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…

The Painting Game the latest

Oh what a struggle to move from looking to something else.  That something could be analysing shapes back to their limits, somehow finding the essence of the image, expressing emotions, or something as yet unrealised.Reading about…

The painting game – beyond looking

I have always worked with dye on fabric, but I am now experimenting with acrylic and oil paint as an alternative source of colour. In my textile work, I used the dye in a very natural, expressive and abstract way.  It has been challenging for…

Winter Blue sketches

A series to be of winter landscape studies inspired by my local landscape.  All around 180 mm square and acrylic on stretched paper.I like to do these at the end of the painting session when I feel the need for a bit of a play!

STUDIO PRACTICE

         Back in the studio and starting this series of oil sketches on board from a Newmarket visit with the Society of Equestrian Artists a few years ago.  I am working as loosely as I can here to capture…
Woman in a tub pastel Degas
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Drawn in colour Degas from the Burrell Collection at the National Gallery, London

Degas and his use of pastels  National Gallery London This was a fascinating exhibition of Degas drawings, which showed  how working methods change with fashion and with available materials. During the second half of the 19th century,…
Knabstrup charcoal drawing Diana Hand
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How to work with an exhibition brief

 There is nothing like an exhibition brief for developing ideas.  It is the fulcrum for focussing on what one's real energy and interests currently are.  For this exhibition "Wild Spaces" at the Whitehouse Gallery, Kircudbright,…
Ali smith Autumn

Working from the heart

Working from the heart can be a difficult leap of faith when one is on a learning curve.  At the end of 2017, after a year of studying, including  social media marketing and goal setting, I began to feel like an automaton, or, more topically,…