Hi, and welcome to my website. This is a work in progress, rather like most of my paintings!

You can see my lastest work Here.

METHOD.

I always work from photographs, my style is not quick, and paintings can take months to complete.

I usually scale the images to fit my preferred size of canvass, usually 25 x 25 inches. (approx 60x60 cm). This is done by drawing squares on the photo and corresponding ones on the canvass. I use pre prepared shop bought canvasses, as this is much easier than stretching and preparing your own.

Using the grid as a guide, I begin to draw the image on the canvass, paying attention to critical elements such as the placing of eyes, mouth, hands etc. I usually do this in pencil, but occasionally use charcoal. Strangely I find that pencil actually mixes with the first layer of paint, and often shows through, while this does not seem to much of a problem with charcoal.

Once I feel I have enough detail to start, I then erase all unwanted lines. I am then ready to start the actual painting.

I use quick drying oil paint, this is normal oil colour, but has a resin type additive, when it is exposed to air, the resin sets within about a day, this drives a lot of the oil out of the paint, which evaporates quicker than normal.

I usually do a quick underpainting in either Yellow Ochre or Burnt Sienna, blocking in the position of major elements,especially eyes, if your eyes don't work, the painting won't!

While this paint is drying I then plan how the painting progresses, for instance does the hair need to be painted over the background? what are the tricky bits? are there any particular areas that may need something painted over something else.

I then start painting according to my plan, so if I need to do the background first I will do that, and make adjustments later. Usually though, I start with the face, as this does need to be right. (not that it always is)!

For skin tones I usually make a mix of Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, and Cadmium Yellow Deep. On my palette I have separate Burt Sienna, White and Ochre, maybe a yellow, depending on the painting.

I start by quickly working the whole flesh tones thinly over the drawing, and I will then, work in darker shades - by adding Ochre or Sienna into my basic flesh tone, now, I either do this on the palette, or directly onto the painting itself. I paint using a small round brush, but add tones with a larger round brush, I then blend them together on the surface using a blending brush - a fan or soft round brush.

At this stage I have the basic shading and placements in place. I then start going over the whole painting bit by bit, adding tones and shading, as I go. At this stage most of the colour mixing happens on the canvass, adding White for highlights Cadmium Red or a Rose, for warm bits, Cobalt Blue or Ultramarine for cooler areas, in tiny amounts.

Then it just a question of adding detail into the shadows, using Sienna, Raw umber and Ochre. By this stage the body of the painting is more of less finished, so I hang it on the wall for a while to look at. Often people forget this bit, when it's on your wall for a few weeks, you really get to see what you don't like about it!

Having made the adjustments necessary and allowed to dry, it's time to tackle clothing, peripherals (like jewellery etc. which is good fun but can take ages)! With clothing, I usually do an undercoat or shaded undercoat in an appropriate colour, allow to dry, and then add detail, finishing with highlights and darklights.

Then I am usually left with the Hair to paint, now, hair is a nightmare! I am no Dante Gabrielle Rossetti! and I have tried numerous methods of painting hair, the best I have found is to paint an under painting in a shade slightly lighter than the colour, with darker and lighter areas, while this paint is still wet, I then work in similar shades using a stiff brush, I will often do this several times, allowing the paint to dry in-between. I then finish it by adding very fine detail, using a long pointy round brush. (if anyone has a better idea I would love to know)!

Basically, it finished. It will then hang on my wall to 'mature' and I will sometimes tweak it later. When I decide it's finished - I sign it, using the same paint blended not to 'jump out' of the painting.

I then think about how it fits into my 'genre' and how I might do the next one. Always interesting.

This is the first painting I did in many years - and I rather like it.

About Me,

Like many people I’m not good at talking about myself! So bear with me..

I left school in 1973 destined for a steelworks, where I was due to be trained as a draughtsman, however my very astute Art Teacher found out and was having none of it!
So, I found myself at Bath Lane (Newcastle) College of Art where I did a 2 year Certificate in Commercial and Industrial Design – specialising in Photography. I followed this with an Arts Foundation and was accepted onto Nottingham Trent Polytechnics Photography course, however I dropped out of this after some argument, following my second year. I don’t regret it!

Although I specialised in photography – I have been able to draw and paint since I was little, and have always done so, on and off. In the late 70s and early 80s, I was quite active, took part in long forgotten joint exhibitions, and sold a few bits on occasion.

At some point work took over, well, we all have to make a living unfortunately, so art took a back seat. Especially when I found my portfolio in a sodden mess one day, due to a leaky pipe. The whole lot was destroyed.

Following that I didn’t do anything apart from the odd drawing for about 8 or 10 years, as I concentrated on my career (if you can call it that) as a Civil Servant, I moved to London about 7 or 8 years ago, and took a sort of career break, and ran my own business for about 2 or 3 years, before starvation forced me back into the Civil Service.

Unfortunately, and unexpectedly in 2004 I was diagnosed as suffering from Arthritis, which was quite advanced for someone my age, and it has now developed into Cervical Spondylitis, which makes life both difficult and painful! So I began part time work. This means I can cope with life a bit better but does leave time on hands sometimes!

I read David Hockney’s book, “Secret Knowledge”, obviously I was interested being an artist trained as a photographer, and I quite agreed with his proposal, despite the controversy it caused! But it also got me interested in Painting, I began to wonder if I could paint like the Old Masters, although I had not done any Oil painting since Bath Lane, I figured, just how difficult can it be?

And so I painted the ‘Girl in Blue’, fully expecting a Franz Hals, however as you can see, I ended up with a Graeme instead, and I rather like it! So I began to develop a style, and I carry on doing so, although I can’t say it’s always fun!