Examples of postcard and A3 actual reproductions from my paintings..

Postcard for Hogarth Singers summer concert. Click for full size view.

A3 Poster for Hogarth Singers summer concert. Click for full size view.

A big thank you to my brother Jimm for Flash animating this painting! You can see the original static painting below and how he has made the various features come to life. The original painting ‘Last light on Reva Reservoir‘ is for sale and Jimms skills are for hire! You can find out more about Jimm here.

Acrylic Painting : Last Light on Reva Reservoir

Acrylic Painting : Last Light on Reva Reservoir. Click on image for a larger view.

Reva Reservoir is found on the Otley Road, very close to Bingley (West Yorkshire), and was completed in 1874. It is considered to be a Yorkshire attraction and groups are often there sailing at weekends. It’s a strange reservoir because it appears to have been thrust upon the landscape – as though a giant had simply placed a massive bowl down and allowed it to fill with water! The land just falls away at the side. In this painting I hoped to capture the last light (or gloaming).

This painting is available for sale so please contact me for more information or to arrange a private viewing. Painted with artists quality ‘professional’ Daler Rowney Cryla paints.

Rgds. Julia

Oil painting Almscliffe Cragg from Stainburn Chruch. Click on image for a larger view

En route to my studio in April 2010 I was pleasantly surprised to come across this view of Almscliffe Cragg from the Otley side (Only just outside Otley to the north east). Probably one of the lesser seen views – but well worth a look. Find St Marys church at Stainburn and walk through to the back. There is a gate leading to a public footpath across the hills. If you stop at the gate you are rewarded with this view. I’m sure the villagers of Stainburn keep it a closely guarded secret!

I photographed this in my studio while the paint was still wet under low light and fluorescent tubes – So not great quality … and the surface is still shiny! I will add it to my main gallery once the paint is dry and it has been professionally photographed.

This is not a commission so it is for sale! Please contact me for more information and to arrange a private viewing.

Regards

Julia

Update: I’m secretly pleased that this painting has won 2 Flickr awards in under 48hrs!   Please see my Flickr Photostream for more.

After taking many photographs of the scene I made a few pencil sketches and ultimately came up with a rough acrylic sketch (Which i’ll use as the basis for the actual painting). I used Daler Rowney Cryla acrylics for this sketch..

Initial acrylic sketch of Reva Reservoir near Otley

Then I stretched the canvas, added a yellow ochre background and let that dry. Once dry I painted a very simple outline of the basic image. The outline is only a guide and i paint over it and alter the areas if needed…

Reva Reservoir - Phase 1 - Ochre background and lining out

Next I quickly underpainted the basic areas of the painting using the darkest colours (I’ll be working from dark to light)…

Reva Reservoir - Phase 2 - Underpainting

and that’s it to date. I’ll update this post the next few days once the underpainting has dried and i can do more work..

Julia

The canvas been built up in several layers (Mostly dry brushed – without mediums). The photo below is deceptive in that you can’t see the surface texture… it is just a happy snap! I’m intregued by the way it looks and feels like a sketch at a distance but, on closer inspection, is clearly a textured oil painting. I’ve mixed very specific greys using red, yellow, blue & white to intentionally look like graphite – and varied the tones for interest. It will be challenging now to try and interpret something similar in colour.

Click for a larger view

I’ll leave it for few days and go back to it – if i feel any more needs to be done.

A couple of close ups..

Click for a larger view

Click for a larger view

Julia

Rgds Julia

Art studio Harrogate. Click for a larger view.

Visitors will be welcomed but please contact me to arrange times. I’ll add some more pics to my blog once I have my work installed.

Rgds Julia

Click for a larger view.

Click for a larger view

I’ve spent some time this week working on a client commission. The brief included the following criteria..

• Interpret the local landscape in my style.
• Realism – not abstract.
• Contemporary.
• Not nostalgic or sentimental.
• Linear.
• Greyscale.
• Tree as a fundamental object while encompassing a wide area of landscape.

It is fortunate that the landscape is very near here and I have a great affection for it. It is quite beautiful while not being ‘pretty.’ Its a working landscape with farms all around and the huge Chevin Hill rising up behind covered in pine trees and outcrops of rocks. I really liked the tree at the front… and, being winter, you could almost see through it….I shall really bring that idea out in the actual painting. Oh, and i loved the bath the farmer has been using for water – brilliant! Can you find it?

Otley Acrylic Landscape Sketch With Chevin Hill And Tree. Idea to interpret in oil paint - Probably 1 metre wide. The sketch above was done at 80cms. Please click for a larger view.

The image above is a draft idea for interpretation in paint. When it is executed i’ll focus on..

• Keeping it 2D (Flat) while indicating the distance landscape – a heady challenge!
• Balancing numerous grey shades and using white highlights.
• Making brush strokes linear and sharp (Almost like a drawing) – cutting through several layers of oil paint.

The oil painting will be far more considered – with layers of paint built up. I don’t want to fully interpret the image until my client has approved the principle – then i can develop the idea more fully… Or come up with new ideas!

Sketchbook..

Quick linear charcoal sketches - Simple information gathering. Please click for a larger view.

Make the final oil painting using layers of paint and sharp lines. Keep it flat.

rgds. Julia

Acrylic painting of the river Wharfe and TittyBottle park from the bridge. Click on the picture for a larger view.

Cryla heavy body acrylics on canvas (80×50 cms).  TittyBottle Park is a small triangular strip of land along the right hand side of the river (Where the benches are in the above image). TittyBottle is the local affectionate name for Manor Parade Gardens on Mill Lane (Originally called Milne Leys). Generations of mothers have taken babies to the park – hence its name!