Serbian Exhibition Poster

I was sent an image of the poster from the Exhibition in Belgrade, Serbia. It is an interesting poster..... I am not sure of the relevance of the angels, but it is probably something to do with Christmas and the New Year.
It is nice to get copies of the posters as well as the catalogues from the exhibitions you take part in. I must start a scrap book one of these days. It is almost new-years eve so I will wish you all a prosperous new year.

Solstice Morning..

I have painted a couple of small works this week. I had a few enquiries for some "affordable" paintings as Christmas gifts. I will try to finish off one more before the day so I will be busy enough. It has been very cold the last few days, but the heating in the studio is more than adequate, I thought the metal skin may create a refridgerator effect but the double walls give enought insulation from the cold. I am on here while waiting for the heater to warm the studio before I start work, that usually takes about 30 minutes and it will be pleasantly warm when I go back in. The sun was hidden behind clouds this morning, but at least it is getting brighter now and I will have good light in about half an hour. It is winter solstice today, (a day later than the calender date) the shortest day of the year. From today on it will start getting brighter again, it helps shorten winter knowing summer is on its way.

Just over a week to Christmas and I am not doing much painting, a little fishing but mainly meeting people and attending end-of-year meetings and get-togethers. It's all go! Party season is upon us. Bearing this in mind, Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year!, just in case I don't post in the next week.

Only 3 weeks to Christmas...

It's December already, I have been busy. I had to pack and ship a few paintings, mainly to ensure delivery before Christmas (some were to the USA) and now I can get back to painting. I want to go and get a few more canvases etc. also, I am running low on them and want to ensure I get them before they are all sold out. It is surprising how much art materials are sold coming up to Xmas, obviously as gifts for people. I am working on an idea for a work based on Cruagh wood, up the road. We took the dogs up for a walk last week, the leaves had just finished falling and the colours were just at the stage of a deep russet reflecting in the light against the green timber.
















I may go up during the week with a sketch book.

another Tunisian coast seascape study, step by step

Blocked in

reworking the sea

into the shallow water

and next I work the rocks

some general highlights

more highlights to give the movement in the water and wave lines added

final highlights and details

about 12 inches square, acrylic on canvas. I am building up a collection of these small works, soon I will start on a large scale piece on the subject.

two small seascapes

Here are two quick studies, acrylic on canvas, about 10 inches square. They are both based on the mediterranean coast again. They are just basic square works, but divided in half, blue and green. This has been varied by splitting the top square again, the lower one in half again above and graduated colour below. In the first painting, the movement in the water and the cloud in the sky have broken up the stripes, thus disguising the geometric form of the painting. In the second, less worked piece the cloud does not break the top strip to a great extent leaving it stronger looking even though it is less pronounced than in the first painting. The gradual and radial colour change of the sea help do the same.






SOLD

These are two small experimental paintings which will help when I come to do a larger painting based on the same principle.

SOLD Seascape 2,

North African seascape No.2

I have been working on another North African/mediterranean seascape painting. Here is a step by step work up study;acrylic on canvas, 16 inches square.
Step one:Blocked in colour with a few marks indicating water movement.

step two: further work on the main sea areas. There is added movement in the water and more tonal values in the sea.
Followed by step three: detailing and moving light on the rocks, light movement in the foreground water, created mainly with the use of semi-transparent layers and brush marks.

The criss-crossing curves and arcs create a simplified rippling effect on the seabed while still showing as water surface without needing to delineate the visuals by adding a shoreline




This will be an interesting excercise in a more finished painting.

Second Lino-cut print

These are two prints from my second lino-cut. They are not good quality as I have used plain acrylic paint and sketching paper but they suffice to give an idea of what they will look like when finished. I have created horizontal strips to create an impression of writing in the book. The angled lines on the background are intended to give the idea of a rushing river with the salmon leaping out from it. I moved the 'Ex' over to the right, to help the balance of the image.

My Ex-Libris Lino-cut is coming along

I have been working on my Ex Libris print. Ex Libris from the latin meaning "from the books of",was an old way of claiming ownership of books, much like a library stamp, when books were still very valuable. The idea was to have a personal stamp to put into the frontispiece (1st page) of the book. It will be a lino cut. This is my basic outline. The design is based on Fionn mac Cumhaill, (pronounced Finn MacCool) an early Irish mythical hero, who while cooking the salmon of knowledge for his teacher Finneces, accidentally gained the great knowledge of all things....much like an avid reader does. I will be titling my print "Fionn mac Cumhaill's Salmon" and I think it is an Ideal subject for an 'Ex Libris', as it is sympathetic to the idea of books as tools of learning.

This is my first plate, although it did print well I am not totally happy with the final print. I will cut another block and try it before deciding one way or another.

Autumn rains

I am currently working on the structural element of my studio access, in short building my 'boat-dock' out to the door. The steel structure is in place and I now can fit the timbers to it. Today though we have heavy rain and wind so I don't see me getting much done. I cannot even try to sort out the power outlets in the wet.
It is looking like a day to go wandering around a few galleries and the art supply shop. I may even spend a few hours socialising in the city while I am at it. I haven't done that in quite a while, I have been too busy since getting back from Tunisia, and I didn't have the time before my trip either.