Category: Experiments

Summer – Week 2 experiments

Experiments, Process Deep Dive

Monday, 27th June

No.88

No.88 – A few strange paintings this week, including this one.

Tuesday, 27th June

No.89
No.90

No.89 – I really like this one, especially the way the image is suspended and emerges from the darkness.

No.90 This was a struggle, especially the shell-like casing on the back of the bug. I got there eventually and really like the result, although the image as a whole is a bit too static.

Wednesday, 28th June

No.91a
No.91b
No.91c

No.91 – I tried this fellow with various backgrounds. With the last one, I used middle-grey, as in film/photography, and although the colours are truer, I still prefer a black background.

Thursday, 29th June

No.92

No.92 – An experiment with a figure. It gives me hope that if I keep practicing my figures over the summer, I could have some really interesting paintings. Here I used a fashion model as a reference for the body – I love the stance.

Friday, 30th June

No.93

No.93 Experimenting with colour here. I like the colour of the thing the bird is standing on, and think that’s probably as blue as I should go for these paintings. Not as keen on the light blue in the bird. I think I’ll keep blue I use in these paintings to a minimum – less is more. For example, in the painting above, I used blue for the woman’s eyes, and a tiny bit to the right of her shoulder and feet. That’s enough.

Sunday, 2nd July

No.94

No.94 – Obviously, I didn’t make the decision about blue for these paintings until after I painted this. I do like the colour of the hare, just not so much of it. I love the colour of the owl, which has a hint of Indian yellow. The little dots in his wings is sufficient blue.

Summer – Week 1 experiments

Experiments, Process Deep Dive

You can always tell when I’m stressed, cause I eat sugar and draw cats. This week Geoff and I have been in negotiations to buy Anam Cara, consequently, I ate a fuck-ton of sugar, and here are my cats (except for the first which is a horse).

Monday, 20th June

No.83

No.83 – here I am experimenting with building up the picture with see-through layers. I really like the look of this technique.

Tuesday, 20th June

No.84

No.84 – I absolutely love this painting, it’s one of my favourite of this series so far. I like all the different elements in it, and think it is a style that could lend itself to storytelling. I especially love the flying cat. The addition to this painting, that distinguishes it from the previous ones, is the use of pencil outlines. I really like the effect.

Wednesday, 21 June

No.85

No.85 – from here on the paintings this week seemed to devolve into frantic doodles, on account of the stress. Still, I love cats so much that I really like this and the following paintings.

Thursday, 22nd June

No.86

No.86 – a negotiation faceoff if ever I saw one. We lost this round, but we’re not defeated yet.

Friday, 23rd June

No.87

No.87 – I love this little scaredy-cat.

Sunday, 25th July

No.88

No.88 – this painting illustrates the fact that losing Anam Cara and owning Anam Cara are terrifying in equal measure. It’s been a very hard week in the studio, with lots of internal disquiet and external distractions. However, looking back over the paintings I produced, I can see some real progress, in terms of style and storytelling possibilities, so it definitely wasn’t time wasted.

Week 29 experiments

Experiments, Process Deep Dive

Monday, 5th June

No.65

No.65 – This painting felt like another breakthrough. I can really see the potential in this kind of work. Painting bigger definitely allows for more detail. This is a very exciting process. Sea underpainting.

Tuesday, 6th June

No.66
No.67

No.66 – This is a sea-painting on canvas (30cm x 30cm) – just trying different things. This type of painting takes well to canvas, which is good.

No.67 – Another sea-painting (on paper). Rather than paint an entire big painting just yet, thought I’d do close-ups of certain aspects. Again, I like the amount of detail that can be used in bigger work.

Wednesday, 7th June

No.68
No.70
No.69

No.68-70 – These were some unfinished small paintings I had lying around, so I finished them off. I like aspects of them, but it’s definitely more enjoyable painting bigger.

Thursday, 8th June

No.71

No. 71 – This is another painting I had lying around. It was initially of something different. The only part I liked was what is now the octopus’ head – so I kept that and painted out the rest and added the tentacles. It was pleasant to paint.

Friday, 9th June

No.72

No.72 – I spent the morning at a pre-op appointment with my Mum, for her hip replacement, so I painted this in the afternoon. Rather than a sea underpainting, this underpainting was done by spraying seawater. I love this painting. I’ve often thought that the white in these dark paintings look like bone. The lace overlay is another breakthrough – I’m thrilled it looks great with these paintings. I will definitely explore these two elements (bones and lace) in the coming days.

Sunday, 11 June

No.73
No.74

No.73-74 – In these paintings I was exploring the lace overlay further (minus the bones), I absolutely love the results. I especially love how the underpainting shows through, giving the effect that the lace is see-through. There’s a deep connection between lace and the sea for me. I also think it adds a mystical aspect to the paintings, plus it is a pleasure to paint – so it’s a win all round!

Week 28 Experiments

Experiments, Process Deep Dive

Monday, 29th May

No.53&55 – With these paintings, I was seeing what it is like to paint out some of the marks with black. These didn’t have the sea underpaintings, hence they are a little wooden. Still, I like aspects of both, like the knickers on 55, and the detailing on 53.

Tuesday, 30th May

No.54 (something went awry with the numbering) Just another experiment, trying different things.

Wednesday, 31st May

No.56-57 – I decided to take a break from the the green/figurative paintings. As I mentioned before, I’d like to develop these into landscapes. I am very inspired by the walks I have been taking in the Ayres this week, of which this type of painting is a product of. The idea etc., still has a way to go.

Thursday, 1st June

No.58-60 – these are experiments for another idea I have had, which includes interiors with patterned wallpaper. This idea is still at an early stage. As with the landscape paintings, these are a nice break from the figurative ones.

Friday, 2nd June

No.61 – here I tried the landscape type painting on canvas. I definitely think this kind of work could develop into something beautiful.

Sunday, 4th June

No.62-63 – back to the green/figurative paintings, which is a pleasure after having a wee break from them. Just trying different things. I’ve added phthalo green (blue shade) to these, and really like the results. The y also have sea-underpaintings, which makes them more dynamic. I came to the realisation this week, that if I want to paint bigger I have to draw bigger. So, for the paintings, I’m going to try painting particular aspects on a larger scale (such as the eye above). I am delighted with the amount of detail you can add when you paint bigger.

Week 27 experiments

Experiments, Process Deep Dive

Monday, 22nd May

No.42
No.43

No.42 – I started using a new technique – applying random marks on the paper, then spraying water on them, and letting the images emerge organically out of the marks, then painting into them. I love the results.

No.43 – I love this little painting.

Tuesday, 23rd May

No.44
No.45
No.46

No.44-46 – Some experiments using the same same technique on a lighter ground. I’ll keep experimenting with various ground colours, but so far I prefer the dark ground.

Wednesday, 24th May

No.47
No.48

No.47-48 – more experiments, with less and more drawing respectively. I feel there is quite a bit of scope for these paintings.

Thursday, 25th May

No.49
No.50

No.49-50 – these are heading more in the direction I want to go, its getting the balance between form and abstraction right. I love the palette of these.

Friday, 26th May

No.51

No.51 – This was my breakthrough piece this week. I love everything about it. I want to continue exploring this kind of painting, with the grand aim of scaling up.

Saturday, 27th May

No.52 – I thought I take a break from the figurative paintings this weekend, and instead explore this lace-bubble technique further, which is for a different project. The more opaque centre-right bubble was done with an a gel-pen drawing underneath, the rest were painted directly. I much prefer the latter. The aim of the experiment is to see what the lace-bubbles look like covering the entire surface of a painting. Unfortunately, the underpainting of this one isn’t very good, as I rushed it, and the paper doesn’t suit this kind of painting (which is much better suited to fine-grain canvas/linen), still, it will give me an idea of what the coverage looks like.

Week 26 Experiments

Experiments, Process Deep Dive

Monday, 15th May

No.26
No.27

No.26 – I really like this image, and think it would be a good way to paint Mrs Quick for the Thames flood painting. I like the idea of her having a young face behind a mask with a crone-like nose. I think I will also paint her with an old, gnarled hand, perhaps hanging over the bed.

No.27 – this is a sea painting. I like the dynamism the sea marks give the painting, and I love the eye.

Tuesday, 16th May

No.28
No.29

No.28 – I love this painting. It too has a dynamism from the sea that is typically absent from my paintings.

No.29 – I really like this one too. Again, it just emerged from the marks left by the sea. It is definitely a helpful starting point for the type of figurative paintings I want to do.

Wednesday, 17th May

No.30
No.31
No.32

No.30-32 – These weren’t sea paintings, but I did use quite a bit of water. Just little experiments.

Thursday, 18th May

No.33

No. 33 – I love this one. The sap-green paint doesn’t do well in the sea though.

Friday, 19th May

No.34

No.34 – I really like this one, especially the contraption. Again the sap-green went funny in the sea. I want to have phalluses in my figurative paintings, though not as explicit as this (more as a fertility symbol).

Sunday, 21 May

No.35
No.36

No.35-36 – Interestingly, these two are not sea paintings and, as such, have lost the dynamism of the others. I really like some elements of them, but they are a bit over-thought and rigid.

No.37

No.37 – I also painted this during the week. It is handy painting things like this when I loose the thread of the figurative paintings – which happens quite often. I’d like to keep developing this kind of work.