Hi, this page is displaying some of the work I have done from images and photographs following a trip in 1992 from Luxor to Aswan along the Nile. As ever I am trying to give some idea of how I have produced the work, or what inspired me to do a particular painting. None of my paintings are for sale unless specifically indicated.
This picture is a composite of a number of photos I took on that trip and is not of any particular vista. I have tried similar images in pastel but the one on the left was an experiment using gouache on papyrus. It has inspired me to try other work on papyrus but let’s wait and see…
On the right is a version painted in Oil Pastel over a watercolour base on 140lb Eggshell Bockingford half imperial.
This scene, which is imaginary, was the first pastel painting that I did which I was really pleased with, vibrant colours, good depth of colour and then… I thought ought to fix it. I got my brand new can of aerosol fixative, gave it a good vigorous shaking and sprayed. Those dark bit you see in the sky did not exist before I fixed it. I am now very cautious about fixing pastel and use the bottles of fixative and the blowpipe.
Shan’t. On the left is a photo I took from a river boat on the Nile. It was a spur of the moment photo captured in black and white and developed by myself. Not shown in this image and not noticed until the print was developed but bottom right was a young lad about 7 or 8 without a stitch on wading into the Nile. On the right is a pencil drawing drawn on 100lb Medium cartridge paper.
On the left the same image this time drawn in charcoal on 160gsm Mi Tientes pastel paper. I think I have captured in this drawing the effort being made by the boy to move the ass. On the right again the same image this time drawn using tinted charcoal on 160gsm Mi Tientes pastel paper. I like this medium because of the subtle hints of colour, almost a glow, it gives rather than the strong in your face results from watercolour or acrylic.
Changing the medium again, on the left is an ink wash painting using only sepia and burnt umber artists acrylic ink on Galleria Acrylic Paper. Finally, so far, is a pastel painting using only white soft pastel on black pastel paper. This last painting is probably the most difficult because you are producing a positive image using a negative medium and you have to tell your brain to think about it more. The rocks in the foreground seem to work quite well in this drawing.
