86x8x6 LEARNING TO PAINT: June 2013

07 June, 2013

SOME OF MY OLD STUFF

Don't Laugh!

If you think my current efforts are poor, wait until you see these, lol. Since changing this blog from an "oil painting" blog to "all media", I thought I should post some of my older trials. Despite everything, quite a few are sold or have been claimed by friends/family.

The piece above is 30x22" and won
1st prize in a local Art Exhibition

05 June, 2013

THE LITTLE BRASS BOX COMPANY

James Fletcher-Watson Studio Palette

This is my most prized possession - my JFW Studio Palette. It's a handmade (in the UK) solid brass paintbox by John Hurtley of Macclesfield - otherwise known as The Little Brass Box Company.

I'm quite proud to say that mine was the very first JFW palette that John made and it is numbered "039". Every part of the palette is made using hand tools in the tiny workshop at John's home. Below are some photos of the box during its construction and in its final form.

And here it is with the paint added...

The centre tray inbetween the two rows of paints is removable and I've asked John if it's possible to have a spare "insert-tray" made which will accommodate brushes for use plein air. Here's the drawing I sent to him...

04 June, 2013

PAINTING EQUIPMENT

All The Gear & No Idea!

I decided to have a clear out in my home office / hobbyroom and it was at that point that I realised just how much stuff I've collected over the years. I obviously have some sort of fetish for palettes! Here's just SOME of the stuff I found. In addition to this, there's more at the caravan including the magnificent OpenBox M Pochade set!

Our Own Art-Club!

Each Friday we go to the local Art-Club in Horwich. It's a thriving club with a broad range of people of all ages and skill-levels. Apart from the regular painting sessions, we have many professional artists visiting us to demonstrate their skills and to run workshops.

But sometimes, it's nice when just a few friends get together mid-week too, and so here we are in Simon's "studio", benefitting from the skill and experience of his father, Brian Waddington. It looks a bit cramped in there, but we were just huddled together to fit in the photo frame :-)

And you can drink beer in this club! :-)

INTRODUCTION

Thank you for visiting my blog! It's my intention to post each of my paintings here as I go through the learning process. As you will soon discover, I am pretty damned awful at painting, but I am, at least, determined to get better. Hopefully, my work will show improvement over the coming months.

Originally, this blog was just about learning to paint in oils, and I was going to do 86 paintings in quick succession on 8"x6" panels using my Jullian pochade box. But that didn't quite workout, so I'm now going to make it about oils, watercolours, acrylics, whatever!

The oil-paints I use are either Winsor & Newton Griffin Alkyds which are quick drying, or Cobra Water-Mixable oils. I am seeking to develop a very loose and impressionistic style as I go along. To me, detail is the enemy!

Some of the paintings will be copies of someone elses work (ie from books), but as I improve, I hope to do a lot of plein air painting instead. Luckily, I live close to many well known beauty-spots.

UPDATE :
Since starting this blog, I've bought some W&N Artisan Oil paints which are water-based. They seem no different at all from the Griffin Alkyds and are far easier to work with in terms of cleaning up afterwards. Only down-side of course is that they're not dry with 24hrs like the Griffins.

UPDATE :

Bought a 12"x 10" OpenBox M Pochade setup to compliment my tiny Jullian. After using it with a 10x8 oil-panel, I must admit - it seems far easier to paint bigger than smaller! This kit, by the way, is a cracking pochade box. A bit on the expensive side, but luckily, I got mine on Ebay very cheaply. It will take panels or canvases up to 18 inches wide which is extremely versatile.

I've recently become interested in Digital Painting and have started to post those too. I normally use ArtRage on the iPad and PC but have just started to learn Corel Painter 2019 which I have installed on my Microsoft Surface Pro 5.

If you like any of my Digital Paintings, you can always contact me on tommcquiggan@gmail.com and ask for a FREE COPY of the image. I will send you a copy of the file via email and you can then have it printed onto canvas (or photo-paper) at your local Tesco, etc, to the size that suits you.

Please note that some of my earlier attempts at digital painting were done at low-resolution, so they may not be suitable for large scale canvases.