Signpost Painting

Details from signpost painting

Some details from a picture I made a while back.  It's painted with oil on an old white board.  

Charcoal All Star

I started this to prove to myself I could still draw pretty well, but I lost motivation at this point so it's currently unfinished.  I think it's going quite well so far though.

Pages from my Sketchbook - Watercolours

Untitled (Abstract #4) - Final Version

Here is the final version of a painting I did for my final design project at university.  It's a piece based on the site we were given for the project.  It was a place that had a lot of trees across the landscape, providing a canopy with tiny gaps that would open up to show the clear sky.  I've tried to capture some of what I saw here.  

The project later became about the way previous structures had marked the landscape.  I looked at boundaries, walls and the lines of buildings that had previously scarred the earth.  I think with this piece I had preempted this concept with my use of paint - I gouged lines into the blue paint and created layers over the top with the green and brown paint.  So, even without realising it, it became a good metaphor for the rest of the project.

Paint Scraping (Practice Piece for Untitled #4)

Untitled (Abstract #4)

Untitled (Abstract #3) - Drip Painting

This is a watercolour painting expressing the concept for the design of a youth theatre I'd done for my architecture degree.  The pictures show it on display at the exhibition for my degree show in 2012. 

Skiddaw Painting

Skiddaw (2011), Oil on Canvas.

This painting was inspired by Skiddaw, a mountain in the English Lake District.  I was trying to achieve a swirling cloud to obscure the view.  I wanted a similar atmosphere to the reality of the fell, which seems to be constantly in the clouds.

Sketch of Church Interior

At architecture school we often went on trips to see examples of local architecture and were encouraged to diagram, sketch and make notes on what we saw.  Most of the places we visited are featured in the Pevsner guide for North Lancashire (books about the vernacular architecture of Britain).  

This is one of the first and last sketches I made on the trips.  After this we were encouraged to think more about how the building works and produce diagrams to that effect.  Still, for a five minute job I was quite pleased with this one!

Rough Sketches in Acrylic

Flower Drawings

Development of Plane and Boat Painting

Experiment, 2010

Experiment with Charcoal and Linseed Oil (from 2010).

I had never heard of anyone using crushed charcoal with a medium like linseed oil to then apply it with a brush.  As it turns out there is probably a reason, as this didn't go so well.  The charcoal doesn't really mix with the oil and you end up with a grainy finish.  Also I thought the oil might act as a fixative, but not much luck here either, it still rubs off if you touch it.  Although, the bits where there aren't any grains look okay so maybe I should have just ground the charcoal more.  I thought about trying it with water next - it might actually dissolve it.

Happy Halloween

I had to show off my pumpkin from yesterday, I'm quite proud of him. 

Church In My Home Village, 2008

Graphite on Paper.  2008.

Still-Life with Fruit, 2008

Studies of a Sheep's Skull, 2008

                                   

These studies were all produced as part of a portfolio of drawings that I sent off to universities for admission into architecture school.  

The Wolf, 2008

Educational piece, Acrylic on Plaster.

Painted with acrylics and applied directly onto plaster using only a palette knife.  The plaster had been applied to an MDF board in a rough manner, leaving the surface bumpy and grainy to give the painting an interesting effect.

Development of the Wolf's Head