Chuck Close and the grid method

“Almost every decision I’ve made as an artist is an outcome of my particular learning disorders. I’m overwhelmed by the whole. How do you make a big head? How do you make a nose? I’m not sure! But by breaking the image down into small…

Anatomy of the Horse APPLIED

Gradually capturing the precious moment when I can paint the horse as I want to - freely and strongly.  Here are some quick studies from photos I took in South Africa in February 2020.  I am looking at the main shapes and planes and trying…

BLUE PAINTING

  Here is a quick sketch started in the midst of a commission.  I want to develop it and am using Ivon Hitchens (above) as inspiration and guide.  He planned his apparently spontaneous and abstractish paintings very carefully,…

The new painting ABSTRACTION

It has been a few months since my last painting post and things have changed a bit.  I realised that I am an abstractionist or a free painter when it comes to using colour!  I also rediscovered acrylics and the possible effects.  It…

The new painting

I am returning to my studio after months of virtual but very real activity, constructing online shops and building an e course.  I am inspired by my trip to the Munnings Museum two weeks ago, where I was teaching a drawing class and then had…

SELF PORTRAIT PROJECT – WORKING FROM HOME DURING THE LOCKDOWN

    A new thread while I am working in confined space in my house.  As a follow up to the portrait class I did two weeks ago, I am having a look at the human head and closely studying the shape of the skull and how the features become…

RECAP BEFORE TEMPORARY STUDIO CLOSURE

Due to the coronavirus, I have moved my workspace to my house and it will take a different direction.  As I will be in a different environment which is less spacious and where I cannot have my current work to hand, I shall be focussing on working…

Portrait painting from life with Alan McGowan March 2020

This was the first time I have worked from life for some time.  I am still in a place where I am experimenting with materials and getting confidence with the oil painting, so also thinking about the drawing and colour in a real life model is…

Making art – what I have learned so far

As an artist who has worked for many years in several different media, I have realised that for me making art is a dialogue between artist, subject/idea and medium.  Each has its own dimension and language.  The subject can simply be an idea,…

The painting game – more

I am so determined to go beyond figurative painting.  I worked for months analysing and deconstructing this image and then reconstructing it on a large scale (1200 x 900 mm).I wanted to do an abstract version.  I took a large canvas…