Homage to Margaret

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.