The 2010 Mountains to Sea dlr Book Festival

Gif animator
Here's a practice piece I did in preparation for my contribution at THE 2010 MOUNTAINS TO SEA DLR BOOK FESTIVAL.
I'm going to be painting a large (this one is 4 foot tall) oil painting a bit like this one over the weekend (11th and 12th Sept).
Anyone who's attending please come and say "Hi"... I reckon I'll need the moral support.
I still haven't decided on the final image I will be painting, but, given the time constraints, it will have to be simple with just one or two figures and a nice plain background perhaps stencilled like this one. I'm pretty sure I'll be using gold paint and gold leaf as I have done here. (I have tried to show the shiny effect by making an animated gif)
I've considered The Children of Lir and Gulliver but they could both get a bit complicated.
Maybe I'll do something like Cinderella or Sleeping beauty or Jack the Giant Killer.
Anyone got any great suggestions?

A Doll of the Bee-Man of Orn

When I returned today from a wonderful but tiring holiday in Catalonia with the family, I was delighted to find an e-mail from a lady called Beth Casper in the US. Beth has created a doll based on the Bee-man of Orn.
She sent me these great pictures of her creation.

Madonna Sophie

I don't think I've posted this one of Sophie before.
With her hair down she has a lovely Renaissance Madonna look about her. We had a lot of nice drawings of her in the Life drawing session that day.
I returned to my painting later and added a background and a few glazes.
I'm always very wary of messing with a life painting after the fact, but this one has turned out OK.

IGI Group Exhibition at the United Arts Club

Mario Sughi took some great pictures at the launch of the IGI show at the United Arts Club in Dublin last night.
Here's a funny one of me with the artist Sean Hillen who very kindly opened the show, and who made some very interesting points about the nature of fine art versus illustration. Lots to argue about.
I have two pictures in the show including the charcoal drawing below.


The exhibition continues until 24th August 2010
Viewing Mon to Sat from 5.30pm
The United Arts Club
3 Upper Fitzwilliam St
Dublin 2

Life Painting of Emma

Emma is a model I would love to paint more often. She has a lovely look about her, and is excellent at resuming and holding her pose.
I wasn't mad about the drapery over the cushions, but the green shape is useful compositionally.
The Life Drawing session I attend regularly now has a lay off for August. it is only four weeks without life painting but I'm missing it already. I think I'll have to come up with an alternative.