Matthew has been working on big double portrait of Mandy & Desi
have a look at it here:
Paintings
They have gone off travelling now for a week to learn how to surf.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Amanda and Desi arrive in New Zealand
Monday, October 29, 2007
Halloween
Joe has a hair cut
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Kotaro
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Another sunny day on the roof. The wind didn't get up until about midday when it took me by surprise and knocked the canvas off the easel onto my palette. A few splodges of paint and some swearing later, I secured it again only to have the same thing happen again.
Here is the result of the mornings painting.
I am getting 6 paintings ready for an exhibition which I'm getting a bit anxious about and I want to include this one. I is not quite finished though and the deadline is this weekend!
Monday, August 20, 2007
Another windy and hot day on the roof.
Today wasn't as windy as yesterday, but my canvas still got blown off the easel as soon as my back was turned. How do these 'plein air' painters manage without having to wait for weeks for the perfect day with a clouldless sky and not a breath of wind? Today for example if I saw that the sun had come out, I made my way upstairs but by the time I got set up, a large dark cloud had come over and a shower started! Off I trot with canvas, easel, paints etc inside.
Anyway here are the results of today's painting.
Anyway here are the results of today's painting.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
A great windy day for painting on the roof
Today was a hot and windy day for painting on the roof. I have no pictures from today either of the hot windy weather directly or of the painting I have started, so here instead is an old one of a lovely hot day in Coromandel when we were on holiday:
And here's one of the others on the beach when it was not quite so sunny.
I will update you on the progress of the new bedroom tomorrow with some photos. (that is if anyone is watching!!)
And here's one of the others on the beach when it was not quite so sunny.
I will update you on the progress of the new bedroom tomorrow with some photos. (that is if anyone is watching!!)
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Busy week after the flu.
At the beginning of the week I thought I'd had it. I had a bad case of flu' and several days in bed looking at the sky through the bedroom window. When I thought I was getting better I got up and started building another bedroom downstairs in the area where we used to watch tv.
That area we have since vacated as we moved the tv upstairs and we found it just to be a vacant space.
So, here it is semi built. After I got this far I was in bed for 2 days. Anyway, with the use of a nail gun borrowed from Barry Bright, it was up pretty quickly.
Monday, August 06, 2007
Stadt Weimar at Auckland Port
Monday, July 30, 2007
New painting of the port
I have started something a bit different. It's come out of the cityscapes and I'm not sure where it is going but here is the drawing. You can just make out the cranes over the container ship.
It is bigger than anything so far and on a large easel which I can pull up and down using a small pulley.
You can see another idea I had underneath. A double portrait of Anita and Myself. I wasn't happy with it so am trying something new.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
I've finished the painting of Tom at last. Anita suggested I get rid of the mysterious sheet behind him because it was distracting. so I've done that and kept it simple. I also brightened up the carpet area in front of him to create a pool of light there. I think it is better so I'm going to leave it as it is. You can see it at the Paintings site: www.gallerynewzealand.blogspot.com
I have got into an exhibition called the Original Art Sale at the TelstraClear Pacific Centre http://www.theoriginalartsale.co.nz/
which is happening at the end of August/early September, so I'm getting 6 paintings ready for that.
I've been painting a few oil sketches too. Cityscapes and views from the roof. Yesterday I was up there sheltering from showers which came every half an hour and trying to paint at the same time! One of the sketches is of Devenport and Rangitoto Island which I intend to make up into a big painting. Could be one for the exhibition if it turns out OK.
I have got into an exhibition called the Original Art Sale at the TelstraClear Pacific Centre http://www.theoriginalartsale.co.nz/
which is happening at the end of August/early September, so I'm getting 6 paintings ready for that.
I've been painting a few oil sketches too. Cityscapes and views from the roof. Yesterday I was up there sheltering from showers which came every half an hour and trying to paint at the same time! One of the sketches is of Devenport and Rangitoto Island which I intend to make up into a big painting. Could be one for the exhibition if it turns out OK.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
I thought I'd have a go at a still life because I havn't got anybody new to sit for a portrait. So to keep myself busy I'm doing a big cityscape during the day and this still life during the night.
The cityscapes are on a new blog which you will see at sidebar.
This one is oil on board, size: 24"x24" and shows the first coat on most of it plus a 2nd coat on the brown bottle.
I didn't do an underpaint on this, just a charcoal drawing which I scuffed out and then another charcoal drawing which I was happy with.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
update on Tom WIP
Saturday, June 30, 2007
WIP anita standing
New painting of Anita started
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Paintings and drawings on new site
Friday, April 06, 2007
Update on Standing SP
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Charcoal drawing
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Update on Standing SP
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Pastel of Anita watching TV
Pastel on dark green Canson paper. 19" x 23"
This one I have made the effort to finish and I'm much happier with it now it has some more interesting background. I've also tried to sort out the issues with her eyes and hands and it is a bit better. I'm going to leave it as it's already been sitting around for months.
Detail.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
New weblog for Paintings and Drawings
I have started a new separate site for drawings and paintings. This is accesible by clicking on the link 'Gallery New Zealand' on the right.
I will be transferring all work there to keep this one free for other family photos as they have taken a back seat recently.
Please check out the new site and let me know what you think by commenting.
Thanks.
I will be transferring all work there to keep this one free for other family photos as they have taken a back seat recently.
Please check out the new site and let me know what you think by commenting.
Thanks.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
New Self portrait
I've started a painting of Anita and Rainy but have only managed the charcoal drawing stage. Tomorrow I'll start underpainting it. In the meantime, I've also started another self portrait. Here it is in the early stages. I'm adopting the Claude method of underpainting in pinky brown as the final drawing, before starting the painting proper.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Saturday, February 17, 2007
I have painted over the sky and clouds background and returned it to the pale blue but with a bit more yellow in it to bring it closer to the yellow in the figure. I have worked into the face some more this time adding a pinker range of skin tones so reducing the yellow.
I have done the same with the hand.
Sky Background
Saturday, February 10, 2007
I've done another session on the oil. I've worked in some background and worked up the figure. I had a blue undercoat on the board before painting and after I'd painted the figure I like the undercoat colour, so I've kept a similar colour for the background when I painted it, like a new Zealand sky. I may put in some variation in there. I'm not sure what to do with the lower background apart from making it darker. I'd like to take it out of the studio to an exterior with a sky.
Also, I need to do some rearranging of the jaw. It needs to project more to the left.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Work in Progress
Monday, February 05, 2007
New Weblog for drawings and paintings
I am starting a new site/weblog more for the wider world to look at drawings and paintings.
It will be at: www.gallerynewzealand.blogspot.com
Please have a look and let me know what you think.
It will be at: www.gallerynewzealand.blogspot.com
Please have a look and let me know what you think.
I have pretty much finished work on the Anita portrait now, as I want to start something new. One thing I have found with pastels is that mixing is limited; you can mix on the paper by smudging which is a bit haphazard. So for this reason very large ranges of colours are produced to allow you to choose the colour you want. I have a range of 24 and I have found that to be far too small, especially in the dark colours. I found myself using black quite a lot in Anita's portrait because there just wasn't another colour dark enough. I have a dark blue which is the next darkest and up from that is a dark brown which is quite a bit lighter.
The other problem is that working on a small scale is tricky because of the bulky-ness of the pastel sticks. Sometimes I want a fine point to draw a line say for around the fine lines of the face. Trying to locate the corner of a thick stick of pastel is haphazard and I don't get enough control over where it is going on the paper.
I am going to read up about these issues for solutions, but I am thinking I may start oil painting soon.
The other problem is that working on a small scale is tricky because of the bulky-ness of the pastel sticks. Sometimes I want a fine point to draw a line say for around the fine lines of the face. Trying to locate the corner of a thick stick of pastel is haphazard and I don't get enough control over where it is going on the paper.
I am going to read up about these issues for solutions, but I am thinking I may start oil painting soon.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Anita Portrait
I am going to leave this one now and start something else.
The scale of the drawing is such that the detail in hands and face are a bit difficult with the bulky pastels. You have to sort of guess where the line is going to appear and sometimes mistakes are made. I could sharpen the pastel into a pencil-like point but it seems an awful waste of pastel!
Anyway, there are still some issues with the general drawing which I have to sort out.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Portrait in progress
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Hands and Feet Studies
Here are a few studies of hands and feet. They are all my hands and feet that's why the hands are all left hands as my right hand is drawing. I want to do some studies of two hands together sometime and will have to ask someone else other than myself to model.
These are all graphite pencil on paper.
Either A2 or A3.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Bottles finished
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Weather changing
Weather
Work in Progress
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Jars
This one was drawn with a Rotring technical pen . It is my old pen which is about 30 years old. I used a nib size of 0.3 which is pretty thin, and I found that the ink flow struggled on this paper. Probably a smooth card would be better. The paper used here is fairly smooth but does have a fine texture to it.
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