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.

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.

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)

Laying Cable

 Laying Cable

(acrylic on canvas board, 8 x 8 in)

If you're a painter, are you ever surprised by how your paintings turn out? I know my many interests feed into my work and with this I probably detect the influence of children’s book Illustration. A good deal of this must be to do with the switch to acrylic paint which lends itself to bright clear passages of colour.

WIP - Kwik Fit

 

WIP

(Acrylic on canvas board, 10x12 in)

Another venture into local urban scenes. I spotted the potential of this garage on a trip to the podiatrist - it's just across the road from his premises. Early days, but I think it'll work.

Top Tape

 

Top Tape

(acrylic on canvas board, 8 x 10 in.)

My first painting of 2024, a modest subject: a derelict shop I came across last year in Cambridge. 

Low Fell Lane

Low Fell Lane

(Acrylic on canvas board, 10x8 in)

SOLD

Started at Gateshead Art Society last Friday and finished during the week.

The lane is just round the corner from my house and is one I walk up and down regularly to and from the shops. It's one of the delights of being an artist that you can suddenly be struck by something commonplace and see the potential for a painting.

I've since sold this small work to a collector who lives in Germany.

 

Forth Lane

Forth Lane

(Acrylic on canvas board, 10 x 8 in)

A small painting, finally finished bar the varnishing. My first painting of the year and the first of Newcastle in quite some time. It's a lane just round the corner from Newcastle Arts Centre.

 

At the Maritime Trust

At the Maritime Trust

(acrylic on canvas, board, 12 x 12 in)

This is a painting I’ve been working on over the last week or two. It’s based on a sketch I made on an outing with the Tyne & Wear Urban Sketchers in 2017 (see below) and the repeated circles fascinated me.

In the Shed 
(2B mechanical pencil in A4 sketchbook)

 

Flowers in a Green vase

 Flowers in a Green Vase

(Acrylic on canvas board, 12x12 in)

Finding myself a bit adrift this year, I fell back on the old maxim, “When you can’t paint, paint something else.” I did a few very small still life paintings during the Lockdown and quite enjoyed them, but scaling up to even this modest size proved difficult. What I expected to take a couple of days or so has taken the best part of a week. I wonder if the next one, should I give in to temptation, will be so difficult?