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Chelsea, Centenary Champions

by on May 3, 2012 in Commissions, English Scenes, Football and Rugby Prints, Limited Edition Prints

Stamford Bridge

Chelsea, Centenary Champions

After watching on television Papiss Cisse’s two wonder goals last night against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, I was reminded of my one and only visit to Chelsea’s ground.

In 2006 two of my clients who are Chelsea fans, commissioned me to do a watercolour painting of Stamford Bridge where they are season ticket holders. They invited me to a match so that I could get suitable reference of the fans going to the ground on match day to enable me to produce a painting similar to my successful Toon Army print. I arrived at the ground a couple of hours before kick off so I could do some sketchbook studies and take suitable photos to use as reference.

Chelsea are known for playing in blue, so it was important to repeat the colour throughout the painting, not just in the tops that the fans were wearing but also in the sky and elements of the stadium. It was a bright, sunny day, so I began the studio painting with a gentle warm wash of Cadmium Yellow and Cadmium Lemon to set the tone and mood for the painting. I deliberately kept the brush marks crisp and sharp to keep the architectural elements of the stadium defined and strong. This provided a contrast to the more fluid rendering of the figures making their way to the ground.

The clients decided to reproduce the original watercolour as a limited edition print titled Chelsea, Centenary Champions which is available on line with only 95 copies in the edition. Papiss Cisse describes his second goal against Chelsea as his best ever. It has to be of the contenders for goal of the season.

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Film Maker & Photographer David Peat Dies

by on May 1, 2012 in Latest News, Painting on Location

 

Launceston Place

Launceston Place

Susan and I were saddened to hear of the death of David Peat on 16th April after a long battle with Myeloma. I had the privilege of working with David back in the autumn of 2001 on a television idea my brother and I had. We decided to make a short pilot video of the idea and some friends of ours recommended David whom they had known closely for many years.

Part of the idea was to show the cooking ability of my brother Philip, so it was decided that David and I would meet up at the restaurant where Philip worked as the head chef, the Launceston Place Restaurant, Kensington in London. The other part of the idea was to show my watercolour painting skills, so I was to be filmed outside painting the street scene, including the restaurant.

Philip and I had no experience working to camera but David demonstrated his award winning talent as a film maker right from the start. He quickly took stock of the scenario and came up with some great camera angles to capture me painting which made it a lot more interesting than watching paint dry. The way he filmed Philip cooking was equally impressive and although I say it myself, the pilot came out really well. We never managed to get it seen by the right people and eleven years on, I don’t think that British television needs another cookery programme.

Here is the section that David Peat filmed of me painting.

http://youtu.be/nBEdCAEpeA8

To see the full pilot of Philip cooking and me painting, follow the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dGyIdRmss4

To find out more about David Peat, take a look at his website davidpeatphoto.com     Also there are also touching obituaries to David which elaborate more on his career in Herald Scotland & BBC News Scotland.

Our prayers and thoughts are with his family and friends at this time of deep loss.

 

 

 

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Grainger Street

by on April 24, 2012 in Limited Edition Prints, North East Prints

Grainger Street

Grainger Street

The popularity of my limited edition prints is partially down to the fact that I usually include figures in the paintings which bring the painting to life. Over the years I spent considerable time observing people going about their daily business in cities like Newcastle upon Tyne, Edinburgh, Venice, Florence and New York. I’ve developed a kind of shorthand for drawing them on the move in my sketchbook which I can refer to when I come to do a studio painting. I will of course take photographs as it’s impossible to draw people in detail walking about the streets unless they are deliberately modelling for you.

It’s the figures in this painting which are the dominant point of interest. Folk have often commented that they love the old man shuffling along with his newspaper sticking out of his back pocket, the two old ladies nattering away with their shopping bags and the road sweeper who has stopped to light up a fag. The original painting sold many years ago but the limited edition print titled Grainger Street is still available online or from my Studio & Gallery in Ponteland.

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Eigg and Rhum Sunset

by on April 20, 2012 in Limited Edition Prints, Scotland Prints

Eigg & Rhum Sunset

Eigg & Rhum Sunset

The West Coast of Scotland has some of the finest scenery in the world. I’ve only been a handful of times but I’ve always been inspired to paint on location, whatever the weather. In 1998 we decided to take the long drive from Edinburgh to Mallaig for a long weekend. The weather was typical for September, rain. Glencoe was suppressed by low lying clouds but by the time we hit Glenfinnan Viaduct where I did a sketchbook watercolour, the weather began to break and the sun came out.

We checked into a small bed and breakfast in Mallaig and went in search for the white sandy beach of Camusdarach where the film Local Hero was shot. As we climbed over the dunes which hid the beach from the road, we saw a breathtaking view. As the sun was dipping below the islands of Eigg and Rhum we could hear the sound of the waves breaking softly onto the beach whilst a young lady sitting on the sand played a Celtic melody. It was a magical moment which Susan and I will never forget. I took some photographs before the light disappeared but it was too late to do any painting.

The next morning, after a hearty Scottish breakfast, I returned to the same spot to do a couple of watercolours which I was able to refer to so that I could do the studio painting titled Eigg and Rhum Sunset, which is available as a limited edition print both online and at my Studio & Gallery in Ponteland.

 

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Dhow, Reflections

by on April 3, 2012 in Original Watercolours, Painting in Stages

Dhow, Reflections

Dhow, Reflections

A simple composition like this titled “Dhow, Reflections” is actually one of the most difficult subjects to paint successfully in watercolour. Over the last five years I’ve made many sketchbook studies of Arabian dhows whilst painting on location in the Gulf and find them a delight to paint. This particular painting was inspired by a dhow I saw coming in to harbour towards the end of the day. I decided to do a large studio watercolour 28″ x 20″ to capture the warm light and the solitary vessel.

The challenge is achieving the the graduation of the background colours. When you blend blue into yellow, it’s very easy to get it wrong and create a dirty green colour, so patience is the key. I drew out the basic shape of the dhow and masked off the white areas using masking fluid before tackling the background.

First I laid a wash of clean water over the entire sheet of hand-made watercolour paper. Whilst it was still wet, I ran in a wash of Cadmium Lemon about a third of the way from the top, fading it out slightly as it went towards the bottom of the paper. About two hours later when it was dry, I repeated the process with another wash of clean water, however, this time I laid a wash of Rose Madder about halfway down the paper and faded it out about a third of the way from the bottom.

Another two hours later and I applied another wash of clean water over the whole sheet, this time running in some French Ultramarine and Manganese Blue in the top third of the painting, making sure it faded out quickly as it hit the yellow. I ran a touch more of the blue into the bottom third to create a reflection of the sky. By painting the background in a series of washes, you create a depth and richness to the colours which would not be achieved if one tried to do it in one wash.

Once it was all dry, I rubbed out the masking fluid and began painting the dhow and it’s reflections. The result is a very restful painting that one can see at my Studio and Gallery in Ponteland.

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Grey Street, Snow Shower

by on March 13, 2012 in Exhibitions, North East Prints

Grey Street, Snow Shower

Grey Street, Snow Shower

My new Spring Exhibition preview weekend started last Saturday. star of the show was this new original watercolour painting titled “Grey Street, Snow Shower” a classic view of what has been described as the finest curved street in Europe. This moody, quite monchromatic painting comes to life with the tiny splash of red indicating the coat worn by the little girl, my eldest granddaughter Emily.

The first customer to arrive purchased one of the larger sized copies of the new limited edition print, taken from the original painting. The next customer to call in purchased the original watercolour which was a lovely start to the weekend. Further copies were sold throughout the day. The new print comes in 2 sizes and can be framed in a number of different framing options depending on ones taste and decor.

The Studio & Gallery in Ponteland is open Tuesday-Saturday, 9:30-5pm and we are serving free coffee and croissants every Saturday in March for the exhibition.

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Grey Street, Snow Shower

by on January 26, 2012 in Latest News, What's on the Drawing Board

Grey Street, Snow Shower

Grey Street, Snow Shower

In the spring of 2008 I launched a limited edition print titled “Theatre Royal in the Snow”. The print was an instant success and the edition of 95 sold out. The smaller preparation study that I made prior to the larger studio painting was used as the Christmas card for the Theatre Royal that year. The popularity of the scene was down to a number of different factors, two of which were the monochromatic colours and the little girl with the red coat who is my eldest granddaughter Emily. She provides that tiny splash of colour and is an obvious focal point.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve had a number of folk call in to my studio and gallery in Ponteland asking if the original print is still available to purchase. It’s not, however, so as not to disappoint, I’ve decided to paint a landscape version of the same view, but to include more of Grey Street. The new print will be available in different sizes and will be on my website very soon. Here’s a preview of the painting on my drawing board.

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Portrait Painting in Oils

by on December 10, 2011 in Portraits

Andrea

Andrea in oils

One of the hardest things to learn when painting in watercolour is knowing when to stop. The most common problem that most beginners in watercolour have is overworking the painting and in doing so, killing the freshness and translucency of the paint. Fortunately I find that I’m always able to stop just in time.

Working in oil paint however is completely different, particularly when painting a portrait. When the sitter isn’t there in front of me, I can usually see various elements which need to be changed during the next sitting and oil paints allow you the freedom to do so.

A recent portrait commission is this one of Andrea painted over several sittings. Andrea has been a great model and the painting is almost finished. There are a couple of small changes to be made to complete this project and I’m looking forward to the next commission which is one of her husband.

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Alan Reed Winner of the Circus Prize 2011

by on October 21, 2011 in Latest News

The Circus, Bath, Early Morning

The Circus, Bath, Early Morning

Early this morning I received an email to say I had won the category for the best painting of the Circus in the Bath Prize 2011. In 2010 I came 1st runner up in the Bath Painting Prize with my watercolour of The Royal Crescent. Spurred on by this success, I decided to enter the competition again this year which had several new categories for artists to paint, one of which was the best painting of the Circus. To enter, one had to paint a scene “plein air” of a specific location in Bath given to each artist by the organisers. My location to paint was Kingsmead Square, so in August, Susan and I went to Bath for a couple of days for me to paint on location and to get reference of the other scenes I wanted to paint. Unfortunately it rained for much of the time, so my plein air painting was executed under the shelter of an umbrella, however on the morning of our departure, the bad weather lifted and I was able to spend some time to get the reference I needed to do the winning painting of the Circus.

I decided to do this scene in the same landscape format as last years painting of the Royal Crescent to emphasise the curve of the architecture. After drawing the main composition in pencil, I put down some base washes of yellow and rose madder to set the tone for the distinctive honey colouring of the stonework and sky. Like the Royal Crescent, The Circus is constructed from Bath stone, a Limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate.

As one is painting, a deeper appreciation of the thinking behind the classic Georgian architecture is formed. Wood’s inspiration was in fact the Roman Colosseum, another great piece of architecture I have painted, both from the inside and out. The Colosseum was designed to be seen from the outside, whereas the Circus faces inwardly. Work began in 1754 and completed in 1768. Sadly, Wood died less than 3 months after the first stone was laid. His son, John Wood the Younger completed the scheme to his father’s design.

Next came the time consuming task of painting the windows and columns. The Circus (Latin for ring, oval or circle) consists of 3 storey townhouses with a mansard roof. Three classical orders are used, Greek Doric, Roman/Composit and Corinthian, one on top of the other.

The danger when doing detail of this nature is to make it too tight and photographic. A camera can do a better job than the artist of capturing detail. I wanted to retain the freshness of the location sketchbook watercolours I had painted of the Circus, so I kept my leather bound sketchbook open in front of me at all times as a constant reminder. The result was a winning painting, an original watercolour capturing the early morning summer sunlight warming up the classical Georgian architecture.

The paintings entered for the competition can be seen at the Octagon, Milsom Place, Bath from 21st -27th October 10am-5pm (Sunday 12noon-4pm). An auction sale of Bath Prize paintings will take place at the Guildhall, High Street, Bath on Friday 28th October, starting at 7pm.

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North Shields, Fishing

by on October 8, 2011 in Painting on Location, What's on the Drawing Board

North Shields, Fishing

North Shields, Fishing

A few weeks ago I was doing a watercolour demonstration for a class in Rothbury. As part of the lesson, I was showing the students how to begin a painting, in particular the sky. This is often the most difficult part of painting a landscape or seascape and can be quite daunting for the inexperienced. I was working on several paintings that day, one of which was this 12″ x 9″ watercolour of some lads fishing off the Fish Quay at North Shields.

I was working off two photographs, one for the sky, the other for the figures and River Tyne reference. It was a scene I had painted on location about 10 years ago, so I was well familiar with the view. I began by laying a very pale yellow wash over the whole paper which I intensified at the point of the horizon. When that dried, I went over parts of the wash with some Rose Madder which you can see, particularly in the water. Once dry, I began to pick out some of the blue in the sky with some touches of Manganese Blue. Finally, after mixing the colour for the darker clouds with Rose Madder, Manganese Blue and Paynes Grey, I painted in the dramatic, carefully positioned clouds to bring a strong sense of mood and atmosphere to the composition.

I completed the painting in my studio in Ponteland which will form part of my Christmas Exhibition starting in November which will include other paintings of the North East, Italy and the Middle East too.

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