Nude in white robe

Nude in white robe
Oil on stretched Canvas

She was a lovely model, older than the others and a mother, but still a very lovely model.

Modeling for us was the first time she modeled for an artist group, and she did it fantastically. It is a pity that she can no longer model for us, I'd like to have done more of her.

Pink Bikini - Oil on board

Pink Bikini
Oil on board
20cm x 15cm

I've cheated here... or is it more a case of artistic license? The figure here never existed as is, it is a composite of a few reference photos with the gaps filled by my imagination. The painting was an exercise in light and painting with tones.
I enjoyed the contrast of the bright blue sky against the warm flesh tones of the sunlight figure... or is it the other way around?

Reclining Nude on a Persian Carpet

This is one of those paintings that I just fell in love with! (which seems a bit egotistical since it's my own painting)

It was a simple life study that works. The brush strokes are bolder than my normal style and the detail is in the suggested shape.

The model is a pleasure to work with; not only is she beautiful, but she's also got a natural understanding of what the artist expects of a model.

Reclining Nude on a Persian Carpet
410mm x 300mm
SOLD

Standing Nude - oil painting - Alla prima

Standing Nude - Alla Prima
Oil on canvas - 25cm x 36cm

This is from the archives - which in my case is a pile of paintings that have been stacked away in a dark cupboard, mostly of unfinished paintings and paintings that desperately deserve to be shredded... finding this one was a nice little surprise.

The model for this painting was a lovely mother of one in her early thirties, she decided she wanted to try modeling for an artist group - we were very happy that she chose us. She has a lovely figure and a very pleasant manor.

The paint on here is very thin on a canvas roughly primed with gesso, it's the texture in the gesso that you see, not really the brush strokes.

The painting was completed in one two hour session so the size was a perfect fit for the amount of painting time I had available, any bigger and it would have looked incomplete - smaller and it would have looked overworked.

Reclining Nude

Reclining Nude

Oil on Canvas board
300mm x 225mm
SOLD

This little painting was on the easel at the same time as 'Reclining nude on Persian carpet' - I've found that at times it is a very good idea to have a smaller painting available to work on so that I don't over paint the piece I'm working on.
In this case the smaller one was where I tested my colour mixes before applying it to the bigger painting; colours and tone need to be caefully mixed before applying.... as it turns out it turned out this experiment, or side project, became one of my favorites.
The painting has an alla prima feel to it, but it was done over about three sessions with the model.

When I listed 'Standing Nude' on a local auction site... I accidentally loaded the image of the original 'Reclining nude', which was already sold in March!

To my amazement it was snapped up within hours of posting it; I had to cancel the auction, which left my buyer disappointed. I offered him this painting as an alternative - he accepted two days later he had the painting an I had the cash.

I've got to get this model to pose for me again... she's lovely!

Alice... again

This is the last session we had with this model.

She'd come to the session after session of a completely different kind: she spent the afternoon drinking at the local pub. Not knowing this we set her up in a standing pose... she spent the evening swaying from one side to the other... and it was impossible to get her back into the correct pose after every break (which were frequent).

During the course of the night I did 4 sketches; this was the best.

200mm x 300mm
Pastel Pencil on Canson paper
Click here to bid on this sketch

Elna 8 & 9 - November 2008

This is the lovely Elna, she blew everyone away the first night she posed.

She's got fantastic figure, no doubt about that, but it's her attitude that blew us away. She's been posing for other groups since she was 14, and the experience shows - she is the most confident model we've had in the time I've been painting.

These were painted in the first session with us. I put up two canvas boards, to try two different compositions. Only one was meant to be painted, but I was having so much fun painting that they both progressed to a point of completion. I love both of them.

This was the 'final' work

This was supposed to be the sketch or practice painting... but
I enjoyed it so much that it continued living past it's
intended life span.

Chronologically she should not be here... I'm going to jump between older and newer paintings - I'm behind on updating.

Diane - 7 November 2007

This was a short sitting (about 1 hour) and it was a with the purpose of trying Richard Schmidt's technique of working the drawing out of a mix of burnt sienna and ivory black.

It's a fairly simple technique, but can be very difficult to master. I was lucky with this one; I liked the result.

The painting starts by covering the entire canvas with a thinned mixture of burnt sienna and ivory black (the mix should be blotchy so that you have patches of sienna and patches of black) - the mixture is thinned with turpentine. Once the canvas is prepared it needs a short while to dry, it's time to start painting again once the paint no longer is able to run.

The painting is then done by both painting fresh tones of the sienna / black mix and by using a cloth to rub away the coloured texture causing highlights. I.e. Paint the darks and rub out the lights.

The pose is exactly as was in Richard Schmidt's book and I followed his instructions closely. This was to be the under painting with a more complete colour painting worked over it, but I liked it so much that I was compelled to stop.

We had a small exhabition at the office (I work for a large South African retailer) and this painting was sold within the first hour of being on display. It was never meant to be a finished work of art so I the selling price was very low (the buyer actually gave me more than my asking price!)

Oil on board - SOLD

Christine - 4 (5& 6) (September 2007)

Christine was a challenge.

There was something about her that managed to drain inspiration, I don't know what it was about her that was so incongruent with my idea of the perfect woman that it I battled to capture her.

She was confident without her clothes, almost excited to have us see her nude... but in a weird way... think of a fat, middle aged, balding man that is confident about his nudity; no one wants to see that kind of nudity, yet they persist in showing it to us. The way she presented herself was like that, except she had nice breasts and beautiful skin.

I still don't know how to explain it, but she and my artistic sense clashed with catastrophic results.

I did three paintings of her, this is the best of the batch. I loved the way the green flows through the entire picture.

I'm going to claim artistic licence and count all three sessions, but I'm only going to present you with the one.

"Green Christine" - Oil on board
(For sale)

Betty - 3 (October 2007)

Betty sat for us for one session.
We often leave paints at home for once off sessions - the medium to inevitably ends up being charcoal or pastel. This one is pastel pencil on Canson paper.

Betty never sat for us after this session, I think there was a general feeling of being deceived - she advertised herself as being; trim and blond. Well Betty turned out to be Nigerian and trim is not the correct adjective. If she never misrepresented herself she would have been invited back for a longer pose. I would loved to have done a painting of her.

She sat brilliantly and I am very fond of this drawing.

I often get asked about her nipples and breasts - yes they were that size and shape. That is the wonderful thing about figure drawing/painting - we get to be amazed at the abundance of variation when it comes to the human body!
You'll hear me repeating this often; am so privileged to be able to to figure study.

Pastel pencil on Canson paper