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As artists we are always developing. I started this site some years ago to monitor my progress at art classes. Some areas have improved faster than others and I expect this to continue to be an interesting journey. Constructive comments are always welcome. Steve.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

American Bald Eagle with a Fish

An American Bald Eagle with fish. Painted as the Nov07 web group challenge. I started this as a pen-and-ink drawing and decided to add colour using pastels. A4 size.

Bald Eagle - how I painted it

Click on the Speech Bubble at lower left of the video to turn on the subtitles.

Bald Eagle more detail

Click on the image below to see the photos in a larger format the select Slideshow to read my comments on the images.
Painting project - American Bald Eagle with fish

Monday, November 19, 2007

Burano Canal, Venice

Acrylic, mainly painted with knife 10"x8".

Friday, November 16, 2007

Mangastera Beach mosaic


This is another kind of digital "painting". I took the photo of my original Mangastera Beach painting (see below) and put it through a computer program called Easy Mosaic. It uses other pictures to produce the mosaic effect which become visible when you enlarge the resulting image. The file it makes is too large to load here. If you copy the larger version of this image you should be able to enlarge it and get a better idea of the effect. Even then the compression doesn't really do it justice. It was an amusing exercise but I don't think I'll do it again. There's a much better example here which uses a web player to good effect by letting the viewer keep zooming in to see pictures made from pictures, which in turn are made from pictures.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Sea & Island - a digital creation



This was "painted" using a digital art program called Twisted Brush which members of my internet art group are all playing with. The 'beaten silver' look was applied later using Photoshop.

Friday, November 02, 2007

Mangersta Beach


"Mangersta Beach on Isle of Lewis" in pastels 16"x12".

Sunday, October 07, 2007

White-tailed Deer


White-tailed Deer
Pastel 16"x12" from a photo of the partially hidden deer. The grasses in the source picture were more of a distraction than an interest - which is reasonable since the deer was using them as camoflage - so I've changed that to try to give the impression that the deer is standing to the side of a "path" through a field of swaying corn (or something like that!).

Monday, August 20, 2007

Abruzzo Abstract


Abruzzo abstract. August 2007.
Pastel on paper. 30x30 cm. (approx. 12"x12")
Inspired by a castle in the Abruzzo region of Italy.

Roller (1)


This is an acrylic I'm currentky working on.

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Art group challenges


This was the result of a challenge posed by an internet art group to produce a work from a photo they supplied - but done in just one session. I used pastels - don't know the location, but guess probably USA.


I called this acrylic piece "Glen Presto" as it was done fairly quickly just using paints which were "leftovers" on my palette.


This is a charcoal and white chalk work on paper. The scene is from a 1960's photo of a steam train leaving Benderloch station. The challenge was to "extend" the composition onto the mount or frame.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Dusk Fishing Lad.

My attempt at making a rough copy of Walter Dendy Sadler's - Fishing at Twilight.
Pastel on board approx 14"x12". May 07. The lower picture is a copy of the original.



Saturday, March 31, 2007

Abstract - Wave


Skywaves

A piece of found art. This time its the sky where there were some interesting clouds as sunset approached. I took a photo, manipulated it on the computer then turned it upside down.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Thanks

Many thanks to everyone (especially Coral) who has sent comments on my art either via this site or directly. All your comments are helping me to develop my fledgeling artistic aspirations.


This is a pastel study of Buchaille Etive (near Glencoe) which I'm currently working on.

Please continue to let me know what you think!
Steve.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Fruit 'n veg still life

Acrylic version

Pastel version


A random display of lemon, lime, apple tomatoes, carrot and onions.
Art class 6 March 07.

Lighthouse



We see the lighthouse across a stormy sea as the waves break onto the cliff face.
Inspired by the photo below. Acrylic and knife then varnished.
March 07.

Lighthouse - inspiration



This is the photo which inspired the "lighthouse" painting above.
Its a close-up photo of the remains of paint on my palette.
Serendipity as inspiration?

Two yachts, three birds



March 07. Mixed media. Gouache and emulsion paint on card. First I did a basic underpaint with blue emulsion, then a torn piece of blue paper was pasted on to form the mountain range followed by loosely brushed gouache for the clouds and foreground.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Moonlit mountain and stag



A tonal study in blue,
Acrylic on canvas. 20Feb07

Friday, February 16, 2007

Updating the blog.

Feb 07.
I've updated to the new Blogger system and have taken the opportunity to add some more pictures from the last year. As you'll see I'm being a bit more adventurous in my use of materials and have occasionally used the computer as an art tool for part of the creation of a picture.

The blog has now had over 600 viewings (thank-you!) and below is a picture of the breakdown of recent visits by country and percentage.




Remember to click on the pictures to view enlarged.