The Art of Phil Davis

Peppers (two ways)

2012-05-20T19:39:00.001+01:00

I am working towards an exhibition in the very near future, but still can’t help myself from leaving the main work and experimenting.

I tried these peppers first with pastels (above) and then with Promarker markers, which I bought ages ago but haven’t really tried. I had trouble with them bleeding on paper and didn’t realise you could get special paper for markers, until I saw it online and got some. Any way , here is my effort, which I hope I can improve on…anyone out there using markers, I would welcome some tips.

I made a disaster of the green one, I found they all improved a bit when I outlined them with a black liner pen, the shadow is another disaster but is all a learning curve.

Collage

2012-05-12T08:30:00.001+01:00

Thought some of you might find this interesting. Was messing with Picassa and found out you could create a collage from your photos,,, so here are some of my latest works. Makes a great screensaver!

Damaged goods 2

2012-05-04T17:22:00.001+01:00

Reference photo for the damaged painting. As you point out Charlotte very similar to Van Goghs painting.

Damaged goods

2012-05-03T18:51:00.001+01:00

The ref photo for this painting was taken from the back of my house. I was taken by the dark sky against the yellow of the rape field. Finished it on last Saturday evening and on Sunday morning knocked it off the easel and ended up with two large tears in the canvas. Tried to patch it up with tape on the back and painting over the rips but didn’t really work ,so started it again on another canvas. Will post that when done,…..providing it stays in one piece.

Something a bit different

2012-04-24T14:56:00.001+01:00

Acrylic and pen on paper.

A bit different to what I normally do. What do you think?

Bumblebee and Rose

2012-04-23T14:47:00.001+01:00

Acrylic on mountboard.

First time I tried acrylic on mountboard, probably not the best surface to use but it worked in the end. The paint tends to skip quite a lot.

Coloured Pencils

2012-04-17T09:11:00.001+01:00

Another coloured pencil effort, the inspiration came from a photo on “Wetcanvas”, so I set up my own pencils as well as using the photo as reference. Not sure if the background works but will keep looking at it until it tells me.

Have put up a new page on Facebook, “Downstairs in Shanagarry Design Centre” .There are 3 artists including myself with working studios, 2 of us are also running classes, so its worth a look and a visit anytime you are in the area.

Sea Shells

2012-03-28T19:45:00.001+01:00

“Seashells” Coloured pencil on cartridge paper.

This started off as drawing practice before a class.I started with the oyster shell and then got carried away , putting in the other shells and decided to add some colour. I do love coloured pencil, but it is very time consuming building up the layers.

For the birds

2012-03-25T18:17:00.001+01:00

“Puffins”. 7”x5” Acrylic on canvas board.

For reference I used a photo from a friend of mine, DaveEdmunds, http://www.facebook.com/dave.edmunds1

I wish I was as good a photographer as him , because then I would be able to take decent photos of my paintings.

It looks like summer has arrived in Ireland as the weather today is brilliant, sun shining all day, should have got outside painting instead of being stuck in my studio, but at least I did some work.

Why is it that the paintings in your head never seem to get onto the canvas. I conjure up all these wonderful masterpieces in my imagination, but can never remember them when I need to. Hey ho!!!!!!

del.icio.us Tags: puffins,photo,photographer,acrylic,canvas board,summer,Ireland,Phil Davis,masterpieces,painting,studio

Life’s a Bitch

2012-03-08T19:36:00.001Z

“Life’s a bitch.” Acrylic on paper.

The second in the “dog walker” series.Not sure why I chose to do this one in acrylic rather than watercolour, but it’s done now so it doesn’t matter, does it? The colours aren’t so bright as this, I’m just a crap photographer.

Super Son

2012-03-05T16:32:00.001Z

Once again the Ballycotton 10mile road race has come and gone, it was on yesterday and it reminded me that I had not embarrassed my son by posting the painting of him that I did when he ran the race for the first time. It was on his list of things to do before he reached 40, and he achieved both last year. So there you are , I have suitably shamed him and probably ruined any chance I had of becoming a portrait painter.

My friend Missy

2012-02-25T17:59:00.001Z

Acrylic on paper.

This is Missy, my friend the Bulldog puppy. She belongs to Orla, a brilliant potter who has a studio next to mine. After a shaky start, Missy and I have become great friends , as you can see, she allowd me to paint her portrait, without a hint of embarassment. Maybe I have found another string to my bow….Pet Portraits.

Still running

2012-02-23T19:12:00.001Z

Not positive that I haven’t posted this before, forgive me if I have, but my memory(and record keeping) are getting progressively worse.

This is from a series of paintings, well 4 , that I did of runners after last years Ballycotton 10 mile road race, where does the time go, its on again in two weeks! I tried to give the impression of movement in this one and I think it worked up to a point.

The weather over here is amazing for the time of year, 13c today, I hope it stays like that as I am going to Limerick on Sunday to embarrass myself ,painting En plein air with a group of fellow artists.

Back from the UKkk(thats me shivering)

2012-02-14T09:42:00.001Z

“Play with us daddy!” Watercolour on arches paper.
This is the first effort from the sketches I put up on my last post, what do you think?
Was in UK for a few days for my sisters birthday. Bloody cold there, snow on the ground, my feet were frozen. –1 degree, I know for a lot of you guys in US this is wimpy, but flying from a veritable heatwave of 9c it was a bit of a shocker. Anyway had a great time.

I painted this for my sister, for her birthday, she will probably kill me for posting it , but I quite like it. We were in Buenos Aries in 2010 for her sons wedding and I took the reference photo at a flea market.

Sketches

2012-01-28T16:55:00.001Z

“HAPPINESS IS! “
Spent the last two days sketching out a couple of ideas for paintings. I used photos I took of a man in a park in Buenos Aires, don’t know if he was a dog walker or just a dog lover, but he had about 8 dogs with him!

“PLAY WITH US DADDY”
After spending 2 days sketching them out my wife begged me to leave them as sketches and not put colour in, so I now have to draw them again to paint them!

The last paddle

2012-01-26T08:27:00.001Z

Not sure if I have posted this before, not a very good photo I’m afraid, but it brings back memories of warmer days. I was going through my sketch books looking for something to inspire me when I found this little watercolour from a couple of years ago, maybe even longer. I think I will use it for a bigger painting , maybe in watercolour.
I am starting a new beginner course this morning, and I am a bit nervous. I haven’t run a beginner’s class in a couple of years. Been content to work away with improvers and advanced students.
Although we have had a very mild winter this year, the last two mornings have been cold and wet and windy, the light hasn’t seemed to break through at any stage, and it’s kind of depressing, but I suppose I shouldn’t complain, at least we have had no snow!

Another Watercolour

2012-01-14T17:38:00.001Z

Wet Night in Manhattan…Ref Photo courtesy of Wet Canvas.
I wanted to credit the photographer but can’t find the image again.
Decided to try something different from faces so spent the last couple of days on this. I think its a bit over worked but I enjoyed doing it and it is good practice. I am determined to keep at the watercolours until I beat them or they beat me.
My classes have restarted this past week so have not got as much time to paint myself.
I have a new beginners course starting on Thursday mornings if anybody is interested, still a couple of places free.

New Year Resolution

2012-01-06T19:17:00.001Z

Normally my resolution is not to make any resolutions, but this year decided to tackle two, faces and watercolours.What am I doing?
This is my second watercolour of 2012, unfortunately I made my daughters cheeks too crimson alizarin, looks like a rash. Any suggestions? Have tried damping and spongeing, also tried Gouache over it but it’s still to RASH.

This is my first painting of 2012, I used an image from http://www.wetcanvas.com/, which you can find at http://www.wetcanvas.com/RefLib/showphoto.php?photo=132878
I am reasonably pleased with the result, but obviously there is huge room for improvement.

Happy Christmas

2011-12-24T09:35:00.001Z

Wishing everybody a wonderful Christmas and a very happy 2012.

The Cat and the Singer(Part two)

2011-12-20T18:14:00.001Z

I posted a pencil sketch of this in February and I have finally managed to finish painting it. The incentive was that somebody bought it before it was finished so the pressure was on. Its a small oil on canvas, 11”x8”, it took a while to finish, the weather has been so damp the paint would not dry, so I couldn’t get the detail in.

It’s Cold

2011-12-16T10:46:00.001Z

It’s cold, very cold, I hate the cold, my studio is cold. Did I say I hate the cold.

Compared to this time last year it is almost humid at 1C but I just cannot get warm, old age creeping up?

It’s very hard to paint when your feet are cold and my studio is very hard to heat. Have I moaned enough…ok.

Thought this might bring a smile to your faces. I have been working on this for a while, acrylic on paper, my grandson about 6 months ago. I thought it was finished until I just put up the picture and I realised I haven’t painted in the zip on the right hand side , so I will call it a work in progress, especially as I now see several things that can be improved.

del.icio.us Tags: grandson,acrylic,paper,asleep,cold,work in progress

The Piper of Lismore

2011-12-07T10:30:00.001Z

I’m working on several pieces at the moment, but this one is giving me the greatest difficulty. As I am not very good at faces I can’t decide how much detail I should try to put in….or not!
Also I’m not sure whether there should be another child on the left foreground. As usual I am looking for opinions and critiques.
I got the idea for the painting from a photo I had of this lad playing tin whistle at a farmers market, and I made the rest up around him.

Sketching Session

2011-11-10T12:46:00.001Z

This is my sketch from the second sketching session my group had. It was up to me to pick the subject, hence the not very imaginative still life. Anyway everyone seemed to enjoy it and it kept us from the wine for nearly an hour, so thats good, ….isn’t it?

del.icio.us Tags: art group,sketching,still life,wine

Sketching

2011-11-02T12:35:00.001Z

My art group meets every Thursday night, in each others houses, as we seemed to be descending into a drinking group, we decided that each week the host would put together a still life that we would sketch.

This turned out to be a brilliant idea as we all made an effort, This is my idea of the first still life, I used a black pen to sketch with and put in the colours later, from memory.

del.icio.us Tags: art,art group,still life,sketching,colours,pen

Work in progress finished (I think!)

2011-11-01T14:40:00.001Z

I keep fiddling with this, so it must be finished, I would be interested to hear opinions. I was tempted to put a couple of people in the right foreground but thought it might close down the view a bit.

Have been busy of late putting together an order of prints for the Kilkenny Group of shops, its the first order from them so hopefully they will sell well and result in more orders. Needless to say my large format printer decided to pack up at this time and I had to get them printed elsewhere.

Have to say I was not impressed by the Canon company, although its one of their printers, an iPF5000, they have no clue who fixes them in Ireland, so if anyone has had similar problems you might let me know.