Classical still life

Recently I have been getting interested in the old Dutch still life paintings and my latest painting is in a similar vein. I couldn't get a very good picture of it, its a bit brighter than shown.

The old glazed pot I got on Ebay for 5 pence plus postage, which the seller underestimated, so he actually paid for me to have it!

I painted just the jug and plum first, but then I couldn't picture how they would look against different darknesses of background. So I had an idea and scanned the jug and plum into photoshop and tried various backgrounds on the computer first to see which looked best, and found a graduated background looked better than a solid colour. So then I painted all the background in around the items the painting suddenly came to life.

'Glazed jug and plum' Oil on canvas 24x30cm

Glass Jugs

Here is a painting I recently finished of two glass jugs I'd found in charity shops.

It is the first painting where I have started using mediums. I used Robersons medium on one jug and Liquin on the other. Robersons is a very thin medium, and dried very quickly! Too quickly for me I think. Liquin is a thicker medium, and was nice to use.

I was pleased with the transparent effect I got with the mediums, but I think with clear glass I will use a darker background next time so it shows up better!

For this painting I am trying an oil based primed extra fine textured linen canvas for the first time. I wanted to try it as I'd heard that oil based primer is much easier to paint on than water based gesso as it is less absorbant. It was and I liked it, but didn't find the difference was that huge.

'Glass Jugs' 30x40cm Oil on Linen.

Saving a canvas

I'd decided on a detailed scene of small houses by a harbour for this canvas, but after I had started painting I realised the detail was smaller than I wanted to attempt at this stage.
I decided to change to another subject, but didn't know how to save the canvas. The paint was quite thinned, so I sanded it and put a layer of gesso over. However on drying there were some lines which had crazed due to the oil paint underneath.
So I needed to cover those over. I tore off some strips of thick watercolour paper and glued them over the cracked bits, then glued on more to randomly have them over the canvas. Then it was another layer of gesso over all of it. It worked great to save the canvas and I did a semi abstract piece over the top with a bit of dry brushing to accentuate the texture.

'Californian Poppy-Turquoise', Oil on canvas, 50x60cm, Available for sale

Foray into Wildlife art

When I'd started painting I hadn't decided what genre I was going to specialise in.
So what I did is make a list of every subject I was interested in, and went through it.
Early on I had decided that wildlife art was probably the one I would settle on, and produced my first wildlife painting of a Tawny owl I had photographed at a falconry, against some dramatic clouds that were outside my window.

This time as a painting support I was trying canvas board, which is a fine grade of cotton fabric on a rigid card board, which was good to paint on as it was wasn't too rough.

Being an avid wildlife lover I thought photographing wildlife to paint would be ideal, so I tried to add to my photograph portfolio by going to safari parks to photograph big cats and exotic wildlife. However they were always either sleeping or pacing around the fence, which wasn't going to make a very exciting painting!
On this painting I found that fur and feathers take quite some time and fiddle to paint which I realised I would find too tedious to do all the time, and that's if I found enough good subjects to paint. So I finally decided that although I love wildlife, it wasn't going to be wildlife art I would specialise in.

'Hunters awakening' 30x40cm Oil on canvas board.

First horse painting

I like horses that have a lovely sheen on them in the sunshine. I photographed this horse in a field and painted it on a background of hills that I photographed somewhere else.

This time I'm trying a smoother canvas.

It isn't finished yet - I have started to find that as I reach the end of a painting that has taken a couple of days, I have to leave it a while before I can finish it.

I'd like to paint more horses but I just don't see them very often.

30x40cm Oil on canvas. Unfinished (NFS)

First Exhibition

After I'd done these 2 paintings I joined the local small art club in my town, and took part in their exhibition at a school. I didn't want to sell them as they were my first paintings, but I got some really nice comments which was very encouraging. It was great seeing other what other people had been doing too.

Second Painting, this time on canvas.

I have been looking into surfaces to paint on, so I'm trying canvas now, having tried wood first.

I love chillies and peppers, such lovely colours when they're changing. This next painting of chillies was done on a roughish canvas, where I found I had to use thinner paint for complete coverage, and so with the ochre background it turned out duller in colour.

16x22" Oil on canvas (NFS)

First Painting

This was my first attempt at doing a painting. (unless you count powder paints on sugar paper at school.) I was apprehensive as I had never painted before, so I got a library book to find out the rules.

I painted my first painting of some gorgeous ripening peppers I had photographed in a supermarket, starting with an all over ochre background which shows through alot of the picture.

12"x12" Oil on wood (NFS)