WIP again

WIP again. 

(Acrylic on canvas panel, 10x8 in)

As if to prove the point made in my previous post, here’s another Work in Progress started yesterday, to add to the growing pile of unfinished work. When I’m ready, there’ll be a splurge of completed works. By the way, this painting is based on a photograph taken on the same day as that used for the previous post and only five minutes walk away. I think I see a consistent mindset.

Another Work in Progress

Another Work in Progress.
(Acrylic on canvas board, 10x8 in)

Lacking the will to push on and finish anything at the moment, I continue to pile up the WIPs and started this one yesterday at the Club. I rather wish I’d used a bigger panel now, so maybe I’ll consider this a study for a bigger painting.

In another forum, I was asked why I was attracted to this subject. I often find it difficult to articulate what it is that attracts me to a subject because it’s that old “if I could tell you what it is I wouldn’t have to paint it” trope. But I do recognise potential subject matter as soon as I see it. In this case I’m sure it was an element of dereliction, the monumentality of it (possibly why I regret the smallness of the panel) and the geometric shapes. 

Two Works in Progress

WIP - Aerial View

(Acrylic on canvas board, 12 x 12 in)

WIP - Crossing the Square

(Acrylic on canvas board, 12 x 12 in)

Two works in progress, both views from a tower in Verona. One begun yesterday, the other creeping to completion. Both with issues to resolve.

WIP: Crossing the Square

Crossing the Square WIP
(Acrylic on canvas board, 12x12 in)

Another new one blocked out yesterday. I’ve always loved views from above. In this case, I'm working on a photograph taken from a tower in Verona.

 

Diamonds and Pearls

Diamonds and Pearls
(Acrylic on board, 11 x 11 in)

This weekend’s work. My Regular Reader will know I'm rather fond of the shop as subject matter, so this new painting of a little jewellery shop I spotted in a quiet square in Trogir, Croatia, should come as no surprise. 

I painted it on a panel I prepared long ago with pieces of paper pasted down and that has given the painting a nice texture appropriate to the old walls of the town.

Streets in Bologna

Streets in Bologna [SOLD]

(Acrylic on board, 14 x 8.5 in)

Friday’s new start at the Art Club was this view of streets in Bologna. Several alterations later, and the Italian street scene is done.

It's a combination of a view I liked and the serendipitous finding of a panel that was the right shape. I’d do more of these views if the panels were readily available.

 

Chinese Bottle

 Chinese Bottle

(Acrylic on board, 8 x 8 in)

[SOLD]

This small still life painted, I think, during the Lockdown, has now sold and on its way to its new home.

Seville Tile Factory

 Seville Tile Factory

(Acrylic on canvas board, 10 x 12 in)

I was fascinated by the Tile Factory in Seville when we went there in 2017. The strange shapes of the bottle kilns with mysterious openings and cantilevered lamps were a delight for someone who revels in the unusual. I was immediately reminded of the paintings of Giorgio de Chirico, a tremendous influence on many of the painters I admire from the period between the Wars.

Here's a Photoshop treatment I did of a photograph taken on the same visit. I think it evokes some of de Chirico strangeness, but despite a couple of attempts I've failed to turn it into a successful painting. I may return to it again.

Memory Lane

 Memory Lane

(Acrylic on canvas, 8 x 8 in)

A painting from almost ten years ago. I needed the frame for something else, so took the opportunity to make some revisions. The painting is now darker and potentially more mysterious, and for me that seems right. I'm beginning to realise that changing times and my attitudes to the work, can be reflected in reworked paintings. Something for more thought.

Derry Girls

Derry Girls

(Acrylic on canvas board, 9 x 12 in)

The second of my paintings celebrating my trip to Derry / Londonderry. The Derry Girls mural was quite a surprise.

Up the Walls of Derry

 Up the Walls of Derry

(Acrylic on canvas board, 9 x 12 in)

Completed today, the first of my new Derry / Londonderry paintings. I was there two years ago and had a great time, but sometimes it takes a while for the experience to filter through and become a painting.

Speciality Coffee Bar

Speciality Coffee Bar

(Acrylic and collage on board, 12x7 in)

A small painting begun as a distraction at the turn of the year. It shows one of the derelict doorways I found as I wandered the streets of Chania on one of my many visits there. I enjoyed bringing the textures of the wall and door to life.

After today’s changes, I think I’m done with it now.

Rooftop WIP

Rooftop WIP
(Acrylic on canvas board, 8x8 in)

Something else begun last Friday at Gateshead Art Society. I'm finding my way with this one, not quite certain where it will lead. I'm interested in the way the shadows may not correspond with the light source.

Work Yard WIP

Work Yard WIP

(Acrylic on canvas board, 10 x 12 in)

The first few hours at Gateshead Art Society today left me with this scrubby start to a new, quite complicated painting of a work yard just round the corner from where I live.

I’m genuinely encouraged and find myself becoming more interested in the mundane urban imagery around me.

 

Night Moorings

 

Night Moorings

(Acrylic on canvas board, 10 x 12 in)

Finished today. This was one of those times when I begin to question if the photograph I'm using as subject matter is just a good photograph and not really suitable as painting subject matter. But I persevered, made changes (mostly to the sky) and ended with something I find satisfactory.

Whitby Coble

Whitby Coble

(acrylic on canvas board, 12 x 12 in)

For various reasons, mostly to do with the approach I first took to the composition and sourcing of the image, I put off finishing this painting, but now it’s done and I’m happy with it. 

The slightly different approach involved using a photograph that never entirely convinced me because the coble sat low in the water and didn't break the line of the quayside. To extract the information I needed to make the picture work, I tried working from a pen drawing of the photograph, ensuring the coble's superstructure bridged the top of the quay. This is the pen drawing:

(Fountain pen in square Pink Pig sketchbook)

Chicken Shed WIP

Chicken Shed WIP 

(Acrylic on board, 10x10 in)

Begun at the Art Club yesterday, for me a nightmare in green, but I have it under control I think. It's based on an ink drawing I did back in 2019.an ink drawing I did back in 2019.

Heritage/Glasshouse

Heritage/Glasshouse

(Acrylic on canvas board, 10x12 in)

I think it was the contrast between the old (the monument in front of St Mary's Heritage Centre)and the new (The Glasshouse International Centre for Music) that attracted me to this composition. It took a while to get the painting to this stage, but I’m happy with it now (although the photograph is a little inaccurate in the colour of the grass in the foreground).

WIP - Heritage / Glasshouse

 

WIP - Heritage / Glasshouse
(Acrylic on canvas board, 10x12 in)

A new one started yesterday. I expect the sky will become less apocalyptic as it progresses. The mausoleum is in the grounds of the Gateshead Heritage Centre (AKA St Mary's Church) and sits boldly in front of the modernist Sage Music Centre , recently renamed The Glasshouse. If there are moiré patterns on the image, I apologise - it's an effect of the canvas but will be gone in the finished painting.

Kwik Fit

Kwik Fit

(acrylic on canvas board, 12 x 10 in)

So many little changes before I was satisfied, but now I think I am. I wonder if you can tell I’ve become interested in David Inshaw and Tristram Hillier? I love the clarity of their work and acrylic definitely lends itself to that approach.