The Card Game Progression 2

Started glazing local colour and bringing out the values a bit more now but it's still in the ugly stage. Hopefully by the end of tomorrow I will be over the top of the hill and beginning my descent into the finished artwork valley.

The Card Game Progress

I've been working on a sepia under-painting today. This one will have lots of warm yellows, oranges and browns in it so sepia should emerge through the glazes of watercolour very nicely indeed.

Social Me(dia)

 

Time for a blatant social media plug. I am now on facebook, please have a look.

www.facebook.com/chrisdunnillos

Also don't forget my twitter account too.

twitter.com/ChrisDunnIllos

'The Card Game' Idea

The last of my small roughs that has been approved (below). I still have a lot of working out to do (not in the gym, on my drawing board) before I even think about reaching for my brushes.

I hoping to give the viewer a bit of a shock in this one. At first glance it looks like a nice civilised game of cards in a warm pub, that is until you spot the stoats accusing look and small knife in his paw which he is about to brandish as the fox picks up is purse of winnings.

Two New Sketches

I have to wait for these drawings to be approved but hopefully I'll get the go-ahead.

The first I like to call 'Retreat From The Windmills' and it is loosely based on the exploits of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza who are represented as an old wiry lion and a plucky meerkat.

The second rough shows a father mouse reading a bedtime story, I can envisage the warm glow of the oil lamp and the big patchwork blanket lending a very soft feel to this painting.

Merry Christmas everybody!!

'Captain Seadog' Is Ship-Shape

I finished my latest animal painting last week, 'Captain Seadog'. He's now fully rigged and ready to set sail and aim cannon against 'Captain Ratbeard'.

Captain Seadog

Watercolour & Gouache

24 x 31cm

I found this piece challenging because there is not a lot of fussy detail and lots of open spaces in the composition. I kept going back to N.C Wyeth's treasure island paintings as I worked trying to grasp his wonderful sense of design and colour. It might not be up to his lofty standards but at least I successfully framed the otter's head with a light sail behind a dark hat and cast shadow over the eyes.

Open Studio This Saturday

If you are in Corsham please come in and say hello to me and Claire Baker. Apart from prints and originals I will also be dishing out slices of stollen which as the day goes on will probably get thinner and thinner as I start to run out - so come early!

Captain Seadog

Here is what I am working on at the moment:

This is Captain Seadog the navy captain sworn to guard the seas and coasts against Captain Ratbeard.

In other news I am now a father to a lovely little baby born called Arthur! He was born early morning Thursday 5th December and both him and mother are doing great. Hopefully that explains why I haven't posted much recently. For Arthur's first appearance on this blog I plan to do a small pencil portrait which I think will be much more appropriate than a photograph.

Last Night At The Portrait Drawing Session

LtoR: Caroline Rudge, Chris Draper x2, Sue Webber, Chris Dunn, Isla Russell

Yesterday I spent a great evening sketching with a small group of artists in Biddestone, Wiltshire. It was the first of hopefully many portrait drawing sessions organised by Chris Draper, he also got his friend, Dave, to model for us. It was his first time and I have to say he did an excellent job, he hardly even blinked.

Captain Ratbeard

Captain Ratbeard

Watercolour & Gouache

24 x 31cm

Ahoy m'hearties! Shiver m'timbers and host the main sail (blimey I don't I'll keep this pirate talk going), if it isn't Captain Ratbeard and his pi-rat-ical crew (get it?). I nearly had as much fun painting the Captain as writing this blog post. Here is one of those few examples of when the finished piece is very similar to the fleeting image I had in my mind's eye.

The sea spray was achieved by flicking masking fluid with a toothbrush and a lot of the glossy highlights were with prussian blue and white gouache. I struggled with the wet deck but by studying lots of Wyeth and Howard Pyle pirate paintings I eventually found a simple way of suggesting a thin layer of water.