TECHNIQUE EXPERIMENTS

Just before my last life drawing class at the RA I stopped off in Green Park for a quick plein air. It was early evening so the light was fading quite fast, but I think I just about caught the atmosphere. A photo of the scene is shown below.

And this was the model I painted an hour later.

Earlier this week I went down to Brentford Dock where the Grand Union Canal leaves the River Thames. This is a residential pontoon looking towards the entrance to the canal. Quite tight perspective an oddly cold light, but I think I just about pulled it off.

I've seen this washy background technique used by several artists, originally Richard Schmid, but more recently from James Hart Dyke (jameshartdyke.com) whose work I really like. I've started to experiment with it.

I don't particularly like the picture below, a bit dull!!!, but it is nicely controlled I think, and the knitwear works well. I've used a lot of soft edges and just a few hard ones which seems to balance.

Painting this little oil can using a really strong composition gives it more gravitas than it actually has.

My friend Graham Townsend reminded me of the work of William Wray the contemporary American painter. This prompted me to sharpen my palette knife and get a few pics drafted, firstly of the Putney footbridge and then of the walkway down to the pontoon at Putney Pier.