Tuesday 4 August 2015, 5pm
“If the house looks dirty, buy another bunch of flowers is
my advice”
Margaret Olley.
Painting this series of works took an enormous amount of
work and provided some fruitful lessons. I started out in all innocence,
painting the Yellow Room using harmonious colours in the underpainting.
“The Yellow Room”
600x900, 28/2/15
I was intrigued by the treatment that Margaret gave her
Coffee Pots and I was keen to paint this one next. As I worked it became
apparent that the underpainting was a contrast of cool and warm colours, with
the whites scumbled over the top.
“Nicotine Stain
(after Olley)”
900x600, 3/3/15
The vibrancy of the colour struck me, compared to the Yellow
Room. I decided to take it a step further and underpaint every colour with its
complimentary. This was a technique that I had occasionally used before.
“Blue Jug”
900x600, 3/3/15
To my eye, the result was much richer and all that followed
was painted in the same way. The only drawback was the amount of time it was
taking, thinking in complementaries in the underpainting and dealing with all
the detail. The balancing act between rendering the image while keeping the
paint application loose was the biggest challenge.
“Four Figures, Three
Heads”
600x900, 10/3/15
“Kitchen Window”
900x600, 4/4/15
“Ganesh's Temple Rat”
900x600, 5/4/15
“Bonnard's Cat in the
Hat Factory”
600x900, 10/4/15
“Chinoise”
900x600, 24/4/15
“Hat Factory”
900x600, 12/5/11
“Tattered Curtains”
600x900, 29/6/15
“Cook's Warning”
450x600, 11/7/15
“Bunya Nocturne
(Diptych)”
900x600, 20/7/15
“Rococo”
600x900, 24/7/15
“Another Hat, Another
Lamp”
600x900, 3/8/15
It was a long and winding road. Time for a beer.
