Yet another exhibition!

Wow, it seems like the last one wasn't even all that long ago!  It seems people actually like my paintings enough to hang them in their galleries, crazy!

If you aren't too far from south west London and would like to come and see the paintings again or for the first time, then drop me a line or just pop by on Friday.  (RSVP would be preferred though)

Yes, I know I haven't even uploaded photos of all of the paintings yet and it seems like there hasn't been anything new for a while, but rest assured, I'm working away in the studio on a commission and a new series.  I've taken on a few other jobs as well so it'll be a little while until things are ready to be shown, but I hope to amuse and delight when they are : )

For info on how to get to the exhibition and times and so forth, go to: www.bigglesart.com/exhibition

See you all there!

Open Studio and an Exhibition!

I'm finally having an exhibition!  You can find all the details at www.bigglesart.com/exhibition.  It's really exciting, but also terrifying, what with it being my first proper show and all.

Also, if you live nearby and would like to come and see our studio, where I make pictures and that along side Dave and Zanny, well you can do that too!  We'll be having an open studio from the 14th - 17th of October as a part of the Frieze Art Fair, so pop on in and say hi!  Hey, if you don't like our stuff, then there'll be another few dozen artists all in the same building for you to come and have a look at.  There may also be a small quantity of booze involved :D

Fulham

Woohoo!  Another painting!  This one has been cooking for quite some time.  It started life in the old studio and began as a study of the view looking west out of our window.  Then it became something of an experiment in painting clouds and the sun and bleaching things out near the sun.  Pretty happy with this one : )

Oil on canvas

St George's Circus

That almost came out as "St George's Citrus", which was maybe my subconscious trying to comment on the palette used in this one.  Not 100% finished, I don't think, but it's at a stage where I don't mind showing this one : )

Still trying to do my multiple paintings at a time thing, so I always have something dry to work on, but due to trying to do a couple of them on site, my workflow ends up being very weather dependant.  Which is not ideal.  Will hopefully finish them off though!

Still loads of pieces to finish, and a few new ones to paint!  Think I'm going to try and do a couple from photos next, to alleviate that weather issue, and also just to mix things up a bit cos I'm like that.  This one was started at about 4:30 in the morning, on site, but finished off in the studio mainly from memory and imagination.  That building on the left (yes, yes, the part that probably needs the most work at this point... ) is my studio : )  It's great, I share with two lovely people and we have a huge north facing window (so the side that you can't see in the pic) although it does tend to get rather warm...

Also been thinking about my artist statement a bit more.  Turns out it's really quite difficult to come up with something that isn't horribly pretentious.  But then, I've never claimed to not be pretentious (that may also be a lie)

Oil on canvas.

A bench in South Africa

Quiet around here lately!  Apologies for that, I've been working on a bunch of stuff I can't show just yet.  Hope I'll get to soon, but until then, you'll have to sit tight : )

In the mean time, I've decided to go back to one of my South Africa paintings which wasn't very developed at all when I brought it back.  It's coming on nicely but I'm not quite sure whether I should leave it as it is, or start adding figures.  I quite like the idea of someone lying on the bench, and kids sneaking up on them, hiding behind the trees.  I'm sure it would make for a far more interesting image.  What do you think?

I do quite like the crazy grass though : D

Oil on wood

Something a bit different

If you've been following for a while, or browsed through some of my older stuff on here, you might have noticed I used to do a lot more of what I call illustration work.  It's good fun to leave reality behind and draw things straight out of your head every now and then and it's something I'd like to get much better at doing.  This pic here was done for an ArtOrder challenge and even though there weren't any prizes involved, I was up against some pretty tough competition.

I know my interpretation of the quote was a little bit literal (and well trod, it seems) but I kind of got the idea stuck in to my head and felt I had to  follow it to completion.  Towards the end, I really started to hate this piece though.  I know that a lot of the circles aren't quite right in perspective, the forearm bugs me a fair bit, the bodies in the middle ground are only partially defined, the texture of the piece is rough and amateurish and the range of colors and tones isn't great at all, but I'm still glad I made an attempt at this and sent it off.  

I used a bunch of new techniques for this one.  A few preliminary sketches, posing for reference via PhotoBooth (lots of fun : ) and switching back and forth between pencil/paper and photoshop via Zanny's A3 scanner/printer.  There's even some alchemy in there, though actually I kind of wish I'd left that layer out in the end...

I still have major difficulties in working digitally.  Making the right mark in the right place just seems really difficult, especially if you are trying to create a non-digital-looking effect.  In that vein, I'm doing some master studies to try and improve my photoshop brush handling as it does seem to be a pretty awesome tool in the hands of the pros.

Colored pencil, chalk and photoshop

Me again

Wasn't really happy with that previous self portrait, so had another
go painting over it. Still not sure I'd want to use this one for a
business card (which was the original plan) but I do think it's
better...
Also, no idea what to do with the background. Next time, I really need
to work on the whole painting at once, from composition onwards.
Did have fun doing an underpainting first for this one, actually
helped a lot with keeping the light source really strong.

Oil on canvas board.

Ida's Valley

So, this is another painting I worked on out in Ida's Valley. This was one of the many beautiful gardens surrounding Major Erskine's house. This was actually the first propper painting I started while I was out there. Quite looking forward to framing this one as I think it'll really make it look rather nice.

Anyway, if I'm updating my blog, I'm clearly not painting, so I better get back to it :D

Oils on wood.

Say cheese!

So the studio is going really well. Zanny's great to share with, and I feel like I'm actually being rather productive having somewhere to go to just work. Of course, not every day goes according to plan, but it makes a huge difference. Still working away on that landscape, having some issues with the foreground, though hopefully I'll work it out sooner or later. Meanwhile, it's time to be moving on with other things.

I've stared planning out another painting which I don't expect to be finished for quite some time, but have a scene, some pose ideas and have even persuaded my house mate to pose for it. Yes she'll be fully clothed. Crikey, what are you like? Anyway, that'll be some way off yet.

Meanwhile, it's about time I started sorting out business cards as it seems like such a wasted opportunity when you meet people and they ask for one but you have nothing to give. Well, I think I still have some MX ones lying around, but it doesn't seem entirely appropriate to use those...

So, I'm working on a self portrait that I can shrink down and print out on expensive card with my name and phone number on the back. It's been ages since I painted a self portrait. It's very difficult to get a convincing expression on the face, I think I need to practice drawing expressions. Might be time to get that good old face book out again. Anyway, I'm not yet fully convinced by this, but it'll have to do for now.

Critiques even more welcome than usual on this one, I could really do with some tips on making this a bit more convincing!

Oil on canvas board

South Africa and new studio!

Yo! So South Africa was cool. Stayed with a Major Phillip Erskine in a lovely Cape Dutch homestead in Ida's Valley. You wouldn't believe how beautiful it was, with an enormous garden to boot. While there, I painted a fair bit, and brought back four paintings I was relatively happy with, although I'll be the first to admit that they each need more work!

In other news, I've also moved in to a new studio in the gassworks in Fulham, which is awesome. I now have space to make a mess and get back in to painting "propper".

First up, I thought I'd work on one of those South Africa painings. This was done looking over the wall (and through the barbed wire) at a mountain next door. I kind of like the colors in this one, though my lovely studio-mate Zanny has rightfully pointed out that I need to at least push the sky back to pop out the mountain and the foreground. Still not finished, but figured I need to show something to give you guys an idea of what I'm up to : )

So... yeah... seriously expensive oil paints on wood:

(edit: have uploaded a more recent version of this painting!)