Lighting

It has rained and rained here. The light has been poor so I have only been able to work on the small paintings and of course my flash work.

My friend Miss T has visited a local church which still has medieval wall paintings covering its' walls. I am ashamed to say that I have never seen them so will cycle over on a good summer's day to see them.

A time to dry

Think I better let the paint dry for a while. Working out what colour the trees were going to be made me very nervous. I was so pleased when my son mentioned ... without prompting ... that he felt the tree colour added to the picture. Working in isolation can make you doubt your own vision sometimes.

Thick and goopy!

Eynsham Arts Group Spring Exhibition is now over. Lots of nice things was said about my painting 'The Ascension of The Malingerer' but it large size is still an issue. I have been painting the Morris Paintings at "living room size". I still struggle painting at this size but since the weekend have found laying the paint on with a bamboo kebabs skewer allowed me to get the paint down thickly and to a certain extent play with it's texture.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Well ... for once the photo looks better then the original! I have been glazing the darkness back and adding some mid-tone glazes. I am very unsure about this painting but experience has shown that I should keep going. I may end up where I did not originally planned but it is usually a worth while journey.
Again I have been glazing the figures in the dark areas of the crowds. I do not plan to add any significant colour to the watching people.
I've decided to put M into more shade so this small sketch is trying to work out the shadows.
I've been glazing transparent colours on the figures and painting with more meaty opaque paint on the tree
I, once again, am having to wait for paint to dry. So ... a small thumbnail for the new painting. I shall call it 'Rock and Roll Morris'. I based this on the May Day dancing last week-end.

Detail

This painting is way to small for the sort of detail I have painted. I am trying for the dancers to be emerging from the darkness on the right of the picture. So I will resolve this after a week of letting it dry.

I have a painting in the Spring Exhibition of the 'Eynsham Arts Group' at the Bartholomew Rooms which starts on the 3rd of May and finishes on the 18th. I am invigilating on both of the Saturday mornings. Hopefully it will be fine weather so I can draw outside the door. Friends and clients are welcome to come and talk to me.

Charcoal Sunday

It is peaceful in my studio on Sunday morning. All I can hear is the distant sound of warfare from my son's Xbox. Now I have moved into using oils I am having several pictures on the go to allow resting time for drying.

'Transmogrification' aka 'Dick' now has its under painting finished and will need at least a week to dry. I have started a new charcoal drawing called 'Waiting for the Light' . It is on a cotton canvas 23. x 31. cms. I am enjoying drawing directly to canvas with charcoal as it is so easy to modify the marks with a putty rubber. I have started experimenting with using the dust for a mid tone.

I remembered to check for smuts this time before I went out!