think I would like to do a larger and more detailed version one day, probably using oils.

"Old Greybeard"

2010-08-11T08:48:00.009+01:00

8 x 8"

Oil on stretched canvas

(Contact The Studio gallery, Perthshire)

This was originally intended as another portrait of a film character (the old man from 'A Fistful of Dollars'), but half way through it I stopped using my reference and just let the brushes find their own path. It can be quite gratifying when this happens - when a painting takes on its own life and has a few surprises for the painter. Perhaps for this reason I'm quite fond of this one. I enjoyed the process of discovering this character on the canvas. I don't know who the fellow might be, but I think he would have lots of good stories to tell.

I seem to have spent a lot of time at the easel lately without having much finished work to show for it - thus the slight delay in posting. I have several paintings on the go at once, so all going well I'll have plenty more work to show soon.

"Adendorff"

2010-07-31T12:54:00.034+01:00

8 x 8"

Oil on stretched canvas
Sale price: £50 (was £80)

I fancied doing some portrait studies this week, so here's the first of (hopefully) a few. In lieu of having someone to sit and pose for me, I find using characters from films is a great alternative (especially if it's one of my favourite films, as in this case). The painting was mostly done over one evening, with some final highlights and adjustments made the next day once the oils had dried. I enjoy using film reference like this because, even though its not a life study, it's still a good way to observe interesting lighting conditions and colour.

The painting is of Lieutenant Adendorff in the 1964 film 'Zulu', played by South African born actor, Gert van den Bergh. He gives a great performance as one of the Boers who helps the British. Early in the film, Adendorff's sharp exchanges with Lieutenant Bromhead (played by Michael Caine) are especially brilliant. It's sad to note that van den Bergh died a few years after the film was made, aged just 48.

"Double Digging"

2010-07-24T20:35:00.014+01:00

5 x 7"

Oil on wood panel

£70 plus postage

A toddler plays on the beach at Aberdour in Fife. Who needs a bucket when you can have two spades instead?

Anyone who's been following my blog so far will be able to tell that I enjoy painting these beach scenes. Certainly they seem to be going down well with the blog visitors, which is always a spur to do more of them.

By the way, my thanks to everyone for their encouraging words about my artwork so far - friends, family and blog visitors alike. Your comments are very much appreciated, and always inject me with extra enthusiasm for the next painting project.

"Over A Barrel"

2010-07-21T10:31:00.009+01:00

8 x 8"

Oil on linen
Sale price: £50 (was £80)

Following on from my last painting, here's another little scene from the Senglea Maritime Festival in Malta. The gentlemen are dressed as they might have been in a bygone era, working as hands in the old sailing days. Thanks again to my Dad for sending me the reference photo on which the painting is based.

My love of illustration shows through in this piece I think. I've always liked paintings that have some sort of narrative to them, and I'm a great admirer of work by artists / illustrators such as Greg Manchess and the late Angus McBride. Whenever I need a shot of inspiration I only need to leaf through a book of work by one of these guys and it's not long before I'm scrambling to get my brushes out again.

More paintings to follow soon hopefully!

"The Red Dancers"

2010-07-17T15:09:00.011+01:00

8 x 8"

Oil on board

£75 plus postage

This painting was done using a reference photo that my Dad recently sent me (thanks Dad!). My parents live in Malta in the old fortified city of Senglea, and took some pictures a while ago of the Maritime Festival that takes place there each year. The original photo shows lots more dancers in different coloured costumes, but I wanted to just focus on the two figures in red for the purposes of the painting.

Really enjoyed doing this one. I used Cadmium Red for the clothing, which is such a wonderful colour to work with. By mixing it with French Ultramarine you can get some lovely rich tones in the shadow areas. It was tempting to want to paint in more figures and the street setting, but in the end I decided to just keep the background plain so all attention is on the figures. I hope you like it!

ps. You know, we could really do with some Mediterranean sun here in Scotland just now...

"Sunshine On The Old Mill"

2010-07-13T08:22:00.009+01:00

9 x 12"

Oil on board

This is the old corn mill at New Abbey, the Dumfriesshire village I've mentioned in my earlier posts. It was built in the late 1700s on the site of a much older mill that itself was built by the monks of the nearby Sweetheart Abbey.

It's a busy little painting this one. There's lots going on and it was a challenge to keep the composition, colours and values sitting together in harmony. I think I've more or less managed to do that, although I'm still not convinced about the foliage in the foreground. Something niggles me about it but I'm not sure what. I painted it several times and probably became a little too fixated on this one area. When this happens you can start imagining problems that aren't there. That could be the case here, or perhaps there is indeed something that needs to be changed and I just need fresh eyes to see it. Either way, I like it enough to sign it off now. We'll see what verdict my 'fresh' eyes give it later on.

"A Cool Walk"

2010-07-10T17:36:00.009+01:00

6 x 6"

Oil on canvas

(Contact The Studio gallery, Perthshire)

Different dog, different beach, same degree of canine happiness!

I had originally intended this to be part of a larger composition, but it wasn't working as I'd hoped, so I decided to just focus on the dog instead. I might return to the original idea another time, but for now I'm pleased enough with how this one looks. Again, it was done quite quickly (quick for me, that is!). I especially enjoyed painting the water splashes.

"My Favourite Thing"

2010-07-08T08:36:00.012+01:00

6 x 6"

Oil on canvas
£50 plus postage

As much as we humans like the beach, dogs like it even better. Certainly this spaniel was having a good time playing on Aberdour beach. Playing on the beach is probably his favourite thing, but there is the joke that everything is a dog's favourite thing.

This wasn't supposed to be my latest painting. I had a separate piece on the go but it wasn't going well. After a frustrating evening I decided to abandon it altogether and, although it was late (and time to put the brushes away really) I was desperate not to end the day with nothing to show. Thankfully, a couple of hours later I had painted most of what you see here, and I would have pressed on and finished it if I wasn't getting so tired. It's always enjoyable to be able to complete a painting in one sitting - or nearly one sitting as in this case. I think it's partly why I'm keeping the canvases on the small side just now. Hope you like it!