On an utterly different note, an IPAD2 Christmas present has introduced the option to film and record weather, conversations and works in progress. I’ve long been warmed by David Hockney’s  enthusiasm for this technology. The Brushes App is such a fluent drawing tool. It has the ease of oil gliding over glass and something of the immediacy of the monoprint about it. You can trace the development of a drawing which is interesting in itself and I’m beginning to engage with the potential of this new drawing tool. I’m looking forward to seeing his large iPad pieces in the forthcoming London exhibition and getting to know a little more about a man who just loves looking at things. He has a way of slipping into conversation profound insights which arise out of a life time of drawing though curiosity and delight in the world…as he says,  it is important to involve hands, eyes and heart.  Any two of the above will not do.

My very best wishes to you all at the threshold of the year.

Gerhard Richter Painting. Belz spent three years as an observer in Richter’s Cologne studio capturing mesmerizing footage of the artist producing his radical abstract works. As we witness him mixing layer upon layer of bold primary colors, smearing the wet paint with a giant squeegee and scraping at the surfaces of the canvases, Richter’s masterpieces appear before our eyes. “You get the feeling the paintings are staring at you,” says Belz, who met the painter while filming his vibrant pixelated stained glass window for the Cologne Cathedral. “There’s a physicality to Richter’s paintings. I wanted the viewer to become immersed in the subtly suspenseful cycle of the process.” Belz’s poetic film coincides with Richter’s 80th birthday and a major retrospective at London’s Tate Modern spanning five decades of his varied work.” – Nowness.

All the images I took were on 35mm film & here are some extra images from Oslo that didn’t make the cut…

I wanted something about the viewer and viewed: knowledge and innocence, old and young, knowing and not knowing.

This is all complex lines and fine control of the pencil and mark making, knowing the undulations and pen control

And pencil is the most rudimentary of drawing mediums.

And this is a page torn out of the pad he was scribbling on.

The Bridges of Glendale 36x48x2 2010

I painted this.

Then I sold it, which is great. But I missed it.

I liked it as an object to hang in my house. The colors seemed to help tie together all the rooms I hung it in. I like the message, that even freeways and municipal water management systems have their beauty. I liked hanging a portrait of my neighborhood.

So I painted it again. Is that self plagiarism? Is there such a thing as self-plagiarism or is that simply self-improvement? Is it okay?

The Freeways of Glendale 24×36 2011

12.39 I paint in the background, which is white,  although it appears a violet grey blue in this light.  I try to paint it  a bit darker than it appears to leave ‘room’ for the highlights on the teaspoon. As I only have white paint to make the highlights, which is less bright than the actual metallic reflections,  I have to darken the rest of the painting slightly to  make these look right.

By 12.56 the shadow is done in rough, although I’m beginning to think I’ve keyed the whole painting too high at this point and will have to darken it down.

13.00 I start to paint in the spoon roughly, squinting at it to see the main tones and putting them down in blocks. A good rule is to work out the correct tone (or value as it’s also called) first and then you will find it easier to work out the colour. I also notice that I need a pink to mix the orangey colour of the light and squeeze out a bit of permanent carmine.

By 13.18 I have finished the basic block-in of the spoon – I have left the highlit area where the window is reflected blank so that I can paint this in near the end. This keeps the pale highlight from getting contaminated with the darker paint and makes it sit on top of the surrounding paint, helping to bring it forward.

13.20 I start to work the edges where the spoon meets the background before moving onto some of the details such as the reflections in the spoon head – these are the most enjoyable parts to paint and are what really attracted me to the teaspoon.

It’s important to keep your head as still as you can – you really notice how reflections change shape with just the tiniest movement to left or right.

13.34
After I start to add the highlights my concern about the high key is confirmed – I need to darken the background and shadow to make the highlights work.

13.53 I stop to step back, look at the painting in the mirror, and do the upside down test – does it still read correctly upside down and in reverse?

14.10 More work is done on the handle – the shapes of the reflections here aren’t helping to describe the form.

14.29 I’m asking myself how much detail and which details I shold use?  Which ones are essential to creating the illusion of the teaspoon?  The light is fading and I need to be decisive.

14.30 I soften the transitions in the handle with a tiny sable brush.  I try to keep blending like this to  a minimum, preferring instead to add an intermediate patch of colour in between two patches which need to be brought closer together. However, time is running out today.

14.33 I’m happy with the handle now and want to reinforce the shadow.

14.42 I think I’m done, will go away now for 10 minutes and do something else.  When I come back if anything needs work it should jump out at me.

14.50 the left side of the handle has become a bit distorted and needs straightening.

14.53 I’ve decided its finished – now its time for the clean up. Fortunately I only used 7 brushes today so it shouldn’t take too long.  This is my least favourite part !

15.20 I leave the painting to dry on my easel, along with some other recent work.  After about a week I will oil it out with a mix of linseed oil and white spirit – this evens out the surface sheen and brings the colours back to their original lustre.

After another couple of days to allow this oil to sink in I will photograph the work and spend some time adjusting  the image to get it as close to the original work as possible.  Then I can put it up for sale.

Some photos of the sculptural drawing I am currently working on. As today is a sunny day, I have hung the “work in progress” in front of a white sheet of paper and played with how fig. and shadow can work so beautifully together..

I always get so inspired when I do experiments like this, I love it!

Red and Blue Bowls with Cherries

9×6″  Oil on panel

‘The ROI is the  only major national art society that is devoted exclusively to oil painting, featuring a wide variety of contemporary landscape, figurative and still-life paintings by some of the finest established artists working in oil today, alongside work by non-members.’

http://www.mallgalleries.org.uk/index.php?pid=2&subid=86

For one thing, I think I get a bit greedy and impatient – I see something and want to paint it, then I see something else and want to paint that too- so a small alla prima study lets me follow my inspiration as it flits around from one thing to the next. They are also a great way of exploring small objects – ones which wouldn’t necessarily fit into a more traditional still life set up.

It was  a nice bright day today so at about 11.30 I set myself up for a painting session by the kitchen window, which faces north.  The light is really special at this time of year – a lot of cold blue reflected light from the sky, contrasting with the golden light of a low lying sun hitting bricks and autumn leaves.

At 12.00 I’m deciding what to paint.  I have  a peeled clementine with a curly strip of its skin in front of me, and also a teaspoon which is reflecting the light from the window.

(All the photos for this post were taken with my phone, so apologies for the poor quality).

Looking at the clock I think it’s going to be a bit tight trying to paint the clementine + skin so I opt for the teaspoon.  If the worst comes to the worst and I have to finish this another day the teaspoon will still be there waiting for me, but the clementine will have been eaten!

12.10 I lay out my palette – there are 4 colours which I always use – titanium white, ivory black, raw sienna and burnt sienna.  These provide me with the neutrals and near neutrals which are essential to realist painting.
The other colours I will use are cadmium yellow, winsor lemon, cobalt blue,  ultramarine blue and cobalt violet.
The little things which look like sweets are the remains of yesterday’s paint wrapped up in cling film.  This saves on wastage – most colours keep for a few days like this.

12.15 I seem to have got my hands covered in paint already.  Before I  spread it around and make a mess I wash my hands – I find rubbing them with baby oil before using soap and water is the best way to get the paint off.  While I’m doing this I notice how nice the old battered looking baby oil bottle looks in this light and think about painting it – but that will have to wait for another day!

12.20 I choose my support – a 7×12.5 cm piece of Daler Rowney mount board which I have previously primed on all sides with several layers of artists acrylic primer. Making these little boards allows me to make paint on a very small scale, and in any aspect ratio I fancy.  I can also hold the board in my hand as I paint, making it possible to achieve an informal, intimate view of the object, rather than the more formal upright view that easel painting tends to create.
As the teaspoon is a man made object I think it deserves to be drawn accurately. I make a little outline drawing in HB pencil. I don’t always bother with this if its an organic object as they leave a bit more room for interpretation.

12.22 I check the drawing from a distance, both with a mirror and upside down – all handy tricks to help you spot your errors.

12.30 After making a few adjustments I erase the line lightly to prevent it from muddying the paint. Sorry about the blurry photo for this stage.

Now I’m ready to start painting.  In my next post I will show  you my painting process.