Autumn Colours in Art

I love autumn, the crisp morning, leaves crunching underfoot. I love the low angle of the light in the morning and especially I love the colours. As you would expect I reflect this in some of my paintings, the colours bring a rich vibrancy to any interior space.

Autumn is a theme that is very popular, people love the colours and the warmth they bring to their interior. Whether it's a large painting or just a small piece of art, the tonal quality of autumn really can become an exceptional focal point in your home.

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Latest London Painting

My latest painting of the London landscape is of the Millennium Bridge from Carter Lane Gardens looking down Peter's Hill towards the Tate Modern. This bridge, yes the wobbly one, has quickly become a modern icon in the London landscape and connects the North with the Southbank near St Paul's cathedral.

Painted in grey monochrome tones, using a tonal popart style, creates a striking piece of urban cityscape art, a small piece of London for your interior design. Perfect your London apartment or if you just love this great city.

I have included here the original photographic image from which I worked to create this piece. I always carry a camera around London it's much easier than lugging a canvas and easel around!

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Free Expression

After spending much of my time in August painting images of London in my photorealistic style it's refreshing to be breaking out into the splash art style once again.

I love painting London and it's one of my major themes, but it is very labour intensive. The results are spectacular clearly demonstrating the impressive buildings of our capital city and they create a powerful presence in any interior design.

I now feel an urge to break free... at least for a short while it's time to move to the opposite end of the style spectrum and create some abstract works base on my splash art style. A complete change allowing for free expression in shape form and colour. It's great to be literally throwing paint at a canvas rather than concentrating on the detail.

 

This style of work looks very random and easy, however in order to gain a tonal balance across the whole painting it is actually quite difficult. The effect is built up from several layers of colour painted at varying stages of drying over a number of days. It is still a very free and loose technique however and a complete change to be able to express myself in such an abstract way.

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London Paintings

A continuing theme in my art is painting the landscape and cityscape of London. The iconic buildings and landmarks make a great subject of this wonderful city. Here are some of my recently completed works for those of you who love this city in which we work and play.

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London Art Commission

The View from Tower Bridge

40x30 inches London Commission

I was asked to create this London painting, the view from Tower Bridge including the London Assembly Building. My client had worked there for some time and was retiring and wanted a memory of an important element in her life.

A trip to London to take some photo images and working from these this was the resulting finished work a large painting with a real wow factor. Needless to say she was absolutely stunned, and very happy.

Commissioning a piece of art from me is very simple, all you have to do is let get in touch and we'll discuss your ideas about size colour style and theme. After that I'll create something stunningly beautiful and personal to you with a real Wow factor which will stay with you for the rest of your life.

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The Creative Dilemma... and an artist's solution

Now I'm usually pretty good and do eventually get round to finishing paintings that I've started, there is however a constant dilemma. Whilst I'm working on a painting, some of which take weeks I'm constantly thinking of my next idea., and in that amount of time you can come up with a lot of ideas!

The problem is you just can't turn your brain off!

As this creativity ferments and formulates into a finished design, in my head at least, my impatient side just wants to stop the work I'm on and get going on the next. Mostly I can control this urge, it is very frustrating for a creative person to hold back on those passionate thoughts which make you excited to be creating new things.

Currently I have a painting of the OXO Tower in London underway, seen here on the left. I'm looking forward to finishing it but it may be some weeks as I have already started my next London painting, an image of commuters crossing London Bridge with Tower Bridge & HMS Belfast in the background.

I just couldn't resist making a start on it. Just as I'm beginning this, one of those inspiring moments has come along and forced it's way into my brain again, an idea I've been thinking about for some time. An image of some bikes stacked in one of those beautiful corners of London under an archway in Butler's Wharf with Tower Bridge in the background.

I will, resist.... I must resist the temptation to start another until at least one of these is finished, I have to say however that If I don't I'll end up with some absolutely fantastic unfinished works and broke.

There is an alternative solution of course. If someone out there wants to commit to buying one of these works, I'll be happy to finish that one first for you... I'm looking forward to your offers!!     :0)

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Art for Grandad

Some of my paintings are very personal for example these abstracts are for my Grandad, no longer with us but still inspiring me despite his passing many years ago.

He worked as a miner all his life, always cheerful and always very hardworking. He used to come home from the pit black with coal dust and his white eyes and smile were a joy to see.

Every morning before he left to descend into the depths of the earth I used to watch him light a fire in the hearth to keep the family warm and to provide hot water. He never complained, he just cheerfully went about his tasks.

Grandad's Embers

Anthracite

These two abstracts reflect some of this, the orange is for the hearth and fire he lit to keep us warm, the greys and black are for the coal he used to dig, and the white is for his bright shining cheerful eyes.

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Every Picture has a story.. this one went to war!

A few weeks ago I recieved an email for a serving soldier in Afganistan, the long and the short of it was that he was a fan of my work, had 10 months to go until coming home next March. His room/accomodation had no window and could I send him a painting on loan to brighten up his view?

He sent me picture to show how dismal it is.

Well after a bit of consideration and internet searching to make sure he was who he said he was... one has to be a little cautious, I sent one of my landscape paintings, in the hope that when he looks at it it will remind him of a traquil Engish dawn waiting for him when he gets back to our green and pleasant land. I think it does the job perfectly.

I explained to him that I didn't do loans, and that I don't want it back hopefully one day when he's chief of staff he'll give me an MOD contract :0)... actually it's good do a kindness and he deserves it for his cheekyness and lateral thinking, which afterall is what makes our army better than most.

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moral booster for the British Army!

Bad tasting art

Last week Tracy Emin's "Unmade Bed" sold for £2.2m ....

I can't help but think that if you have more sense you would probably want to spend your money on something much more pleasant that you can actually hang on your wall and enjoy. I get that if you're mega rich you might want to demonstrate this by investing in objects with notoriety but you might also want to spread some of your wealth in areas that are more deserving.

Whilst I'm very pleased for Tracy and happy that Saatchi made a profit on his £150k investment I can't help but think that spread around £2.2m could have done a lot more good to hard working artists trying to make a living without the backing of Saatchi or the patronage of the very rich.

I often toy with the idea of producing one piece of work and pricing it so high it seems to the majority to be ridiculously priced but so far I haven't been able to bring myself to do it. The most expensive piece in my gallery - simonsgallery.com - is £3750 and this is a painting of The Great Wave of Kanagawa. taking 5 weeks to complete I think I'm probably under pricing myself too. I like my art to transform a room and yes it can be controvertial but mostly it enhances how you feel about the world and your environment.

I don't resent other artist's success and good fortune and if you're wealthy beyond most peoples comprehension good luck to you, but I think it's a sad comment on society now that there are people so rich, where money means so little to them and they can pay £2.2m for an unmade bed! Surely there are worthier causes, it seems to me to be less about art and more about money and PR..... personally I think it demonstrates bad taste.

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London Underground

 

I love painting images of London. often taking inspiration from some of my photography as is the case with these paintings themed on the London Underground signs outside of tube stations. I'm not sure if I'll manage to get all 270 stations completed but it's an interesting prospect.

As you can see these have proved a popular theme in my art and many have been sold already including Piccadily, Canary Wharf and Waterloo, I guess it's a great way to show you love London by owning one of these iconic images of London and certainly a cool way to express yourself in your interior design. I certainly enjoy painting them and if there is a particular station which has significance for you then I'm happy to come along & take a photo of it & paint you a very personal memory of London for you.

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Art Commission

A client had seen one of my earlier small works and emailed me to ask if I could reproduce a larger painting in the same style and colours. I was happy to oblige.

The original was painted onto an mdf panel and was an abstract landscape with the title "Summer Storm".

As the commissioned work was to be larger to hang in a space above a sofa I suggested that the new work be painted onto canvas, as the larger size would make using mdf too heavy.

I remained faithful to the colour palette of the original for this commission & tried, and I think succeeded, in achieving the same level of intensity, light & movement.

It's great to be able to create something individual for a client, and from their standpoint they get exactly what they want to fit with their interior design.

I have given the new work the title of "Summer Storm Passing", a promise of brighter horizons to come, and as for the client's reaction... in their words..... "WOW!"

As you can see from the images below it certainly was a lovely work and one I was very pleased with.

 

If you would like to commission a work of art for your space, then just go to my website and take a look at the various styles and individual works I've created past and present. I'm always happy to work with you to create something special for your particular needs which is unique to you.

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Spring has Sprung

The first warm days of spring bring out the blossom in the trees, a special time of year marking the end of darker winter days. I've been continuing to explore the theme of spring through April & May and my studio as a result has been full of blossom, really quite cheery. From the stark brown and black of winter in the hedgerows an explosion of white occurs early in the season and looks wonderful set against a deep blue sky. A few weeks later the leaves begin to appear and a flush of green is introduced to the palette.

I've also been experimenting with different background colours and it would seem that this style works with most tones. Here the blossom is set against brown and red and both work equally well.

Painted in abstract style, built up in numerous layers, these pieces of art will bring some spring colour and light into your living space with real style and will remind you of how wonderful this season is, even if the weather can be a little challenging at times. Feel free to give me a call or send me an email if you would like to specify a size or colour combination for your own commissioned blossom and bring a real wow factor to your interior design.

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London Old & New

 

I just love painting the London Cityscape, the mixing the new buildings with the old must be a tricky business for the architects and planners. Their efforts make for an interesting mix in my paintings. My latest work shows the Millennium Bridge, yes the wobbly one!, with St Paul's in the background and is a great example of how modern architecture can quickly mix comfortably with the older buildings in this ever changing landscape.

Painted in a photorealistic popart style I used a limited tonal pallet to create a striking piece of art bringing the urban cityscape to your living space and a little piece of iconic London for those that love this great city.

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