SHOOTING THE BREEZE - 'Regency Punk' painting #2 -

Howdy Folks! I'm back at long last! Been lookin' for a new house close to the coast...found one 10 minutes from the centre of  the city...didn't get to the coast after all. (A coastal move will come roughly two years from now, we hope!.) We move in to the new place in four weeks...packing....yeeek!!!!! The studio will need a truck all of its own! (Seven exclamation marks and I've only just begun....! Eight.)

Now on to the business side of this blog...the art stuff.

 

 

 

  

I quite like this 19th Century, hand-tinted engraving look. What about you Folks?

 

 

As I've been neglecting to keep 'Goblin Hunter' updated, I've dumped lots of progress pics here in one instalment...sorry Folks. I've also put some of the preliminary pencil on tracing paper pieces up that have appeared in a previous post - they were mixed in with others unrelated to this painting so, here they are again to give you the...here comes a pun...complete picture.  

Well, there you have it, the latest in the 'Regency Punk'  series, Folks. More to come of course, but due to the upheaval that packing and moving is going to cause it will be a little while before you see another post  with any pictorial content from me. So to you all, thanks for visiting - and, wish me luck with packing and moving the house and studio 50ks from this present location.

Cheers, RWS 

I am here Folks!

Howdy Folks! Sorry there has been no posting from this dauber for a while...life in the form of a marriage,( my eldest Daughter's) domestic duties, (garden make-over with my lovely wife)...Looking too, to move from semi-rural hilly area to semi-rural by the sea location, (My wife and I have seen the inside of so many houses, other than our own recently that it's been difficult at times to remember what ours looks like...exhausting!) I've also had PC hassles...AGAIN! (without one for a while...for too long a while!) have meant that I've found it difficult, no, I've found it, impossible to keep the blog up to date. Despite all the preceding aspects of life I've listed, I have still managed to get some work done in the studio...haven't kept up with progress photos though, so expect rather dramatic jumps in the, WIP, posts I'm intending to make over the next day or so.

What I'm working on at the moment is another 'Regency Punk' painting...Shooting the Breeze...shall be glad to get it out of the way, been at it for well over six weeks now and I have a well formed idea and some sketches for the next one that I really want to get stuck into. The Breeze is taking so long, as it's a very large picture, physically I mean. Using water-colour as my medium - my favourite - it takes a lot of  work to cover the larger areas of the picture with my glazing technique for depth of colour and richness of the shadows.

Anyhow, enough talk, on with painting...shall post very soon, Folks.

Cheers to all, RWS

A BIRD IN THE HAND - WIP & Final Image

Howdy Folks! Well here he is, finished at last! Why does it take so long to complete a picture? Because I tend to use my acrylic gouache and water-colour as I would tempera; lots of layers and a slow build up of colour depth. The greens of our hero's out-fit for instance is made up of,  at  the very least, six layers of colour. The same goes for the grass at his feet. I know an awful lot of labour intensive work but I think it's worth it myself.  What do you think Folks? I'd love to know.

Cheers for now. RWS.

Art of the Absurd - Regency Punk - a WIP - A Bird in The Hand (or, Who Shot Cock Robin?)

(Here I am, back again...the Internet connection is still holding so I'm pushing my luck a little longer; thus...)

Howdy Folks!

As you may recall from a previous post...the one with Klimtian, dancing, straw-necked ibis'...I made mention that I was taking a two year break from book illustration, (did I mention that? Oh. No? Well I am...) and will be devoting myself to fantasy work for the sheer joy of expressing MY own visions. The plan is to exhibit these pictures at a gallery when I have a sufficient number to constitute a reasonable show. I'll announce both where and when as the time approaches. (If there's any interest, of course.) (However, should any of you who may be viewing this blog over the next couple of years wish to purchase one of my offerings, you may do so. The price - in Australian dollars - will be determined by the respective work's size and consequent framing, postage and packaging and 'in transit' insurance costs - glass breaks you know.)

Now, back to the subject at hand...The fantasy work. I'm presently pursuing themes that are very heavy on the late 17th and early 18th centuries with regard to costume and both interior and exterior locations,(landscapes etc.) I've come to think of this as my Georgian or probably more correctly,  my Regency Punk influenced period. (It's my made up term for it anyway.) There will be humour - can't help myself - but with some dark overtones. And at present, I am envisaging introducing modern or futuristic technologies completely alien to the Regency world...it's punk after all. Anyway, that's the plan. On with some pics Rory...

Ain't he lovely? (Oh! By way of a PS on the previous post, the drawings in varying shades of grey are costume and character studies for future paintings. And the paintings will be in a mix of water colour, acrylic gouache, metallic inks and metallic acrylic gouache...hence the need to frame with mats and glass.  )

So, CHEERS for now Folks. Catch ya next time. RWS

WIP - At Last! - the beginnings of; Art of the Absurd - (A personal fantasy project)

Hi ya Folks! Back at last...but only just. I''ve been having no end of computer problems over the past weeks and I'm getting this post in before my connection with the net crashes yet again. My PC is going off to have a complete strip down and re-install just as soon as I'm finished with this posting. When it returns it will be going into the study as a general purpose  machine and not hooked up to the net...I've got a new iMac with an A3 scanner and printer and all the other bells and whistles in the studio now...well it will be, once it's unpacked from its boxes.

No, this doesn't mean that I'm going over to digital image creation; it just means a better way of copying, storing and displaying my trad forms of art.  As you can see from the above images, I'm still using the old fashioned painting and drawing methods.

Not wishing to push my luck any further with my internet connection I shall now sign off and get the machine to the techs for its much needed tender loving care. So, I'll say cheers for now Folks and, hopefully, be back with you soon.

RWS

Will be posting soon Folks. On a roll with Prelim drawings - daren't stop.

The Red Shoes - (Klimt would roll in his canvas shroud)

   Howdy Folks! Well, it's finished after three months. Not that I've put three months work into it, maybe three weeks worth of labour at most. It's been sitting in the studio for those 12 weeks complaining of neglect each time I went out there, (out to the studio). Have been so busy with so much else going on and lots of research  for my next project - mainly hunting for images of period costume and some image creating Latin texts. (You'll see why the need for Latin when I post the relevent images... if I use the texts I have in mind anyway.)

    Now, I don't know - or rather, havent seen - if other illustrators/artists reveal their failures on the wide world of the web, but I'm about to do so. (This confession probably won't mean much, as few out there in the blogosphere probably view this self indulgent little site anyway.) So, for what it's worth, here goes...

   Looking back at the progress of this particular illustration, you will recall that the back-ground rectangle started out as green. The plan was to paint a few heavy base coats of the said green and then, when the figure work was completed, to overlay the green with bright, metallic gold; this I did and then over the base green I laid in two coats of what is called, 'Crackle Medium'. As the name implies, the medium creates a crackled or crazy pave pattern on the areas over which it is applied but the base coat must be solid/thick enough that the crackle effect doesn't go through to the support; in this case, Bainbridge Illustration board, which is a creamy white. You/I only want the base coat and not the support to show through. Unfortunately, when the medium had fully dried, I didn't behold a beautiful gold with a random crackled effect of green, but a beautiful gold with ugly areas of milky white - not a green crackle to be seen. It didn't bleedin' work, did it!

   I have contacted a painter friend of mine, Lin Stanton - a brilliant painter of semi abstract land and seascapes - who is familiar with and has used this medium, and asked, WHAT DID I DONE WRONG, LIN?!! Lin, has yet to get back to me...she lives in Queensland, a part of the world that seems to run on a time zone all of it's own ... I await her advice by email and shall share the info on this blog when it comes in...

   I suspect, considering the milky effect when dry, that my bottle of crackle medium may be past it's use-by date or that it has gone off.

   So, what to do now? 

   I did what any self respecting artist would do, I cursed, I swore, I stamped my feet, I threw myself on the floor and burst into tears...having recovered my composure after a short while, I sat and looked at the picture and had a thunk... thunk? A cross between a think and a moody funk... this is the quiet moment/s before panic sets in. This time no panic. I set about over-painting the milky areas with pale (bright) metallic gold and then with my green hue and a very fine sable brush I proceeded to try and create my wanted effect. After twenty minutes or so, I realised that though my crackle effect was coming along okay, it looked rather contrived and did not have the haphazard, accidental look that the medium would/should have created.

   So, on with more pale gold, then random dabs of rich gold, followed by burnish copper. What I ended up with was a pseudo, Gustav Klimt look. Not entirely unattractive but not entirely original or what I had intended before I had started laying in colour over the line work. A failure in other words.

   So, Folks, there you have it, my tale of woe. Also a learning experience for me and a cautionary tale for you.  Here's a check list for us all -:

1) Check your medium for use-by dates - if any. If the product is new to you, also read the directions properly. (Mind you, I did both and it still didn't work. I should have undertaken item 3 first. Duh!)

2) Try out your ideas for wanted effects before the final stages.

3) Ensure that your support will respond to the product you're to apply.(This is probably the same as item 2) 

4) If you have followed all of the above and what you have attempted still doesn't work out, DON'T PANIC! As painful as it might be to you, you can always paint, draw or sculpt etc the work again. Contact your specialist art materials supplier, and ask for advice. (I say specialist, as in art material suppliers who supply to professional artist and art schools. Hobby or mixed craft/art supply shops generally don't have staff who are versed in the technical side of the products they sell. Failing the specialist shops, contact the manufacturer...email is a wonderful tool here.)

Well Folks, that's it from me for a few days...happy painting.

Cheers, R.W.S

(Top pic...past the panic point and Klimt background painted in. Second pic... the final image which I won't sign as I'm not happy with it - it may grow on me but I doubt it. Third pic...detail of background patterning. Bottom pic...pale - bright - gold before disaster.)

Almost there...at least the shoes are red...still a WIP

Howdy Folks! Back at last...I've been away for quite a little while I know... been down on the coast, just love the sea when it's rough and the shade of geen that features in the background of the current WIP. 

Nothing to say regarding the piece...the changes speak for themselves...you'll notice straight off that the RED SHOES are, RED at long last.

Cheers for now. RWS

WIP - The Red Shoes (To be painted in...Okay?)

 

 

Howdy Folks! Yes, I know. It's been a while - been very busy. This will be the last in the Birds of a Feather project for quite some time; in fact, once this illustration is complete, it will be the end of book illustration for me for the next couple of years. No, I'm not putting away the brushes nor am I abandoning  this blog, (not that many folk seem to have visited - ?). (Enough self pity, I'll put the tissues aside now.) No, the creation of the painted image is still a part of my life, like breathing, and for the next little while the images you'll be seeing here will not be destined for the internal pages or the covers of books. They'll be firstly for ME and then for you. I hope you'll like them; they will be rather different to the subject matter that this blog has seen since it began.

I have always been fascinated and inspired by, Medieval, Northern European, (read; German) Renaissance and Fantasy art. I thought it about time that I pursued these art interests in my own work. How? I have a rough plan at present but,  the best laid plans, and all that, might mean developments or directions I hadn't anticipated. Exciting eh? I think - hope - so.

To those of you who have, from time to time, left comments - always a pleasure to read - or have become a Friend of this blog -  I give you my heart-felt thanks. To those of you who have visited and returned - with only my blog counter to register your interest - I say thanks also.

So, having made my little announcement, I shall sign off. But before I do, however, I wish to express my hope that once the current work is completed, you will all be willing to join with me in the creative journey I shall undertake in future posts.

Ciao and thank you ALL. RWS.