I used two of my favourite models for this painting as they interact so well together. I explained what it was I wanted from them and the ideas I had in my head and then left them to it while I snapped away with my camera. Very quickly they forgot I was there which was great. In an ideal world I would always paint from life, but this is just not always possible and I have now got a great set of reference photos for future use. I feel with this painting the viewer can make up their own mind as to what is happening here which is why I so like painting narrative figurative works as opposed to the straight portraiture I used to do. I have used strong colours here deliberately, as I feel this is a strong painting and have therefore framed it in the white tray format which compliments it. It is available in my website www.michewatkins.com and can be bought framed or unframed. This is is a small fun painting which I decided to crop and with the help of one of my friends on Twitter is called ‘Friday’ – a great name for that…
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www.michewatkins.com This smaller painting is now finished at 35 x 25 cm and is up on my website for £165. Being on a block canvas I do not think it will need framing. I have enjoyed adding in the last details of blue on her skin and lilac on the fireplace. It is often a good way to bring a painting together to link dabs of one colour say on the wall or the fireplace onto the dress/skin, it unifies the composition. As always I have not used black, preferring instead to mix ultramarine blue with either burnt sienna or raw umber. This gives a softer colour on the fireplace and I then add in the lilac & pink highlights to give more interest. I am going to have a bit of a break from painting for a couple of weeks, as I think I have overworked myself a bit recently. But I will be back ! I shall come back with some more new ideas which are already bubbling away in my head and just need to come together. In the meantime, I will be sharing some paintings of mine that are on my website and giving my thoughts…
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www.michewatkins.com This is a relatively small painting 35 x 25 cm and is on block canvas so doesn’t need a frame. I can never decide whether a frame helps a painting or not. If chosen well it can indeed add a lot, but I have seen so many paintings ‘imprisoned’ within a small frame and for me it deadens the whole effect. It is worth going to a good framer and getting their advice as they have the knowledge. Framing is not cheap but it can make or break a work. Having said that, this sort of block canvas really does let the painting stand alone and can work equally well, so good if you are on a budget. As to the painting, my girl now has a mouth! Not perfect yet, and I am itching to get onto the detail, but that is for next week. As usual I am very impatient….. I have work to do on the mirror frame, it is not the correct shape yet and am looking forward to adding a few dashes of colour and glazing on the walls – a bit of spontaneous inspiration is needed I think! The fireplace is coming along…
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www.michewatkins.com So a new painting and a new title to think of again. At the moment I go with ‘Practising Her Moves’. Ideas from Twitter friends always VERY welcome. I decided on a cropped painting this time, as I don’t think I always have to paint a detailed face. People can decide for themselves what the woman looks like, the human eye usually works it out anyway. I feel the woman here is getting ready go out for the evening and is having a little dance in her new red shoes, feeling happy. It is a smaller painting 25 x 35 cm, and on block canvas so does not necessarily need framing. I have been taken to task for always painting pretty women and pandering to men. When I said that women also seem to like my paintings, I was again taken to task for pandering only to a certain type of woman. Thinking about this, I can say, hand on heart, that I have always drawn and painted women, ever since I was a young girl, drawing princesses, never handsome young princes, and I am not sure why this is so. I do paint men and this can be…
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www.michewatkins.com I have finished ‘Elation’ which is actually slightly darker in real life. I use Photoshop to try and replicate accurately the colour of the original painting, but in this instance I don’t think it is quite right. I use Photoshop quite a lot to enlarge certain areas of any photos I use such as eyes, mouth or a certain flesh tone and it’s a great tool. In an ideal world I would always paint from life, but a one bedroomed flat and work commitments elsewhere means I just have to resort to photos most of the time. I have much enjoyed this painting and think I will use the triptych effect again at some stage. I also enjoyed the use of a palette knife for the back wall which enlivened what could have been a boring wall. The size of the painting is 60 x 50 cm/ 24 x 20″ and is up on the website. On a different note, for anyone in London this weekend, I shall be exhibiting my Line Art paintings at the Affordable Art Fair in Chelsea through Neville Contemporary Art. Line Art is something that I evolved as the complete opposite of my figurative…
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Website www.michewatkins.com I think this will be finished next week and I am going to rename it ‘Elation’ – thank you for that title from a friend on Twitter. Thank you to those of you who thought up good titles, but this one word just sounded right to me. The woman is so elated with her new red shiny shoes…..a feeling I think many women will identify with. Every time I start a painting, I forget how difficult it is to get skin tones right and the more so as I dislike using any browns on my palette (and never use black). I far prefer blues, mauves, pinks and purples for tones as I think this makes for a more interesting skin tone, but infinitely more difficult in the long run. I never make my life easy. I have had to use brown in the floor obviously, but where possible have used yellow ochre and a touch of cadmium orange and red rather than straight brown. I have also added touches of the blues and lilacs which I used on the wall to pull the painting together. Regarding the wall, I tried endless possibilities here, but in the end have come…
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www.michewatkins.com This is just a working title, as usual I will need help from a certain Twitter follower as words are not my forte…. For this painting, I got inspiration from another artist who had used the same model in one painting. I had the benefit of a great model who came over to my studio with a range of different outfits and I was able to take a lot of photos for future reference and paintings. I would love to be able to always paint from life, but time and space do not allow this for me at the moment, so I have to rely on the photographs where possible. I wanted to explore the idea of women and their love affair with shoes, so I have positioned the model in different poses admiring her new shiny red shoes. I think I want to keep the background fairly plain, but aim to layer on paint with a palette knife as time goes on, not on the female figure though. I also aim to make more of the shadows – I like the shadows around the legs and against the wall and will give this more definition as the painting…
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www.michewatkins.com ‘Intimacy’ is finished and I decided after all to change the name, thanks to an idea from a Twitter follower of mine. So now it is ‘Stay a Bit Longer’ which I think does work with this painting. I look at it and see the woman trying to persuade her lover to stay a while, whereas he is beginning to get itchy feet.. maybe he is married to someone else. Only my interpretation of course; that is why I paint narrative figurative paintings, so that the viewer can form their own opinion of what is going on. I have struggled with the light in this painting, another lesson learned as I went along. I took the photo into the light from the window, so had to imagine for the most part the shading on the flesh for both figures. In a way this was a good exercise for me and it meant I could be a bit more experimental with my colour palette. I dislike using brown and wherever possible will use blues and purples instead – makes for a more interesting painting I think. it will be available via my website www.michewatkins.com for £350. My next painting is…
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www.michewatkins.com Well I am into week 3 of this painting and am edging towards stage 5) of the Creative List. I know I am too impatient and want to get down to the details, but have to persevere with the painting as a whole first. I always make the mistake of going into the most difficult bit, the flesh first and making a hash of it; whereas if I work around the figure first, I can then use the colours in the backgrounds to blend in with the flesh colours and this always completes the harmony. But I never, ever learn…. For instance this morning I discovered (again) that if I blend the pale blues and lilacs of the walls, curtains etc., into the pinks, and warm colours of the flesh I get a skin tone that seems to work within the whole painting. I may change the name of this painting (feedback from a loyal Twitter follower who has a way with words..) to Stay…Just a little bit longer. Rather like that. Any thoughts from anyone out there? Feedback is always welcome. I am always available for Skype tutorials on a one to one way basis. Please see…
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Time for a start on a new painting, always an exciting time for me. This one, at the moment entitled Intimacy has been inspired by the work of http://www.snowglobeman.blogspot.com a very talented author and sensual poet whose work I am illustrating along with another talented artist. Have a look. This painting is very much at the first week stage, so please make allowances…. Having worked for a few years in more muted colours, I am now having huge fun with a brighter palette and again have Michael Harding paints to thank for this. Beautiful, vibrant pigments and although more expensive, they are so ‘true’ I don’t have to use as much paint to get the desired effect. I am particularly drawn to blue shades, the turquoises, light, mid and dark blues and then on to the purples. Contrast these with the complimentary colours of orange and I feel I am getting somewhere. Also the contrast of light and dark works well….not quite Caravaggio but along those lines. However there are always the six stages of a painting to go through as illustrated in the attached image. I usually spend a lot of time at stage 3! I am available for…
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