Stumps on Lough Leane

This was a fun exercise at Art Club last evening. It was drawn with Parker Quink using a stick and a pen made from a piece of bamboo. I could not resist adding a few colour washes to liven it up.

The reference is a photograph taken on our holiday to Ireland, and the lake is near Killarney. This is a study for a watercolour painting.

It was quite well received at the club.

Wisteria - finished work

Here is the finished piece. It is approximately 16" by 12" on Arches 300 gsm NOT paper.

It was very well received on Wet Canvas, and quite well received at art class. Most people felt that the shadows were good. The major criticism, from the tutor, was that I had been too constrained by the reference photograph.

Wisteria - preliminary sketch

This was executed in class yesterday in preparation for painting the final piece in the "Nature and Manmade" exercise.

It is clearly incomplete, but much was learnt. The composition is pretty much there, and I have found a way of dealing with the wisteria flowers, the stonework and the diagonal beam. The door needs to be resolved better and of course the trunk of the wisteria needs to be fully developed.

Big Carnation

The tutor sugested that I paint an enlarged bloom to really study the structure of these flowers. This is 16" by 12" on Arches NOT paper. That should be big enough.

Red Admiral

This image was the challenge for October posted on Wet Canvas.

It came out pretty well, and the backgorund works IMHO.

Carnations

This was painted during class yesterday. It was tackled rather than trying to paint a vase of flowers, so that I could begin to understand the form of the flowers.

Feedback from the tutor was the flower heads need more variation in colour, as well as tone. It would be useful to do a much larger flower head, concentrating on the different colours. His suggestion to put it under the tap was declined.

Guard at Luxor Temple

This is the finished piece. It was well received on Wet Canvas, but less well received at Art Class. The main comment was that there should be more variation in tone between the near and far columns.

Homework for 01 Oct 2008

The task was to find our own reference on the subject of columns and do a study in preparation for a final piece.

This photograph was found on the Internet and the charcoal study was my homework. It was quite well-received. One suggestion was to suggest the "beam" of light that is shining down, in order to create the pool of light in front of the figure.

Kauri Tree

This was a fun exercise at Art Club last night. "Paint a tree with a sponge". I cheated a bit, as the background and trunk/branches are painted with a brush, but the foliage was all applied with a sponge.

The reference was a photograph taken in New Zealand during our holiday in January.