Memento Mori process...

I seem to have painted a few skulls in the last year or so. It wasn't planned like that, they've all been commissions of one sort or another. Painting skulls is enjoyable, and they are certainly challenging, but I don't plan on any more in the foreseeable future. It was a huge advantage to set the skull up in front of me, with a strong, consistent light source, and paint from life. Photos have their advantages, and sometimes you don't have much of a choice, but nothing beats painting from direct observation. I used to mostly mix my skin tones from the complementary pairing of red and green, but I tried out a new combination of pigments for this one- cadmium red, cadmium yellow, yellow ochre, and flake white...

The Malignant Flower process...

I was going for a certain atmospheric quality with this painting, and I think I've gone some way to achieving that. The background was patiently built up with multiple glazes, Burnt Sienna followed by Ultramarine Blue, layer upon layer, and so on until I got the desired affect. I think darks achieved in this way tend to be more dense and velvety, but you really need to be willing to wait. Each glaze (and there are definitely a dozen at least) took about two days to dry, sometimes three depending on how much medium was used. It's not a technique for everyone, but I like the result if you can spare the time needed. I also glazed in the rose, which I felt was needed to give it that luminous glow that only glazes can fully achieve. The first step was to glaze in a layer of Titanium White, then I built up alternating layers of Quinacridone Red and Phthalo Green until I acquired the depth of colour I was after. Again, it takes patience, but I think it's worth it. The figure was painted more loosely, along with the desk and the vase of flowers. I tried to get a particular kind of texture on the desk, in which I painted in an initial layer, then when I added a second layer, I scraped and scratched it with a palette knife to reveal the original layer to give it a worn look. I'm not going to go into detail about the theme of the painting here, I'll let the viewer interpret it for themselves...

A Semblance of Self...process

This was good practice. I propped a mirror up on my radiator, to the right hand side of my window with natural light pouring in, and off I went. I didn't do a drawing before hand, just dove straight in there with paint, and I admit I prefer this approach. It's funny how it takes awhile (for me anyway) to get it looking even remotely close to how you want it to look. The early stages look awkward, strange, and incorrect, but gradually you refine it, paint over bits, drink tea, stare at it, and one day it looks like genuine progress has taken place. A few friends have commented how serious I look. My response is always the same- how would you look if you were staring at your reflection for hours on end? In that respect I think I look cheerful. I had to make a slight adjustment about halfway through the painting as I got my hair cut, so it revealed more of my forehead. The orange glow reflected on the right hand side of the face was really an accident. I was relying on natural light, so one of the evenings when I began to lose that light I turned on the lamp behind me. I thought it looked good so I incorporated it into the final painting. I think it works better because of it...