Illustrators’ Evening with Oliver Jeffers, Sarah McIntyre and Me!

I will be taking part in an Illustrators’ Evening with Oliver Jeffers and Sarah McIntyre
Thursday, 08 September 2011 at 06:00 PM •
I am very much looking forward o seeing Oliver again, and to meeting Sarah for the first time.
Its happening at Eason’s Bookshop, O'Connell St. Dublin
Illustration! Q & A! Book Signing!
This is a ticketed event. Book in store or call Dublin 8583815

Still-life with Brushes

Here's another still-life of some brushes in a pot with some linen draped around.
I'm trying to avoid overworking these by continuing to use brushes bigger than seems right for the job.
They are painted mostly with a square flat half inch brush and a two inch blending brush to soften the edges.
In fact I used brushes just like the two shorter ones shown in the pot.
I have also strictly limited my palette.

Still Life of Flowers in a Glass

I haven't posted any still life paintings for a while.
Flowers and fruit didn't appeal to me as subject matter before but I've really been enjoying painting these white roses recently.
I've been trying to restrain myself from over painting the glass or vase, and then I've been having fun laying on the impasto paint representing the flowers.

Chippy the Chipmunk

You might get a giggle out of this article that appeared in the Brighton and Hove Leader in 1989.
It was a true story too. A chipmunk just appeared in my kitchen one day.
Many thanks to my Mum for digging this one out.

A Desert Storm

Here's another picture from the desert book I am illustrating.
I am trying to leave these paintings less finished than usual to hopefully achieve a more atmospheric result.

The Ballerina

Following up on the last post, where I showed a picture in a "raw" state and then in a more finished state, here are two recent paintings of our ballerina Gia. She has the most wonderful poise and makes very elegant shapes.
I left both of these pictures with a view to doing a little more work on them.
I'll post the final results.

Studio Practice

I don't often return to fiddle with paintings I have painted from life.
One of the best things about a life session is that it imposes a time restriction on you, and whatever you can do there in front of the model has a truth and honesty about it that is very apparent. Working up a picture afterwards can make it look slick and over-finished.
Sometimes though, I do make literal or mental notes to myself for bits of work that can be done later in the studio.
In this case I felt that the study of Grace was looking good, but because I had been working with a very restricted palette, the whole could do with a warm glaze or two.
So, when the study was dry I added Liquin glazes tinted with various reds, and browns. Needless to say, I fiddled about with the image, but in this case I think it served to make for a simpler, stronger image.