WIP 23rd September

Finally a painting week - 5 probably done paintings and three more started.

Some studio tidying/clearing as well, as it is Open Studios on the 3rd and 4th October. It's really nice to have some space again and to get some new finished works up on the wall.

As you can see two of the new paintings are the 12 x 16 inch size - and one is my first big paper mask painting. Can't wait to see what these look like finished, as they look pretty strong already. The other one doesn't have as clear tonal differences and I'm more nervous about it but the plan is for there to be some subtle painting things going on, to counteract the dramatic subject matter. Next week you should be able to see how I've progressed - I might completely change my mind.

WIP 16th Sept 2016

Another mainly drawing week - as you can see I've been doing more 12x16 inch drawings as I really like this format and am planning a little series - out of the 14 drawings I can see me painting about eight of them, to join the two paintings I've already done. (you can get a glimpse of those in progress back at the start of August ). I've also started planning some bigger paintings, but feel I'm still very much in the beginning stages of this - and I feel that I'm going to need some time and experimenting to get this right. So for the time being I'll mainly be sticking to smaller things, under a couple a feet.

Oh, and I've started tidying in preparation for the open studios at Hanson St on the 3rd and 4th of October - would love to see some of you there!

WIP 9th September

A bit of a drawing week this one, partly because I didn't have a lot of studio time and partly as I wanted to explore the 12x16 inch format more. One of the changes that I'm planning is working with a more limited range of sizes and this one seems to fit a single figure quite well. Not all of these drawings will become paintings as some ideas are just better than others - the top right in particular I think should be a smashing painting, although I prefer the ones on the left as drawings.

So I had a day painting, in which I may have finished the top two and have made progress on the other two - if they have dried enough they will get more done tomorrow, with the little cat probably being finished then. The other one I suspect will take some time - not least because the aluminium is new to me and I'm still not decided if I'll leave part of the surface bare or not. Any opinions?

WIP 2nd Sept 2015

Mainly painting again this week - started four new paintings and done more work on six others, from changing the background to fully finishing. Eight of these should get finished over the next week and then I'll move on to finishing the five still lifes that have been in progress since before May. It will be a relief both to finish the uncompleted works and to get a batch of new paintings up on the walls.

Although I'm itching to get started on some bigger paintings based on the drawings I've done so far that might have to wait a few weeks until after the Open Studios at Hanson Street in the first weekend in October. Up until then I'll mainly be limiting myself to smaller works - I've been having ideas about a new series of works, all 12x16 inches. The plan presently is to spend Saturday doing drawings in preparation for these, so we'll see how it goes.

WIP 25th August 2015

Finally (finally!) I've managed to spend a whole day painting - woohoo!

So what did I do? Well, I finished the two back views that you could see a couple of posts ago but they are now at the framers so aren't in this pic. I'm very pleased with them, which is good as they are the first paintings done entirely post-op and as part of the new project.

I also got started on a new little portrait and put a basic layer of colour on all the paintings I had started the week before. In the coming week I hope to finish at least a couple of these. And I did some work on paintings that have been up on the wall for months - there's a little more to be done with the still life and a lot for the girl with the hat. The dragonfly winged lady though is done which is a relief as she has been causing an awful lot of trouble and at once stage I was worried she was just on too small a scale for me. But in the end it was the colour that needed balanced more than anything.

What else? two new models and two new drawings as well as the start of a studio clean/re-organisation and a trip to Edinburgh - it's been a busy week!

WIP 19th Aug 2015

It's been almost a fortnight since my last WIP and this is what I've done. Not a whole lot, really, but through a combination of car trouble, visiting the Edinburgh Festival and photographing new models I've only had two actual painting days.

One of which was my first full day painting since the op. As well as finishing the teacakes I started four new paintings. I'm starting small, since I have a lot of small canvases lying about and I have various ideas I want to try, so the bigger ones will have to wait a little while.

WIP 6th August 2015

A busy week, so not much studio time. Did get some painting done though - think I'm finally done with the big still life, and have made progress with the teacakes and the two back views, may be able to finish all three next week. Also did the two little framed works from start to finish - they are drawn in graphite on gesso panel, then a layer of oil paint added, which gives quite an interesting effect. They were an experiment, for a show at the Glasgow Art Club on the theme of oil and water, and like all good experiments have given me more ideas to try!

WIP Thursday 23rd July 2015 - Composition

This week I was reading about perspective and thinking about composition - I think I've been making progress and am quite excited about what I'll be able to show you next week.

WIP thursday 16th July

Beginning to get more familiar with my materials and my subjects. Expect more exploration to come.

Comic Con Glasgow 2015

No work in progress this week, as I spent the weekend at Glasgow Comic Con then had to do much more boring things the rest of the week.

P Last year was the first year I went to this comic con and I enjoyed myself tremendously, talked to loads of people (friends and strangers), drank wine, and bought comics.

So this year I did it all again, only with a mission to spend some money, get some new inspiration as well as previous favourites.

From the bottom up, I got (for free) Alan Grant and Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips's Criminal: The Last of the Innocent - I got a drawing from Sean which is lovely, and it was fascinating to watch him do it - both similar and different from what I do. Looking at his webpage he does paintings as well as illustrations/comics - there is a blog, which looks fascinating (a few entries down is his reference/art books - what's not to love about that?). If I like this one, I suspect I'll soon be gathering all the rest of his work.

IDP 2043 is a collaborative effort overseen by Denise Mina whom I saw talking about the book with http://hannahberry.co.uk/ at last year's comic con so it was lovely to pick up a copy. It seems to be stuffed full of good writers and artists so should be a treat. Collaboration also produced Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist which is described as a visionary gothic novel and looks beautiful. Both books were from stands held by the publisher's rather than the authors/artists it's nice to see them making the effort. Accent Comics in particular had a lot of very, very tempting books so choosing one was difficult - but I just had to go with the victorian gothic vibe, since that's close to my heart at the moment.

Saga 4 by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples was on my to-buy list, having already got volumes 1-3. And my, they are beautiful - so much so that my friend Fiona was oohing over the book, asking me where she could but the comic with the legless person and tv headed baby. The answer was the Forbidden Planet stall and I was really impressed by the range of titles they had - I have always rather put them down as being very TV and film based. Maybe I'll actually wander in to their store the next time I'm in town.

Tillie Walden's The End Of Summer also comes from a publisher's page and was pretty much chosen becasue it looks beautiful and had a cat on the front cover. Avery Hill Publishing told me it's a first book by a 19 year old, so maybe I'm supporting the next big talent - who knows?

Clare Forrest's Mighty Women Of Science had me sold just at the title - never mind she is a charming illustrator. She was also helping run the drawing room up in the CCA so unfortunately I didn't really get to chat with her much as she was really busy helping all the kids - but most definitely one to look out for in the future.

Dungeon Fun issues 3 and 4 are lying on the top of the pile and were also on my to-buy list - since I missed the party for issue 4 last Thursday. Issues 1 and 2 were random buys for me last year and were utterly charming, so I'm going to re-read them and then finish the tale. Neil Slorance is the illustrator and Colin Bell the writer - both are local lads and £16 for all four copies seems a real steal to me, for the amount of pleasure I'm going to get from these comics.

Tim Bird's Grey Area From The City to The Sea is another impulse purchase from Avery Hill Publishing - it just looks so elegant.

Lastly is The Curse of Barry Starkey by Neill Cameron and Adam Murphy . Adam's Corpse Talk was one of the hits of last years show - so much so, he had sold out on the first day. Because of this he was offering a drawing to everyone who ordered a book - I got mine of Alice Liddel and was very pleased when it was delivered suprisingly promptly. There will be a Cropse Talk 2, but not for another few months sadly.

So, that's my round up. What did you get, what would you recommend?

WIP 2nd July 2015 - a day late, sorry guys!

Had a busy day and night yesterday (was at the Glasgow Print Studio opening of Comic Art: Millarworld and beyond, well worth seeing) so didn't manage to post up my last two weeks efforts.

Sadly I'm still getting a lot of pain in the hand so am limited in how long I can draw. Which is why there are only 5 drawings. But I do think things are getting better, and having less art making time means I've had more thinking time and more reference gathering time - which I really expect to get the benefit from over the next few months.

This weekend I'll be at the comic-con and then I have to do some really boring grown up stuff, so might be another fortnight before there are more drawings. However, I should move on from the single portraits into more imaginative grouped figures in this time - which is really exciting! Watch this space!

Liquid Pencil - WIP Thursday 18th June 2015

Liquid Pencil (made by Derivan) is my new favourite medium - using it lets me draw on the same scale as my paintings, really giving me a good idea of whether to progress or not. I also find it much easier to control tone than with charcoal, and using different pencils, graphite sticks and powdered graphite along with the liquid version lets me get different textures fairly quickly.

The above three drawings were done today in under six hours - so although drawing first may seem a waste of time, it really isn't. All three show potential to become drawings - although the top one (at 18 x 27 inches) is just a wee bit too big and if it becomes a painting I think would look better at maybe 15 x 24 inches.

Presently I'm working on doing portraits of each of my models before moving on to more complicated, several person compositions - doing this seems to make it easier to get a likeness later on as well as just generally being quite fun.

W.I.P June 11th 2015

My first full day back drawing since the op and I'm fairly pleased with the results - I did have to stop and start more than normal though, and finished early as my hand was just getting too sore. Never mind, it is a start and it feels really nice to finally begin to put down on paper some of all the ideas that have been percolating.

W.I.P 28th May

A week ago on monday I had carpal tunnel release surgery done on my painting hand.

So normal painting/drawing hasn't really been possible - instead I asked for volunteers to come and pose for me. The response was amazing, with quite a few lovely people being very willing to come and let me do a quick drawing and painting and then take loads and loads of photographs.

These little studies are a gathering of these little first impressions - over the next few weeks I will use these and the photographs to start putting my ideas together by making drawings and then finally paintings.

Which is very exciting and I'm sure will be great fun - everyone so far has been absolutely lovely so that this has possible been the best sick leave I've ever had - even if the actual hand continues to be pretty sore.

WIP 14th May 2015

Well, doesn't look like an awful lot of progress, as I've only really had one painting day since last thursday - as you can see the only big change was darkening the big double flamingo still life - and comparing it with last weeks photo I think I've gone too dark.

Not so clear is various bits of fine tuning, which should let me finish pretty much all of these in a couple of days painting with a bit of luck.

This is what I did when not painting.

And what fun it was! The lion and unicorn masks are based on instructions in an old school book, the helmet I've had kicking around for a while but have never found the time to put together, the little rabbit head is from the internet somewhere and the rest were pretty much made up as I went along.

The plan is that over the next few weeks, while I'm recovering from carpal tunnel surgery, some models and I will get to play with these props (and others, out of shot). If you'd like to be one of these models, please contact me - it would take a couple of hours at my studio and much talking and you will eventually get repaid with a drawing. All types welcome!

WIP Thurs 7th May 2015

Some of the works in progress on the wall today - there are fifteen paintings here, two of which are possibly finished. I'll decide the next time I see them.

As you can see the majority are still lives - presently I am thinking a lot about pattern and composition and using things rather than people lets me explore this more. I'm not sure all of these paintings will work out, but the trying should give me ideas of how to do better next time. Sometimes you just have to take a risk!

Flights Of Fancy At Mansfield Park Gallery

Time For Some Fun

Last weekend was a busy one, as the Flights Of Fancy exhibition opened at Mansfield Park Gallery on the sunday and on the saturday I was at the Glasgow Contemporary Art Fair - non stop art!

The afternoon was great fun, long chats with many artists surrounded by beautiful painted birds. If you weren't lucky enough to be there the show is on till the 16th of May and I very much recommend taking the time to go see it - it really is a delightful mix of work by many of the best artists working in the area (and me).

Glasgow Contemporary Art Fair

Miss Dotty

Miss Dotty is going on show along with a selection of my other work, both figurative and still lifes (and one cat), at Glasgow Contemporary Art Fair with Art Exposure Gallery next weekend - it promises to be a really exciting event, with a huge variety of work from many galleries and I am really excited about going along to see all the work.

The Uncharted Butterfly

The same weekend but on the Sunday, Mansfield Park Gallery opens its Flights of Fancy themed exhibition - the private view invite card is fab and this is another show I'm really looking forward to seeing the other artists work - it is going to be an art filled weekend next weekend, can't wait - and hopefully see you there.

Hanging About at Art Exposure Gallery

A wee collection of my tea cup paintings will be on show at Art Exposure from friday - their first proper showing in Glasgow and I am quite looking forward to seeing them in a gallery setting. The opening is from 5 til 8 on Great Western Road, I'll be there from soon after it starts and hopefully I'll see youse all there!

Affordable Art Fair Battersea March 2015

Recently I've become a little cup obsessed, which is kinda nice as it lets me set up still lifes and play around with colour and pattern easier than you can do with portraits.

These are two of these new works, which will be on show with another two cup paintings and a selection of my figurative work at the Battersea Affordable Art Fair this weekend. Tracey Mcnee will be representing me, along with several other terrific painters and I'm sure it'll be a great show - I'm pretty sad that I'm just too busy at the moment to go down and see it myself, but if you are in the area, let me know what you think of my mini change of direction.