Nearly forgot... Painting for Sale!

Here's one I did earlier... has been hanging on my wall for about a year. I love it, but I'm doing another soon so would love someone else to have it in their home - or give it as a gift??? It's on four block canvases, measures approx 50 x 65cm together.

Open to sensible offers of money or hard labour - house work, shopping, putting up curtains, washing my car... that kind of thing.

Some buildings!

Finally summoned up the motivation after a relaxing couple of weeks to pick up my paintbrushes and make a fresh start on the Malta painting... A couple of motivating factors: two friends have asked for paintings - so I cannot begin another one until this one's done (starter/finisher rule, plus I can't fit another canvas in the house!); and my 3 year old niece saw the Malta canvas during the holidays and asked super honestly, 'Auntie Lizzy, did you get tired ..?' so that was enough to make me put aside some time to begin to finish it.

I had been putting off starting on the city scape, mainly because getting the technical aspect of the buildings right is much harder than painting the sea and boats! It is very easy to make it look very wrong.

I started with pure white, I then used a very pale blue/black mix to begin putting in the shape and form of the dome.

The windows curve around the base of the dome, so that not only do you need to show the curve, but also the perspective. Turns out this was quite a challenge.

I've done a before, during and after for the dome of St Paul's Cathedral... the perspective, shape and detail is tricky... and it's still not right.

Trial and error really, but it's getting there. I think once I've painted in some more of the surrounding buildings I can go back and correct the perspective. I think the point of the architecture below the dome which I've left blank for now, is making it look odd as well. I had to use a really bright blue in the sky to create more contrast giving the dome more impact, so I'll work this into the rest of the sky and see how that looks.

The stone areas are a blend of brown, grey and ochre. I've used a stark white to pull out some highlights.

Despite knowing I've got work to do on the perspective, I'm excited to see it begin to take shape!

Finally Some Land!

After a busy few days, I've finally had a chance to mix some sandy land coloured paint and commit it to the canvas. Risky when I'm so pleased with the painting so far! 

I began by pencilling in some of the form, trying to pick out the most obvious features. The rocky coastline builds up to a few buildings and is very arid with areas of trees and bushes. To start with I've mixed yellow ochre with white and allowed this to mix with the grey pencil to show some shadow and form on the background.

Took a while to loosen up and just enjoy it wanting it to fit in well with the surrounding sea. The paint, style, form of the distant buildings, land and vegetation started to take shape as I've just relaxed and it's flowed. I do find working quickly helps. Seems to stop it looking too controlled and contrived.

I'm happy so far!

Have updated - one shot so you can see the scale, and the other to show the new detail. 

The waves and froth of the water around the boat have been added, and some more detail has been added to the ripples and texture of the sea. I've also corrected the small sail boat as the sails were looking more like rabbit ears than sails! Think they are much straighter now and the shadows show the wind rippling them. I've also re-worked the horizon. I chose a really brilliant bright blue and just wanted to neaten that up so it's a nice sharp clear line between the sea and sky. Really satisfying but now cannot wait to get started on the land and cityscape.

And the original sketch... have had this canvas from my brother for months and months just waiting for time and inspiration!

I've now added some depth to the sea, using the broad brush again to get the colours in. Using a selection of blue and green acrylics to get the light hitting the water. I've then used a dark shade of Ultramarine to pick out the drop in the waves, and to create a ripple effect. I used a very light blue shade to pull up the light on the top of the water and white for the crest of the waves. I've started to paint in a few boats drawing the simple shapes in white at first.

Malta - Valetta

In 2002 I visited Malta with a good friend, Nicki. It was one of those last minute deals, and we were both excited and apprehensive not knowing until we arrived what accommodation we would have. We were well looked after, and had a beautiful hotel, a short walk from the water front in an area called Bugiba - overlooking St Paul's Bay. Malta and it's sister islands Gozo and Comino have a really rugged coastline, and arid countryside. There were various excursions on the trip - Gozo and the Azure window were amazing - you cannot get over how blue the sea is.

One firm memory for both of us was the evening we went to a bar in St Paul's Bay for some cocktails - Blue Lagoon was their speciality and we came up with a recipe as soon as we got home! While we were walking back to our hotel I was utterly convinced that the moon was really huge over Malta that night ... while Nicki was saying she couldn't even see the moon from where we were...  and finally pointed out it was actually a street light... A proud moment for me.

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The sky was a very clear blue, but I wanted to give it some texture, and depth, using a broad brush and working quickly. 

One of the excursions was a visit to Valetta, the capital city of Malta. It was stunning with it's steep shopping streets, horse drawn carriages, bright yellow buses, and sea views. I was really captured by this interesting, romantic city, and took many pictures on the day. I've wanted to paint a scene from it and capture the bright colours and peace of the place ever since. So I've begun!