A painted sketch after John Raeburn’s painting of his son.

This was painted with burnt umber on 300g paper, primed with a clear gesso.

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A painting sketch after one of Hogarth’s earliest portraits

Sometimes I will do a small study in a watercolor sketchbook with a paper thickness at around 300g.  I primed the page three times with a transparent primer and then drew the image in. I then primed it once more and set about my painting employing a limited palette. I put a light wash over the drawing using raw umber to establish the overall mid tone.  I get all the dark values in first using raw umber before subtracting the paint for the lighter areas.  You can use your fingers or a cloth or both as required.  Titanium white is then used in the lightest areas and then I use lamp black or a nice bone black for accents and the darkest darks.

I tend to work from the hair into the flesh finding all my local colors and only add refinement when everything is done.

Just remember that the mid tones are neither as dark or as light as should be.  You should work out your darkest darks and lightest lights from your mid tones.

For this little study I used a very simple pallet: Raw Umber, Titanium white and a Light Ochre which has great transparency.

This is a self portrait of William Hogarth.  It is one of his earliest known portraits.  He was a very interesting man; a painter, a printmaker, an art theorist; certainly someone worth getting to know.

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A sightsize sketch of Jupiter embraces Io by Corregio

I have always felt that Ingres must have studied this painting before executing his own wonderful masterpiece…I’ll leave you to guess which painting I might be talking about!

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Paintings from back in the day

A friend of mine suggested that it would be a good idea to show some of my older pieces feeling that much of what I had painted in the past can still be enjoyed.  So, short of putting everything up I thought a small sample would do.  Here it is.

      

When I painted these, I used quick drying mediums, cotton canvasses and soft flat brushes, building up my paintings in a manner closely resembling that of an Alla prima painter. (Alla prima means “at once”, a painting style that is done in a quickly-executed wet-into-wet fashion for faster results)

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It’s a beginning

This corner of my studio is where most of my painting gets done; not that I’m in the habit of working by candle light mind you- It was days end when I took this photo and by that time (Imagine any late hour you like) I’ve usually faced whatever I’ve been working on towards the wall (well, the bookcase really) before settling down to read or perhaps enjoy some podcast or other – The H.P. Lovecraft LiteraryPodcast and A Podcast to the Curious ( mood lighting is absolutely necessary here) being current favorites of mine.

The above painting – Memento Gorey -was done in oils ( my preferred medium for oh so many reasons) : please note the cat bounding towards the oil lamp.

The first time I saw anything like Gorey’s art was when I was a child.  There I’d be, legs crossed and upright on the floor, as close to the television as my parents would allow while they, sitting behind me on the couch, settled in to watch Masterpiece Mystery Theatre.  The show itself held little enough interest for me but that comfortably macabre black and white animation that inaugurated the proceedings held me enthralled ( and still does – croquet in the rain, falling masonry, giant urns.  Brilliant!)

Here it is:   Theme from “Mystery!”

Here is a photograph of all the Amphogorey(s) I’ve got (and a picture of the cat that served as a kind of creative germ).  The books are not terribly collectable but that just means I’m free to enjoy them all the more.  It’s nice to see a well loved book on the shelves.

Incidentally, the painting in the header: Writers Block, oh the Horror! – another oil painting of mine – sums up the occasional uncertainty I feel when I have to commit my thoughts to paper *ahem* and so I thought it an appropriate enough image.

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