Musings in Paint

Cut Off

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:25:00 +0000

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10 x 14 in - 25 x 36 cm Watercolor

Another two hour challenge. This time I went for a bit of watercolor humor. This was just a small corner fragment of the offered reference, hence the title.

Claire's Venice I

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:16:00 +0000

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14 x 10 in - 36 x 25 cm Watercolor

This is a quick rendition of a photo taken by our friend Claire a couple of months ago.

Father and Daughter

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 12:03:00 +0000

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10 x 14 in - 25 x 36 cm Watercolor

Done for a two hour challenge out on the net. While a bit overworked I did get the feel of light I was after.

I have decided to stop adding the reference photo in these blog entries. Partly because blogger does not make it easy to handle multiple photos but mainly because of the additional work required including getting permission to display the photo. Better to spend the time painting.

Wedding Sweet Peas

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 09:59:00 +0000

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5.5 x 5.5 in - 14 x 14 cm Watercolor Going to a wedding on Saturday. Instead of having a guest book or such to sign, we have been sent square pieces of card on which to write our goodwill messages, paint or whatever. This is my offering.

It was painted from life. This is a shot I took of the arrangement so you could see roughly what I could see.

In Floyd and Laura's Kitchen

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:32:00 +0000

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7 x 4 in - 18 x 10 cm Watercolor

This quick sketch was painted while visting friends.

This is not quite the view I had of the scene and after a while what I could see was blocked by a plant having its roots soaked but that is all part of the challenge of painting.

Sitting

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:56:00 +0000

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14 x 10 in - 36 x 25 cm Watercolor

This was painted for a Different Strokes From Different Folks challenge blog. So you will have to look here if you want to see the ref photo. Scroll to the bottom of that long post to get to the ref.

I am reasonably pleased with this.

A Square in Havana

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:11:00 +0000

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10 x 14 in - 25 x 36 cm Watercolor Trying to keep a muted tone to match the feeling of the reference

I took the photo in Havana (Cuba) back in 2006.

Dinan from the Tower

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:47:00 +0000

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12 x 10 in - 30 x 25 cm Watercolor

This painting is another from our recent visit to France. I think it just about comes off.

Painted, as normal, back home in the studio.

Street in Dinan

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:08:00 +0000

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12 x 10 in - 30 x 25 cm Watercolor

We have been away fro a few nights staying in Dinan (Brittany, France). We had a cabin for the overnight crossing a very pleasant way to do the trip.

Visit this link if you want see the trip photos.

I painted this back home. It's a sort of, in the studio, quick sketch.

Lenny

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Sun, 17 May 2009 09:58:00 +0000

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14 x 10 in - 36 x 25 cm Watercolor

Just back from a Week of Painting with John Yardley at Dedham Hall.

I was most pleased with this painting of fellow course mate, Lenny.

Kersey - Down the Hill

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Sun, 17 May 2009 09:57:00 +0000

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14 x 10 in - 36 x 25 cm Watercolor

Here is another from my week at Dedham.

This was done 'en pleine aire' I had roughly the view you can see in the photo.

Pinmill Derelicts

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Sun, 17 May 2009 09:56:00 +0000

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10 x 14 in - 25 x 36 cm Watercolor Here is the final sample from my week away.

There was a strong wind when we were at Pinmill so I hurried back to the studio and painted the scene form my computer screen.

Uplifted Face

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:07:00 +0000

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7 x 9 in - 18 x 23 cm Watercolor This was a quick try at doing something for a portrait thread on PaintingFriends.com.

I was trying to work in a Charles Reid style, doing nearly everything in as near to a one touch as you can get. Strong darks with control, go in once. I find it very hard, which is why there are very overworked areas. However taken as a whole it is clearly going in the direction I wanted.

The reference is curtsey of the MorgueFile.

Bicycle in the Snow

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 12:15:00 +0000

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10 x 13 in - 25 x 33 cm Watercolor

Painted for a two hour challenge on PaintingFriends.com it does not look too bad. The challenge is to pick and then paint a white subject from a small set of reference photos.

As aways there is a two hour max time limit. Of course with this style of painting I was well within that, comming out at bit over an hour.

The ref I picked comes courtesy of the Morguefile.

High Key Araf

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 14:25:00 +0000

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14 x 10 in - 36 x 25 cm Watercolor

Araf is a colleague. Very photogenic and with a great smile. I hoped to catch the smile in the painting and I think I have. The rest of the picture has tuned out a bit more high key than I was planning for.

Well at least I get a few marks for effort.

Reflection on the Thames

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 07:40:00 +0000

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14 x 10 in - 36 x 25 cm Watercolor

This quick quarter sheet painting was done as a demo for an article on reflections that can be found at PaintingFriends.com

I took this reference in late autumn in the early evening the sun as a way to my right and so the fronts of the houses that face the river are glowing in the sunlight.

Color Arches

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 14:09:00 +0000

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8 x 11 in - 20 x 28 cm Heavy Body Acrylic While this was done as a two hour challenge it was also done as a bit of fun. A side brief was to attempt to use a lot of colour.

This is a reference kindly supplied by Desiree.

Garden Rose

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:19:00 +0000

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10 x 14 in - 25 x 36 cm Watercolor This was done for a two hour chalenge on PaintingFriends.com.

I don't think I quite managed to pull it together on this one. I can't decide whether the dark background should have been reduced or increased it certainly is one of those paintings that looks better as a smaller image.

Many thanks to Desiree for the use of the reference image here.

Desiree's Paradise

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:49:00 +0000

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9 x 7 in - 23 x 18 cm Heavy Body Acrylic

This was done in around 50 minutes for a 2 hour challenge set at PaintingFriends.com.

This is the Ref supplied and show here with kind permission of Desiree.

I have very little skill at using heavy bodied acrylics, but you won't get anywhere if you don't make an effort to improve. One exercise I did while trying to paint this was that of counting the strokes.

I painted background prior to starting the count. After that you count every stroke you make. The idea is to train yourself, in a medium in which you are trying to show the strokes of the brush, to only paint strokes that do something that have a purpose.

I painted this with 179 strokes, not counting the background.

Fat Pegion

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:32:00 +0000

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9 x 7 in - 23 x 18 cm Liquid Acrylic

Done for a two hour challenge. I think I have to admit that this one is not a success. It was the first outing of some newly purchased liquid acrylics. While they act like watercolour I was unable to mix colours to form the darks I am used to mixing.

This is the reference, it is actually one that I took in Italy earlier in the year.

The reason why I am showing this failure here is because I have come to realise that if you only show your successes the pressure becomes far too great. Much better to be honest to oneself and the audience and show that not everything comes out quite as it should.

Maggiore Reflections 2

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:01:00 +0000

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8 x 11 in - 20 x 28 cm Acrylic This was done as part of a two hour challenge. It is in acrylic and to be honest I'm not that pleased with it. I should have been more particular when painting the sky. The brushstrokes I are good idea but I should have been far more thoughtful as to what blues and what whites got placed where.

I should then have continued the same stroke pattern on the building then it might have had a better outcome.

This is the reference slightly cropped from the original. Taken on Lake Maggiore in April this year.The challenge used one of my own references taken on Lake Maggiore few months ago. I did a watercolour of the same view a few paintings back.

Thumbs Up - Cuban Style

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:58:00 +0000

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10 x 14 in - 25 x 36 cm Watery Acrylics
This is painted with acrylic paints. I don't have any liquid acrylics so I watered down some normal thick acrylic paint. I found that none of the colours I had treated in this way would make a good darks. So I was forced to try to add some of my darker colours like black.

Not surprisingly this has contributed to the rather murky and to the rather murky darks. This is the classic reason why beginner watercolourists are urged not to use black. It's not that black is a bad colour is just that, when used in mixes, it is seldom successful.

The reference was taken in November 2006. One of the things you notice when you visit Cuba is that it is a black country ruled by whites.

Of course the official statistics say blacks are in the minority but how many statistics from the Cuban Ministry of information would it be sensible to believe.

Adendum
There is a close up of the thumb, which is the part I am most pleased with.

After all that is the subject of the picture.

Cottage on the Hill

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:02:00 +0000

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10 x 14 in - 25 x 36 cm Watercolor I started this painting with the intention of pushing the colours up a level or two in intensity. When I came to doing it my nerve failed and I fell back on following the reference more than I had intended. Perhaps it was just a lack of imagination.

This is the reference.

Taken at the end of May this year.

Sweet Peas and Succulents

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:13:00 +0000

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14 x 10 in - 36 x 25 cm Watercolor

I attempted to do this with a Charles Reid approach. I knew this would be a difficult reference to work from.

I have had some success with this approach in the past see this previous blog entry.

Back then I was careful to only have a few flowers in the composition.

This time I was much more ambitious. The right side got a little over worked and the dull base is clearly, not a pleasure to look at, despite it following the reference quite well. There must be a lesson in composition hidden in there somewhere.

While I know this can be said of most of my paintings. I think it is true with this one that if you get back far enough it does start to hold together.

Street Figures, Study

noreply@blogger.com (RogerPf) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 22:29:00 +0000

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10 x 11 in - 25 x 28 cm Watercolor At first I planned to do this as a full painting but then I came to realise that I wasn't really interested in the full scene on the reference photo.

The ref photo was taken in Normandy in June this year. I did not set myself any particular restrictions. The painting is quite detailed with a lot of use wet in wet to get the darker tones. While the brushes I used for this are quite large they do have very fine points on them.