Cheese Delivery

Cheese Delivery
Watercolour / Gouache
24 x 31cm

My latest painting, 'Cheese Delivery,' was challenge to paint because I decided to use a very restricted range of colours or, as James Gurney would say, a narrow colour gamut. My influence behind colour mixing was 'Saying Grace' by Norman Rockwell. I leant heavily on yellow ochre, burnt sienna, burnt umber and sepia throughout the whole process and only went to ultramarine, prussian blue and cadmium reds halfway through and even then they were always mixed with a brown.

Hopefully the whimsical story of the smelly cheese being delivered by an otter, with a peg on his nose, has come across in the finished painting. Nevertheless I had a lot of fun painting the crazed mice, especially the two young mice raiding the new cheese delivery.

By the way, Stenson (shop name) and Hartley (delivery van) are two surnames that feature in my family.

Good Evening M'lady WIP

I'm currently working on this painting called 'Good Evening M'lady'. A couple of likely lads trying their best to catch the flower seller's eye.

Is she stifling a smile?

You may recognise the weasel from this and the badger from 'Rag And Bone' below:

He could do with a bath.

I down tools tomorrow because I'm shooting to London to get some much needed reference photos and to meet up with an old friend who really needs to update his twitter.

'Valkyrie'

 Valkyrie
Watercolour / Gouache
24 x 31cm

I can honestly say this is the first time I've painted a badger singing at the opera. No matter how serious I make her expression I still can't help but laugh at her absurd appearance (don't tell her I said that).

In terms of technique I did the usual sepia under-painting then masked everything except the backdrop using tape and cellophane in order to pull out some big brushes and work wet in wet with blues, violets and blacks. (See previous post).

After the damage was done I removed the cellophane and got to work laying in the colours on everything that was left blank, being careful to suggest a warm up-light and blue in the shadows. When I had taken the watercolour as dark as it would go, white and yellow ochre gouache came into play on the extreme highlights (metal specular highlights, skirt, claws, fur etc.) and then gently glazed around the footlights to suggest mist creeping across the stage.

'A Maths Lesson'

I've recently finished two paintings, the first being 'A Maths Lesson'.

A Maths Lesson

Watercolour / Gouache

24 x 31cm 

This particular scene was requested by Olivier, my fantastic client at Galerie Daniel Maghen. Mostly I conjure up the scenes and stories I want to depict in paint but every now and then Olivier has a great suggestion which I can then develop.

Initially I began with the teacher at the front of the class and all the pupils paying attention without any funny business going on. However as I progressed with my rough sketch I suddenly found that the young mole was passing a love note to the bunny next to him. Once those two characters had been fully realised another bunny decided to make himself known by appearing on the edge of the painting in order to observe the progress of the love note. Has the note been passed on from bunny to bunny via the little mole or is that a look of jealousy the male bunny is shooting at the mole? You decide.

Incidentally I have since been informed that this class must be in detention. Apparently school finishes at 3.00pm these days. I remember the good old days of being stuck inside until 3.30 before even thinking of finishing for the day.

'Feast' Work In Progress

Here are a couple of shots taken on my phone as I'm working on my latest painting.

I'm now slowly making my way anti clockwise around the painting by concentrating on each character in turn. Once I've done the badger then I will take a look at the table and then the background. After that it's a case of pushing the values.

Pied Piper

 Pied Piper

Watercolour / Gouache

24 x 31cm

Here's 'Pied Piper' finished, he seems to be playing a jaunty little number to go with his outlandish get-up.

Again this was another challenge for me, to date I have never completed a satisfactory medieval street. I can only guess the multiple storeys each one overlapping the one below is the main architectural detail I tend to struggle depicting. However reference is key and I managed to use a few old illustrations for guidance and a photograph of St John's alley in Devizes which I took years ago.

Lots of gouache went into the chickens to help define their features and bring the wing forward on the front hen. I was also pleased with the shadow being cast over the brood of chickens in the middle-ground which contrasts nicely with the birds farther back in bright sunlight (but also a lighter tonal range to suggest atmospheric perspective).

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!!

Cheetah Chase (Past The Finish Line)

I recently finished two paintings, here's the first.

Cheetah Chase

Watercolour & Gouache

24 x 31cm

I had a right old time trying to get just the right colour in the stonework, I think I painted the column about 4 times. I have always struggled with lighter values in watercolour because there is so little room for manoeuvre when you use the white of the paper to act as your pastel white. Darker values are much easier as you can keep applying lots of layers until you get it right but lighter values are often a one hit wonder.

Overall I am pleased with the result, the cheetah has some nice reflected light on his chest (not that you can see it at this jpeg quality) and the dust cloud spurting from his hind leg was very enjoyable to paint. I'm also satisfied with the amount of characters and their facial details I managed to fit in such a small painting.

Next post... the other painting, brace yourselves!

'Cheetah Chase' Progress

I took this photo on my mobile a couple of days ago. I'm now close to finishing but I have to wait until Monday before I'm back in my studio rummaging in my drawers for gouache paints. *Frustration*

Apes Chasing A Cheetah In Ancient Greece

No I'm not having 'an episode', it's the detailed rough for my next watercolour painting which I developed using my perfectly 'rational imagination'.

Messing About

I have just finished this painting today and now I want to hire a boat and go rowing on the river Avon. In fact I've a mind to take a picnic basket, rug to sit on and maybe a sun hat too - anybody care to join me?

Messing About

Watercolour / Gouache 

24 x 31cm

As with every painting in this series of work I have worked on top of a sepia underpainting in watercolour and then added the odd speck of gouache as highlights such as the holes in the straw hat and pesky midges skimming above the water.