Montmartre Painting -Step 3

Montmartre - Work in progress

What you see here is a conflict of styles.

For some reason I started working a session from the photograph I had rather than my sketch and as a result I have two styles, the loose, dreamy top half and the tight, somewhat static bottom half.
My next session was spent trying to gain some unity within the piece and ignoring the urge to throw darts at this canvas and start the whole thing over again.

Montmartre Painting -Step 2

...A little sky colour...

Montmartre Painting -Step 1

...and so we begin...

The Quay, Wells-Next-The-Sea

The Quay, Wells-Next-The-Sea - Anita Davies

This was painted using my sketchbooks as a reference, from one of my many trips to Maryland Cottage in Wells last year.
The great thing about going straight in with paint is that you are free to change things without becoming a slave to your drawing. Below you can see the three stages my sand banks went through before I was finally happy with their placement.

I tried something of a vingette on this piece, an idea that has been knocking around my head for a while, and didn't fill the canvas so the primer showed...I quite like the effect but then I have always has a passion for artworks that appear unfinished or incomplete...What do you think?



I worked fast and loose with a big flat brush and Atelier interactive paints, the entire painting took around an hour and a half and was great fun.

Room for improvement - Notes*
I am considering lenghtening the mast so it breaks through to the sky slightly to improve composition and, who knows, maybe I'll add a couple of birds to that sky on the right to keep the viewers eye rolling around the canvas and complete a nice triangle between my mast, the birds and the buoy.

Montmartre

In 2003 I spent a long weekend in Paris for my birthday, my first.

I also began my art adventure in 2003 and, since it was all new to me, I did not think to take a sketchbook or very many photographs...Boy do I regret that now!

I loved Monmartre and could have easily passed away many hours sat outside one of the cafes watching the artists at work...coffee and art, who could wish for more than that?

I sketched this from one of the few photos I did manage to take and, after making a few alterations in my head, am currently working it up onto canvas using acrylic interactives...More on this one soon.

Lushae

My ring arrived from Sarah at Lushae and it is stunning.

It took approx. two weeks to arrive and required a custom fee to collect, I emailed Sarah and she immediately credited my paypal account with more than the required compensation along with her apologies.

I took a gamble on the size, I don't have a printer at the moment so I turned my Sons's laptop upside down and placed a ring I have over the size chart on the Lushae website...It fits perfectly!

The ring shines and twinkles so much that I found it quite difficult to photograph and had to find a spot in the lounge without direct light. It looks so elegant and I love the design. It came complete with it's own little box too!

A huge thank you to Sarah at Lushae, I am delighted.

Fast and Furious

A quickie, using Artelier interactive paints, a knife and a 1" brush...from imagination/memory.

Whittlesey - In Progress - Almost There

Here is where I am at with this piece now.
All that I intend adding to this are the 'arms' of the turbines and I'm calling it finished....I cleaned my palette before noticing they were incomplete.
I feel I gained the 'stillness' and calm I was after with this piece.

Whittlesey - In Progress Continued

The second stage of the painting started with the land, trying to keep a sunny feel and plenty of contrast. I decided to leave it here and let it dry, planning to go in with a couple of glazes later to really make those greens zing with sunshine.

The notes in my sketchbook reminded me how lucky I felt to have found such a spot on the way home, how it gave me a few moments of peace in a busy day and how re-charged I felt when I left. I wanted the painting to reflect that.

The sky was then worked, allowing those warm hues to show through here and there.



More soon...

Whittlesey - In Progress

Above is a painting I worked on over a couple of days. This was day one, mostly waiting for things to dry; primer coat and thick gesso layer, into which I carved my composition with a knife. The primer layer was a mixture of gesso, red, orange and blue paint I had left over from a demo, perfect for creating a little heat, which is what I hoped to capture in this piece .

The image below is the sketch I worked from, created 'en plein air' July last year during a pit stop on the way back from Peterborough. The area is near the railway station, at the back of some industrial buildings.

I liked the lone tree on the bank, I have recently realised my paintings tend to have a lonely air about them, not unhappy but lonely, even those created in warmer hues seem to be quite solitaire...Hmmmm!...Strange then that art has always represented an escape for me, somewhere to be alone...escape...Perhaps my subconscience is reflecting this?...Art can be so revealing, can't it?
Anyway...I had every intention of emphasising my lonely tree in the painting and lowering it from the horizon so it appeared more submissive against the turbines.

I'll upload the rest of the progress shots shortly.

More From The Sketchbook

P2170899, originally uploaded by Anita Davies.

Doodles from magazine references, drawn while watching TV sprawled out on the sofa.

Play Time

I spent a little while playing the other day, using up the paints from my class and a large primed canvas. The painting evolved from my imagination and was a nice release.
At some point I'll re-use the canvas but playing with left over paint this way can prove an inspiring and liberating 30 minutes in the knowledge that it can all be coated with gesso afterward.

I took progress pics:

Sketchbook

A landscape sketch from my imagination and a cockerel, not my cockerel though because he won't stay still for long and it's too cold outside to be patient with him.

Home Straight

' Home Straight' - Acrylic interactives on canvas

This is the painting I created from the sketches in the previous post, relying on memory for the colours and atmosphere.
This is the drove I live in; a mile long, dead end with just seven homes in total and clear views across the Fen in every direction make it a wonderful place to call home.

Studies for a Painting

You may remember the sketch 'Home Sweet Home' I made from the top of our drove. I came across it the other night while looking through old sketchbooks for inspiration and decided to re-sketch it a few times in my Copic pens. The following day I decided to paint it from the information I had from both my sketchbook and my memory.

I'll upload he painting from my camera soon.

As you can see, the copics create a wonderful tonal study to work from and they are just so easy to use. The fun part is trying to remember colours or make my own up to create the mood/atmosphere I am after.

Plein Air ...of sorts

'Rain approaching Doddington' - Atelier interactive acrylic on canvas

'Of sorts' because I painted it from my studio window in real time. The only thing that could argue the 'plein air' aspect is the pane of glass dividing me from the scene.
Painting an approaching rainstorm is HARD. The sky changed every second and in turn so did the light, one has to work FAST! It was fun, though challenging, and when the rain did hit I was relieved to be in the shelter of my cosy studio.

Copic People Sketches

Harry from life - 10 mins


Jake from life - 5 mins



Pausa coffee shop on location

Pausa coffee shop on location

Sketched from a Mitch Waite DVD, still frame

Sketched from a magazine - 5 mins


I have had a tonal set of 5 grey Copic Ciao markers for a couple of years now and never really used them. I recently started making thumbnail sketches with them and quickly realised their potential as a very handy location media. I have found that creating tonal thumbnails for prospective paintings with these pens allows me to see quite quickly if the painting will work, compositionally and tonally. Colour notes can be made in writing or left to my interpretation back in the studio.

Being a huge monochrome fan, I've become rather addicted to them.

They are so easy to stick in a handbag and 4 pens can be held in one hand comfortably while working with the 5th.
Finding a sketchbook that will take them, however, has been a bit of a problem...They bleed through to the back of the page, especially the black. So far, the best books I have tested are the Derwent Floral, which has paper rather like a Moleskine only a little thicker, and the Canson watercolour sketchbook .

20 min demo

20 min demo, originally uploaded by Anita Davies.

This is the same painting as the last post with an additional 10 minutes spent on it during this weeks class. I was trying to explain temperature and atmosphere, changing the sky with a little indigo to create a little drama and send it back...adding touches of green to the land to bring it forward and begin to create a focal.

10 Min Demo

Acrylic on 8x10" canvas

This is the 10 minute acrylic demo I gave to my class at the beginning of the month using a large, flat brush.
They enjoyed using the acrylics so much that we have decided to concentrate on them as our medium for a while.

People Sketches

Here are a few pages from my sketchbooks, I have heaps more!
I am really missing my scanner and my own editing programme so apologies if they are showing a little dark and wonky!

The first two entries were sketched while lunching with Joannie, at The Anchor pub, during her visit, the third are some quick TV sketches.

More to come...

Number Five

Atelier interactive on canvas

This is my 5th and final painting created during Joannies stay with me.

The canvas was first primed with a mix of purple diox and white gesso. The small wall up to the house, where the child is walking, is not as prominent in the actual painting...my camera seems to like it though because this is the best shot I could get!

I've since been working many thumbnails for my next paintings, using Copic Ciao markers, which I have had for ages and never used....I love them! I managed to take some photos this morning and will attempt to upload later. Oh and I think I've worked out my Sons editing programme, which means I can resize them a bit, my apologies for the monstrous sizes of late.

Number Four

The 4th painting I created during Joannies stay, using Atelier acrylic interactives. I've photographed it best I can but am not used my Sons' editing programme on his laptop...It's close enough though! I primed the canvas with a mid pink tone and worked the painting with a large flat brush.

My spa break was wonderful and I am back feeling relaxed and looking very brown from my spray tan.

I have decided to call my Iris painting 'April Showers', Thanks for all your suggestions and compliments.

Papoose

'Papoose' - Atelier Acrylic Interactives

This is the third painting I made during Joannies stay. After playing with the new paints I was dying to try them on a portrait and had this reference printed out from years ago.
I spent and 1 and 30 minutes pushing the paints around freely on the surface with a 1" flat brush and enjoyed every second.
My aims were to use the reference rather than copy it, work with form and tone and keep things loose and painterly.
I am pleased with the result.

I am off to a residential spa for the weekend. I have prepared a new Derwent pink floral sketchbook with decorative papers to take with me. Sadly my pc is still sick and I'm using my Son's laptop, so scanning sketchbook pages is difficult at the moment but I am still sketching and I will update you all just as soon as my pc has been fixed.

Have a good weekend!

The Wash

'The Wash' - Acrylic Ink and Atelier Acrylic Interactives on canvas

The second painting I made during Joannies stay using the interactive paints, making something of another prepped canvas in the studio and discovering how the media handled.
Again, this was painted in very little time with a one inch, flat brush...This time from imagination/memory.

Fun!

New Toy

Painted from sketchbook reference
Acrylic ink and Atelier Interactives on canvas board

Joannie arrived last Thursday to stay with me for a few days. She brought along the order of Atelier interactice acrylics I had purchased from the SAA , complete with free spray bottle and instructional DVD by Mitch Waite...Our new toys for some studio fun during her stay!

After watching a couple of the half hour sessions on the DVD, Joan and I could wait no longer and dashed into the studio to open our new paints.

I started by pouring some acrylic inks onto a canvas board that's been hanging around the studio acting as a sampler for my students, it had various textures and pint blobs all over it as a result so the inks just brightened it up a little. I then worked very quickly with a one inch brush, blocking in my composition boldly using shape rather than a drawn sketch.

I really enjoy this way of applying paint.

The interactives were wonderful to work with, livening up with a little water spritz allowed me to work the whole canvas at once without the risk of areas drying out. They allow a much more unified result with a lot less work and paint.

The resulting painting took very little time, approx 30 mins...loose and spontaneous...Just what I had been after, I decided immediately that I liked these paints very much. I could have spent more time but I reached a stage here where the result excited me so much that I didn't want to lose it. I haven't painted much in the last two and a half years, what I have painted has been mostly commissioned, but I have dreamed of painting...thought of painting...painted in my mind...painted in my sleep... My sketchbooks have achieved a new confidence in my art and a longing for atmosphere and expression. They have also given me a new insight into landscapes, a subject that had never interested me in painting before.

My new paints unlocked me and in the three days Joan and I painted I created no less than 5 pieces of work, getting familiar with the medium and working boldly, with passion...enjoying every single moment.

This journey is going to be so much fun!

Joannie in my studio - Jan 2010