Saturday 25 December 2010

Liverpool painting No. 106. St. James' Road.















20cm x 14cm acrylic on canvas board, £90

I've really begun to notice how many smoke plumes rise from the city during these cold crisp spells of clean light. It was just turning dusk and the Mersey in the distance reminded me of a time past, when smoke filled chimneys filled the air and snow covered the roofs.

Thursday 23 December 2010

Liverpool painting No. 105. Berry Street















20cm x 14cm acrylic on canvas, £90

Upstairs in the first building on the left was where I had my first studio in town about 10 years ago, it's a chinese restaurant now. The city is full of snow and slush but I painted this at home...in the warm.

Monday 20 December 2010

Liverpool painting No.104. St. James' Gardens Revisited.















Acrylic on canvas board 20cm x 14cm, £90.

I went back to the gardens behind the cathedral today. I was at the studios working just down the road, besides I can't resist that gothic wintery quiet, very Charles Dickens and Christmas Carol.

Sunday 19 December 2010

"Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me, aren't you?"













SOLD

24cm x 20cm oil on canvas, £90

Another studio painting from the still lfe with a twist set. This took me a lot longer than I expected, so 5 hrs later.

Friday 17 December 2010

Liverpool painting No. 103. Earle Road.




















Acrylic on canvas board 20cm x 14cm, £90

Not long after being here a fat man in a Santa suit crossed Smithdown Road giving traffic the finger...tis the season to be jolly. Came across another site in London that I regularly drop in on. Olha Pryymak (London, UK) paints her city in much the same way as I have been out and about in Liverpool. You can see more of her good work on http://olechko.org/

Sunday 12 December 2010

Onion Tomatoes and Bowl














Oil on canvas 20cm x 13cm. £90

Another day in the studio working on a still life

Tuesday 7 December 2010

Liverpool painting No.102. St.James' Gardens















20cm x 14cm acrylic on canvas board











Pencil sketch

It was the last of the days sun was sinking and it lit up the top half of the cathedral yesterday. I managed to get a quick sketch done and take some photos to do a painting. I spent some time wandering around the gardens looking at the gothic building and all the old memorials and even older trees, only the traffic betrayed the fact that I hadn’t slipped through to the 1800’s.

Located at the rear of the Anglican Cathedral, it occupies ten acres of ground which were once the final resting place of nearly 58,000 souls.

From an American sea captain, stabbed to death, to children who died within hours of their birth. From a midget artist who painted England's nobility, to a simple serving girl. They all found their way into this quiet, final resting place, in Liverpool.

For more of the same go to http://www.stjamescemetery.co.uk/

Monday 6 December 2010

Liverpool painting No.101. Oxford Road




















20cm x 14cm, acrylic on canvas board

Just down the road from painting No 100 sits The Oxford pub. I pass this lone building most days as it stands with the whole block to itself. I've never been inside but here's a review, for more go to http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/the-oxford-liverpool

Ever since I caught the wrong bus to university one day and rolled past the Oxford pub, I've wanted to visit it and soak in its inevitable weirdness. Seemingly the sole survivor of some catastrophe that wiped out everything else on Oxford Street, the building stands all on its lonesome with only a small path and few trees to keep it company.

Saturday 4 December 2010

Tomatoes Onion and Bowl















21cm x 14cm, oil on canvas board, £90

Worked on another studio painting today and will probably do a few more this month as it makes a pleasant change from trampimg around the city looking for subjects. Not that landscapes are better or worse, just different. I was inspired to do a few of these after browsing my Julian Merrow Smith book, 'Postcard From Provence', great stuff. You can see the more of Julian's work on http://shiftinglight.com/about.php

Wednesday 1 December 2010

Still life

Fancied a bit of a change so I headed for the warm studio to paint a still life. Below is rough layout of the route I take with these paintings. The whole process is done in one session and probably takes about 3 hours or so. When working on these pictures I generally use Michael Harding oil paints and a bit of turps, no oil.






















Stage1.

Wait for the weather to turn and retire to the studio. Block in the drawing on canvas and make a map of where the main shapes will sit.















Step2. Block in the main shapes with a rough approximation of the colour, eliminating any detail. Have a coffee.
















Stage 3. Develop the shapes and refine the colours, check outside...yep, still snowing.















Step 4. relate the shapes to each other and adding the shadows etc.















Step 5. Pull it all together stepping well back and add highlights and finishing touches etc. Check outside...yep still snowing, have another coffee.


















Monday 29 November 2010

Liverpool painting No 100. Oxford Street East.















21cm x 14cm acrylic on canvas board, £90.

I pass this building most days to and from the studio and have always thought just how thin it looks. 100 hundred paintings done already, where has the time gone? I'll have a look through them all today and upload what I think is my top 5.

Friday 26 November 2010

Liverpool painting No 99. Upper Parliament street















Acrylic on canvas 21cm x 14cm, £90

Decided to try a night painting of Toxteth Library, and work from photos to get the soft blurred edges of a moving van. I dont care how fast you paint, you aint gonna get one done as it flies past.

Saturday 20 November 2010

Liverpool painting No.98. Parkway




















Acrylic on canvas board 21 cm x 14cm, £90

The nights are drawing in and the street lamps and signs make the ordinary that little bit different.

Thursday 18 November 2010

Liverpool painting No 97. Grafton Street.




















SOLD

21cm x 14cm acrylic on canvas board, £90.



First thing on a cold crisp morning and Cain’s Brewery was belching backlit smoke like a dark satanic mill. From the 3rd floor of the studio opposite the brewery I could see plumes of smoke all over the city and across the river on the Wirral. The city was coming to life as the night turned to day.

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Liverpool painting No,96. Rathbone Road.




















Acrylic on canvas board 21cm x 14cm, £90

White van, terrace house and the flag of St. George for England v France.

Friday 12 November 2010

Liverpool painting No.93. Walton Breck Road.




















21cm x 14cm acrylic on canvas board, £90

Tuesday 26 October 2010

Liverpool painting No. 88. Mersey shore






































I went in search of Oglet and followed Brunswick Street to the footpath that led to the Mersey shore. Talk about follow the path less travelled, the place was empty except for a few startled rabbits and the curlews that lifted from the bank in panic at my approach. Here on a small hill was the graveyard of boats, propellers and engines. I would love to have found this place when I was a kid, hours of fun. No doubt it will soon come to the attention of someone in a suit who will order it to be cleared up or fenced off as dangerous.



Sunday 24 October 2010

Liverpool painting No. 87. King Street.




















Acrylic on canvas board. 21cm x 14cm

Took a few hours around the Garston area today. It never ceases to amaze me how many places I've never been to or seen before. I was in search of Oglet shore...I've never heard of it, so I had to root it out. I found this scene just down the road. There are lots north shore locations that look quiet and deserve a visit so I think I'll be going back in the future. More on Oglet next post.

http://www.merseyestuary.org.uk/index_files/NorthShore.html

Saturday 23 October 2010

Liverpool painting No. 86. Edge Lane .















Acrylic on board. 21cm x 14cm

The corner of Durning road. Companion piece for painting No. 85

Wednesday 20 October 2010

Liverpool painting No 85. Gladstone Road















Oil on board 21cm x 14cm

Goodbye number 63. The demolition of Edge Lane and the surrounding area continues. As one old guy I spoke to remarked, they're doing a better job than the Luftwaffe.