Rev James

Rev James

(Acrylic on canvas board, 8x8 in)

A little painting I did for a friend’s birthday, based on the label of a favourite Welsh ale.

 

Coffee Shop Readers

Coffee Shop Readers

(Acrylic on mountboard, 10x10 in)

Another small painting started last week at the Club and finished during the following week. Something a little different perhaps, but I’ve been looking at paintings of cafes recently and it’s had its effect. The coffee shop on which this is based is in the Stockbridge area of Edinburgh.

 

Pharmacy, North Brewick

Pharmacy, North Berwick

(Mixed media on canvas panel, 10x8 in)

Another in the series of shops I've found so interesting recently. This pharmacy is on the main street of North Berwick and I based the small painting on a photograph I took some years ago on a visit to Fidra Fine Art to see an excellent show of George Birrell paintings.

The pharmacy later came to my aid in a roundabout way when, after I fell on some rocks near Tantallon Castle, my friends bought some large elastoplasts at the pharmacy to stem the blood flow!

 

The Dotty House

The Dotty House

(Mixed media on mountboard, 10x10 in)

In an attempt to continue documenting my local area, I decided to see what I could make of the view at the end of our street, looking towards The Dotty House, a shop that sells greetings cards and gifts.

In its making, this small painting became of those pictures that takes on a life of its own. I like the slightly eerie quality.

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.

 

Curleys

Curleys

(Mixed media on canvas panel, 10x12 in)

SOLD

Another portrait of a building on Gateshead High Street, this one sadly scheduled for demolition I understand. The original building dates from around 1800 and the current pub frontage from about 1900. The pub was previously called the Phoenix (from at least 1873) but was commonly known as Curleys after early 20th century licensee Will Curley (who was a boxer) and later officially changed its name.

Since painting this, I've sold it to the grandson of a former landlord of the pub.

 

Dietz

Dietz

(Acrylic on canvas panel, 10 x 8 in)

This small work is what I think of as a “building portrait”. The shop stands on Gateshead High Street and even now that the pork butcher’s shop has been replaced by something less interesting, the early 19th century frontage stands out from the surrounding buildings.

I based the painting on a photograph of the building I took some time after the shop had closed. Eventually, through the magic if the Interweb, I was able to find a photograph of the window when the shop was open and include that information.

WIP - Holy Island Water Tower

 

WIP - Holy Island Water Tower

(oil on canvas, 12 x 12 in)

Not a great day at the North of England Art Club yesterday. I put this painting back on the easel to resume work on it and squeezed out some fresh paint onto my palette.

Then I noticed that a bottle of Liquin had fallen over and leaked out quite a bit of the contents into the bottom of my paint box. Liquin sets like a particularly sticky toffee. So, scraping out the Liquin as best I could, I started to clean the residue with white spirit and soapy water.

Almost done, I knocked over the inside tray, spilling all my brushes and tubes of paint onto the floor. My back is giving me real trouble at the moment, so by the time I’d dried off the paint box and picked up all the brushes and paint, all I was fit for was storing the painting back in the racks, putting away the easel and going home.

I haven't been back since, which is a situation in need of remedying.

Up Pink Lane

Up Pink Lane

(Acrylic on board, 10 x 10 in)

In doing this small painting I was reminded what it was that put me off painting Newcastle: all those neoclassical windows and other details! Give me wonky vernacular any day.

 

WIP - Dietz

Dietz (WIP)

(Acrylic on canvas board, 8 x 10 in)

I’m working away on two different paintings at the moment, but Friday at Gateshead Art Society tends to signal the start of something fresh. And so it was today: I’ve been meaning to make something of a photograph I took many years ago of a butcher’s shop on Gateshead High Street. It’s no longer a butcher’s but still retains the interesting Art Deco character that set it apart from the surrounding vernacular buildings. Just blocked in so far.

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.

 

Say Cheese

 Say Cheese

(Acrylic and collage on board, 8x8 in)

I like to start the New Year with some cheese.

Nine Satisfactory Paintings of 2022

 

It’s been an unusually quiet year for me, but here are nine paintings produced in 2022, all of which satisfied me in one way or another.

Merry Christmas 2022!

 

Late for the Match (Snow)

(Acrylic and digital colour)

This year’s Xmas card (also available from LoveFromTheArtist).

Merry Xmas and a Very Happy New Year to all my friends and followers! Thanks for your support.

Nine Textured Paintings

 

Nine textured paintings on a continuing, if occasional, theme of distressed doors and walls.

The Pontificator (and his Successor)

 

The wonder of social media! Someone in the north west has just posted on Twitter the first photo above. It’s a painting he bought in an antique centre in Skipton and it’s one of mine. Here’s the story: I painted the version below (later cut down for a smaller frame), but then decided to revisit the subject in a less descriptive manner. Ian Bambro, whom some of you may remember (he blogged as Will Barrow), bought that second version from me and following his death, I guess it was auctioned off by his executors. Haven’t seen it in years!

alla prima 2022

Still Life alla prima

(acrylic on watercolour paper, 7x7 in)

One of the annual challenges at Gateshead Art Society is for everyone to paint, alla prima, from the same photograph. This is where I got in just over an hour last Friday, trying to share a photo with someone else. 

I can do better under less stressful circumstances, and this isn't how I might ordinarily approach the subject, but I'm not displeased with it. Indeed, I might go back to it at some point and make it more presentable. If you'd be interested in buying this work of art when it's done, please get in touch.

George and the Dragon (SOLD)

 

George and the Dragon (2004)
(Oil on canvas, 16x20 in)

Spent the afternoon parcelling up this painting so I can send it off to its new home in the USA in the next few days.

Gateshead Art Society’s Xmas Exhibition (Part 2)

 Three more new paintings in Gateshead Art Society’s Annual Exhibition, opening on Saturday at 11 am:

At the Maritime Trust

(acrylic on canvas board, 12x12 in)

Horchata for Two

(acrylic and collage on board, 9x9 in)

The Last Ice Cream of Summer

(acrylic and collage on board, 9x9 in)

Gateshead Art Society’s Xmas Exhibition (Part 1)

Three new paintings in Gateshead Art Society’s Annual Exhibition, opening on Saturday at 11 am:

Flowers in a Green Vase

(acrylic on canvas board, 12x12 in)

Still Life with Presents

(acrylic on canvas board, 12x12 in)

Lindisfarne

(acrylic and collage on board, 30x30 cm)

Aberdeen Trawler (WIP)

Aberdeen Trawler (WIP)

(acrylic and collage on board)

A detail of something new, almost finished - watch this space.

Untitled (Bologna)

Untitled (Bologna)

(mixed media on board, 30x30cm)

I started these two Textured Wall Series pictures together in July and quickly finished the Bari painting below by August. The other fought back and it wasn’t resolved until Friday last.

Untitled (Bari)

(mixed media on board, 30x30 cm)

Looking at Paintings

Exhibition time rolls round again, so I’m starting to look at paintings, some unfinished, to see what might be submitted where. I usually find this process kickstarts the creative process too (not before time!)

From Odyssey Studios Balcony

From Odyssey Studios Balcony

(markers in A5 sketchbook)

It’s months since I sat down with a pen and sketchbook (I blame Covid), but today I made the effort. Obvious mistakes, but I’m out of practice. Still, I’m not dissatisfied.

Me in a Bar

 

Bewitched, Bothered & Bemildred. A pre-prandial Aperol Spritz, with some solid funk, in a bar round the corner.

From a Window

 

From the window at Odyssey Studios, Chania. Good to be just chilling out in such a lovely apartment, with wonderfully friendly hosts.

Back to Chania

 

It's four years since we were last in Chania; three since we were out of the UK at all. It's great to be back. Rather than choose somewhere to visit that would make us feel we'd have to explore, we decided to go back to Chania (definitely our favourite place) to just amble about and soak up the sun and atmosphere.

New Wall Painting (WIP 2)

 

Wall (WIP)

(Mixed media on 30x30cm board)

Despite a determination to make progress with this painting, I got caught up in the hectic “fun” of having a new kitchen fitted, and that inevitably definitely meant a delay.

However, yesterday I felt able to move along this textured wall piece with some watercolour paper, some paint and mark making.

New Wall Painting (WIP)

Wall (WIP)

(acrylic and collage on board, 12 x 12 in)

It’s early days but I hope this start to a new painting indicates an end to the post-Covid malaise that hit me a few weeks ago. We'll see how things go.

Untitled (Bari)

 Untitled (Bari)

(Mixed media on board, 30x30 cm)

Now that the painting is finished, I find myself yet again surprised at the way a random layer of paint and torn papers can influence the eventual appearance of a painting.