No. 51. Twomatoes

Oils still life on canvas panel. 7" x 5". Click here to buy this study.

It's become decidedly cold here, Emeraldside. My children are hoping [probably forlornly again] that there'll be snow in time for Christmas. It seldom snows to any great degree on the low ground in Ireland, courtesy of our damp maritime climate. Time to try to bring back a little sunshine with these tomatoes that were lying in the kitchen, like me - all red and embarrassed. I used a background that I've used before, only this time I turned the fabric around, so this is the reverse -a slightly lighter combination of greys. I kept the painting as loose as I could, to bring a little liveliness to the study. After some time spent blocking in the warm red tones of the tomatoes, I began to notice all kinds of reflections and shifts in warmth and coolness as they picked up the background and the white canopy of my shadowbox. I could have gone on and on but my objective this time was to capture the composition without becoming too slavish to reality.

No. 50. Between Edenderry and Daingean, Ireland. Oils Study

Oils Landscape Study on canvas panel. 7" x 5". Click here to buy this study.

SOLD

My wife and I took a romantic long weekend trip on a canal barge some years ago. That's our barge just to the right of the study. The rain was continuous for much of the trip, and of course the barge still needed to have a man at the helm, so I learned what it is to be a seafarer. I also learned that you mustn't have the barge too near the lock gates when going downhill or it'll catch on them and end up nose down and stuck, with the added piquancy of panic in case the craft busts in half. If you close the gates quickly and refill the lock with water, it should be alright. That's all I'm saying. I shall go to sea no more...

No. 49. Lemon & Oriental Spoon

Oils Study on canvas panel. 7" x 5". Buy this on Etsy.

SOLD 

I bought this little spoon, along with its bowl,  in a local charity shop. Porcelain is a difficult proposition to paint, I find. There's a translucency that's hard to capture, so it's difficult to see it through. Ahem. Because of the warm spotlight, there was a hard, intense highlight, for which I had to evaluate the tonal values for the rest of the piece. The porcelain is white, but painting it requires the artist to work against his perception of what white is. The addition of a lemon, with its own inherent difficulties made this a bitter experience. I'm sorry, I can't stop myself...

No. 48. Monolithic Red Pepper

Oils Study on canvas panel. 7" x 5". Buy this on Etsy.

SOLD

This is not the composition I started out with. First, I tried to paint it alongside an ornament but against a light blue backdrop. I got only so far before I realised that it wasn't working at all -I scrubbed the canvas and started this one. Thankfully it came together well. The trick is the combination of cool and warm reds. The warmth comes from the mix of cadmium colours and the coolness from a deep madder red. It's a simple composition, hence the title, but I was at once happy and relieved and ready for breakfast...

Temporary Hiatus

I've been unable to get any daily studies done for the past week or so -I've been trying to clear my studio of commercial work before attending to an important family reunion. I'll be back next week, brushes in hand to resume my studies. Until then...

No. 47. Abstract: Lavaflow

Acrylics Abstract Study on canvas panel. 7" x 5". Buy this on Etsy.

Another enjoyable couple of hours. It feels good to start a small project with no clear idea of how it will turn out. It's the paint that speaks. 

Once again, this is a mixed-media piece on canvas board -acrylics and varnish. As usual, the varnish buckles and cracks, leaving a craquelure effect that builds as layers of colour are applied. 

Hence the title: the effect suggested lava as it forms a crust and you can still see the molten rock glowing beneath. Not that I've experienced much on the way of volcanic activity in Ireland. The only eruptions around here are induced by over-indulgence in porter.

No. 46. Abstract 'Sunspot"

Acrylics Abstract Study on canvas panel. 7" x 5". Click here to buy this study.

Playing with paint again. This is the fun stuff -just as rewarding as the more formal still lifes. Full of 'happy accidents' -I have no clear idea of how these will turn out and the only hint to tell me that a piece might be finished is instinct. I love the bright colours even though they've been subdued by glazes of burnt umber. Texture is another dimension -paint applied thickly over not-quite-dry colour forms cracks and fissures. A holiday from real life...

No. 45. Apple Delerium Trainems

Oils Still Life Study on canvas panel. 7" x 5". Click here to buy this study.

I  upended an old box I used to have attached to my easel and stood an apple for this study. The box is very stained from several years of spilled turps and marks from loaded brushes and turps jars. I needed a simple composition this morning as I overdid last night's gym session. I've missed a whole week of training and was attending only sporadically [or sposmadically] for a couple of weeks previous to that. I now feel as if I have a cider hangover. Painting an apple as a kind of hair of the dog doesn't seem to have worked that well... so, I'm off to the pub this evening for some real cider amongst some other mouldy artists at an Illustrators Guild of Ireland open meeting -mmm, tasty.

No. 44. Ramequin and Green Olives

Oils Still Life Study on canvas panel. 7" x 5". Click here to buy this study.

SOLD

I bought a dozen or so of these olives a couple of days ago in order to paint them. No sooner than I got them home than my children fell upon them and devoured all but these three. It was like trying to stop a herd of thirsty buffalo at first scent of water. They have expensive tastes, my bairns -but healthy appetites! It's lucky I didn't want to paint a white truffle, that's all I'm saying.  

This was another effort to reduce my evening goggle-box watching. I recreated my setup on the kitchen table, after the evening's tea debris had been hosed off with the power-hose. I perched a chair up on top of the table for a frame to fix my warm light lamp and once again, I used 'water miscible' oils.

No. 44. A Thoroughly Good Egg

Oils Still Life Study on canvas panel. 7" x 5". Click here to buy this study.

Last night, I laid an egg. Instead of the usual evening fare of meal - couch - television - physical collapse, I decided to set up a still life on the kitchen table. For this one, I used new-fangled water-miscible oils. They're great for use in the house as brushes can be washed out in water, sparing family members the reek of turps. Otherwise they work like regular oils. [I suggested that a friend use them once and he recoiled in horror at the thought when I mentioned that they're prepared in a binder of genetically-modified oil. It seemed like a strange reaction from someone who'd just told me that they thought Liquin was a great way to speed up drying. This is the kind of stuff you can't pour down a drain].

Anyway, back to my oeuvre. I spent a pleasant hour or so, away from the idiot's lantern and listening to the wireless and daubing. That's when I laid the egg, see?

Then I was too perked-up to go to bed; I turned on the box and to my delight, there was a documentary film on the life of one of my favourite singers, the late English troubadour Jake Thackray. A thoroughly good egg and for what it's worth, this little study is dedicated to his memory. What a pleasant way to spend an evening.

No. 43. I'm Asparagus! No, I'm Asparagus!

Oils Still Life Study on canvas panel. 7" x 5". Click here to buy this study.

Sticking to the tenuous Roman slave theme, Romans may well have grown, prepared and eaten asparagus; the vegetable of Kings. I made that last bit up. I set them up on the top of a red file box that was lying around the forum somewhere and set my faithful Quintus about holding a strong rush torch to light the piece. I'm lucky to have Quintus; he's from one of the Gaulish tribes who are world leaders in asparagus lighting.