Swan w.i.p.

I've roughly blocked in the green areas of the water. I don't want green over-kill so I'm working over the far background with a lavender colour to mute the green, and push it into the background. I'm going to work into the foreground tomorrow, then I can gauge how much I need to tone down the background colours.

I went to the Degas and the Ballet Picturing Movement Exhibition at the Royal Academy today. Fantastic absolutely fascinated by the use of photography, how by using 24 cameras, surrounding a figure all taking simultaneous photos, they could then be used to create sculptures or photosculpture. There were also examples of serial imagery that showed the broken down movements of the dancers. On top of this was the icing on the cake, Degas paintings, his pastels in real-life have so much more luminosity and vibrancy of colour.

Kingston wildlife

I've decided it's time I celebrated my local wildlife. First up is this swan on the river Thames. It's an A3 pastel painting on pastelmat, obviously still a w.i.p;
I've started with a gouache wash, which I'm now working into with pastel.

Kingston wildlife

My next few paintings are to depict some local Kingston wildlife. We are so fortunate to have Richmond Park and the river nearby, I've recently drawn a stag, now I have a number of other subjects. Firstly this swan on the Thames, I've also finally succeeded in my quest to take a photo of a heron. I've a great shot of a squirrel, and green parquets which also reside in our park,  another resident in the park are Mandarin ducks these are to be an another subject soon.

I've tweaked a bit, and taken a better photo, now I'm stopping. Hope the lady who asked for the painting likes it!

I've some small projects in mind next, various paintings of native wildlife. 

Nearly getting there

I'm starting to feel this is nearly there. I'm conscious that it can't become over-worked. This photo better shows the true colours. I've worked red into the beach, and obviously finished the boy in the foreground. I've also worked various lighter tones into the beach and sea, and tweaked down the blueness of the sky.

I'm going to ponder this over the weekend, then see what the mother of the boys thinks!

Trying to capture the movement

I had a right job getting a photo with true colours, always problematic when taking pastel paintings. The sky is a bit too blue, and orange a bit more orange, and the sand a little dull, otherwise perfect! I've work some texture and tone into the beach, the started on the boys. The strong sunlight is casting hard shadows, so I'm finding it hard to keep the boys poses looking natural, not too graphic. I'm using eye-catching light illuminated colours so that you eye goes to them first then the sea in the distance. They've got a long run to the sea and the two in front are sprinting off to get to it, their elder brother looking on, pondering whether to follow!

Happy Halloween!

The title has nothing to do with photos, just thought I'd wish you spooky Halloween!

I've just received a commission, three brothers running free on a beach in Southern France. Today I started with some loose gouache washes, then once dry started to experiment with pastel over the washes. The painting is all to do with Mediterranean vibrant colours, movement and space.