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Paintings of Newcastle, Central Arcade

by on May 17, 2012 in Commissions, Original Watercolours

Newcastle's Central Arcade

Central Arcade, Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is full of architectural treasures, one of which is the Central Arcade, a stunning Edwardian shopping arcade built in 1906 within the Central Exchange, a triangular building built by Richard Grainger in 1836-1838 to the designs of John Wardle and George Walker. I’ve painted the outside of the building on many occasions as it appears in my paintings of Grey Street, Grainger Street and Market Street. Folk in Newcastle will best remember the Central Arcade as the home of J.G. Windows music. I recall going in to the basement to check out the latest rock music releases as a long haired Genesis fan many years ago!

Back in 1993 I was commissioned to do an original watercolour of the Central Arcade in Newcastle. At the time, I was doing a series of paintings of Newcastle taken from ariel perspectives. The client had commissioned two other paintings along that theme and wanted the one of the arcade to be viewed from above too. This was a challenging task, as the Central Arcade is enclosed by a glass roof and there is no public access to the balcony that is on the first floor. I managed to persuade the caretaker at the time to allow me to climb through a small window from a room that overlooked the shopping area below, for me to be able to take some photographs.

There’s nearly always somebody busking in the arcade but unfortunately on this occasion there wasn’t so a few days later I drew my son Oliver playing his violin on our driveway from an upstairs bedroom window to get the correct perspective. I was so pleased with the end result that I decided to reproduce the original watercolour as a limited edition print with only 250 in the edition.

A few years ago I decided to paint the Central Arcade again, but at ground level. This time however, I became the busker playing the violin. The original watercolour can be seen at my Studio & Gallery in Ponteland.

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Charity Christmas Cards

by on May 9, 2012 in Latest News, What's on the Drawing Board

Theatre Royal in the Snow on the Drawing Board

Theatre Royal in the Snow

Earlier this year I was approached by the charity The Cyrenians based in Newcastle who work with vulnerable, disadvantaged and homeless people. Sian Thomas, their marketing administrator, asked if they could use some of my paintings as Christmas Cards to help raise money for the charity which has been going for over 40 years.

Over the last 20 years or more, I know that the paintings I have done have raised thousands of pounds through being reproduced as Christmas cards, in particular for the Marie Curie cancer care, so I was more than happy to oblige.

We’ve decided to do three paintings of Newcastle, the first of which is this classic scene of the Theatre Royal in the Snow which was a sell out limited edition print. I’ve painted a similar view recently which I reproduced as a limited edition print titled Grey Street, Snow Shower.

I hope to finish the other two paintings, one of the Tyne Bridges, the other of the Angel, by the end of the month, so watch this space.

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Painting of the Grand Canal, Venice

by on May 4, 2012 in Painting in Stages

Last night Susan and I watched the  BBC 2 programme Shakespeare in Italy narrated by Francesco da Mosto. Part of the programme was set in Venice, a city which was Susan’s home for 5 years and a place which has been a content source of inspiration for my paintings of Italy collection. One of my favourite views is taken from the Accademia Bridge, looking at the Santa Marie della Salute. I’ve painted it several times on location and using the sketches, I have produced a number of studio watercolours which have included commissions. On one particular painting, I decided to photograph the painting in stages so that one can see the progression and development of the painting, from the initial pencil drawing through the sequence of washes, to the build up of detail.

After stretching a sheet of hand made Italian watercolour paper on to the drawing board, the first stage was to draw out the main elements of the composition with a B pencil. I like to paint a lot of the detail from observation with my brush, so there isn’t a huge amount of detail in the pencil drawing.

Next, I covered the whole sheet with a wash of clean water then ran in a gentle wash of Winsor and Newton Cadmium Lemon from about a third of the way from the top of the board. This helps to take away the starkness of the white and set the tone and mood for the rest of the painting.

One the yellow had dried I repeated the process of laying a wash of clean water except once it hit the architecture, I began to be more random with the wash leaving some of the paper untouched by water. I quickly ran in a wash of Rose Madder into the water but left some of the yellow showing through as pure yellow.

Before starting the sky, I masked off some of the detailed areas in the water like the poles and boats so that I wasn’t having to paint around them with the blue. I started off the sky with quite an intense wash of French Ultramarine and Manganese Blue, fading it out slightly as the sky came closer to the horizon and then painting around the architecture.

Once it had dried, I deepened the blue for the foreground part of the Grand Canal I then started on the buildings on the right hand side. The detailed photograph shows how some of the blue in the sky and water was used as shadow areas for the buildings.

I finished the right hand side before commencing on the left so that I could use slightly more stronger colours to give the impression of the left hand side being closer.

When I rubbed off the masking fluid, it meant that the colour underneath remained as a base for the poles and boats. Strong, dark refections on the left provided further depth to the painting and once I had added the smaller areas of detail to the architecture and boats, the painting was completed. I have two paintings of the Grand Canal available as limited edition prints available online or from my Studio and Gallery in Ponteland. I also have an original watercolour available of the Grand Canal which I painted using the same process described.

 

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Spanish Steps

by on April 30, 2012 in Italy Prints and Originals, Original Watercolours

Spanish Steps

Spanish Steps

Paintings of Italy have always proved popular with those folk who love all things Italian. My limited edition prints of Tuscany, Venice and Umbria continue to sell consistently well with folk buying online and from my Studio & Gallery in Ponteland.

Around 1998 I decided to add Rome to my collection of Italian cities and visited several times to produce a range of on the spot watercolours from which to work from. One such scene was the picturesque Spanish Steps. At about 9:30am I found a suitable fountain from which to rest my watercolour block on and began to paint the steps which were virtually deserted. By the time I had finished the painting, you could hardly see the steps for the people sitting on them, enjoying the warm October sun.

The scene above is the studio painting which I’ve since reproduced as a limited edition print. The location study can also be seen at my Studio & Gallery. Please contact for further information.

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Paintings of the Tyne Bridge

by on March 30, 2012 in Limited Edition Prints, North East Prints

Quayside Morning Mist

Quayside Morning Mist

Paintings of the Tyne Bridge have always been on demand and I’m always on the lookout for a different angle. This particular view titled Quayside, Morning Mist was inspired from seeing the Tyne Bridge one morning after a business breakfast meeting at the Slug & Lettuce. The morning had started off dull, dim, dark and damp but by the time I had left the meeting, the sun had begun to filter through the early morning mist, it’s rays bursting through the iconic structure of the magnificant Tyne Bridge.

The light was changing rapidly so there was no way I was going to be able to paint on location. I took a number of photographs and along with previous sketches made on Newcastle’s Quayside, I was able to do this A4 studio watercolour on hand made deckled edged paper. I deliberately kept my palatte simple to create extra mood and atmosphere with just a tiny dot of red for the traffic light on the left.

The painting has been reproduced as a limited edition print and has proved to be very popular, available both online and from my Studio & Gallery in Ponteland.

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Invest in Art

by on March 14, 2012 in Latest News, Original Watercolours

Corso Palladio, Vicenza

Corso Palladio, Vicenza

Rarely does a week go past without one of my customers commenting about the value of their paintings and often they joke about their “Alan Reed” original being worth a fortune once I’m dead! Joking aside, it does raise the question, should one invest in art, and if so, whose art should one buy?

The truth is, not every artist’s work will be worth more money once they are dead, after all, what one generation finds appealing and popular, the next generation may find it ghastly. Conversely, paintings by artists like Van Gogh who hardly had any success when they were alive, are now way beyond the reach of the average collector.

It is also possible to buy art from a living artist at the start of their career and see it soar in value, even during their own lifetime. A good example of this is Jack Vettriano. One of my clients bought two of Jack’s paintings when he first started off for only a few thousand pounds. He later auctioned them several years ago for over a hundred thousand pounds!

Buying paintings by artists who are dead can often be a sound investment. I recall seeing a delightful watercolour of Venice by Edward Seago at a gallery in London for around £8,000 back in 1994. I had only been married for a year and it was just a little out of my reach at the time. A similar Edward Seago watercolour of Venice would now set you back £20-30,000 and I suspect that his prices will continue to rise.

However, the value of art is effected by a multitude of varying factors, so investing, like most investments, can never be an exact science. Buying from a reputable dealer and seeking expert professional advice is usually a safe guard from making a bad purchase, but even then, I’ve seen forgeries that have deceived the dealers expert eye. One of my clients bought an original watercolour signed W. Russell Flint from an auctioneer that was never in a million years painted by Sir William Russell Flint who died in 1969. I’ve also seen paintings being passed off as an “Edward Seago” that were clearly not painted by the great British artist who died in 1974.

The upside is that investing in art, particularly modern art, has been a huge success in the last couple of decades according to experts. Buying from a living artist means that you know the art is likely to be genuine. Finding an artist to invest in is just the first part of the challenge. Investors and collectors need to know that the artist has talent and staying power. The artist’s commitment to their practise is of paramount importance. I’ve seen a number of artists burst onto the scene only to disappear after a few years, unable to make a living. You need to ask questions about their background, training and how they are progressing in terms of their ability, creativity and success before purchasing for investment purposes. Also look for an artist that has an identifiable style that is developing and improving.

Over the last few years I’ve made my own modest acquisitions using some of the criteria mentioned above but with one underlying philosophy. I like to buy a painting that looks good on my wall which I can enjoy every time I look at it. If it goes up in value, then that is an added bonus.

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Spanish Gypsy Dancer by John Singer Sargent

by on March 13, 2012 in Favourite Artists

Spanish Gypsy Dancer by John Singer Sargent

Alan Reed's copy of Spanish Gypsy Dancer by John Singer Sargent

Last week I was hand delivering an original painting in Glasgow. I decided to check out a couple of paintings by John Singer Sargent which are part of the Glasgow Museum‘s collection, Mrs George Batten singing and Sir David Richmond. Both are outstanding portraits, very much typical of Sargent’s repetoire. Seeing them close up gave me a deeper appreciation of his expressive brush strokes and masterful use of a limited palatte. I hope to feature these paintings in a future blog post about Sargent’s work but for now I’ve decided to feature a recent oil painting study I made of John Singer Sargent’s Spanish Gypsy Dancer.

There are two know versions of this sketch by Sargent, both of which can be seen in the magnificent book “John Singer Sargent, Figures and Landscapes 1874-1882″ by Richard Ormond and Elaine Kilmurray. I decided to make an observational oil painting study of the less finished of the two paintings, both of which were approximately 18″ x 11″. I painted mine slightly smaller, oil on board, using a similar limited palette to Sargent and the same observational methods. Sargent himself was known to have made his own copies of several of the great masters including Velazquez and Frans Hals. It’s a very helpful way to help discover the painting techniques that some of the finest painters have used which one can then adapt on one’s own pieces. Very little has been written about Sargent’s painting methods, however by looking closely at his brush marks and reading some of the sitting accounts written by his clients, one can get a good idea of how he worked. I will elaborate on this when I have more of my own examples to explain more clearly.

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John Martin APOCALYPSE

by on January 13, 2012 in Exhibitions, Favourite Artists

John Martin Apocalypse

John Martin Apocalypse

This week I went to London to see the Da Vinci Exhibition at the National Gallery, (more on that on another blog post) but I also decided to take in the John Martin “Apocalypse” Exhibition at Tate Britain. This show was actually on last year at Newcastle’s Laing Art Gallery but I missed it. I almost missed it again as it finishes on the 15th January.

John Martin’s paintings were phenomenally popular. His spectacular paintings of Biblical scenes and vast landscapes attracted great crowds who would flock to exhibitions of his paintings to be enthralled and moved by the scenes and visions he portrayed. They would pay for tickets for the shows as the paintings went on tour, rather like we do today to see concerts or movies. Indeed, John Martin’s work continues to provide inspiration today for science fiction films, Hollywood blockbusters, video games, manga comics, musicians and artists.

I was particularly impressed by The Last Judgement Triptych depicting chilling scenes from the book of Revelation and the promise of eternal life for those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. The viewing of these three paintings was made even more relevant by a 10 minute light show every half hour with appropriate readings which I assumed were originally read when the paintings were first shown.

Last week I went to see the Turner Prize at the Baltic in Newcastle. The work on show there was about as relevant to 21st Century life as the Easter Bunny. John Martin’s paintings on show at Tate Britain are “right on the nail” today with the message they first communicated back in Victorian times. The exhibition finishes 15th January, so if you can make it, try to make the effort.

 

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Bath Prize 2011

by on October 25, 2011 in Latest News

Pump Room in the Snow

Pump Room in the Snow

I entered 4 paintings for the Bath Prize 2011 including the winning painting of the Circus and the one above of the Pump Room in the Snow. My paintings can currently be seen at the Octagon, Milsom Place, Bath until 27th October 10am-5pm. An auction sale of all the paintings entered  will take place at the Guildhall, High Street, Bath on Friday 28th October, starting at 7pm.

 

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Grey Street, Snow Flurry

by on October 19, 2011 in Latest News

Grey Street, Snow Flurry

Grey Street, Snow Flurry

I’m just preparing for my Christmas Exhibition. The preview weekend starts on Friday 11th, Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th November where there will be a selection of new original paintings on display, most of which have been inspired by recent trips overseas over the last 12 months. It’s been an eventful year for Susan and I, with us both travelling to the Middle East and Italy and my television appearance on the BBC’s “Show me the Monet” with my watercolour of “Grey Street, Saturday Morning”.

Travel always gives me a deeper appreciation of home here in Northumberland, so there will of course, be several scenes of the North East, including the one above of Grey Street, Newcastle seen in a snow flurry.

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