After Charles Leickert -Dutch village scene with figures on a frozen canal

 After Charles Leickert -Dutch village scene with figures on a frozen canal

Finally got around to finishing this copy. Working on this scale (25 cm  x 20) is hard but by the end I had a system for working the details but I could have been neater from the start.  This was an interesting palette and had to work hard to get varying hues.  Looking at the original I could have pushed the darks more.

Lunch Break

Lunch Break

Celebrating those times when you think everything is under control you decide to take a short break and everything goes to. .  .  A lot of repainting on this and still not happy but on we go. 

Part of the way

Part of the way

Worked on this for one evening and for the last two weeks no progress.  I also have a digital piece that I have not yet finished.  The advantage of the digital is that it lends itself to working on it for short amounts of time over a long period which is great because I have not been able to get the extended periods of time that the oils really need. 

More mountains

More mountains

Another ink sketch.  Practicing landscapes from photos. 

Big Bugs

Big Bugs 

This is a reworking of an earlier piece -thinking about a book cover.  The challenge was to push it as far as I could. So I think it is one of the more polished pieces I have completed. Having got near the end there are things I would change but for this one it is enough. Next one will be more dynamic.  

Dinosaur sketch

I had planned to post another image but have not finished it as much as I would like so some more sketchbook stuff.   The  first image is a copy from a movie poster for Valley of Gwangi by Frank McCarthy. On the reverse of it I did another dinosaur using a different approach.  Didn't mange to hold onto the balanced proportions of the first.  

Anatomy of a band

Anatomy of a band

Noodling around with some old anatomy illustrations.

After Charles Leickert Winter Landscape with Skating Figures

After Charles Leickert Winter Landscape with Skating Figures

 Happy New Year to all.  Took advantage of the Christmas holidays to resurrect the oils.  Did a small copy (25 cm x 20 cm )of this painting image from sothebys.  Getting the detail in on such a small scale was a challenge.  It was nice to get back to oils. 

Portrait Study 30

On holidays over the Christmas.  Doing some studying.  Trying to be as economical as possible with strokes. 

First post of 2017.  Happy New Year folks. Lets see what this year brings!

Not Suitable for Children

Not Suitable for Children

Christmas this year and the world seems darker. You cant suppose that things will work out.  We will all have to work harder at making this a better place.

Landscape ink

Landscape ink

Landscape study in ink.  Done with a biro then I found my brush pen about two thirds through.  Learning here for me was the importance of grouping values.  Was somewhat OK in the foreground and background but middle became muddied with no clear textures. The ink is unforgiving to those who do not plan.  

Random practice

bug

Did not work on a big piece last week but have started something this week.  In the meantime I am still practicing.  One thing that is becoming obvious is that my linework in traditional is way ahead of the tablet. Something to think about. 

Repairs

Repairs

Been working on this on and off for the last few weeks. 

The inspiration came from this image  by Ferdinand Bol.  He worked in Rembrandts studio.  Just wanted to try and catch some emotion.  I tried to polish as much as possible but ran out of steam. 

More ink

Mountains 

Frog

Frog guy

 My time available to do this work was reduced considerably in the past few weeks.  Working in ink was a great alternative as I could stop and start conveniently. Not very good at imaginative landscapes but it was very easy to work on this one.  The frog is a study from a photograph and then something from imagination to get some of it to stick.  Still working digitally just nothing to a finished level yet. 
 Its getting towards the end of the year and a little bit of reflection is inevitable.  I think I have tried a lot of new things this year , some more successful than others  and I have started thinking about next year.  I would like to put a bit more focus on training and putting together a portfolio to get some work. More to follow. 

Materials study 1

Materials study 1 

Found a post by Jarrod Hasenjager on Artstation where he modeled materials in 3d and put them in environments.  Thought some of the images would be useful to do some 2d material studies.  The oxidised one was the most fun.  

Foresty Guy

Foresty Guy

What was interesting about this was the palette.  Used some photo textures to get started and they set the palette and the value range. 

Step Over

Step over

After all the pen and ink work I have the digital work from the last month but my computer is complaining so will keep it short for now.

Inktober Week 4

24 One Dozen

25 Tired

26 Box

27 Creepy

28 Burn

29 Surprise

30 Wreck

31 Friend

All done.  Just as well as my pen which I used throughout is almost out of ink. First time attempting inktober in its entirety and happy I tried.  Stripping everything down to one pen was worthwhile.  I have been sketching at lunchtime using just a pen for the best part of a year and I think it helped here.  Will keep working in ink and may well move to the next level incorporating line weight.  

Inktober Week 3

17 Battle

18 Escape

19 Flight

20 Squeeze

21 Big

22 Little

23 Slow

Got another batch of inktober done.  It was tough to keep them going but I got one done each day.  Have stuck with the biro for the most part because thats all I have got right now.  I think sticking with just the line work has been beneficial.  Want to try and do a larger more detailed piece in the last week. 

Inktober week 2

Jump

Transport

Worried

Scared

Tree

Relax

Wet

Managed to keep inktober rolling for another week.  Some of these I took more time to plan and execute but tried a few different things.  Going to keep it up for week 3.  I have also got some digital work finished so might drop them here in the coming week.