Wednesday 3 July 2013

Self-portrait

As always with self-portraits, the rather menacing expression is just an effect of staring intently into a mirror...


Sunday 12 May 2013

#28: Blue bottle and tomato

Oil on canvas board, 20 cm x 15 cm.



A friend gave me a lovely blue bottle, and I couldn't wait to paint it. Clear bottles are common, so are green ones and brown ones, but blue ones are rather hard to come by!

With such richly coloured things, one is always tempted to use too much colour, ending up with something way too garish. In fear of that, I erred in the other direction, and my painting's colours are not nearly as rich as the bottle. 

I added the tomato for some extra colour. And I liked the curious bump on it - vegetables (and bottles, for that matter) all have their own unique personalities, well worthy of portraiture. 

Sunday 5 May 2013

#27: Autumn leaves

Autumn leaves collected while enjoying a morning walk. Oil on canvas board, 15 cm x 20 cm, and still sticking to my limited palette of black, white, red and yellow.




Sunday 21 April 2013

#26: Apple and glass

Bit of a failure, I think, but the apple looks better than they used to.


I have forgotten how to paint glass, so I had a mighty battle with the thing. I used to struggle quite a bit with this cultivar of apples; I seem to be getting a bit better at it. 



Saturday 13 April 2013

#25: Squash and egg

Another small panel, 5 x 7 inch, painted with a limited palette of red, yellow, black and white oils. Not entirely successful, but then, they never are.


The photo didn't get the colours quite right, but it's not too far off.




Saturday 9 March 2013

#24: Pepper and egg

Weekend: time to paint. I have had a piece of 6 x 8 inch canvas board lying around here for ages, so today I decided to take the plunge and paint on it instead of my usual cardboard cut from a cereal box. 


My verdict: I hate it. The paint soaks right into it and it's a battle to blend or manipulate on the support. Only Masonite for me from now on, I think...