Portrait: Inspired by the RWC

Hi,

Lately I have spending as much time as possible in front of the tele watching rugby games.. Go the Wallabies.  For those that don't know, the Rugby World Cup is being played out in New Zealand as I type.  We have finished the pools and Australia are through to the quarter finals where they will meet the mighty Springboks.. It will be quite a challenge to beat them and progress to the semis where we would probaly meet the All Blacks..It will be a tough road to the final, but hey, nothing great comes easy does it.

So the RWC has inspired me to paint some more.. I have decide to do a series on "champions" and decided to start with our very own Rocky Elsom, past captain of the Wallabies, who just happens to be the brother of my next door neighbour Sam.

Seeing Rocky is in New Zealand with the squad, I didn't have access to a live sit, so I have had to do this one from a photo... Fortunately there are plenty of photos of Rocky on the web to choose from so not so difficult after all.

I also decided to take as many photos "in progress" as I could.  I might post them on my website, but I will definately post them here...

Firstly, I decided on a limited pallete of Titanium White, Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Red Deep, Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue... From these I should be able to mix any color I like (black is equal proportions of Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue for those who want to try it... It makes a really warm black.. You can cool it down by just adding some more blue.)

Here is my pallette

I just take a mixing knife and spread some colour to match possible skin tones into a pool in the middle. The dark blob on the right is my made up black.

OK... sketch him in using some raw umber (thats the little blob between the red and the sienna. I just use this for the sketch and the backbround, not Rocky himself.

Step 1:

Start with the darks and work up to the highlights... I won't add commentary unless there is something special I want to say about the step.

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4:

Step 5:



 Step 6:

That right eye looks a bit wonky.. I'll have to fix that.. and the arms look a bit wrong, so i'll have to have a look at them as well.... But thats it for today.. running out of time, so I'll work on it this week.

Take care

Pete

P.S.  comments always welcome.





 

Portrait: John

I posted the WIP for this a few weeks ago, but managed to finish another portrait in between (see Pete below).  Well on the weekend I got around to finishing this one of my Dad.  Its his 80th Birthday this Friday, and we are going up for the weekend.  I am hoping to get a frame for this so I can give it to him on the weekend.

Hope you like it... comments are welcome

Have a great Week
Pete

Portrait: Pete

I finally got round to picking up a brush again.. not for lack of desire mind you, its just that byt the time I get home at night from my day job, help Deb out round the house, bathe the little one and put her to bed, I'm buggered, so I just collapse in front of the tele.

I have had this on the easel for about a week or two (along with the one of my dad, which I hope to finish either toinight or tomorrow (wait.. tomorrow is the beginning of the Rugby World Cup, so there goes my painting for the next six weeks - go the Wallabies).

I decided to finish this one as its been around a while.  I am really beginning to like the way I am painting, slapping paint around, and getting away from some of the really tight works I have done before.  My palette knife work has done that.. made me realise you don't need to draw a line for the viewer to see a line..

Hope you like it... Its a painting of my brother in law of a photo I took last Christmas.
Pete

Whats on the Easel - August 20th, 2011

Getting a bit of painting done lately, after maybe 3 monbths of not even looking at an easel.. Still doing portraits though, coz in the spare room I only have so much space to work with.  These are nearly all on A3 size, and on Cansen Acrylic and Oil paper.  Its easier to store than canvases, and I am running out of room :(

Anyway.. finished the portrait of Matt.. here it is;

I hope he likes it....

I also started a new portrait of Dad.  Here is a little WIP and where I am up to so far.  I hope to finish this weekend but we'll see how I go.  I still need to work on the eyes, mouth and nose!

First I sketch in with a paint brush and some thinned down paint.

Then I work on the first pass... Its about as far as I can go until some of the paint dries a little

Pete

Whats on the easel.. August 2011

Last night I had the urge.. a long time coming, so I started to paint a portrait of my son in law, Matt.  I decided to use a fairly limited palette.. Titanium White, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Red, and Lemon Yellow.. and to be a bit loose with the painting.. This is the result so far.. I am pretty happy with it, although it does need some fine tuning (around the mouth and eyes mainly) before I add it to the gallery..

Comments always welcome.

Does size cramp your style

The other day one of my watchers on DeviantArt  commented on one of my posts.  He said  'As soon as I saw this painting I knew it was one of yours'.. He had identified my style, and I wasn't even sure that I had one :).  Well apparently I have, and its all about how I wield anything but a brush to scrape paint onto the paper, including palette knives, bit of cardboard, and of course my favorite.. a tilers squeegee that's about 10 inches wide.

It got me thinking.. When I had the studio, I was able to paint big.. I mean big.. canvases that were 6 feet wide weren't out of the ordinary.  I would cut the bottom of a new paint tube off with a pair of scissors and squeeze the entire tube onto a ceramic tile so I could scrape it up with a 2 inch paint scraper and spread it onto the canvas.. I had so much fun.

When they shut the studio down and I was banished to the corner of the spare bedroom in our apartment, I had to cut down the size of my paintings... some are as small as 20x16 inches.  Of course you can't spread paint on a canvas that small like peanut butter, so I had to change the way I was painting.  I started to use my smaller palette knives more often, and sometimes even tightened right up and did brush only work..  not near as much fun.. and, my paintings were, different..

So, size does count

what do you think

Pete

New Holbein Palette Knives - Woo Hoo

Today my new Holbein palette knives arrived... the finest in Japanese steel.  They cost me over $50 for 2 knives, but they really are something else.  The spring is incredible.. I can't wait to try them  out.

Eve Art: Mother Bird, Baby and Nest

It appears we have a talented 4 year old daughter... On the weekend, Evie and I decided we would paint... ie: She would paint and dad would clean up the mess she made.  This was one of her works that I really like.. She tells us that its a mummy bird, with a baby bird in its pouch (yes this bird has a pouch !!!!), and a birds nest.  Kinda cute don't you think

Portrait: Debbie-Lee No 2

I have been working on this one for quite a while, and it just never seemed to come together..  I am still not happy with the final result, but sometimes you just have to cut your losses and call it finished.

Still Life: Green Vase with Pears

Another still life.  After finishing off  "The Gardening Is Done" last month, I decided that I would do another still life, using palette knives.  I am really starting to get back into the knives.
I thought I wouldn't be able to work with knives on a smaller format after the massive 6 foot canvases that I was able to put up in the studio.  Hope you like it.

Green Vase with Pears
March, 2011
Oil on Canson Paper, 59cm x 42cm (23in x 16.5in)

Portrait: Bad Girls Rock

Well, I finally finished the portrait of Evie.. It took a while, and has been sitting on my easel for the last 2 months, but its done.  I am pretty happy with it overall.. I can be picky, but generally I'm satisfied with the result.

Bad Girls Rock
April, 2011
Oil On Canvas, 102cm x 102cm (40in x 40in)

WOTE February 2011

I wanted to paint another portrait, so I picked a great shot of my daughter Eve and decided to use it as a reference. It was taken in the bedroom while she was mucking around on mum and dad's bed. It started off life as another palette knife painting, but quickly morphed into something entirely different.. This one has taken me a while. I do a little every second night or so.. maybe no more than an hour or two at a time.. and I want to get it right. its not finished yet.. I don't expect to have it done til somewhere mid March anyway.. here it is to date... I'm calling it "Bad Girls Rock". Its on Canvas and its 40inch by 40inch so its a pretty large painting for a portrait. I'll post it up when I'm done. take care all Pete

New Years resolution.

Last year was a disaster for me... I finished 3 paintings all year..  between work taking my time for most of the first half of the year, and my battle with the big "C" for the last 6 months, I just disn't get time to do anything with a brush, palette knife or any other applicator.. I hate to admit it but painting was the last thing on my mind.

Well... I think I won the first battle, and hopefully the war.  I finished Radiotherapy in October.. man was that a pain in the rear end.  I still felt like shite right through Christmas, then a wonderful thing happened.... I started to think about my art again.

So my new years resolution is to do much, much more art than I did last year.. I have already completed 4 pieces, with means that even if I quit now I would have reached my goal.... But.. I'm still going to work on... redesign my web site, maybe do something for the Moran art prize.. who knows.

So, for those few people that haven't given up on me, here is what I have so far;

No. 1 for the year was a portrait of my beautiful wife Debbie-Lee

Next I completed the Claudia work I have had unfinished for the last 2 years

Then, I decided to do a palette knife portrait of my beautiful 3 year old daughter Evie.  I am really liking palette knives... they are easy to clean up :), and I like the final result.  I think I am going to focus a lot of time on Palette knife paintings this year.

That's it for now.... It's late on a Sat night, and I am going to bed.

Still Life: The gardening Is Done

Finished this last night......

Enjoy !!!