Painting a Rainbow trout.

This morning I decided to paint one of the trout I caught while out fishing yesterday. It was taken on a fly, fished from a drifting boat, lough style.

It is a nice silvery fish of about 1.25 kg, a Rainbow trout, grown on from fry stocked into the lough. I kept this one because it was so sleek and beautiful. It was also late in the day, so I wasn't worried about it laying in the sun for hours.




I started off by painting a quick oil paint study, rendered in about 3 hours. Painted alla prima I was more concerned with the light and colours on the fish than with the outline. Consequently the fish is a little too narrow and long in proportion. I also am not really happy with the tail shape after a long look.



The study is painted on a 35 by 25 cm canvas.





For the second work I have used a canvas 80 cm by 60 cm. I started this canvas by being much more particular in my drawing. Although this was done in paint with a brush, the sketching in was done by measuring proportions to ensure they were correct. I then adjusted the drawing slightly, to emphasise the perspective by moving the dorsal (top) fin back a fraction.

You will notice that I have taken a different angle with the second painting. I moved the fish nearer eye level to allow more of the underside of the fish to be visible.

Today, I have blocked in the background and shadow, and painted in the tail. This was important as the tail fin has started to dry out, even with regular damping. This effects the light and reflections, I also have taken some close up photographs for reference if needed. I continued working on the head, catching the colours and light playing around the gill covers, and finally I have blocked in the body tone to allow me to reposition the subject correctly for the next day so that the same area is subject to the silvery highlights.

I am not going to be able to continue tomorrow due to other commitments, but I hope to get back to the painting on Sunday. My fish will keep in the Refridgerator, covered so it doesn't dry out.

The River Dodder

I painted a study of the river Dodder at firhouse, close to home.



There are areas of the canvas unworked, but I like the effect, and I have decided to leave them as is.

It is a beautiful area of the river, the weir itself used to have a carrier from it years ago, but it hasn't been used for as long as I've known it.

I took the photo of the weir with my phone while I was there.

The river itself is a free-stone trout stream, which runs from the Dublin Mountains above Bohernabreena reservoirs, down through the reservoirs, through Tallaght, Firhouse, Rathfarnham, and further through the suburbs at Miltown, Clonskea, and Ballsbridge until finally it runs by Landsdown road and into the sea at the mouth of the liffey by Ringsend. There are wild brown trout throughout the river, a fact the local Angling club is justly proud of, as they have protected the ecosystem for the last 50 years. The angling club have fought against pollution, culverting, piping underground of small spawning streams, and generally have protected and cleaned the river while in most other major cities the river systems and fishing has been destroyed.

Works in progress, and a little about the process...

Here are a few images of some paintings I have been working on. They are paintings of sea-bream and a filleted sea-bass.







Red Bream

Sea-Bream

Fish stock

Bream head.

All are oil on canvas.

I have also been working on some of the Malta paintings, and they are still progressing.

Here is the one of the redtower, shown earlier that I have reworked.

I have also painted another more abstract work from the original view.

I have just reworked the sky on this painting

and re-explored the same view in a more simplified way.

I reworked the Tower painting, moving back away from my emphasis of colour. I also added some of the dry scrub back into the foreground which has solidified the painting as a whole. At the same time I have created more of a Haze to the work giving the impression of the heat instead of the hotter colouring.

As you will notice the paintings are still evolving, the evolution of the fish paintings are now having an effect on the landscapes, in particular the 3rd painting of the Red Tower which has abstracted out of the original. This was led by the interest of the fish paintings moving from a study of the fish

itself, morphing into the fish-head painting. In the way the fish head work is relying on a ghost image of the skeleton to create interest, rather than the more defined skeleton of the sea-bass painting, the 3rd work of the Red Tower has relied less on definition and more on imagination to pick out the field boundaries and terrace work.

Evolving process..

I have been busy in the studio again, working away... quite productively, the work is evolving nicely. A lot of what I have done will not see the light of day, but it is leading towards something I'm getting interested in.
It may take a few weeks to get there, but if it does-so be it. It is always nice to meander off on a theme, and just follow to where it leads. It may be successful, or it may not.....either way the journey is enjoyable and I thrive on the process anyway. Painting ceases to be hard work and turns into an adventure. When the process evolves like this it is exciting, not so much that you can't see where it is leading, but you get the urge to keep going even beyond tiredness. The hardest part is stopping work, and even when I'm tired I can't wait to go back into the studio.....the tricky part is striking the balance between work and overworking. Getting over tired just means that you lose the impetus and the work gets stale.
This is why I am resting today, and probably tommorrow...

more interruptions.....lol

I found time to work yesterday, it progressed well. But with the trout fishing season opening in the morning I am spending today organising my fishing tackle and loading it all back into my van for the trip tomorrow.
Painting fish will have to wait for another day.

Back to grey skies....

We are back from the Cote D'Azur (French Riviera), in France. The weather was beautiful again, February and 20 degrees, sunshine and blue skies (if a little hazy at times). Travelling along between Nice, Antibes, Cagnes-sur-mer and as far along as Cannes....we intend to go further on our next visit to the area....was most enjoyable in bright sunshine and warm breezes. However we are now back in cold grey windy Ireland...and wishing I was still there.

Visiting the Cote D'azur, among other places, allows you to experience the world of the Impressionists and post impressionists. It is much easier to appreciate or critique the work when you have seen the areas painted, the light of the region and it's natural colours. See what they saw when painting plein air landscapes along the coastal regions. But many other artists also spent time working here, among them were Pablo Picasso, Chagall, Dufy, Cocteau, Bonnard, Soutine, Derain, Boudin, as well as Monet, Renoir and others. There is even an organised tour based around the settings and landscapes they painted for those that like to be guided.

I prefer to meander along at my own pace rather than being chivvied or delayed by a herd instinctively trying to keep everyone happy....even those that want the whistle-stop tour!
I am amazed how some groups go into galleries and speed around as fast as possible...I tend to go to one or two rooms at a time and savour what I see....there is always another day to see further. But back to the Riviera...the light there is different.. one of these days I may get to spend enough time there to do some painting....maybe next time, we are certainly going back again, we had a better time this year than last year, mainly because we travelled more widely (last year we spent most of the time in Nice and Monaco) but we still want to see other areas of interest, and we still didn't go to the Renoir Museum (Cagnes) the Chagall Museum (Nice) time just passes and before we know it, it's time to go home again......Well at least until Barcelona next month..........

Work on the Malta series.

The work has gone quite well today. I have photographed four of the pieces (badly, LOL) but there is a reflection on them from the lights, as I had long lost daylight by the time I was thinking about photographing them.

The first is of a castle called the Redtower, and it is actually that pink in colour.

The second is a view of a typical Maltese hill with patchwork fields in the foreground.


The third is based on sketches of a terrace hillside, seen from below.

The last of the four is a view of a bay on the North coast of Gozo. The headland has a distinctly shaped hill which creates a dramatic statement.

All are still works in progress, but I am happy with the way they are progressing.

I am back painting.

I have a total of five works on the go at the moment, and a number of others ready to start. They are all relatively small, (for me) under 35 cm as I am cognizant of needing to ship them abroad, and to keep the purchase price at a level that is affordable in the market they are going to.

I hope to carry on this week at near the level of work I managed last week, but I found it very tiring. I was painting up to 14 hours a day last week, and it takes a lot out of me, so I will probably slow down. The work is progressing well though.

February Snows...

We are almost snowbound at the moment... at least the studio is in walking distance, I was out in the car about an hour ago, but driving in a straight line was impossible, waltzing along was easy, stopping wasn't. England has it worse though.

I have finally finished rejigging my website and replaced sold work with other images, re-organised different galleries and updated my key words and tags....I hope!

Tomorrow I hope to start painting. Assuming I can manage to walk down to the end of the garden tomorrow. I will keep you informed....

February already

The start of another month! January has gone, and I still have no painting done!
I will get stuck in next week though. It is surprising how time passes so quickly. I need to get back to work soon, I have lots of work to do in the early part of the year with two proposed one man exhibitions in late summer and the autumn.

I am ready to paint now though, and because of this I know work will go well. I am rested, so I can approach the work with fresh ideas and impetus. I'll keep you updated.