Further progress shots...current works.

The above is the next stage of my daisies painting which is quite complex and I am reducing the amount of detail to some extent. I have painted completely the flower heads of the top rightmost daisies and still have to complete the other flowers. I will then go back over the whole painting, trying to refine and balance the emphasise of light and tones, to bring a muted feel to the background while allowing the daisies to take centre stage. Update during the week hopefully.

The above seascape is not quite there yet. I have more to do on the waves on the left and some refinements of small discrepancies in the background near the horizon and around the childrens heads. It is not too far away from finishing. I will post an update this week most likely.

Daisy Flower Painting in Oils -- Update

As followers of the blog will see, I have several paintings on the go at the same time now, and this is an update of my flower painting of daisies. It is really at the end of what I generally call the first stage, which is underpainting. Sometimes, underpainting is enough in some areas of the painting but normally there is more work needed in most to create the tones and shadows which are required. Here, you can see that some parts are barely covered in paint...but to get this far has been time-consuming enough as it is an intricate painting. I like it, and hope it appeals to all you flower lovers out there. Maybe it will remind you of walking in summer meadows on a warm day.
I am considering the addition of a few butterfly, ladybird companions for the flowers. Not sure about that yet. Will think about it. Anyway, that's the short update. Continue to check in as I progress all my current paintings during the weeks ahead, and start new ones.
I am gathering a collection of work now towards a possible exhibition, and have to think about venues in a few months time perhaps. I still have a lot of work to do if I am to do that. I will see.
Also I am toying with the idea of doing a series of some subjects, as in slightly different paintings of similar themes. I haven't done this so much in the past, as I like to vary my subject matter. I do see that most artists do stick to limited subjects, and gain a following by being recognised for such. I however would rather gain recognition for being an artist capable of excelling in many types of subject. I don't want to be limited. Yet, I may concentrate on some themes more than others in the future. I have yet to decide. For now, I will try to build a style which regardless of subject is recognised as being my own.
So as always feel free to comment and enjoy stopping by. Lastly - another plug for my etsy shop, call there if you would like to buy my art as affordable prints! Jim

Surf Painting Seascape further progress shot

As promised, here is my latest update shot of my current seascape painting. I have done some work on the children in the centre, and although they are not finished entirely, as there is some shaping of them to do, this completes the initial covering of the canvas. This allows me to see the overall impression of how the red on the horizon looks as it is very different from the photo I am working from which is a completely blue horizon. I think that the tinged horizon adds something to the painting and shall leave it while I continue to develop the rest of the painting. I have more work to do on the waves and foreground apart from touching up the children a little more.

I am very pleased with how this is turning out so far, and have learnt a lot in the process of working on it, especially about how photos are deceiving in their capturing of what are eyes see so much better. Hence, painting from photos is not ideal by a long shot, although sometimes we have no choice. Feel free to leave comments as always if you like my work...

And stop by my etsy shop to see some of my work for sale as prints.
Thanks Jim

Daisy Meadow Flower Painting

This is the initial stage of my next painting, which I have just sketched out. I don't use pencil on the canvas as it is difficult to cover in paint and instead I draw out with charcoal before going over it in paint. Here I have drawn in a medium green, made from mixing viridian and cadmium yellow. I am blocking in the background darker areas for now with viridian mixed with raw umber. I will update during the week as I progress this painting.

If you want to buy a print of a daisy I painted before, visit my Etsy shop. To see previous art demonstrations, here are some links: snowscene, clew bay, fishing in a lake, etc. You can also search under art demonstrations on the blog tags list on the right column. I hope you enjoy the site and spend some time browsing my art. I am selling original paintings in the gallery at the bottom of this page. Please scroll down to view them.

Croagh Patrick from road to Delphi Valley - Finished Painting

This is the finished painting I did this last week of Croagh Patrick. It is not the usual view of the mountain. It is looking at it from the south west side, so view above is facing north west. If you drive the road, which heads south, you arrive at Mweelrea Mountain and then onwards into the Delphi Valley heading south towards Killary Fjord, the only fjord in Ireland. This is the boundary between Galway and Mayo counties. Mweelrea is the highest mountain in Connaught but Croagh Patrick is not far behind. The colours are very close to those on the day and I am not brightening them too much compared to reality. I have also been working on other different types of subject, to see what I can do to improve. I have started a painting of children playing in surf, see below. This is a larger than the above painting, 16 x 22 versus the above 12 x 16 inch work. All my paintings are on canvas and I am using the Artists grade paints from Windsor and Newton, so all should be very good quality and fade proof.

When I get this finished in the next week or two I will post the final work online here. Due to the slight difficulty in photographing I have cropped a little of the picture off in the above, so it is slightly larger in reality, especially at the bottom. In the meantime I will be working in other ideas alongside this one. If you want to see my continued progress, make sure to subscribe to the blog and get automatic updates, or call back often. I post approx. once a week now, when I have new work. I am getting faster at painting due to learning better techniques, hence there will be faster progress in my ability, and more paintings to see!! Hopefully! I have several works finsihed now and when I get enough, approximately 20 - 30, I will explore organising an exhibition of my work. That appears to be a way of showing my work on a wider scale here in Dublin.

Anyway that's it for now - hope some people will leave comments and feedback as it's a way for me to know if you think I am improving. Something I am trying very hard to do now.