Designs for coasters

The above paintings are for an application to illustrate up to 20 London themed pictures for coasters.

Is this something you would happily use to protect your table from your beverage?

The golden ladies

The above is a stencil wood cut print. I have been wanting to try out my idea of combining these two printing techniques for a while now. The gold is spray paint using a stencil cut out of cardboard. Then the last step is to ink up the wood cut and try your best at getting the wood cut to line up with the stenciled form. It doesn't happen all the time but most of the time it is close enough. I was also experimenting with using a rolling pin to print them instead of the back of a spoon. I think I like the Rolling pin better because you get a cleaner print that has less of the texture from the wooden printing block.

Night time at Port Lligat

For this painting I wanted to create a scene that is soft on your eyes and almost meditative. The blues for the sea are a combination of ultramarine and Prussian and to get the deep luminous effect for the water you have to do many layers. I like the twilight to night time sky with the little sickle moon and just a few stars staring to appear.

This painting is 76 x 76cm and acrylic on canvas.

Lino cut printing.

The above is a sequence of photos of the process for lino cut printing. I did a print of Port Lligat and it is a limited edition of 12 with half of the coloured in with watercolours. I really enjoy the process of print making and look forward to doing a smaller version of the bay as a reduction lino cut meaning a two colour or more process. Giving the Port Lligat a beautiful deep ultramarine blue.

charactertures

This is my first commission from Greenwich market. To be honest it was not what I expected and at first I wondered how I could fit it all onto an A3 piece of paper. The drawing is for some employee's boss who is leaving his job in London and moving to the countryside. Don't ask me why he is dressed like Tom Sawyer and leading a sheep of into the horizon, that was their idea?

Port Lligat.

Port Lligat is next to Cadaques along Costa Brava in Spain. In this beautiful Mediterranean bay Salvador Dali made his home for many years and this is one of the reasons why this little bay attracts so many artists and tourists. This painting has two views of the bay. The one on the left is what you see from Dali's lounge room window. The one on the right is what you see when you are up on the cliff edge to the left looking towards Dali's home. Staying in Port Lligat was a very special time for me. It was near the end of my Long tour of Spain (lasting nearly 11 months). The weather was perfect and you could explore along the cliff edges and find a little beach to enjoy a swim all by yourself. This is the reason why I have put very few people in the picture to give you a feeling like you have the place to yourself.

The painting is acrylic on canvas 1m x 1m. Click on the images for a better view.

Chinese brush painting.

I got a book out from the library about Chinese brush painting. I have been really enjoying following the instructions in the book for how to hold the brush and paint different things. It is nice to try something new and compared with normal painting it is really relaxing, brief and satisfying. My favorite artist Brett Whiteley described it as "brief beautifully brief".
I am trying to paint plum blossoms at the moment and it is a bit tricky trying to get them to look right but it is all practice and I would like to start painting different types of birds in this style.

The above image is of a Willow tree with two different seals one of my initials and the other is Chinese for peace. This had been painted on the front page of my new moleskine sketch book #8.