Recent Work
I've recently started painting again through taking of courses. These have been for my own amusement. I will post them as I finish each one. I will also add a little commentary as I go along. The big surprise for me is that I am beginning to enjoy the process once more.
Many of you will recognize this painting. It is copied from a 1648 portrait of Juan de Pareja by Diego Velazquez. I finished it in Oct/Nov 2022 using the classical method of first applying a burnt umber monochrome underpainting in oils and then glazing with multi-layers of finished oil colours and opaque whites on this 16"x 24" canvas. The course I was taking was to paint in the style of the Old Masters. I was pleased with the end result.
Of course, I have not signed it and attached to the back of the canvas is note stating that it is a copy.
This is from a second course by the same instructor, Robin Mitchell, at the
Oakville art Society.
Robin set us a task of working from a photo of an old oak tree at sunset he took
in the local area.
I basically hate painting landscapes, but after his in-class demo I decided to take up the challenge. I was intrigued by his alla prima approach, and the way he painted the negative spaces between the branches of the tree. I was pleased with the vagueness of the brush, but bored with overall subject. To give the painting a little lift I added a red fox making its way across in the shadows.
A 24"x 30" work initially using a glazing technique and later finished with straight oil painting. It is a modified copy of a painting by Charles W. Hawthorne. I was rather put off by the clouds used by the original artist and played around with them extensively until I finally settled on whispy high level cirrus clouds.
I call this Blue Heron. It is a small, 8"x8", painting based on a stock photo taken from the internet. It was a class exercise set by Robin Mitchell in painting water. The original photo did not have the heron. As with any landscape I'm inclined to add a central focus, or an animate object into the locale in order for it to tell some sort of story.
The blue rock scree is true to the photo, but looks a bit odd.
I found painting the small detail challenging me outside of my usual comfort zone, but enjoyable.