Christmas -- And a photo I took near my house.

The end of the year approaches... While we still have Christmas to enjoy, it will soon be upon us. Time to reflect on how the year has gone, and make plans for the New Year soon to arrive. Hopefully it will bring many opportunities for us to succeed in whatever we attempt. I intend to improve my writing skills and write more if possible. I also plan to dust off my paints and try to do at least one painting before summer. All while reading a lot. That is something I enjoy immensely at the moment. It helps fuel my imagination for my own novels, alongside watching good drama and tv programs. Wishing everyone a great Christmas! I may write here before it again....
 

The Eternal Challenge -- Darker Paths My Third Book and the Second in my Series

The Eternal Challenge -- Darker Paths is the second book in my ongoing series. I am currently writing Book 3. It has over a 1050 pages of content, over 255k words so far.

Darker Paths : The Eternal Challenge, Book 2 is on Kindle Unlimited here.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DD992ZCG

Unknown Realms : The Eternal Challenge, Book 1 is on Kindle Unlimited here.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CQ5L73Z2

Both books are available on KU, or to buy on Kindle or in Print.

The series is a first person LitRPG with a system that rewards risk and a main character who has to work hard to gain power in a dangerous world.

Jon is a bounty hunter, who pursued a fugitive just too far. Now he is trapped in the world of the Eternal Challenge. Follow his journey in search of a way home which can only be gained if he can overcome the forces raged against him.

Traps and trials await, and only death is a certainty. Can one human survive where even more powerful challengers have failed?No harem. LitRPG epic adventure. A vast dangerous world. Battles against the odds using wits and strength and risk-taking.

The Eternal Challenge -- Unknown Realms My Second Book

The Eternal Challenge - Unknown Realms is the first book in my Lit RPG series. 

It is available on Amazon at this link. Unknown Realms If you like exciting adventure in a fantasy realm why not give it a read.

A vast and threatening world. The unknown territories of a deadly game.

One hasty decision. One rash leap through a mysterious circle of light in pursuit of a fugitive. That was all it took for Jon to be trapped in The Eternal Challenge. Life as a bounty hunter had just become much more interesting and dangerous.

Losing means dying. How long could you survive?
Faced with a new reality where possession of the right weapon or power marks the difference between success or failure, tenuous life or certain death, Jon is forced to embrace a perilous journey towards freedom and a way home, which will only be granted at the end of the final level.

Can he succeed when even the deadliest of rivals have struggled?
Using only his wits and instinct for survival, he must gain in experience and adapt to the increased dangers that each new zone presents. Join Jon on his epic voyage through the realms of The Eternal Challenge.

An exciting test of endurance and skill. The beginning of a legendary trial awaits.

The Serpent of Time Available on Amazon

 

Here is my fantasy book which I published in the Summer of 2022. It is 406 pages, 98.6 K words. It tells the story of Ember Willowleaf who is called to join a dangerous quest.

It can be found on Amazon at : The Serpent of Time

If you'd like to explore a world of unpredictable danger alongside wondrous beauty, feel free to try this book. 

John Lavery Irish Painter (1856 - 1941)

Under the Cherry Tree, (previously known as On the Loing, An Afternoon Chat). 

(Photo Credit: National Museum, Northern Ireland)

John Lavery

An exhibition of the works of the Irish Artist, John Lavery, was held recently in the National Gallery of Ireland, here in my home city of Dublin.

I unfortunately missed getting to see it, as life was just so busy, but I decided to research his background and write a little about him here.

The First Wounded, London Hospital, August, 1914

He was an orphan, born in Belfast, March 20 1856. He moved to Scotland to live in Glasgow while still a child. He began his artistic training in Glasgow where he attended the Haldane Academy during the 1870's. He set up a studio which was destroyed by fire in 1878. He received an insurance payout which he used to attend the Heatherley School in London, where he spent a year, before going to further art study in Paris at the Academie Julian in the early 1880's.

He made visits to the artists' colony at Grez-Sur-Loing, near Fontainbleau. This was a picturesque village which encouraged him to paint en Plein-Air, a term used to describe painting in the open air. 'Under the Cherry Tree' is one of the larger and more ambitious works by him at that point in his career.

He married in 1889, but his wife died of TB. They had one daughter, Eileen, who he outlived. He remarried in 1909, to Hazel Martyn. She was an Irish-American.

He returned to Glasgow, and became part of the Glasgow Boys, a group of Scottish and Irish artists. His work had a sketch-like quality which often emphasised brushstrokes. This was a style similar to James McNeill Whistler. It was a reaction to the more traditional Victorian artists of that period.

He was commissioned to paint the state visit of Queen Victoria to the Glasgow International Exhibition in 1888, and this launched a career as a society portrait artist. He thus moved to London to pursue this.

He is best known for his portraiture work, and open-air paintings.

He died in Rossenarra House, near Kilmaganny, County Kilkenny on 10 January, 1941.

Lavender Field

 

Lavender Field.    This is a shot of an acrylic on rolled canvas painting that I created from taking ideas from various sources. It is not an actual place. I am experimenting with colours to see what works best. Enjoy.

The Serpent of Time and Unknown Realms My Books for Sale on Amazon

This post is an update on what I have been concentrating part of my focus on for the last two years. I have published two books and am working on a third book at the moment. 

The first book is a Fantasy novel. The genre is epic fantasy.

It tells the story of a small elf-girl called Ember Willowleaf, who is asked to join a quest for which she feels she is inadequately qualified, but her kingdom and family are in danger, so she relents and goes. The story is one of adventure, daring and excitement, in similar fashion to Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter or The Hobbit. If you like any of those books, you will probably like this also. The story is a standalone tale, and is totally my own creation.

It was published on Amazon in July 2022. It is called    The Serpent of Time    and you can find it for sale in Kindle or read for free at Kindle Unlimited at the moment. You can also buy it in print. 

Here's the link:

THE SERPENT OF TIME

The second book is in the genre know as LitRPG which means literature of Role Playing Games. The character is a hero traversing a world that is controlled by game-like elements. It is a genre popular by those who enjoy the online dungeon and dragon type games.

The second book is called    Unknown Realms : The Eternal Challenge Book I.    It was published on Amazon in December 2023 and you can find it for sale in Kindle or read for free at Kindle Unlimited at the moment. You can also buy it in print. 

Here's the link: 

UNKNOWN REALMS

I am working on the continuation of this series, and the next book is more than forty per cent complete.

Anyway, that's it for today. I will try to post more often, as this blog has been dormant over several years, but it will be useful to display progress in my writing and art here again. 

I hope that anyone who likes fantasy and adventurous reads will enjoy giving my books a try. Thanks! Jim

Today I am posting a painting I did early in the year. It is of Budelli Beach on the island of Budelli which lies between Corsica and Sardegna (or Sardinia). The beach is a protected site of natural beauty as in the setting sun the sand glows pink. It is not allowed to take sand or walk on the sand from the beach although you can walk alongside on a path. The painting is for sale and it is oils on canvas roll ready to be stretched. It can ship easily and securely in a rolled tube. It is described more in the link which takes you to my kofi shop. Enjoy your visit.

https://ko-fi.com/jimshanahan/shop

Digital Artwork Painting for Fantasy Novel I am currently Writing.

This is the complete view so far of the digital painting that I am working on regarding the fantasy story I am currently writing. I guess it's about halfway finished.  Like all things creative, it takes a lot of effort and imagination to come up with the ideas. Maybe it's easier for some people, but I think most good ideas take effort. That's been my experience so far. This idea has formed little by little by trying out different things and seeing what works and evolving a small idea into a larger one. Enjoy! I will post a finished view at a later date.

Writing Project -- Fantasy Novel soon to be published, Jan / Feb 2022

Hi, today I am posting about the status of my latest writing project which is a fantasy story and full novel length. It's about 80% finished at the moment. 67,500 words of 85,000 word target. I hope to self-publish it in February if not sooner. The image below is not one of mine but a cover I bought which I felt was right for the story. I shall post more about this when it is closer to publishing. It's an exciting and enjoyable project and my first novel attempt.

 

Last night I showed a close up view of the digital art I was last working on for the fantasy novel I am currently writing. Tonight I show another detail view of the same picture. It is still in progress, but writing is my priority at the moment so I have not worked on this for a while. I need to buy the software, as the free period ran out, and I have yet to do that. Enjoy the detail for now and I will post the entire picture soon and continue to show progress when I get more done. 

Today I am posting a work in progress detail shot from a digital painting which I have still to finish. What you see here is about 10% of the total size, the whole painting is much larger. It depicts a scene that may or may not be part of my finished Fantasy novel. I have written 67,000 words so far, so really only another month or less to get the draft to 85,000 words, which is a full length novel. Then I will be revising the draft and formatting it for publishing on Amazon. Anyway, this is here for you to enjoy. Stop back to the blog again in the future and I will post the finished painting and give further news of when the fantasy novel will be available.

Here is another oil painting on wood panel done this year. It's here for you to enjoy. If you like any art here just send me an email jimsartemail@hotmail.com and I can get back to you. I sell these small flower paintings for 120 dollars approx. They are 12 x 9 inches on strong wood panels. 

 Hi, today I will show another painting that I did this year. The painting is lilies and I love the scent of these flowers. It's in oils on wood panel. Primed with gesso underneath the oil painting. Enjoy! 

Hi, It's been a long time since I posted. This is just an update to show some work from earlier this year. I hope you like this original painting of mermaids. It's from my imagination. I did it in digital format. Enjoy! I am trying to set up my own website and should happen in the next few weeks, as I am learning the process.

Blog Redesign

I am looking into the possibility of redesigning the blog and changing the layout to a better more modern look. This will happen in the coming week or two, if I can manage to learn what needs doing.

How to oil paint -- History of Art Technique

John Singer Sargent     Carnation Lily Lily Rose

The state of art today

Never before has there been such a range of materials from which an artist can choose. The modern painter is freer to choose what to paint than ever before, and creativity and originality is seen as the hallmark of genius in the painting world. However, there is a downside too, in that in the modern art world, the majority of artists painting today have little true knowledge of the skill and training passed down through generations by the painters of the 15th - 17th century, the old masters. The skills have been lost to the majority of artists, although fortunately not lost to all, and even though they have tried to be rediscovered, they are not taught widely and many successful artists are ignorant of how to paint with strong technical skill .

 

On the positive side, the move away from the old styles of painting (since 1700 onwards) have encouraged the discover of whole new ways of painting and many beautiful paintings and styles have emerged. This has brought a whole new appreciation of art in our society. So even a beginner artist can create a piece which will be well appreciated and contribute to the artistic world in their own style.

 

As I discover more about oil painting and reading about the old techniques, I realise I too have a very basic understanding of their techniques, and so I am on a journey to discover for myself what I lack in ability.

One thing I have discovered, is that many of the paintings from before 1700, are painted so technically well, that they are withstanding the ravages of time better than paintings that modern artists are creating, and that they could well outlast most of the paintings being created today. Will Jackson Pollocks paintings still be around in centuries to come on the wall beside an ageless Carravaggio or Van Eyck's The Marriage of Giovanni Arnolfini (1434, now 582 years old)? I sincerely doubt it. And so I believe it is important to try our best to understand our painting materials, more and more, in order to create our best work and ensure it has some durability too.

How to Oil Paint, Choosing colors for oil painting -- Part 4 of 4,

Van Eyck's The Marriage of Giovanni Arnolfini (1434)

How to Oil Paint, Choosing Colors for Oil Painting, Properties of Oil Paints...Drying Rate

Oil Paints unlike most other paints, change little as they dry in colour, but they do change slightly, becoming slightly darker and a little less brilliant. This is not really a noticeable change however.

So it is not really a concern to us as oil painters so much.

The rate at which the individual paints dry is important when you are building up a painting in layers. It is important to not paint fast drying paint layers over slow drying painting layers, until the slower drying layer is completely dry, in order to prevent the risk of problems occurring on the surface such as wrinkling or cracking of the paint in the future.

The very slow drying colours are titanium or zinc whites, ivory black, cadmium colours, vermillion and rose madder. Less slow drying but slow are ultramarine blue, cerulean blue and yellow ochre.

Colours with an average rate of drying are raw sienna, naples yellow, cobalt blue, chromium oxide (green), viridian, and earth red colours.

Fast drying colours are Prussian blue, raw umber, burnt umber, phthalocyanine blue, phthalocyanine green, flake white, burnt sienna and davy's gray.

So it can be seen that if you have a slow drying colour and you want to speed up it's drying rate, and you are also wanting to use a lighter shade, you can mix flake white instead of titanium white into the colour to quicken the drying rate. Alkyd mediums such as Liquin also help to speed up the drying process, although their primary purpose has been usually to make it easier for paint colours to flow under the brush.
 

If you like to see earlier parts of this article see Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 for further properties of paint and choosing a palette for starting oil painting.

How to Oil Paint, Choosing colors for oil painting -- Part 3 of 4

Photo I took last year on the way to work in Carlow, Ireland. A storm was on the way and I was driving when I saw this tree and had to stop.

 

Properties of Oil Paints -- Part 3

 

Depending on your style of painting, another property to consider is the transparency or opaqueness of each paint. Transparency is the degree to which a colour allows light to past through it from above, and allow this light to reflect back to your eye from the colour underneath. If you paint a transparent yellow over a blue paint, the eye will see a greenish colour. This is because the blue is covered by the yellow but is allowed to reflect light back through the transparent yellow to your eye. 

 

Paints like ultramarine blue or burnt sienna are transparent and make good paints for glazing. If you like to build up the paint in layers choose transparent colours. Adding white to a colour will reduce it's transparency.

 

Here is a list of transparent colours:

Viridian, Ultramarine Blue, Prussian Blue, Phthalocyanine Blue, Phthalocyanine Green, Green Gold, Ultramarine Violet, Cobalt Violet, Rose Madder (not so light fast), Manganese Violet, Indian Yellow (not so light fast), Transparent Oxide Yellow, Transparent Oxide Brown, Ivory Black, Quinacridone Gold, Transparent Oxide Red.

Here is a list of semi-transparent colours:

Cobalt Blue, Transparent Gold Ochre, Aureolin (not so light fast), Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber (some brands), Raw Sienna, Davy's Grey.

 

If your style of painting is to fill in large dense blocks of colour, you should consider working with more opaque (non-transparent) colours that cover areas well. Opacity is also called covering power, the power to block out an underlying colour.

 

Here is a list of semi-opaque colours:

Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber, Greenish Umber, Vermilion, Burnt Umber (some brands), Deep Ochre, Gold Ochre, Burnt Green Earth.

Here is a list of opaque colours:

Flake White, Titanium white, Naples Yellow, Mars Yellow, Mars Orange, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red, Mars Red, Mars Violet, Mars Brown, Venetian Red,

Indian Red, Light Red, Brown Ochre, Terra Rosa, Red Ochre, Chromium Oxide Green, Cerulean Blue, Mars Black.

 

I hope this helps those beginning to paint out there, stop back another time to see more information on choosing paints, in part 4 in next few days. Also check out part 1 , part 2 and part 4 of this article.

How to Oil Paint, Choosing colors for oil painting -- Part 2 of 4

My VIDA collection at http://shopvida.com/collections/voices/jim-shanahan

 

Art Instruction, Choosing Colors for Oil Painting -- Part 2 Paint Properties 

Many art colleges and universities have over the last years especially, focused their attention when instructing art students, on encouraging the students to work primarily on their creativity and to "express themselves". However this has meant that the actual materials they should use to express this creativity have often been overlooked.

As you progress your journey in becoming an oil painter, you may like / should try to learn a little about the various different properties that individual paint colours possess. Apart from the obvious properties to consider such as hue, value and colour, there are properties such as transparency, opaqueness, oil content, type of oil, pigment content and light-fastness of the paint colour. Also how fast they dry, their tinting strength and their consistency. Then there are factors of compatibility with other pigments. Lastly, and important too, some paints contain lead and care needs to be taken in working with such paints. Different manufacturers will mean the same colour could be slightly different from brand to brand also.

The most important property of a paint colour is it's light-fastness.

Colours fade when their molecules are broken down when exposed to the power of light, the shorter the wavelength the more the power the light will have. So UV light packs a punch. Some pigments are better at withstanding this attack. Iron Oxide colours and heavy metal colours, such as cadmium or cobalt can withstand UV light.

If you want to protect your artwork from fading, then it is best to choose colours with good light fastness properties and avoid displaying the painting in direct sunlight. This means - how likely is the paint to fade in colour over time. Quite a bad feeling if you see your beautiful portrait of a loved one fading into obscurity after a few seasons on the wall....So what should you do?

Look to buy paints with an ASTM (American Society for Testing Materials) rating of I (very light fast) or II (lightfast enough to use for painting).

If you use ratings III, IV or V then the colours will change in time and may fade completely. Alizarin Crimson is one of the paints that is best avoided as it is not light fast. A good alternative is Permanent Rose, also called Quinacridone Rose or Rose Lake. It is PV19.
Different brands have different notation. Winsor & Newton use A (permanent), AA (extremely permanent), and also the above I,II,III system too sometimes. Daler & Rowney Georgian brand use Permanence followed by *** symbols. Three stars is fine and four is best.

The next quality perhaps to consider is the quality, or pigment content of the paints.

Depending on the brand, most paints come in two grades, artists and students. Artists grade paints are made with the higher amount of pigment content and less extenders, and they produce stronger more vibrant levels of colour. They also cost a lot more in some cases! If you are starting out, it might be worth while to buy the student grades for now. The difference is not so noticeable, I have found, although the fact that paints can last a lifetime depending on your rate of working, and use of a colour, perhaps the better investment is to go for the more expensive brand when you can afford it. I use the best I can afford when I am doing commission work or work for sale.

For more tips about properties see part 1 , part 3 and part 4 of this article.