This was an interesting painting to complete as I wanted to keep a slightly impresssionistic feel to the work but also wanted to work up the detail on the two figures, particularly the lemon yellow dress. If I had detailed the background too much I think that a) it would take attention away from the couple in the foreground and b) the work would become too tight and ‘chocolate box’ in appearance. I am happy with the finished painting. Next week I begin a series of paintings using photos I took recently of one of my favourite models in a new setting. I am hugely excited about this and can’t wait to get started. Keep a check on the Blog for updates. I am looking forward to getting back to interiors again. Great White Art gallery in Bristol (www.greatwhiteart.com) just completed a two week exhibition on Pop Art and several of my Line Art acrylic paintings were featured. If you are in Bristol do drop by and have a look. They are a sister gallery of Clifton Fine Art gallery three doors up on Perry Road (BS1 5BG). I have just sent out my latest Newsletter with news about two upcoming…
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Beginning to work up the detail on this painting and I think it will be finished next week when I can get get down to the fine detail. It is never easy trying to get a balance between an impressionistic looser style of painting which I want to get right on the background and a tighter more controlled finish on the girl’s dress and the skin tones. We shall see…what I don’t want is to end up with a ‘chocolate box’ style of painting. This can happen if the artist starts using smaller and smaller brushes, so I have resisted the temptation to go below a size 3 brush. However next week may change that… I still haven’t got a title yet in my mind so if anyone has any ideas, please send me a Tweet. My Twitter followers haven’t let me down in the past! The original photo was taken in Verona, Italy and the lovely building in the forefront is the Arena which is massive and still in very good condition. I was totally blown away by Verona, stopping off there on my way through from Milan to Venice on the train. It is a truly…
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I think this painting will benefit from a slightly looser style as I do not want to paint in all the detail in the background. Painting in the people, the shutters and windows etc will take the eye away from the main composition which is the couple, she in her brilliant yellow dress. I will, however, put some more emphasis on the Arena as it is such a spectacular building. Shadows will be important and I am making use of the complimentary colours on the Colour Wheel used by artists everywhere. So against the lemon yellow of the dress I will use my favourite shades of blue, purple and light blue for the foreground and the same in the Arena, although adding in a touch of Naples Yellow and Burnt Sienna here. Michael Harding paints are so wonderful for this sort of work as the pigments are amazing, so jewel like in comparison to other paints. More expensive, but worth the layout. The view, by the way, is Verona in Italy where I spent a great couple of days on my way through from Milan by train to Venice. I hadn’t planned to stop off here, it was an…
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