Posts filed under 'New Work'

“The Curious Case of the Levitating, Tattooed Man”. – Acrylic on Canvas -“48″ x 33”

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I met Ray a few years ago and admired his full body tattoo from neck to ankle in a japanes style. I invited him over to my studio for the day and took a series of shots. We decided to do the whole shoot with Ray naked , which kind of made sense. Anne had been out for the morning and forgot Ray was coming over and barged into the studio with Max, our dog.  Ray was in a curled up foetus position and Max went straight over to inspect Ray’s bum. Quite an entrance.  It was a great shoot though, we must have done about 18 different compositions and this is the first painting that I have done from the sitting. I liked the idea that he was levitating because it was such a calm, contemplative pose and I just imagined Ray in a Zen like trance, gently rising up just a few inches off the ground.

  This will be in the exhibition in London during March ( together with other new pieces and some previous work) with the excellent artists Philip Harris and Simon Hennessey.

 I’ll be completing my portrait drawing of Andy Hamilton CBE very soon so I’ll post that next week.

(click on the image to enlarge)

February 19th, 2011

New Painting

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It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, busy Autumn. Here’s my latest commissioned portrait. It is of a local Reverand, Father Michael. I don’t do that many local portraits but it’s so handy to have sitters just around the corner. It is set in a church called The Mount which is in Caldmore in Walsall. Over the years it had been , I guess neglected and beautiful ornate sections of he church were boarded over. In the 1980’s it underwent a full restoration, getting it back to how it would have looked when it was built and it is a beautiful building inside. I must confes I’ve passed it many times and only went in when the commission came to light and I couldn’t quite believe that it was so opulent inside.

 The size of the portrait is approx 48″ x 38″  framed and it is acrylic on canvas

December 22nd, 2010

Self Portrait with Max

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This is a painting for the group portrait show in London in March. It’s a self portrait of me and Max my dog. I did a soimilar drawing some time ago. It’s reasonably large scale for me, around 38″ if I remember correctly. I found the scale rather overwhelming becaue I usually work slightly smaller than real life. I’ve begun to really love doing self portraits, I guess in the tradition of Rembrandt , but not in a concious way, it’s just interesting to see how your face changes over time and the older it gets th more interesting. It’s certainly something I think I’ll continue with throughout my life whether paintings or drawings , certainly  not for any interest in self vanity, just an interest in the ageing process.

 Acrylic on canvas

December 22nd, 2010

ALAN GARNER OBE PORTRAIT UNVEILED TO THE PUBLIC TODAY

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My portrait of Alan Garner which I actually finished back in March gets its first outing today at the Grosvenor museum ( 27 Grosvenor Street    01244 402455 )in Chester. It’s part of the 50 th year celebrations since Alan’s book The Weirdstone of Brisingamen was published. There are a number of events from 18th September to 28th November 2010

 I also made a one hour film to accompany the painting which is a kind of video diary documenting the process of making the painting. It’s the first film I’ve made and as an keen documentor an enjoyable process and hopefully record.

September 17th, 2010

New sitters

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I think I mentioned that we are having a 4 person group show based on Portraiture which is scheduled for next March at Plus One Gallery. Phil Harris, Simon Hennessey and Craig Wylie are the other 3 artists. Just as a taster here are two of my sitters who I intend working with who I’ll just call Ray and Andy for the moment.

September 17th, 2010

SAM – DRAWING

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 Here’s a drawing that I did recently of our friend Sam looking quite the Vamp.

size : A3 charcoal, carbon and graphite

September 17th, 2010

Last Christmas – Doppelganger painting

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Although I work in portraiture I am slightly obsessed with objects too and often combine the two in one portrait, see The Kinnocks or my recent portrait od Alan Garner. I’m also a big muso and I love doing these little paintings of old records which have their own character and the disciplined objectivity which I’m working towards.

I would add that I’m not a Whan fan, this was a commission – although I do have a soft spot / guilty pleasure  for this particular song. I particularly like the way fashion defines decades , which is often evident in portraiture.  The cover photo of “George and Andrew” looks like the photographs you used to get in the windows and on the walls  barber shops in the 1980’s  and it reminds me of the days when I used to have hair and visited the barbers in the Black Country with my Dad and brother as a school boy.

Click on the image to enlarge

June 26th, 2010

Bandana #5 (drawing)

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Here is another portrait of Bandana who, to me, is endlessly fascinating. This was from the final stages of the sitting which I had with him and as the evening went on in the pub he / we had a few beers and I think you can see that in his expression in this depiction. Cheers Bandana .

June 26th, 2010

Kabaconichi Sushi Bar scene

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Here’s a picture of a scene in a sushi bar in Tokyo. It’s in the Kabaconichi district which is similar to Soho in London and has as very dodgy feel to it in the same way that soho has, although it is run by the Yakusa ( mafia). I did another version last year in the same sushi bar but this is from a different angle and you can actually see the figures faces.

It’s in the rather more immediate drawing style which I have been developing , basically just giving the figures or portraits a context or feel of an environment while focusing most interest on the figures

June 26th, 2010

Sequence for Alan Garner Portrait

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May 4th, 2010

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