Plein Air Oil Painting

Because weather was promising, I decided to drive north to paint. 

My friend Paul said he can join me, and he picked this gorgeous spot at Sievers Lane in Glenhope, north of Kyneton. 

It’s a wonderful place to paint, except it was just freaking cold🤧🤧 It was actually very difficult to hold a brush. 

However it was great to catch up with him. He did a fabulous job. Two small paintings. 

I always enjoy his company. 

I spent 2.5 hours. 

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Self-portrait Oil Painting

Due to bad weather, I decided to do another selfie in my studio (bathroom) this afternoon. 

A bit more challenging angle. It’s very hard to see without glasses, I found 😨

I spent 2 hours. 

Oil on canvas. 9x11 in. 

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Oil painting lesson with Gregory Smith

I started a new subject. 

I was wondering if I could do something different and thought of painting house appliances. Well, I don’t have many but this Dyson vacuum cleaner caught my eyes. 

And here it is. 

As usual, Rew Umber & Ivory Black wash. 

I still have a bad habit of drawing shapes with a rag. Greg suggested a different way, that is, putting darks in surrounding space so that the shapes emerge by themselves. 

It’s a great exercise. Pity I forgot to take a photo. 

I corrected some errors by careful measurement of angles and distance, then put some colours. 

It’s a good start. 

Work in progress. 16x20 in. 

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Plein Air Oil Painting

In the morning I went back to Yarra Bend Park in Fairfield. Weather was perfect, sunny and no wind. 

I changed the location this time. A bit closer to city. 

It was very peaceful. I really enjoyed this one. 

However I’m not happy about the tree on the left and grass at front. I also think tone of colour is a bit off. 

I spent 2.5 hours. 

Oil on canvas. 14x18 in. 

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Oil painting at LastPeek Studio

I went to my favourite studio in Thornbury this afternoon. 

Marija is a great model, holding a pose well. There’s something mysterious about her posture. I don’t think I did a good job today, unfortunately. 

I spent 2.5 hours. 

Unfinished. 

Oil on panel. 16x20 in. 

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Plein Air Oil Painting

As weather was very pleasant, I decided to go to Yarra Bend Park in Fairfield this afternoon. 

I painted this scene many times without too much success. 

Although it was sunny, it got very windy. Very difficult to paint. I almost gave up. 

I just managed to finish this one. 

I spent 1.5 hours. 

Oil on canvas. 12x9 in. 

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Oil painting lesson with Gregory Smith

The fifth session. 

The big ceramic pod was wonky at top area, so I corrected it. 

I spent the rest of the class fine-tuning the skull. Not much. Just putting a delicate tonal shift. It’s done. 

I’m happy with this one. 

Oil on panel. 16x20 in. 

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Self-portrait Oil Painting

Someone’s birthday? It was raining and windy this morning, so I decided to do another selfie in my studio (bathroom). 

It’s not quite right yet, particularly ears. But, I feel I’m getting there. 

I spent 2 hours. 

Oil on canvas. 12x9 in. 

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Plein Air Oil Painting

I drove to Westgate Park in Port Melbourne this morning. I came here last April, but due to unbearable number of tourists, I couldn’t find a parking space. They were all taking photos of ‘pink lake’. Sigh. 

Thanks goodness, it was very quiet today. Towards midday, it got sunny. I don’t know what’s going on nearby, but it must have been some car racing, it was very noisy. I put on my trusted AirPods and listened to Beethoven symphonies, again. Blissful. 

I spent 2.5 hours. 

Oil on canvas. 14x18 in. 

Then I took a long walk to Fishermans Bend. That was lovely. 

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Oil painting lesson with Gregory Smith

The fifth session. 

Greg told me to stay away from the skull for a moment and do more work on the other two.

 

The big vase needed more weight and shape, so I lightened front and darkened the edges. 

I also put a handle above it. It was tricky but went well. 

Then Greg told me to paint letters on it while it’s still wet. I had thought it would be better to do it once it’s dry. That was very interesting. By painting wet on wet, paint flows naturally therefore looks more painterly. 

I had to wiped it off several times but it looks fine now. 

Then I did more work on the right one, making it look more chalky. 

I think it’s getting there. 

Work on progress. 16x20 in. 

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Oil painting at LastPeek Studio

I drove to my favourite studio in Thornbury this afternoon. 

We had Carmine. I painted him before. A great model to work with. 

Henry made a fabulous cake. It’s always great to see familiar faces. 

I’m happy with this one. 

I spent 2.5 hours. 

Unfinished 

Oil on panel. 16x20 in. 

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Self-portrait Oil Painting

Due to bad weather, I decided to do another selfie in my studio (bathroom), listening to Beethoven’s complete symphonies by Daniel Barenboim. What is my favourite? Hard to say, but, No 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9. No 1 is great, too. 

Blissful moment. 

I spent 2 hours. 

Oil on canvas. 12x9 in. 

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Oil painting lesson with Gregory Smith

The fourth session. 

I spent entire lesson working on the skull. 

The challenge is always, to create form and depth by reading subtle tonal shift. Utilising soft/hard edges and direction of brush strokes. 

The discussion with Greg about how to do the hollow area behind eye soket was particularly interesting. You need to push back the former and bring forward the latter. He put his finger behind the eye soket. But, how? Well, tone and edges!!

I’m enjoying this. 

Work in progress. 16x20 in. 

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Keeping an Eye Open - Julian Barnes

Erudite and lyrical, this beautifully written meditation on chosen artists and their paintings are also superbly narrated by Andrew Wincott. His tone of voice is very comfortable to my ears. 

Although I had to look for paintings online to get visual references the author was talking about, I didn’t think it was a chore. 

Gericault, Fantin-Latour, Redon, Vuillard, Vallotton, Oldenburg, Hodgkin... these are unknown painters to me. 

My favourite chapter is on Freud. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this Audible production. I learned a lot. 

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Landscape Artist of the Year

At last someone uploaded this series on YouTube so that we can watch. 

This time, it’s plein air painting. I wish I could take part in this ‘competition’. 

I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

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