Tom's delivered 170 pages of in-depth instruction on the art of caricature. I've got a bit of reading to do now.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Tom Richmond Book!
The Tom Richmond caricature book I pre-ordered a couple of months ago arrived today, earlier than expected. Despite travelling half-way around the world, it arrived in perfect condition.
Tom's delivered 170 pages of in-depth instruction on the art of caricature. I've got a bit of reading to do now.
Tom's delivered 170 pages of in-depth instruction on the art of caricature. I've got a bit of reading to do now.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Plein air mountain sketches in oil
Spring made a welcome return for a few days this week and I managed to get up early on Saturday morning and headed back out to the Stirling Range.
It was pretty hot for 6:30am, and there was very light cirrostratus cloud cover all morning. The light kept changing as I was painting, sometimes revealing subtle detail in shadows and sometimes obliterating it, but I was pretty happy with this one for a quick sketch.
I hope to develop this into a larger painting and to spend a bit of time resolving the tangled mass of bushland in the middle and foregrounds. The clouds look a bit contrived here but that's what they actually looked like at the time. It was quite surreal.
On the way home, I stopped on the side of the road and did a quickie of Mount Trio. I used a very limited palette of French ultramarine, cadmium scarlet and Australian red gold, plus white. The Aussie red gold makes the most amazing colour mixes and I'm still to work out how to predict them.
I hope to get back here at different times of the day and see what happens with those shadows on the peak.
It was pretty hot for 6:30am, and there was very light cirrostratus cloud cover all morning. The light kept changing as I was painting, sometimes revealing subtle detail in shadows and sometimes obliterating it, but I was pretty happy with this one for a quick sketch.
(Sketch for Bluff Knoll Framed by Eucalypts. 35x25cm oil on board. © Andy Dolphin)
I hope to develop this into a larger painting and to spend a bit of time resolving the tangled mass of bushland in the middle and foregrounds. The clouds look a bit contrived here but that's what they actually looked like at the time. It was quite surreal.
On the way home, I stopped on the side of the road and did a quickie of Mount Trio. I used a very limited palette of French ultramarine, cadmium scarlet and Australian red gold, plus white. The Aussie red gold makes the most amazing colour mixes and I'm still to work out how to predict them.
(Sketch for Mount Trio. 20x22cm oil on board. © Andy Dolphin)
I hope to get back here at different times of the day and see what happens with those shadows on the peak.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Bluff Knoll - Finally!
Bluff Knoll is the tallest peak in Southern West Australia. It lies in the Stirling Range and is about a one hour drive from my home.
Come this Monday, my family and I will have been in Mount Barker for eight years but in that time, I've been to Bluff Knoll only three times, and never for painting. I finally fixed that this morning.
I was up at 4:30am and, after cereal and coffee, I was out of the house shortly after 5am. I arrived at the Bluff Knoll car park around 6am.
We'd been promised a sunny day in the Great Southern but the Stirling Range creates its own weather and there was no shortage of cloud and a heavy veil of "atmosphere". Still, it was a pleasant, if slightly cool, morning so after scouting around for an interesting vantage point, I set up my easel and got to work.
When I began there wasn't much sunlight and I thought I was going to have to focus on the clouds drifting across the top of the bluff for interest. But as I was laying down my first washes, the clouds, mist and distant peaks took on a wonderful warm glow. There was my subject!
The light played hide and seek as I pushed on but I managed to get enough information down early on to capture the feeling. Here's the result after about one hour...
I used a limited palette of just three colours, French ultramarine, permanent crimson and cadmium yellow light, plus white. This helped to move things along a little faster although I did have a few moments of trying to mix the right shade of reddish, yellowish, bluish green-purple.
The light began changing dramatically with more foreground being lit with each passing minute - and each passing cloud. Finally I had to tell myself to "stop". I told myself two more times before putting the brushes away.
Here she is on location...
You can see how dramatically the light was shifting with absolutely no sunlight on the mountain in this shot. Luckily these "very grey" moments were few and far between, though they at least gave my eyes a rest when they came as I was looking almost directly into the sun.
Hopefully I can get a better photo of the painting when it's dry.
Come this Monday, my family and I will have been in Mount Barker for eight years but in that time, I've been to Bluff Knoll only three times, and never for painting. I finally fixed that this morning.
I was up at 4:30am and, after cereal and coffee, I was out of the house shortly after 5am. I arrived at the Bluff Knoll car park around 6am.
We'd been promised a sunny day in the Great Southern but the Stirling Range creates its own weather and there was no shortage of cloud and a heavy veil of "atmosphere". Still, it was a pleasant, if slightly cool, morning so after scouting around for an interesting vantage point, I set up my easel and got to work.
When I began there wasn't much sunlight and I thought I was going to have to focus on the clouds drifting across the top of the bluff for interest. But as I was laying down my first washes, the clouds, mist and distant peaks took on a wonderful warm glow. There was my subject!
The light played hide and seek as I pushed on but I managed to get enough information down early on to capture the feeling. Here's the result after about one hour...
(Sketch for Morning at the Bluff. 28x34cm oil on board. © Andy Dolphin)
I used a limited palette of just three colours, French ultramarine, permanent crimson and cadmium yellow light, plus white. This helped to move things along a little faster although I did have a few moments of trying to mix the right shade of reddish, yellowish, bluish green-purple.
The light began changing dramatically with more foreground being lit with each passing minute - and each passing cloud. Finally I had to tell myself to "stop". I told myself two more times before putting the brushes away.
Here she is on location...
You can see how dramatically the light was shifting with absolutely no sunlight on the mountain in this shot. Luckily these "very grey" moments were few and far between, though they at least gave my eyes a rest when they came as I was looking almost directly into the sun.
Hopefully I can get a better photo of the painting when it's dry.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Updating blog
I'm in the process of giving the blog a bit of a freshening up. So forgive me if things look a bit weird occasionally as the only way to properly test changes is to apply them.
New painting studio
One of the reasons I haven't painted much for the last few months is that I've been trying to set up a new studio. The space I'm adapting is from an enclosed verandah that was here when we bought the house. Part of that room was demolished to make way for an extension to the main house and the half that was left is to be my art studio.
I installed a new Gyprock (plasterboard) wall a few weeks ago then painted all the walls in a slightly warmed, very pale grey. The existing walls used to be turquoise - almost the same colour as the door you see in the photo. I always painted in this space and I'm certain that the blue-green surroundings had an impact on the finished results.
The room also had an exposed sheet metal roof which made it very cold in winter and very hot in summer. I installed a suspended ceiling yesterday. Hopefully this will moderate the temperature a little.
It has two decent-sized, south-facing windows. We need south-facing windows in art rooms in the southern hemisphere so this was a bonus.
There's still quite a bit to do, including painting that hideous door a neutral colour, but at least it's starting to feel like a studio space now.
I installed a new Gyprock (plasterboard) wall a few weeks ago then painted all the walls in a slightly warmed, very pale grey. The existing walls used to be turquoise - almost the same colour as the door you see in the photo. I always painted in this space and I'm certain that the blue-green surroundings had an impact on the finished results.
The room also had an exposed sheet metal roof which made it very cold in winter and very hot in summer. I installed a suspended ceiling yesterday. Hopefully this will moderate the temperature a little.
It has two decent-sized, south-facing windows. We need south-facing windows in art rooms in the southern hemisphere so this was a bonus.
There's still quite a bit to do, including painting that hideous door a neutral colour, but at least it's starting to feel like a studio space now.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Walk in Porongurup Range
I went into Porongurup National Park yesterday, my first visit for quite a while. I was with my daughter and her friend, on holidays from Wisconsin, and we soon set about following a trail past the "Tree in the Rock" to Nancy Peak. I'd walked part of this trail alone about six years ago but never made it to the top - mainly because I hadn't told anyone I was going there and I had no idea what to expect.
Yesterday, however, was perfect weather-wise and it turns out I'm fitter than I thought I was. After walking through the leg-aches on the lower slopes, we made it to Nancy Peak without too much effort. Once there, we checked the time and made the decision to keep walking and complete the circuit that would bring us back to the car park.
The next stage was quite rugged compared to the walk up to the peak. But it least it was all downhill from here, so it wasn't too bad.
Once at the top, there are aluminium trail markers bolted to the granite, so it's difficult to get lost. And seriously, it's a long, skinny, steep-sided range so there's really only two ways to go - east or west.
It was a sunny day with broken cloud cover. The views were spectacular. I did have a sketchbook with me but we were too short on time to stop and draw so I had to make do with photos. I'd like to go back with a pochade box or some other lightweight way to paint.
Anyway, here's a few pics. The first three are the view from Nancy Peak and the last one is of the karri trees on the return journey through Wansbrough Pass.
The complete circuit is about 5-6km long. Nancy Peak is 490m high (650m above sea level).
If you're ever in the Great Southern (Western Australia), then you might want to give it a go (mid-Spring is perfect - the wildflowers are blooming). It turns out moderate fitness and a decent pair of shoes is okay for this trail. It took us about three hours, including pauses, to take in the views.
Yesterday, however, was perfect weather-wise and it turns out I'm fitter than I thought I was. After walking through the leg-aches on the lower slopes, we made it to Nancy Peak without too much effort. Once there, we checked the time and made the decision to keep walking and complete the circuit that would bring us back to the car park.
The next stage was quite rugged compared to the walk up to the peak. But it least it was all downhill from here, so it wasn't too bad.
Once at the top, there are aluminium trail markers bolted to the granite, so it's difficult to get lost. And seriously, it's a long, skinny, steep-sided range so there's really only two ways to go - east or west.
It was a sunny day with broken cloud cover. The views were spectacular. I did have a sketchbook with me but we were too short on time to stop and draw so I had to make do with photos. I'd like to go back with a pochade box or some other lightweight way to paint.
Anyway, here's a few pics. The first three are the view from Nancy Peak and the last one is of the karri trees on the return journey through Wansbrough Pass.
The complete circuit is about 5-6km long. Nancy Peak is 490m high (650m above sea level).
If you're ever in the Great Southern (Western Australia), then you might want to give it a go (mid-Spring is perfect - the wildflowers are blooming). It turns out moderate fitness and a decent pair of shoes is okay for this trail. It took us about three hours, including pauses, to take in the views.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Canola oil painting
I did this studio oil painting yesterday based on a plein air sketch I did in Porongurup last weekend.
Here's a close-up of the brushwork on the flowers.
And here's the on-site sketch from last week.
Knight's Canola - plein air
20x22cm oil on board
© Andy Dolphin
Knight's Canola
37x50cm oil on board.
© Andy Dolphin
SOLD
37x50cm oil on board.
© Andy Dolphin
SOLD
Here's a close-up of the brushwork on the flowers.
And here's the on-site sketch from last week.
20x22cm oil on board
© Andy Dolphin
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