'The Moses' study in Nitram Charcoal.

A bargue plate drawing of the right arm of ''The Moses'' (c. 1513–1515) is a sculpture by the Italian High Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti...the right arm holding the Law tablets...from this angle you can't see the whole arm..http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artwork.php?artworkid=12927...so Bargue kindly left a record of it through drawing it..





a charcoal copy of Bargue's plate 1, 24. ''Arm of Moses' (in the book).
extract from the book : ''the strong right arm of Moses holds the Tablet of the Laws in its hand.''

first complete bargue with Nitram charcoal sticks, they are really top quality...have been off with man flu so given me chance to have a go with the charcoal. good bye pencil's me thinks!

on the easel at the mo...Cast oil study of Michelangelo's David. ( the right eye)

something on the studio burner at the mo..semi finished..got the main stuff in but the tweaking starts and as my sanity ends...

' Cast study of Michelangelo's David' .30 x 40 cm.

(used sight size method for measurements).

oil portrait of Dad. 'Graham'

oil on canvas study of M. Ginsburg's study of 'Emily'

oil on canvas study of M. Ginsburg's study of 'Emily'....

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    Steffan Johnson here's a link to the original painting by Max Ginsburg. http://www.artrenewal.org/ads/Ginsburg/Ginsburg_Emily-large.jpg

    

    http://www.artrenewal.org/ads/Ginsburg/Ginsburg_Emily-large.jpg

    www.artrenewal.org

    
    

Gondolier John Singer Sargent -- American painter 1881-1882

a day study of Sargent's incredible painting.

a step closer to finish with 'the view towards Lower Machen and its Toll House'.....

16 x 8 oil on linen. (the top half of the painting isn't so dark..my canon digital hand held isn't really ideal for taking photo's of work I'm afraid!)

broad haven for the weekend..then back to lower machen to continue with the work in the field..and the view towards the village.

The first is the lovely coastline of Broad Haven looking towards the cove. words can't describe the beauty of sitting by the coast and lost in the view of the endless ocean with brush in hand.

both are works in progress, but you get an update of what I'm working on at the moment.

the second is the view towards the village in the Wheat field near lower Machen, where the path carries on to Michaelstone-y-Fedw. again another prime spot, lost among the grass with a wonderful view back to the village.

latest work...outdoors in the drizzle..the place to be with an easel and brush

view to the mountian from the viaduct near Machen run.

angry farmers , and the Run

Been a while since I've written anything on my blog, so thought I'd get busy with my typing fingers.

Met a lady who was doing water colours near Wyhndam Terrace (?) a few days ago, and she had been out all morning, painting in the shade, and painting the street with the church and the flowers drooping over the fence. It was good to chat with a local artist ( a rare breed) and find out her background in teaching art in further education colleges. Well since then I've been an eager beever to get outside and with the summer's weather its been ideal to get out the fields..which was enjoyable until a irrate farmer told me to move on as it was hay bayling time.. so rather than suffer the wrath of his tractor's rottars I moved on back to the wooded area, locally called the Run. Machen has its history and this wooded area bears the scars of the heavy industry Machen used to know. It was a pleasure painiting in the run and meeting inquisitive dog walker after dog walker and bumping into friends. I've posted up a photo of the afternoons work, so hope that you like and hope I captured something of the feeling of being in the Run.

So, with the Summer ahead of us, its time to say good bye studio and hello Plein Air!

the easter still life drawings in paint.

new photo of old painting...

Oak and Sheep near Michaelstone - y Fedw

Old Old Oak, near Lower Machen

Machen Oak near Lower machen, near Draethen.

a finished shot. here you'l noticed I finished the house, established the cast shadow of the oak, and clarified the light hitting the tree.




I felt it would be easier to start again on the tree as the tone families and shadows were getting a bit lost and I was confused as to where I was, so rather than fiddle, I figured starting again, and at the same time working on edges and losing as much of the hadrness of the branches that was necessary.

I took this on the side as to see what I was trying to do in blurring the edges and fuzzing the sky and clouds around the branch / tree edges.




start back into clouds and softening branches. re working tones of background bushes.

second post on Hollow Oak tree near Draethen , Lower Machen , study.

modeling field and cont with softening clouds. next sessions is to grey the colour of the warm browns on tree and soften branshes and makes sure the tones on them are correct. also, darken hedge, it catches too much attention. and ...also, take a better photo! thanks for looking. more to follow.



notice the cast shadow at bottom right of tree. cast shadows the darkest shadow, and in this painting, its the darkest area.



into. warm red umber into tree (too much so will have to dumb down colour). looking at the 'look' of the tree's branches. does the way the light hit the tree make sense? are the tones corect, does the form turn?



cont. with big form modeling of tree and sky.



starting to break down things using tone but introducing colour ( oak mostly BU ) . the field has been patched in. continuing soften hedges, and branches. introducing colour into mid / light tones in the background.

same old oak, different angle, different posture. progress in stages.

dead colouring stage/local colour. start planning out colours and where they should be. start puting down a flad bed of colour (or trying to) . notice tree - here I've started the 'big form modeling stage' ( creating a '3d effect' put simply...modeling the 3 family tones. remeber - stay in those 3 families - create a unity of tone.
the background - is lightest. as the view receeds, things get brighter - look out on a grey day and notice the tone shifts as well as the saturation of colour. this is vitally important.

I was taught that nature cheats, - and so the human brain has to order the choas of tone and colour in front of you when your painting and process all that info - into creating an illusion on canva.s that is basically painting/drawing! so there are rules you have to abide by in order to 'talk in paint' . the old masters where MASTERS in ordering what they saw in from of them , into masses and lines of tonal colour on the canvas in front of them.

I've also started the sky here. the lightest tones are low. I don't know what I do with skys, but clouds are fun. watch them, and think of them in paint as you drive your car. watch the shapes move and the study you get in tone from a cloud are second to none.



(the Burnt umber white/ campitura colour are all part of the first stage - the drawing in/monochromatic stage were i break down light/darks and start to bring the tonal families into play. start breaking it from 2 tone - dark /light to 3 tone - light , mid , dark. all staying in the monochromatic stage. no colour.




starting to plan the compostion and feel of the piece. asking myself, what do i want it to feel like? were are th cool/ warm areas? were is the darkest darks and the lightest lights going to be? what colours do I want to use? what do i want to use form the photo, what don't I want to use?



I then soften edges were they need to be soft and start breaking down the drawing into light / dark areas. I use bristly brushes and turps to soften the drawing and get nice fuzzy areas.




the beginning of the process. I transfer drawing from drawing with a grid, I grwid up canvas and enlarge the drawing, se everything is in its right place. this is the longwinded and drawn out part. I use burnt umber and turps.