Still life painting of peppers

A daily painting I suppose as it was painted in just under three hours...I'm a slow painter. I think you learn more from doing these small pieces every day as opposed to spending a month or so on a series of works.
'Despite the small size of pochade paintings, there's no reduction in the mental energy expended to produce them'. Kevin Macpherson.

http://kevinmacpherson.com


Setting up these small pieces in the lid of the pochade box is a really good habit to get into as a working practice. Painting becomes second nature and you iron out all the practical problems, meaning and you are less likely to find you've forgotten something when your working far from home.

Rathbone Hospital, Mill Lane

Another painting of a lane on my route in Liverpool with its turn of the century buildings and cupola. Acrylic on card 21cm x 14cm.

Mill Lane

Fired off a one hour watercolour of the old hospital at Mill Lane

Garden

The sun promised to stay today, so with a clear sky and a pair of shortsI took the oils into the back garden, I suppose you don't have to travel far and wide to paint.

Oil on gessoed card 20cm x 14cm.

Stopped for tea when the sun disappeared for 15 minutes. For the 2 hours or more that it took to paint, Buster lay at my feet like an old suitcase.

Ashwell Street.

I like the idea of painting the landmarks of the city sitting in the background of the streets that surround them. Cain's Brewery was founded in 1858. Within 25 years of founding the brewery Robert Cain had over 200 pubs, which included the city pubs, The Philharmonic, The Vines and The Central , which later became listed buildings. The brewery sits across the road from the studio, standing like a red brick castle.

Wave

Good news I just had this accepted for the,
'2010 Wirral Spring Open' at the , 'Williamson Art Gallery & Museum', until the 31st of May. Charcoal and ink collage, 31cm x 31cm.

Slater place, Liverpool

Acrylic on board 20cm x 14cm.

Parr Street, Liverpool.

Inspired by the people who get out there and paint their city and surroundings, I've been out today and painted the street where my old studio was. I regularly visit the sites of Steven Magsig's, 'Postcards From Detroit',

http://myartspage.blogspot.com

and William Wray's page,

http://williamwray.blogspot.com.

Give them a go I'm sure you'll be impressed by the quality of their work.

I did some drawings and was taking a few pictures in case the light changed, when I happened to snap some kid trotting across the road, so I added them when I got back. I was painting into the light and the Anglican Cathedral was looming in the background like an old black and white picture by Chambre Hardman.

SOLD

Notre Dame Cafe ii

Another of the Paris photos. Combined two pictures to include the scooter at the kerb, which was outside the cafe but too far along the road, it just looked so...French. This took over two hours so I decided to call it a day before it got too fiddly.

You have to work so quickly with acrylics to keep them thick, as they dry very fast, especially in this warm weather we're having. I might give it a good coat of looking at and come back to add the odd highlight here and there. 20cm x 14cm acrylic on board.

Notre Dame Cafe

Painted another French scene from my own photos. It's up to the painter what he leaves in or takes out and this was no exception as I was more interested in getting a painting, not a photograph. The photograph, like the sketch is only a starting point. From here on I'm more interested in getting the right feeling of light, putting light against dark, softening and hardening edges etc. I liked the fact that he seems to be the only one working as the other waiter stands by and everyone one else is either talking or sitting.

Notre Dame

A bit truer to the colours...the joys of photographing artwork.

Notre Dame, Paris

I only use other peoples photographs in class as an exercise but painting from my own photographs, I use them with the sketches I may have done. Its not the same as being there and painting from life, the environment can play such an important part as to why you are doing a painting in the first place but it shouldn't be totally ignored as a recording device. Set yourself a time limit if you like, but I tend not to add every detail because it is done in the comfort of my own home. Richard Schmid notes that they are, 'technically smart but life-dumb instruments'. I only had a few hours in the city before moving on so it was time well spent sketching and photographing work that could be used at a later date rather than searching out one definitive painting.

New Classes

All the works shown on this post are that of Steve Strode, and not that of the artist mentioned. Copies of the originals and other works will be available at the classes.



New classes begin on the week of April 12th these pictures are posted to show the kind of work we will be doing over the 10 weeks. Covering watercolour and oil techniques in acrylic, I tend to illustrate the point of each 2 hour class with the work of a different artist. For watercolour class we will look at the work and techniques of Charles Reid, and Kurt Jackson, . Five weeks will be spent using basic watercolour techniques.

Five weeks will also be spent on basic oil techniques, but over the 10 weeks we will look at colour, both primary and secondary. Tints, tones and shades, tonal range and much more.

Work in the style of Peggi KrollRoberts.






















Work in the style of Kevin Macpherson, Charles Sovek, and Trevor Chamberlain.
Before coming on the course you may like to look up one or more of these painters and their work.









The books I have, and can recommend looking at are;

Trevor Chamberlain.
Oil Painting, Pure and Simple.

Kevin Macpherson.
Landscape Painting, Inside and Out.
Fill your Oil Paintings With Light and Colour.

Charles Reid.
Painting Flowers in Watercolour.
Watercolour Solutions.
Watercolour Secrets

Richard Schmid.
Alla Prima, Everything I Know About Painting

Ted Goershner. Oil Painting, The Workshop Experience

Other books I have for you to look through include,

Hawthorne on Painting.
Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting.
Robert Henri's, The Art Spirit.
Betty Edwards, Drawing on The Right Side of The Brain.
Bert Dobson, Keys To Drawing.

Contact me through this site for further details. All the best, Steve