Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Capsicum Pepper on Pickle Jar


Capsicum Pepper on Pickle Jar
Oil on gessoed board
175x175mm
$300
Sold
I painted this one with thinner paint and softer brushes than I would normally use on these paintings. I'm using a traditional medium of sun thickened linseed oil, dammar resin and venetian turpentine. It felt good after the struggles with the encaustic wax medium that I've been engaged with recently. I used mongoose hair brushes. I'm becoming quite fond of mongoose - they are very soft, but resiliant. They dont have quite the same "snap" or sharp point as brand new kolinsky sable brushes, however, what they do have, they keep far longer than sables which I find are practically useless after half a dozen uses.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Encaustic Match


Encaustic Match
Encaustic Wax on Cardboard
62x100mm or 2.5x4"
Sold
I've been working in the encaustic wax medium for the last few days and this little one seemed to fit in with this project. This is the smallest I've attempted to work with wax. It's an interesting medium and I've used it quite a lot on my larger paintings in the past. I have it in mind to paint the Big Match using encaustic so this was a little try out. The encaustic wax medium consists of beeswax and pigment applied hot to the support. It is an ancient medium used by the Greek painters working in Egypt around 100 - 300 AD. Here is another view of the painting in a different light.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Self Portrait With White Mask


Self Portrait With White Mask
Oil on gessoed cardboard
80x70mm
$100
sold
It was the hands that were the tricky part of this painting. Working from my reflection in the mirror, I had to keep putting my brushes down, and picking up the mask and vice-verso. Pretty dumb way of working I guess, but I've done many odd and challenging self portraits in this manner over the years, including one of myself flossing my teeth. I find if nothing else, it's a good exercise in developing observation and memory skills.
The Dutch Auction for the painting of Halved Orange has now closed. It finally sold for $150. Congratulations to Sarah! I may consider doing another one soon.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Self Portrait With Mask


Self Portrait With Mask
Oil on gessoed cardboard
80x70mm
$80
sold

Monday, April 14, 2008

Small Self Portrait in Black Shirt


Small Self Portrait in Black Shirt
Oil on gessoed cardboard
80x70mm or approx 2.75x2.25"
$80
sold
I've been doing these little self portrait miniatures on cardboard. It's surprising how much difference it makes to the feel of the brush on the surface. I quite like the softness compared to hardboard. Also with these I've placed the mirror quite a distance away. I've done many self portraits over the years and invariably end up staring myself in the face from about six inches away. Now I'm stepping further back.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Small Self Portrait


Small Self Portrait
Oil on gessoed board
40x60mm or approx 1.5x2.5"

$80
sold

Another miniature.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Moira's Birthday Candle


Moira's Birthday Candle
Oil on gessoed board
NFS
This was a commission for a friends birthday. I painted it a while ago but wasn't allowed to blog it until after the big day!
On another note, apologies for the confusion with the hotlinks to my email lately. Just a technical hicough! I hope I've sorted it out now. If you would like to enquire about my current Dutch Auction or the purchase of any other painting click here.

Buzzy Bee


Buzzy Bee
Oil on gessoed board
150x150mm or approx 6x6"



This was actually a little plastic novelty pencil sharpener in the guise of that famous icon of Kiwiana, the Buzzy Bee. You can read about it's history here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzzy_Bee



http://www.buzzybee.co.nz/index.php?page=history


Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Red Dice

Red Dice Oil on gessoed board
55x58mm or aprox 2.25x2.25"
$80

sold

I know that the singular is properly "die", but I've always called a dice a dice..! Painting this actually caused me more trouble than it was worth. I kept getting a reverse perspective. While painting the shadow I entertained the thought that like a lot of my recent paintings the light source is from an indeterminate point, creating multiple shadows. As well as possibly summing up my uncertain feelings about my life in particular, and Life in general, I guess it also stems from my reading of popular science magazines. I don't read art magazines any more - and when I do it's only for the pictures, ha ha - but I read the New Scientist and I'm fascinated with all the current theories on the so called "uncertainty principle" and subatomic particles and the nature of matter and the quest for a unified theory of Everything. I don't understand a word of it of course, but it does capture my imagination. As an observational artist I love the idea that perhaps things only exist when there is an observer present. And does God play dice with the universe or not..?

On a more prosaic note: My Oranges are only $200 today.

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Dutch Auction


Just a reminder about my Dutch Action experiment. I started the price off at $300 and it is now at $230. If you would like to purchase this painting before someone else gets it please click here: a
sold

Knife On A Black Bowl


Knife On A Black Bowl
Oil on gessoed board
244x250mm or approx 9.5x10"
$350

One thing leads to another when you're painting, and a simple subject like this knife will often spawn other ideas and compositions. I often use the blank gessoed boards as backgrounds for the little props and subjects I paint, and I will build ad-hoc structures out of paint tins, buckets, wooden blocks and upturned bowls etc, to elevate the hieght of the little platform in order to get the right eyelevel or to catch the light and shadow a certain way. Simply by juggling the order around I got this arrangment and there was something about the clean harsh glare of the knife cutting into the dark mysterious void of the bowl that spoke to me. Also my gessoed board on the rusty paint tin had a "keeping a tight lid on it" feel.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Serrated Knife


Serrated Knife
Oil on gessoed board
95x195mm or approx 4x8" give or take 1/4" or so.
$150
sold
This is the knife that cut the orange.
...And this is the house that jack built.
The price on the Orange is now $280. Tommorow it will only be worth $260. Buy now and save! Or something. I'm not really much good at this marketing game.. Funny thing the perceived value of things.
And a confession. The studio photo of the Big Match painting was an April Fool prank that has turned around and burned me..! The painting was in fact one of my miniatures I photoshopped and made to look big. I thought the joke with the Serious Artiste pose with brush and shovel would be a dead giveaway..! Anyway, it did have a serious side to it in that I have been working myself up into painting some of these subjects larger than life and this gave me some idea of how the Big Match concept would look. Thankyou to all the many people who wrote to me about it with kind and enthusiastic comments. It certainly generated some interest anyway! I'd like to think it was the concept that appealed and it's given me the incentive to go ahead with the actual phyisical painting.
Just remember: "In truth, all artists lie".

The Big Match


Here's a slightly larger painting that I have been working on recently. It's called The Big Match. This is a studio shot of the painting in progress with the artiste at work to give a sense of scale. It has been a pleasure to use big brushes for a change!