While I’ve done quite a bit of digital painting in recent times, my acrylics had been patiently waiting for me to give them the time of the day. Not because I don’t enjoy using them, but there’s more friction to get going and when the end result is primarily shown on a screen anyway, it’s easy to reach for the stylus in front of me over setting up an easel, brushes and a palette. About a week ago however, their moment had come. A friend from overseas told me about his upcoming visit to Vienna and we made plans […]
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A Study of Comfort
Despite having been an artist for a long time, I only got into painting studies quite late. Though by now, they have become not just a learning activity yielding satisfying results, but also a source of comfort for me. While I wouldn’t claim that discerning shapes, forms, colours and values from reference and putting them down onto a canvas with your own hands is easy, it does mean there’s something tangible you can work from. Be it a photo or a still life arrangement, if something feels off in your painting, you can compare, look just a little harder at how […]
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Doing it wrong to get it right.
After my two recent digital speedpaintings, I started to wonder where to take things next. As fun as doing very time limited studies was, once I’ve proven to myself I can do something successfully, I always begin to feel like trying something new or do it differently. As coincidence would have it, my trusty Twitter feed was right there, ready to help me out once again. My friend and one of my favorite photographers Cri, tweeted a photo of a Scrub Jay happily displaying a freshly acquired peanut. It was the perfect image to try something I’ve meant to […]
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Recreate & Re-Create
As is too often the case for me, I tend to forget how much I enjoy doing something (or the satisfaction I get from the result) after not having gotten around to it for a while. This time it was painting studies. I had no idea how long it had been since I made my last, but when I saw a photo of cut up, deliciously lit grapefruit in a bowl over on my Twitter feed, I knew I had to paint it. Now I have to admit that I’d very much prefer to have a go at it […]
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