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.

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.

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.

"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.

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/

Onion Tomatoes and Bowl

Oil on canvas 20cm x 13cm. £90

Another day in the studio working on a still life

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/

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.

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

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.