Priceless Paintings from W7

I live in constant fear that you might think me lazy, so here are two –yes, not one, but two- very early samples of my recent stone masonry project. Plans are, as always, huge and somewhat involved, but for a first try-out, I thought I made my own Easter Islands replacement and my own little sailboat. Both are approximately 5cm (2”) tall. The head is polished, but I didn’t dare polishing the much more fragile boat.

Since both items are destined to be given to friends soon, I took those images to have some kind of memory. I hope my friends like them as much as I do.

These are simple soapstone carvings, a material I started playing with after we’ve been to the Henry Moore retrospective at Tate Britain a few weeks ago. Fascinating stuff, both the soapstone and Henry Moore’s work.

I guess you’ll have to watch this space.

Painting sculpture

I went through a small number of experiments with paintings of a very depressed mood. All but one ended up unfinished and abandoned, but they might have helped me out of a painter’s block (chiefly caused by focussing on too many other things, so it’s more painter’s neglect than block), and a somewhat depressed spirit. (The surviving one is still work in progress, by the way.)

Here’s one that I started, enjoyed, and completed during last week. You might find it depressing to see a foul weather scene being painted during some of the finest days the 2009 summer had to offer, but honestly, a clear blue sky doesn’t offer much excitement, in painting terms.

Click here, or the tiny detail shown here, to see the complete picture. I should add that my camera struggles to resolve the subtle nuances in colour and tone of an oil painting, and often struggles to focus well. You should come around and take a look at the real thing.

In Defiance.
Oil on canvas, 24×36” (60x90cm).
August 2009

Painting nature, oil painting, paint;painting

The BBC runs a new program on David Hockney, and The Master contributes three little paintings, which you can put […] onto your phone or computer. These downloads are available right here, and for 48 hours only.

Once David Hockney’s time-limited offer has expired (why this childish for-48-hours-only nonsense anyway?), feel free to take one of mine – that’s OK as long as you don’t change it or pretend you made it yourself. I use Alfred on my mobile phone, and use the Manukan Island sunset as a desktop wallpaper.

Whether you chose David Hockney, one of mine or maybe one of your own making, I find this is a very nice way of personalising an impersonal device.

An endless number of web sites and utilities help you to create the wallpaper that fits your phone from an existing image; see http://www.mytinyphone.com/p/make-wallpaper/ for an example. Go for it!

Painting, Thoughts BBC, david hockney, Painting

Here’s one for those narrow, tall, spaces:

Down By The Lake

Oil on bamboo floorboard,
920×90 mm
March 2009

Nothing special in any way, but I kind-of like it anyways. Click here for the real picture, or stop by for a cup and a look at the real thing.

Painting oil painting, paint;

Allow me to introduce Leo. Leo completes the Swan Quadryptichon:

Swan Lake, Lost and Found, Gunter, and now Leo. It’s always nice to complete a painting, but to complete a project of four paintings has an extra level of satisfaction coming along with it.

Leo.

Oil on canvas, 12×50”
March 2009

Click here, or click the thumbnail, to reveal the complete painting.

You can see the complete Swan Quadryptichon here, all four of them side-by-side, and in chronological order left to right.

Painting oil painting, paint;

Allow me to introduce the latest exhibit: With Two Geese and a Turtle.

I’ll leave it to you to work it out. The solution can be found on the wall of every second home, or so it would seem. Mystery solved or not, I hope you like it.

With Two Geese and a Turtle
Oil on canvas, 16×20”
March 2009

Painting oil painting, paint;

Allow me to introduce my little blackbird: Polly.

Nothing much to say about this quickly done simple oil painting, using a pretty good but terribly sticky acrylic medium: Daler-Rowney Alkyd Flow Medium, diluted with 25% of purified linseed oil.

If you are experimenting with oil paint, I surely recommend this medium. Among the acrylic media, this is far superior compared to Liquin or Galkyd.

Polly
Oil on canvas, 10×12”
February 2009

As always, click here, or the thumbnail, for the complete picture. The real thing is on permanent exhibition somewhere in W7.

Painting art, oil painting, paint;

Yeah! 2009 is Darwin Year! Slightly ahead of my time, I decided to celebrate this landmark event in my own way. I give you this little painting. I call it

Survival of the Fittest

Oil on canvas, 12×16″, December 2008

I hope you like it. Click here, or the thumbnail, to see the whole thing. Stop by for a cup of tea for the real thing.

Painting

You may have seen the ArtRage sketch a few days ago. There’s not much more to say about this, except that you can now come and see the real thing, in oil on canvas.

Click here, or the thumbnail, for a larger version.

When the Milk Goes Off

Oil on canvas, 12×16″
November 2008
Medium: Daler-Rowney’s Alkyd Flow medium, linseed oil, turpentine

I hope you like it.

Painting oil

This new painting's story is a little long and windy. Allow me to explain:

Only 6 miles or so off the cost of Monterey, California, a great deal of whales travels past more or less all year. Grey Whales and Humpback Whales travel to Baja Mexico for mating. Orcas travel along for hunting, while some Orcas even became resident in Monterey bay, feeding on seals and the occasional whale calf.

Oh, and there are Blue Whales, too. A great number of them. They weren't known to be traveling through that stretch or water until not long ago, or they changed their routes in the early eighties, but they now come along every mid summer. I haven't had luck with spotting a Blue Whale myself yet, but I have been out watching for whales a couple of times. The Whale Watching company of choice has marine biologists on board, and they tell me how elusive those big animals are:

Scientists have tried tagging Blue Whales will all kinds of high-tech and low-tech gizmos and contraptions, yet have still to find out where the whales go, and where they mate.

I can't help feeling smug about this. I don't understand why we cannot accept not to understand something. Some things should just be left in peace and on their own devices.

Take, for example, the finding of an ancient tomb. Scientists will be hugely disappointed and frustrated to find that it has been opened and raided two centuries ago, and will be delighted if not – only then to proceed raiding the previously untouched tomb. All in the name of science of course.

So anyway, those biologists tell me that one could try to renegotiate international shipping routes, for example, if those were found crossing the Blue Whales' routes or mating grounds. I don't know. Since hunting stopped, the animals are recovering. I am sure they'd be most happy to be left in peace.

Not through scientific instruments, but by sheer contemplation, however, I have now successfully determined the location of the Blue Whale's mating grounds: They go to that other place that we have so far failed to find.

Atlantis.

Oil on canvas, 20×30", November 2008.

I hope you like it. You can click here, or the thumbnail, for a larger version.

Painting california, Monterey bay;, Monterey;

I call it The Ultimate Lüstling (Kills Pure Thought).  Lüstling is German and means sensualist.

The image on the left here shows the sketch (done in ArtRage), but you can click the image (or here) to reveal the real thing. When you do, you'll discover pretty quickly that I find writing with the paint brush really difficult. I will need to practice this some more.

Also, the bottle doesn't really stand firmly on the shelf. Maybe the whole thing needs a bit more work once that I understand what it is that needs doing.

I hope you like it well enough.

This is the second Listerine-inspired painting. Just as well we have two bathrooms.

The Ultimate Lüstling (Kills Pure Thought).

Oil on canvas, 12 x 16", October 2008

Painting

Oh – I seem to have forgotten to tell you about the third of the swans. Number one is here, number two right there, and number three is right here, brand new, and now awaiting company by the fourth.

Eventually, they'll make a full swan quadriptychon, right above our sofa.  Until something else comes up and claims that space, of course.

Gunter. 

Oil on canvas, 300x500mm
Medium: turpentine and dammar

As always, you can reveal the complete picture by clicking the thumbnail, or following this link.

Painting

I blame the British Museum‘s Egyptian collection, but thanks to them, I am now one of the few, I guess, who have their very own Egyptian frieze.

I wanted to tell a story in hieroglyphs, but the limited vocabulary on some hieroglyph web site meant that the same symbols appeared over and over again. I guess this is to be expected when telling a story of the King, who sneaks off to the Queen by the shine of the moon, and proceed telling what happens to King and Queen in her private chambers.

In the end, I decided to throw in some hieroglyphs entirely of my own invention. Which ones do you think are the odd ones out?

As always, click here (or the thumbnail) to reveal the complete picture. Note that the image shows the (almost) four meter piece taken apart into four 920mm long pieces; the real frieze is 3680mm long (but only 90mm high). The frieze starts at the left corner of the top section, continues through the middle sections and ends at the right corner of the bottom part.

The King and the Queen.

Oil on bamboo floorboards, 3680mm x 90mm, August 2008

I hope you like it.

Painting British Museum, Egypt

In preparation of the next painting, I wanted to return to a very oily media, last used here with Timothy Leary is Dead in 2003. I thought a practise run would be appropriate.

Now, the Great British Summer only lasted a day and a half this year – very appropriate, given that this painting took no longer. A bit like paint by numbers and I didn't like it very much, but I guess it comes out as a reasonably decorative picture.

The Great British Summer.

Oil on canvas, 500mmx200mm, August 2008

Click here or the thumbnail to reveal the whole picture.

Painting paint;, Timothy Leary;

I call it No Two Hippos Are Exactly Alike, because no two hippos are exactly alike. This essential anatomical detail out of the way, I present you with my latest dabbling on canvas:

No Two Hippos Are Exactly Alike

Oil on canvas, 36×24″
April 2008

Nicely fits the space previously occupied by the Sky Above Botswana and the Scottish Highlands, and nicely follows-on from the Zambezi River.

I hope you like it. Click the thumbnail (or here) to reveal the real thing.

Painting Scottish highlands;, Zambezi River;