Friday 14 November 2014

Strangers

My latest piece. Again a stranger in the street, deep in his own thoughts. 
Beyond pushing the paint around and enjoying the act of painting, I think these latest pieces are about not knowing. We come into direct and indirect contact with so many people who we never really know, and we never really understand to what degree we don't know them, even when we become familiar and we think that we do. Similarly, we never know what life has in store for us, or the impact we make, directly and indirectly, on others.
Even people we pass in the street.

 Simple blocking in and establishing tonal areas.
Pushing the paint around a little and suggesting buildings and windows in the background. 


The finished piece.
 Detail.

 This is it in progress in the corner of my studio.

Saturday 8 November 2014

Street People.

 I've been intending to paint people for quite a while now. My interest lies in painting strangers that I see around in the streets. These are about the people, not the streets. I don't know them, and therefore don't bring any previous knowledge of them to bear. I can impose any kind of atmosphere or suggestion that I like, but am not restricted by the 'need' for a likeness. That said, this does look very much like the guy who I surreptitiously photographed. I like the idea that the people I paint are unaware that they are being looked at, and so I'm looking for those unconsciousness expressions and poses as people go about their business. I suppose that we are all people watchers, one way or another.
I still want to push the paint around and enjoy the act of painting more, as I said in my last post, but felt that this painting needed a little more accuracy than the last piece.

Early stages. A ground and initial drawing.

 Detail.
 Pushing the paint around.

 Time to start looking at the figure.

 Modelling the face. The composition needs something else..
 Detail.
 Loosely suggesting a street scene. Detail.

 Details.
Finished.

Sunday 2 November 2014

Untitled


Pushing The Paint Around.

Like most people I'm probably my own harshest critic. I have been frustrated by my painting for a while, both with the results and with the process especially. My last painting is a classic example of this. It ended up looking nothing like I'd wanted it to, I didn't paint it in the way that I'd intended, and I didn't really enjoy painting it. To be fair I was feeling a little stymied on ideas.
I've been thinking about painting people for ages. Not so much portraits, just strangers in interesting poses, and with interesting expressions - so there is no immediate association for me. It gives me the opportunity to start enjoying the process of painting again, and to push the paint around making more expressive marks.
The painting below is the first attempt at this. It's the second painting (of three) that I did over half term. I probably won't be posting the first one, but the second will be posted later.
Anyway, here it is. It has no title yet....

 Salvaging an old canvas.

 Detail.
Done.