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Original ArtworkMy Oil Painting Technique |
Click on the linked text under the images to see the full size painting. Return to this page by using the "back" button on your browser or the link provided towards the bottom of the page |
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| In this page I hope to give the visitor who would like a more intimate feel for my original artwork a "close up" view. This might be especially useful for those people considering buying or commissioning a painting or simply for those people interested in the techniques employed by different artists. In my FAQ's page, buying an oil painting online I deal with the practical aspects of buying a painting and further down the page with some of the additional considerations involved in commissioning a piece of original artwork. The images on this page are all details taken from my paintings. The subtle joy of owning an original piece of artwork comes partly from being able to almost sense the presence of the artist in the way that paint is applied to canvas. This brings something more than just a decorative item to your home or office: it should give an intimate sense of the creative process. I love applying paint with knives. I have found that you can achieve remarkably varied effects from the surprisingly delicate and subtle to thick applications that can give an almost three dimensional appearance. I haven't abandoned brushes altogether, but I am never happier than when I advance on a canvas, knife in hand. |
 This detail is taken from the oil painting "Diego" The textures, layers and movement of the vine leaves and the clothes are achieved with a knife, but the detail of the hand and secateurs requires a brush. |
The fine skin tones of youth are difficult to render satisfactorily with a knife. The brush strokes are visible, but in this detail taken from the painting "Jeune Femme" you can still get the sense of the delicate skin of a beautiful young woman. |
Apart from the windows, this was painted entirely with knives. Although (in my hands at least) knives can not always go where a brush can, you can still obtain beautifully subtle effects - as I hope can be seen in this detail from the painting "Minerve" |
Original Artwork -Developing a painting style | ||
| Curiously enough I think it is renovating our old French barn that has changed my approach to painting. When we arrived here, I knew nothing about traditional Mediterranean building techniques, had very little French and didn't know anyone to ask anyway. I just had to go and look at what people had been doing here for centuries and really study the form and the feeling of different building styles. I realised how little we really look at things. We rarely see beyond the row of buildings across the street, but if anyone asked you how those buildings are put together or why they are built like they are, very few people (other than builders and architects) would know. We look at things every day but we very rarely see them. When you have to look at something with the aim of going away and reproducing the same type of object based only on your own observations, then it really focuses the way you see things. It is exactly the same principle with painting. No amount of oil painting technique can save you from the necessity of really seeing something with your physical eyes but also with that mysterious inner eye that somehow manages to translate your observations in to paint on a canvas. What you paint depends on what you see. Looking intently at something in an effort to almost see beyond its physical form in to the energy that gives it life can be painful, but it is the only way to reproduce an image that is faithful to the spirit of the world around us. This is what I am trying to achieve. My style has not in any sense finished evolving. Every time I pick up a knife or a brush I am not sure where I will go next. I feel that I have started a journey that has no end. This is what I love about painting. Nothing is static. As every new experience that I have changes me, so my painting changes too. |
Again painted entirely with knives (except for the grapes), I hope that this detail from "La vendange au pied du Caroux" shows how painting with knives sometimes helps me to get a rhythm in my painting that translates to movement on the canvas. |
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By lightly laying one colour over another with a knife you can produce effects that are useful for irregular shapes and forms such as rocks, vegetation and trees from a long distance as in this detail from the painting "Tarassac au Printemps" |
 Finally I want to return to the subtlety of working with brushes. In this detail from "La Comedie" the brush gives the 100% control that you lack with a knife. This is essential for exact detail and gentle effects. |
Commissioning a Piece of Original Artwork | ||
On my FAQ's page buying an oil painting online you will find answers to any questions that you may have about the practical arrangements for buying an oil painting online. If you like my original artwork and wish to make a commission you will probably want to know more detail about the creative process. Please click Le Domaine de Laurel to see the finished oil painting |
Usually, I am asked to paint a favourite scene and I have undertaken this in two ways. First, if the location is reasonably nearby, I like to visit to get a feel of the atmosphere that the client wants to capture. Scenes, and thus the emotions that we attach to them, often change according to season and weather conditions. Do you want the light and optimism of spring or do you enjoy the wistfulness of autumnal mist and mellow fruitfulness? Where possible, I will often return to the location to get a feel for different light conditions. I will make sketches and take photographs. Alternatively, if the location is not accessible to me, I can work from a good digital image.
At this point one thing is crucial in both approaches and that is composition. A good photograph does not always make a good painting. I will not undertake to paint a scene that I do not think will make a good oil painting. If I can visit the location, I can normally take some poetic licence, if necessary, with the elements in the environment in order to translate the atmosphere of place on to canvas. This may be more limited with a digital image or photograph. In all cases this would be agreed between us before any paint touches canvas. In some ways, to make a commission is to enter in to a conversation. If you are interested in exploring the possibilities of commissioning a piece of original artwork then please feel free to contact me. |
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