Summer Update to Blog

I haven't posted for quite a while, the reason being various, but mostly due to that I have been pursuing other interests and working on various house projects. I could have applied myself more to my art but something has to give when you want to get so many things done. One of the reasons my art has taken a backseat was a need to gather reference material. I went to the west of Ireland recently and have gathered a small reservoir of photographic material which I will work through for a while, in between using other ideas too. So now I shall get back to finishing existing works and start on some new stuff. To all my patience followers I say thankyou and hope to start posting on a more consistent basis for a while at least.

Swan painting and my painting style developing more.

Here is a further update from my latest painting. It is almost finished. I have done a slight bit of manipulation of the colour on the computer to make it reflect reality, due to the light I took the photo in, as the reality is not so dull. Anyway, this is showing that I still have some work to do on the upper part of the background. I have used a bit of free expression in the brushstrokes in the water and other areas - so the design of the swirls is similar to lines I often make in my handwriting. I can't help it, it's just my style coming through. If you are interested in painting a similar painting, then it is most likely you will fall into your own style naturally and it won't be the same. I can't change my painting style easily and actually I quite like the way it turns out. Some people say that they can recognise my paintings instantly from my brushstrokes, so that can't be a bad thing. I want to be unique from other artists. Anyhow, if you like to see my swirling style, have a look at "In the Desert of the blue Stones". That really shows it. I hope you will comment on this work, to let me know what you think of current progress. I am really trying hard to make this a great painting! The lower half is just about finished. Soon, I will post the full finished version. Enjoy this current glimpse of my progress. Happy Easter to everyone! Jim

Swan Painting -- Further Progress

Further progress shot of my latest oil painting, showing the underpainting, and the start of the next layers on the top left and bottom right. I am avoiding using extremely dark black colours in the reeds for now. I want to see how the colours that I am using here look and see how the tones work together, before darkening any necessary areas. I am using a number of blues, cobalt, prussian and cerulean to make the blue water, and mixing them with lemon and cadmium yellow light to achieve the various greens. I have used some paynes grey, but not a lot. Titanium white is plentiful in the colour mixes. I also used some cadmium yellow with cobalt blue to mix darker greens.
I am hoping that if I put in the extra effort on this painting I can get it to a stage where, without it looking overworked, it should stand as one of the best I have done in the last two years. To do this I am concentrating on focusing while applying each brushstroke, instead of just painting lots of brushstrokes without really thinking. I am trying hard to concentrate and "think" before applying any paint, asking myself is it the right shade, location and how will it fit in.
If I have time I want to go to the National Gallery, here in Dublin, to get a look at other artists work and see if I can learn anything from their work. Hope I can do that soon. That's it for today, and check back as always for the next update. -- Jim