Three New Still-Life Paintings

I haven't posted any still-life paintings for a while.
Here are a few that  Germaine will be putting in her Christmas exhibition at Swan Art.

I was inspired to do the last one by the wonderful milk jug paintings of my friend Conor Walton.

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.

A Busy Week for Exhibitions

Tuesday night was the opening of the RHA’s annual open submission show.
It was a great occasion and a lot of folks were very kind about the two pictures (above) that I have in the exhibition.

Wednesday saw the opening of the RUA’s War On Want Charity show at the Ormeau Baths gallery in Belfast. I have a picture (below) in that exhibition too, and I was delighted to hear from the organizers that it was the first to sell when the catalogues were sent out.

Three Still Life Paintings

It has been a while since I have posted any still-life paintings.
Here are three recent ones.

Still Life of Old Books

I haven't posted a still life for a while.
Here's a slightly different one of a couple of old books.
It still has that quiet, uncluttered quality that I aim for with the still life paintings.

Another Still-Life

Here's another one.
The originals are just 15 x 20 cm.
It's a great size to work on, as it discourages one from getting too fussy.

Port Bottle Still-Life

Here's another one.
It's a great looking bottle of port that I caught my eye.

Still Life

It's always hard getting back to work after a holiday.
I did a few little still-life paintings to get the old drawing arm going again.
I like the looseness of the handling in this one.

"Daniella," Female Life Drawing

It was a nice change to do a life drawing rather than a painting of Daniella.
Some of us were chatting afterwards about how important it is to understand the anatomy of the human body to do a good life drawing. Of course there are many different approaches to drawing the figure, but for me, when I'm doing a drawing like this, the underlying structure is almost insignificant. It's all about the light, and shadow, and the texture of whatever is before me.
That is not to say that you treat your subject as if she were a pile of pillows. No, the interaction in the life room should ensure that the model is always respected as a person, and treated in a professional way.
For me, that is where a small element of portraiture becomes crucial. It takes the exercise onto a different level from a still-life drawing or painting.
A good understanding of anatomy is essential however, for a representational artist or illustrator when they are creating a figure from the imagination. A great example is John Watkiss, who was at Brighton Art College a year or two ahead of me. John's knowledge of anatomy is extraordinary. He has since created comic books, and gallery art, but you would be most familiar with his work, albeit indirectly, through his inspirational studies for the Disney movie, Tarzan.

My Still Life Painting Set-Up

Here's a look at my still life set-up, with a second goblet painting nearly finished.
You can see my Morandi bottles in the background.
The tissue on the right is there to diffuse the light a little.

Still life of A Silver Goblet

Here's another of my little still life paintings.
It's a good exercise to try to render various different surfaces and textures convincingly.
With reflective surfaces I find it is really important to surrender yourself to the lights and darks that you see in front of you rather than thinking about the contours that you know to be there.
The edges of this goblet are hardly defined at all, and the elipses are a bit wobbly, but because I've got the reflections pretty much in the right places, it reads as a solid goblet.

Morandi Bottles by PJ

Giorgio Morandi is one of my favourite still-life artists. I love the pared down simplicity of some of his paintings, and the way his work always starts with the intense observation of a carefully arranged selection of objects.
In order to get down to the description of the object's essential form, Morandi used to paint his bottles and pots in a solid colour. This means that the artist is not distracted by labels, and won't get way-laid by the fiddly, transparent effects of glass.
I painted a bunch of bottles myself in different colours, some matt, some gloss, and I have found painting them a terrific exercise in the rendering of light and form.
Here's one of them. The original is only 15 x 20 cms.

Charity Auction of White Vase on Damask Still Life

The Wrong Way Round is a Charity fundraising trip being undertaken by my good friend and brother-in-law, Stephen McCready and Alan Johnston, his business partner, to raise money for the Fields of Life Charity to build a school in Uganda for underprivileged Ugandan Children.
My Still-life painting will be auctioned as part of their 'Spanish Night’ fundraiser at TAPS 2, Cotton Court, Belfast on Monday 30th March 2009.
Do come along if you are in Belfast on Monday night. I am hoping to be there and I know that there will be great entertainment from Aidan (the man in the purple suit) and Mayte, and others.
If you want to put a bid in for the painting contact Katrina on 02890 427000 or email mailto:katrina@skydevelopments.com

Still Life of Flowers in a Glass Vase

I haven't put any pictures up for a while.
Here is a still life study that is typical of the type of practice piece I do to keep my observational skills up to scratch.
I have to say I would always prefer to draw a portrait or a figure study, but sometimes it's tricky to get anyone to model, and there is something nice about drawing a still life and knowing that your subject is going to stay still for as long as you need it to do so.

White Vase on Damask

Another still life here, I don't think I've posted this one before.
It's a bit more of a traditional still life than the chairs and the cottage interiors, but I think it shows the same restraint in tone and colour.
I did a few of these pictures with damask, but there is just so much work involved that I doubt if I'll do a lot more of them.

Still Life with Chair and Brush

Here's another from that series of still life/interiors.

Art Room pencil study 1979

This drawing shows a much more mature approach than the previous two, but it was also done when I was seventeen or eighteen.
I was moving away from crudely outlining everything, and showing form almost entirely by use of carefully controlled tonal values.
I wish I'd carried on on this tack a bit longer. It's nearly thirty years later, and only now am I getting back into enjoying drawing and painting still life again.

Still Life of a Decanter on Damask

In case any one was wondering what kind of work I do in my spare time, here is a still life that I did last year. It has just sold in a Dublin exhibition, so I'm feeling a tiny bit wistful for it.

The technique I generally use for painting like this involves doing a pretty detailed drawing direct from the subject, and then working the painting up in oils using colour notes and photo reference. The end result is that these paintings have a muted, monochrome appearance that is very much what I'm after in this series of oils, as a contrast to the work I do in book illustration.