My 2014 review January to March

Exhibition portraits January 2014

It's that special time again, time to look back over what I've been up to in 2014, take note of my achievements, remember fun times and travel, see what direction my paintings have grown and yes, pat myself on the back for a job well done before putting it all behind me and forging ahead with the exciting and new!

January 2014 got off to a cracking start with my solo exhibition in Nottingham and a whopping 30 paintings sold and off to new homes. I painted a different portrait in oils each day for ten days of the exhibition, while also handling sales and enquiries and putting the kettle on frequently! I was very grateful to my patient models!

Andrew

Jenny

Painting Ant who also painted me!

The large gallery with about 80 of my paintings hanging

February included a ten day holiday in France with the family, some plein air painting in Norfolk and some coastal studio paintings, plus an article I wrote about gouache painting was published in The Artist magazine.

Crab hut at Brancaster Staithe
Private Collection

Whelk sheds at Brancaster Staithe
Oils 11" x 14"
£650

By the boat sheds, Brancaster Staithe
Oils 16" x 20"
£1095

I was really starting to get somewhere with studio paintings and actually enjoy doing it. I found ways to keep much of the freshness of plein air paintings and yet on a larger scale. I realised I needed as much background information as possible, e.g. paintings and sketches made on site, to help me keep the excitement and inspiration alive. The more I do of studio work, the more possibilities present themselves to me. It could never replace plein air of course, but I feel they both feed off each other. 

Kevin Macpherson describes it so well in his book 'Landscape painting Inside and Out':

"Many outdoor attempts fall short of successful, yet possess qualities that can be improved on into a grander statement in the studio. Each truthful colour note on a plein air study is a priceless seed of information that can transform your studio work to higher levels. Also, in the studio you can practise picture-making principles and experiment in a controlled environment.

Indoor and outdoor painting are complementary experiences. As memories of nature breathe life into your studio work, the disciplined approaches and principles you practise indoors will enable you to attack the canvas outdoors in new ways."

End of a perfect day, Sennen beach
Private Collection

In March I had two trips - first to Cornwall and then to Essaouira in Morocco with a group of painter friends. In Cornwall the weather was a bit disappointing but I managed to get some plein air work done and also enjoyed a fishy still life when it was pouring with rain outside.

Fairmaids of Mousehole
Private Collection

Towards St Michael's mount from Mousehole
Private Collection

Silver light, Mousehole
Private Collection

In contrast the weather in Morocco was dry, warm and idyllic for plein air painting, and I had a fabulous time. The locals were on the whole very interested and kind, and several remembered me from the year before. We even got invited to the private view of an art exhibition with an artist friend who I'd met while painting the year before and kept in contact with via Facebook, and I made some lovely new friends too. Plus of course the enormous benefit of having artist friends painting at the same time there from the UK, USA and Spain. What a great trip! 

One of my Essaouira friends, Monsieur Bouabid

Butchers shop Essaouira - poultry
Oils 10" x 12" £550

Butchers shop Essaouira - mutton and veal
Oils 11" x 14" £595

Boys diving into harbour
Private Collection

I'll finish this first quarter of the year with this bobby dazzler, companion painting to the one you know well that you'll be seeing again in the next instalment, when I take a walk back through April, May and June. I warn you now it might be a long blog post with a lot of excitement and exclamation marks!

Heading out of harbour
Private collection

Sketching the sketcher

Adebanji Alade

Last night was the Royal Institute of Oil painters (ROI) annual painting evening event, when anyone can paint from portrait models alongside many members of the ROI. There is always a great atmosphere of camaraderie amongst the artists taking part. Not to mention the wine and enormous mince pies which provided sustenance throughout the three hour event. 

Thank you to the lovely lady watching who kept getting orange juice for me :-)

And look who my model was this time! My friend and fellow artist Adebanji Alade AROI whose blog will be familiar to many of you. He was very good at sitting still actually, which helps!

I'm really pleased with the looseness of this because I think that a painted face or person should look as though it could move at any second. I also love sketchiness because I like to see evidence of the 'workings out' or the process that the artist has undertaken. And I like illusion of depth balanced with 'look, this is just a painting' brush marks. I suppose that last statement is a strong guiding theme for me. 

Adebanji modelling in the gallery

Just to remind you that if you are in London you have until lunchtime on Sunday to see the ROI exhibition at the Mall Galleries, and there are many brilliant paintings still available for sale. One of my very favourites is only £500. See if you can spot it.

And here's mine in the exhibition -

Last hour on the beach SOLD

June Mendoza ROI

June getting started 

I've had a wonderful two days at the Mall galleries in London. Tuesday was the private view of the Royal Institute of Oil painters exhibition, and I am fortunate to have work included in this wonderful exhibition again this year. It was brilliant as ever to catch up with friends, and I was tempted by many of the paintings. Unfortunately I've blown the painting budget already this year, and I must keep some money aside for tax - yuk! 

June with the sitters, Ian Cryer ROI President and his fiancé Felicity

Yesterday I watched all day as June Mendoza (surely one of our country's finest portrait painters) painted a dual portrait. June explained that she would normally take around five two hour sessions with each sitter separately, so the day would serve to provide a glimpse into her working methods although nothing like a completed painting.

 

What a fascinating glimpse it was to be able to watch somebody so skilled with eye and hand as the painting developed and the sitters came to life on the canvas.

The demo in the middle of the gallery

There are other events happening during the course of the exhibition that you might be interested in getting to. On Tuesday 16th December there is a tour of the exhibition at 3pm with the President Ian Cryer (the portrait subject in these pictures) and then from 6 - 9pm on the same day it's the Painting Event evening. This is a great chance to paint from the model alongside ROI members or just come along to enjoy the spectacle with a mince pie and a glass of wine. For painting or spectating you need to book tickets by calling 020 7930 6844.

You can see Bill Dean ROI painting in the gallery on Wednesday 17th December from 2 - 4pm, and Tim Benson VPROI working in the gallery on Thursday 18th December from 2 - 4pm.

The exhibition finishes on Sunday 21st December at 1pm and you can get a flavour of the exhibition here. 

The portrait at the end of the day

Portrait of the artist's mother

Meet my sweet little Mum! On Saturday I painted her portrait in the middle of my exhibition in the Barn gallery at Patchings art centre. We had such a lovely day and so many friends came to watch the painting take shape. It was a lovely atmosphere, thanks to everyone who came and to the brilliant team at Patchings as always. We had a really great day.

Although I've sketched her over the years I think the last painting I did of my mum was the one below, painted when I was still a student 22 years ago!

I am really enjoying the quick portraits that I've been able to do this year, I hope to get some more done this winter so let me know if you'd be interested in sitting for me.

Monsieur Bouabid

Monsieur Bouabid

This was one of my most exciting painting moments from my trip to Morocco last week. Monsieur Bouabid who is the wc attendant near the harbour in Essaouira remembers me from my painting trip last year and so, as we exchanged pleasantries I asked him if I could paint a picture of him right there and then and he agreed! I was a lot braver this year about attempting to put the people into the paintings and I felt that attempting this portrait in the street was a pretty courageous move. 

Of course, the doing of it attracted a lot of attention from the other workers and passers by but I had to pretty much ignore them and crack on. I just didn't know how long I would have and thought that he could have moved off at any moment. (It could be, I was thinking, that I'd misunderstood when he'd apparently agreed to sit for me, in French)

Unfortunately I soon realised that I wouldn't get his whole self in unless I did a naughty thing and shortened his legs by a couple of inches. Usually I would have restarted at that point, with the top of his head higher up on the board but I was in a major hurry thinking that this glorious moment wouldn't last long. So I had to make a decision and I sacrificed accuracy for the added information of being able to include his feet, which will come in useful if I start a studio painting based on this. And if I do I will know I need to lengthen his shins :-)

The painting in situ, outside the toilets

All was not as simple as first appeared with this white jacketed figure lit by bright sunlight. I was amazed at the amount of reflected light bouncing up from the ground, it certainly made things tricky.

Fresh fried fish, Essaouira

You might remember this studio painting from last year, that's my friend Monsieur Bouabid there on the right hand side, underneath the WC sign. 

With a little help from friends

And on this photo taken on a different evening last week I am wearing Mr Bouabid's lovely coat (he lent me it because I was cold) and eating chocolate given to me by another new Essaouira friend. That is why I love love love plein air painting. Unforgettable, unmissable experiences. The kindness of people.

Nine little jewels

Nine portraits together

What fun it is to see all the portraits produced in the exhibition so far together like this in a photo montage. It's nice to be able to appreciate the differences between them, and they look like little colourful sweets!

Yesterday my model was Jenni, another lovely blog subscriber whom it was a great pleasure to chat with throughout the day. Jenni wore a bright pink scarf which I couldn't ignore, particularly as the pinks were reflected up into her face and neck. 

I knew that such a strong colour would have to be added to the painting at quite an early stage. I really enjoyed mixing the colours for Jenni's hair, and painting her 'hardly there' spectacles. Spectacles are a great lesson in painting what you are seeing and not what you think you are seeing. Don't be frightened of tackling them in a portrait, they usually make really helpful markers to help you see distances between eyes, nose, ears, hair etc. On Jenni's the glass parts were rimless, which was so much fun because I only had to show them by painting the shadow underneath them on her cheeks, and one little slender corner which was catching the light.

Exhibition portrait day 9 Jenni

Stage 1 - raw umber

Stage 2 - getting straight on with the pinks

Jenni

Exhibition portraits day eight

Desmond

Desmond was in my portrait hot seat today. Only two more days left of my exhibition and two more ladies will be modelling for the last two portraits. I think I will really miss the portrait sessions next week. 

My exhibition has been a great success and so far twenty-nine paintings are going off to new homes or have already gone. This fills me with much joy, what a great start to a new year! :-)

If you might like one for yourself there are plenty more still seeking ownership, and you can see which ones by following this link to my website.

Desmond in the hot seat

This painting of Staithes is still available, and it's one of my personal 'hot favourites' from the year!

I'm not sure if I told you yet or not but I'm teaching a plein air painting weekend in Staithes this year at the end of June, for the Staithes Art School. We will have an absolutely brilliant time there and there are still a few spaces left to grab - maybe you can join us?

Click here to go to the Staithes Art School website and have a look...

Shadows in the beck, Staithes

Exhibition portraits day seven

Roger

I hope this isn't feeling too much like groundhog day for you! It was another fun day in the gallery in Nottingham with lots of fab visitors and again a very patient model who was often left waiting while I wandered around chatting or handling sales. It surprises me every day that the portrait gets done at all, it's as though it paints itself as I spend more time away from the easel than with it.

Here I am with brush poised chatting to my friend artist Mo Teeuw while Roger waits patiently. Thanks for the photo Gail Tointon, lovely to meet you at last today. 

It was also great to meet Facebook friend artist Jocelyn Roberts from Wales with her husband. My Mum came again too! As did Pipa and Katherine on their day off! And so many lovely others. Every day I have had exciting visitors and I can't wait to read the visitors book next week when I'm no doubt procrastinating instead of working on my accounts and tax as I should be. 

Chatting and painting!
Thanks for the photo Gail

Loose sketching in

Roger with his portrait

I'm sure Roger won't mind me telling you that he's recently had surgery on the eyelid under his left eye. I found the tiny nick and bright spot of red a fascinating addition to paint, but I didn't realise until Roger pointed out to me that I'd also painted some bruising that remains around the eye area.

Exhibition portraits day six

Paul

Wow, day six already? Now the time is racing by and I only have four more days to exhibit in Nottingham! I'm really enjoying it, talking to so many lovely people and painting the portraits. I'm also getting tired because the two hours driving a day on top of all the gallery and portrait action and late nights working at the computer... yawn!

I'm getting off to bed now, the right side of midnight :-)