Large equestrian portrait

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Just to see if I can do it!
Here's some progress shots on the big horse painting I've been working on in the studio

1.25m x 1.65m, oils on linen

First the red oxide tint to the linen, then I begun working up the muscle shapes and defining the form.

After that the fun begins - hours of painting through the sheen on the coat.

Finally the background is in and it's time to let it dry before multiple glazing coats. It looks finished but this is only half way!

 

 

Progress shots on three new nightscapes

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Three new small nightscapes on the go, for an upcoming show in September (exact dates to be decided).

All of these are 40x30cm, oils on linen.

There's atleast one more pass on all three, maybe a bit more tweaking here and there.
More to come...

An oil painting of an alleyway
A painting of an alleyway at night
A painting of a street at night

Making more pochade boxes

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Pochade box constructionI've been building another pochade box, as a bit of a prototype cause I've had so many people ask for one like the one I built for myself, so here we go:

The first image is it taped together, below with the slide-out palette.
This one is made from dressed Tasmanian oak and ply panel, with aluminium composite board on the inside for easy cleaning-off of unused paint.

After adding the handles I needed to figure some sort of way to clamp the handles together to lock it closed (or remove the split one completely now that the mahl stick does the same job)
But opened the split handle can be used to hang rags for cleaning brushes.

I'm pretty happy with how this batch is turning our and can't wait to varnish them, it's a nice change from painting and picture framing too!!

Lego Spaceman paintings

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I did these three little paintings (30x20cm) last night of a classic lego spaceman.
Oils on aluminium panel and I used the shadow box to get the lighting right on the figure.

Beer glass painting at Boston Brewery Denmark

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plein air painting at boston breweryOn a trip down south to Denmark via Margaret River I got a chance to stop in at Boston Brewery - on the South Coast Highway just east of Denmark.

We got the taster tray of 6 beers & I decided to whip out the pochade box and have some fun while we tried the different beers.

The very helpful girl that served us (didn't catch your name sorry) said this was the favourite - An Old German style Amber ale named "Alt Beer", so I decided to paint that :

This was a pretty quick one - about 40min, I had to hurry because the beer was getting warm!

Work on three new night scenes

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Here's some work on three new night scenes from the last few weeks. There's a lot more work to be done on two of them and a little more glazing on the darker (cropped) one. Nice to be painting something different & I'm finding the process interesting.

High Art – ArtMark pop-up in High Street mall, Fremantle

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Every Friday and Saturday in January I'm running a small pop up art gallery / market in High Street Mall right in the heart of Fremantle

We'll be there on site from 10am - 3pm, with our super awesome pallet display system!

For the next three weeks there will be different artists working live on site, happy to chat and to answer your questions about their art, so come on down and say hi, grab a beanbag (kindly supplied by City of Fremantle) and watch the fabulous artworks get created before your eyes!

 

Building another pochade

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pochade box construction 1I've spent the last two days using the leftover materials from the last pochade box to make a new one - this one is more of a palette box that sits on the tripod, then the canvas / panel sits on a riser attached to the camera mount.

With this box I get more mixing room and it can handle a much bigger painting surface (depending on the wind !)

After cutting the leftover recyled jarrah decking cut to size I made the box sides and attached panels made from leftover thin verneers of Camphor wood.

pochade box construction 5After checking the sides work I did a lot of sanding to get it all flush.
The middle palette slides out for access below (where I'll store paints and stuff), though it was sticking out too far with the jars in there so I cut checks out of it. It's made of aluminium composite panel that just happened to have a nice green backing colour on it.

Mounted on the tripod with temporary wooden teeth / holder things at the back. Then I spent a few hours cutting / making a little latch out of a small sheet of copper.

pochade box construction 9On to making a dodgy upright / mast to hold the canvas or panel that I'll paint on, it has the camera tripod mount attatched to the back of it and can handle a decent sized canvas.

I then took the temporary teeth off the back, cut grooves in with a little saw and made these moveable metal ones instead - they retract when the box is all closed up so I can put it down on the ground without it falling over.

And viola! all assembled ready to paint! The little brackets doing their job holding it on the tripod.
I need to adjust these so it sits higher up but it works fine so far.

I also added little holes along the sides so I can stand brushes up that I'm using, can't wait to use this one - so much mixing area!!

Pochade box build

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I've recently spent a few days building myself a little pochade box for painting en plein air using recycled Jarrah floorboard with Camphor panels (it smells great !).

Here it is before the wax polish I put on it,
It will be able to hold four 10x12 inch panels & mounts on a normal camera tripod (which had better arrive monday, I want to start using it!)

 

A photo of the construction of an artists painting boxA coat of wax polish, and the leather strap added, time to figure out how to make the latch that holds it closed..

Below shows me first figuring out the placement of the latch, then some filing of a little brass plate to shape.

And finally the support arms to stop the lid from falling backwards when it's open - I'm using the prototype light-holders from my big easel.

All put together and eady to go !!
I've added a tripod mount so I can take it out, we tried yesterday but it was overcast all morning then really windy all afternoon, better luck tomorrow...