Every artwork starts from an idea or what is known as an inspiration. Inspirations can originate from anything that is around us or else even from life experiences or daily events. It happens in response to the environment around.

Painting the landscape is no exception and so inspiration has to come from the landscape itself, by going out door and experience it. A few months ago we went for a very short trip to the Capertee Valley around 3 hours drive to the west of Sydney. During these few days I managed to collect a series of reference images I will use for future paintings. I also painting on location, that is the best way to absorb all that information directly from observation. Plein air painting also teaches you how to take fast decisions during the process of painting since one needs to start and finish the painting quite quickly. It also improves your skill of colour mixing since most of the time one will be working with a very limited palette. 

Here I am sharing with you some images from this experience especially photos we took on a three hour late afternoon drive, when the light is the best to capture some beautiful images.

If you want to know the painting process of one of the paintings I did from this trip (using a reference image), you can become member of my Patreon Channel.  ​https://www.patreon.com/posts/63065207www.patreon.com/posts/63065207
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In this short video I show how I paint reflective objects.
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When travelling along the southern coast of NSW, we went to Narooma beach to have a look at the Glasshouse Rocks. These rocks are of a significant geological importance and recognised by the Geological Society of Australia as dating between 510 and 440 million years old. They are the remnants of ancient volcanic activity. 

Considering their geological importance but also inspired by the beauty of that warm summer afternoon, I decided to use these rocks as the subjects of this painting. The feel of the afternoon ocean breeze in concert with the visual effects of the warm light from the sun intermittently shining through the broken clouds onto the exposed wet rocks at low tide created the right mood for this painting.

I am now working on this new painting that was composed from my memory of the experience and a number of reference photos we took of the subject matter, The painting is still work in progress and the images show one of the reference photos as well as the second stage of the painting after the coloured block in.

I visit this place in Blackheath at the upper Blue Mountains quite frequently when I go with my wife for a few hours of climbing. On this particular day I couldn't resist snapping a few photos when the sun was about to set and the whole landscape was like a kaleidoscope of colours. The light effect on the landscape changes so quickly at this time of the day. It is amazing to watch the landscape turning from warm orange to more subtle and gentle pinks and mauves.

So I decided to use a series of photos that I took on that day, together with using my own memory to depict an image of that scene. I love to paint this particular time of the day, the time when the day ends with a celebration of colour and as the night blankets the landscape. I initially did a small 30 x 40 cm painting of the left hand (western) side of the view but I thought that this scene deserves to be on a bigger canvas. So I prepared a 45 x 91 cm Italian linen attached to an aluminium composite board on which I am now painting the whole panoramic view as seen from the middle of the cliff.

Will keep you posted of the progress. Above are some images (1) Last light on the cliff faces (2) Imprimatura (3) The small painting of the left side of the view (4) The underpainting of the panoramic painting

In my post on 10th Feb, I spoke about the painting process of this still life. From that time I worked on the third stage, where I revisit each individual object adding the detail while developing more the dark and light areas. This is what eventually develops the form in a painting. I used the following palette -  titanium white, ultramarine blue, burnt umber, cadmium yellow light, cadmium orange, burnt sienna and alizarin claret, for the upper layer mixed with a slow drying medium consisting of stand linseed oil. 

​The finished painting is above.

Rigid painting supports are the best ones for oil paintings because they are not affected by variations in ambient humidity. However, one of the challenges is to find the ideal support that is rigid, archival and light in weight and that can be safely transported. 

In this video I am showing how to prepare a canvas board using an aluminium composite material and BEVA 371 film.

Details about materials are in the description of this YouTube video.

Enjoy

I visited the Northern Territory eleven years ago and one of the places I visited was the Katherine Gorge at Nitmiluk National Park. Couple of months ago I decided to do a painting of a view over this gorge.

As a surface I used a piece of fine linen attached to a wooden panel and primed with an acrylic ground. I started by toning down the canvas with a wash of burnt Sienna, wiping off the excess with a cloth leaving a mid-value warm undertone.  Next I drew a sketch from a number of reference photos I had of the area, organising and placing the basic shapes in the right place, constructing an appealing composition, using the river to lead the eye into the picture. Using a carpenter's chalk line I marked the main lines of composition following what is known as the armature of design.

The next step was to block in the basic colour of every major shape of the composition, focusing on the tonal values. This layer is also know as the grey layer, because all colours used are of lower intensity (low chroma). By the end of this stage, I got all the major values and objects in place ready for the next phase of the painting process.

The third phase is the most intensive as one needs to revisit every section of the painting, adding more colour while adjusting the light and dark values in order to establish form. Starting from the sky and then moving gradually towards the front I started adding more paint, emphasizing the light and adjusting colour and values as needed. Since in this painting I had a lot of rock formations, I used the painting knife to create more form and texture especially in the foreground. By the end of this phase an almost finished painting was obtained.

The painting was allowed to dry for a number of weeks before I started revisiting it again, doing more adjustments to resolve a number of issues I was not happy enough. The techniques used as from this step onwards are glazing and scumbling. In the process one will also be adding more detail, colour variation, transparency and depth. During this process I did some adjustments to the clouds and added more detail to the surface of the water gradually bringing the painting to a finish.

This week I started working on a new still life painting in oils, using the indirect method. 

I staged this still life couple of weeks ago, as I always leave it for a while before I start painting it in order to make sure that I will be happy with the setup. In the process I sometimes change or move around objects to make up a good composition. The choice of objects includes a white vase, reflective silver container, a glass jar holding three peacock feathers, a wooden decorative elephant and a feather from the tail of a lyrebird (very common sighting in the NSW bush). 

For this painting I chose to use Italian linen attached to a wooden panel and oil primed using a titanium based alkyd primer (Gamblin). I did a very rough sketch using raw umber diluted with odourless solvent and original Liquin (Winsor and Newton). This rough sketch helps me to later on see and identify my own mistakes to be able to correct them as I move on to the next stage.

The second stage of this painting was to block in individual shapes with the basic colour of the object separating light from shadow, but without adding any detail. During this step I needed to make a major correction to the proportions of the wooden elephant. This layer of paint was applied fairly thin using paint directly from the tube. The selection of oil paints where fast drying paints including the white of the vase, which was painted with lead white.

As a palette I was using cremnitz white, ultramarine blue, crimson, cadmium yellow medium, transparent yellow oxide, burnt sienna and burnt umber.

In the coming days I will start working on the third layer, during which I will be adding the details by developing the contrasts between light and dark

Today I want to share with you the painting process of this landscape...A view of Mt Roland, Tasmania.

I was driving back to Hobart airport after we left Cradle Mountain, while visiting Tasmania back in 2017. So we stopped to capture a few photos of the views of Mt Roland as seen from the side of the road. It was a lovely view, watching the cows grazing with the view of the mountain in the distance.

Recently I decided to paint this view, using a traditional method of painting in oils. 
Surface used: Caravaggio smooth linen stretched
Oil paints: Ultramarine blue, Cobalt blue, Cobalt teal, viridian, burnt umber, Indian red, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, quinacridone magenta, cadmium red light, cadmium orange, Flake white, Transparent yellow oxide, unbleached titanium.

Top image left, reference photo

I started the painting with a very thin wash of burnt sienna followed by sketching with paint the main shapes and composition (top image right)

Next stage was to start blocking in with the basic shadow colours, each of the major shapes established in the previous step, moving from the distant background mountains towards the foreground and sky. By the end of this stage I wanted to get the basic values of the main big shapes established in order to get a better idea of the composition as well as getting a feel of distance. My focus was on values rather than colour. Most of the paints used are fast drying and transparent. I used a rubbing off technique using a rag to uncover the previous layer of colour in particular areas such as the clouds (middle photos)

The next stage was to proceed to adding more details while establishing the form. This is usually done by starting to establish better the light while re-establishing the darks. As the process moves forward more details will be added, such as fences, cows etc. The light and highlights are also established as late as possible during the process (bottom left).

The completed painting is shown in the image at the bottom right.

Thanks for reading.

Artist's paints used in painting consist of a pigment mixed (dispersed) in a vehicle, which in the case of oil paint, this vehicle is a vegetable drying oil such as linseed. The role of the vehicle is to adhere the pigment to the painting surface once dry forming a very strong but flexible layer of paint. 
Best vehicles in terms of strong adhesion are walnut and linseed oil. Drying times also vary between vehicles with linseed oil having the fastest drying time. 

Artist grade oil paints are the preferred kind of paints used by artists because they consists of real pigments and oil with minimal addition of stabilizers and dryers. Preparing own paint ensures that your paint only consists of the essential ingredients without any additives which can compromise the quality of the paint film. In this video I am showing how I prepared cobalt blue paint from raw pigment. The process took less than an hour to complete. Full details and information about materials are found in the video description on YouTube. Enjoy
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