Picture a Week

Isn’t it strange that week thirteen of my collection happened to also match up with that other magic number April the first.

I’ve always been deeply moved by the underlying expression and emotion in abstract art. It’s visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which exists with a degree of independence from visual references in the real world combined with the ability for the artist to express such deep feeling within the described forms, realy does touch some primal aspect.

This weeks painting is a protection of my inner turmoil. On the canvas you can see and feel my inner vexation, unfulfillment and yearning yet it still manages to keep the energy, avant-garde and passion I was aiming for.

Well it’s my BIRTHDAY this week, and I’m still alive! There WILL be cake and I WILL assume the party position. Geek mode on.

A quicky this week – two lunch hours. Joe Francis Dowden, your a god amonst watercolour artists. Easy to follow, easy to understand. This is one of his projects from his book Painting Water.

“I am the LAW”. I love Judge Dredd, although the earlier work is a little ropey, thedepiction in later yearsof the character give you a real gritty, chip on the shoulder as wide asa mile feeling.This picture is taken from the new film Dredd, where I find Karl Urban does a fine job of grimacing thought nearly every shot. I had my choice of painting down to three scenes in the movie; a side shot in the light, a point where he is standing infront of the new American flag (which was going to be titled “True American Hero”) and this one. For those who want to recognise the point in the movie, it’s in the last scene in the penthouse.

Note to self. Avoid painting pictures with lots and lots and lots of black in them. As usual, click on the picture for a closeup detailed view.

Mixing two of my favourite subjects, motorbikes and naked women, and I liking for those 70’s wacka chacka chow style pictures, lead me to this picture.

Although there is a bit of flesh on display it is safe for work – no nipples or other ‘parts’ are on display.

Here is, was week eight but is now week nines picture of the week. A lot more tricky than expected, and not as good as I would have liked.

So why is this appearing in March, instead of in February when week eight is supposed to fall. WellI got a bit poorly sick. A lot poorly sick and I didn’t get chance to paint at all that week. I got a sketch done but that was about it.

To make up for it though – I painted two pictures this week and finished them in reverse order. So here I am proud to present Week 8.

Where is week seven ? Well it’s been done – it was done last week in fact! It’sa commission/present for someone and I’m waiting for them to get it through the post. Once that’s done I’ll update this message and add the picture!

Edit Update – well it’s here at last. This one was a commission for a gift.

I’ve been looking to paint this picture for nearly a year now. Ever since accidently stumbling on to the music video to Bad Romance, this particular sequence of shots of Lady Gaga has facinated me. With a more time this week, the initial sketch was drawn on Monday. Had a lunch out on Tuesday. Base blue colour work on Wednesday and Final colours Thursday. Good job realy as I’m off tomorrow!

I’d say around 3 1/2 hrs work.

Enjoy! (As usual click on the image for a full screen).

This is what happens when you leave things to the last minute. I’ve not been well (poor me) and didn’t have much thought to what I was going to paint this week. So I plumped for one of the landscapes in my Watercolour Landscapes photo book and half hearted painted it.

This is not one of my favourites, but it is one of fifty two.