Category: Acrylic

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Exhibition at The Tech Holmfirth

Good morning everyone. As I promised, here is a look at some of the paintings I chose for my exhibition at the Tech Holmfirth. The image above is the one we put on the poster. And I called it Welsh Mountain, referring to the scenery, of course. And also the type of sheep in the field, although, as I am no expert, I might be wrong on that!

Another of my landscapes is this more abstract acrylic painting, Pink and Orange. Actually, this started off as some shapes and colours, put down at random. Then I could see a suggestions of a seascape, so I worked with it. And I really enjoyed laying down paint with a palette knife on to a canvas panel.

Perhaps I showed you this before, my Highland cow gouache painting. But I thought it would look good at The Tech Holmfirth, so I included it in the show. By the way, I gave it the title ‘Sitting Pretty’!

Finally, an acrylic painting of a hare which I did at a workshop by one of my art buddies, arranged for a group we both belong to. And, the best bit is, I did it in a style I don’t normally paint in and finished it in 2 hours! That’s what I like about art, there’s always something new to learn! Anyway, this is just a small selection of the 30 artworks we put up on the walls. And I hope you enjoyed having a little glimpse of my work.

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Plein Air Paintings at Wentworth

Good morning everyone. I had a great time this weekend, doing plein air paintings at the We Wonder festival at Wentworth Woodhouse, in Yorkshire UK. Actually, we were invited to take part, to demonstrate plein air paintings and chat to visitors. It was brilliant! This is the first of two pictures that I completed. And I spent a blissful couple of hours standing in a quiet glade in the forest. Btw, there were quite a few signs of autumn already!

And this is my second painting, done as I was standing in a busy area in the grounds. We were watching the kites flying over the fields, a lovely sight. Even the rain showers didn’t spoil what was a delightful day.

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Exhibition Round Up

Good morning everyone. I thought I would bring you all up to date with my arty activities. So, I delivered this acrylic painting ‘Sundown’ and the highland cow one- ‘Sitting Pretty’ – to Holmfirth Civic Hall yesterday. And they will both be on show in the Holmfirth Artweek, a huge charity fund raising event starting on Sunday.

Actually, I’m also taking part in a group event for the Artweek, but more of that later. Finally, yesterday I delivered my two paintings to Skelmanthorpe Gallery which were accepted into the Summer Open Art event.

This acrylic painting is based on several photos of Glencoe, Scotland and you may recognise the scenery. Because it was featured in a Bond film a few years ago! And this one you have seen already. They will both be on show from this Saturday – wish me luck in the competition!

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Urban Life Exhibition Starting Soon

Good morning everyone. This is one of my three entries for the Urban Life exhibition at Skelmanthorpe Library Gallery. And I was just getting them ready to deliver this morning. Actually, I choose two paintings from my stash, which happened to be bang on trend. But this one here I created especially for the show. I’ve called it Home Sweet Home. And it literally is on my own street, a row of late Victorian terrace houses. In fact, this in one of the very distinctive passage ways between the main street and the small back gardens behind the houses. And we are precisely 7 minutes walk from the town centre. So, it’s really a picture of real Urban Life as I know it!

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Abstraction in Acrylic Landscape Painting

Good morning everyone. Abstraction in acrylic landscape painting – I’ve finally achieved it! Actually, I was so pleased when I came away from a workshop on Saturday with this semi-abstract landscape. To be honest, this is the furthest I’ve ever gone down the abstraction road when painting a countryside scene. In fact, our tutor encouraged us to experiment with mark making, including using a palette knife. And I think that was what helped me to stop paying too much attention to detail and accuracy.

The theme was clouds, weather and atmosphere. And, there certainly looks to be plenty of weather in those clouds! Anyway, another new method for me was to paint on a thin layer of gesso first before painting. So that way there was an opportunity to add some texture as well as a lovely surface to paint on. Of course, now I’m very keen to practise this. However, I’m busy for the next few days getting stuff ready for Artwalk Wakefield – this year I’m taking part myself! So, I’ll have to be patient, and wait a little while before I experiment with more abstraction in acrylic landscape painting.

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My Second New Style Portrait

Good morning everyone. This is my second new style portrait and I promised to show you how it turned out. So, here it is! And I decided to title it ‘What’s Next?’. Actually, I don’t have much inspiration when it comes to inventing titles! Anyway, I’m pleased to say that I feel that I am making progress with learning how to paint better portraits. So much so that I felt confident enough to show the unfinished painting to my artbuddies. And test out ideas about changing the background colour of the portrait. So I decided to go ahead with this purpley blue colour.

As these are really practice paintings, I’m content to leave it as it is now. And remember the lessons I’ve learnt to try out on the next one. Hint – it’s a fairly famous person ( in England anyway!)

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A New Style of Portrait

Good morning everyone. This is a new style of portrait for me! Actually, I don’t think I have ever produced such a decent attempt and all because I’m following a course on online. You see, I never went to art school or had any formal training in the basics. So, I’m lapping it up! Anyway, this is my first try at putting the principles I’ve learned into action. And there’s another one on the easel half finished, so wish me luck!

By the way, I’m busy at the moment setting up a little shop. So, watch this space!

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A New Painting on Canvas

Good morning everyone. Here’s one of my latest works on canvas, in acrylic actually. I thought it was time that I set myself a few challenges. So, this new painting is one, a sunset, a subject I have always avoided! In the end, I really enjoyed myself laying down these delicious colours of orangy gold and blue. I hope you like it. And, I promise to show you some more of my self imposed challenges soon!

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Three Paintings at Library Gallery

Good morning everyone. We had the preview of a new exhibition at Skelmanthorpe Library Gallery on Saturday morning. And it was great to meet some of the artists and admire our work together! This one is an acrylic painting of an echinacea flower.

One of my three paintings is ‘Walking alongside Langsett Reservoir’, this brings back lovely memories of family walks in all weathers!

And, finally, my gouache painting of ‘A Castle in Portugal’ . The exhibition is on till September, so there’s plenty of time to see it!

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New Exhibition at Choppards Mission

Good morning everyone. Well, we are right in the middle of our exhibition/artfair at Choppards Mission. The beautiful stone building we are in is now a church. And it’s our venue for a fringe event for Holmfirth Artweek. So, we are open until Saturday, there’s still time to go and have a look.

If I say so myself, our display of work is very pleasing! And, if you look at the poster closely, you will see my gouache painting of an old barn.

Sorry about the reflections on this one, the sun was streaming through the window! Anyway, I am really pleased with the display space I have got. Perhaps you can see the white plastic ‘bargain box ‘ ? I sold two drawings from this box, this is one here.

In fact, I had very pleasant chat with the lady who bought this. And she and her husband knew this beautiful spot in the Yorkshire Dales very well! It’s a plein air watercolour sketch of the hills near Kilnsey Crag.

And this Canalside View is an old favourite of mine, but I was glad to see it go to a new home.

I also sold a few cards and two more paintings and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself being a part of our event at Choppards Mission.

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Curiosities Exhibition in the Market

Good morning everyone. I thought I would update you about our Curiosities exhibition – we’ve moved it to our space in Rotherham market. Maybe you remember I’m a member of a brilliant group of artists called Rotherham Roar. And we had our opening event on Saturday, a chance to talk to fellow artists and shoppers!

This is me and my art buddy, he really liked my painting of a human body cell. (You can just see that one on the left. In fact, that was the one that was chosen for the article in n the Arts supplement of the Rotherham Advertiser. I was so surprised and pleased! You can see it in the top image.

This is my ‘Ocean Girl’ and she was a late addition to the show. If you look closely, you can see all the sea creatures that like to to be with her. And her hair and clothing is made of sea weed.

Finally, here we have a dragon, a hawk moth and Medusa, with snakes for hair. To be honest, it’s been a real pleasure to be a part of this quirky exhibition with my buddies from Rotherham Roar.

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Two Different Kinds of Abstract

Good morning everyone. This is what’s on my easel at the moment and I must stress, it’s not finished! But, I spent a very pleasant hour getting it to this stage and it started me thinking about the different kinds of abstract I like to paint. For example, this type I would call instinctive or intuitive because I had no plan . However, I do think that some deep feelings do surface as I am painting in this way. Of course, no one may notice apart from myself. Hopefully, it will also be a fairly pleasing arrangement of shapes and colours, whether it has a deeper meaning or not .

This is a close up of different ways of applying paint, such as palette knife, dripping and scratching out. I think it just adds interest ( I love doing it too!)

And in this one, I used thin wash, stippling and spattering.

Now this was done in a totally different way – in this class we were shown how to study a real 3d ceramic object. Then take inspiration from its shape, texture and so on and I actually did find this a fascinating way to work. So, there we have at least two different kinds of abstract, but I am sure there must be more. If you paint abstracts, which method do you like to use in your creative practice?

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Acrylic Painting and Ink Drawing

Good morning everyone. As I said in my last post,see here, I’m feeling very inspired by flowers at the moment. And then there’s my new thing, ink drawing! Anyway, this beautiful bunch of carnations bloomed for so long that I just had to paint it. Actually, I really enjoyed painting larger in acrylic for a change. Because I’ve been so busy lately, my creative work has been smaller and quicker. However, this is big and more finished off and very bright!

It wasn’t without problems though. And the main one was mixing a strong pink colour for the flowers. When I finally managed to do this, I couldn’t capture the colour in the photo. Incidentally, has anyone else had these problems with pink?

Now, don’t laugh – this is my first dip pen drawing of a little creature! So, quite a learning curve, and lots of experimenting with pressure, added water and trying to create texture. To be honest, I even tried applying the background with a brush. My art buddy gave me this little pen and I’m looking forward to more attempts at ink drawing. By the way, thanks to another art friend for the image.

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Look at my Flower Paintings

Good morning everyone. My apologies for not being around very much, but I have been very busy with arty stuff. There’s a lot more going on now and I don’t want to miss an opportunity! Anyway, Penistone Arts Weeks is over now and I’m pleased to report that I made a few sales with my flower paintings. For example, these two here, the Sea Thistle and the Sunflower went to new homes almost straight away. Then I sold my poppies painting ( in the image below). Despite the fact that it was on display in quite a shady spot, as you can tell in this photo!

However, it was a great experience to be in a lovely, busy cafe in the middle of town. Happily. being involved in this art festival with other creatives has lead to other exciting events. For example, our group have been invited to show work in a gorgeous florists and gift shop in town! So, I chose another of my flower paintings to go on display.

Actually, I think that this will look good in the beautiful surroundings of Hacketts, which is right next to St. John the Baptist’s church, in the old town centre. Of course, I will report back on that soon. Meanwhile, I haven’t stopped painting! And, I couldn’t resist following along a free online tutorial on watercolour painting. And this dreamy portrait of a rose was the result! Since then I have painted a vase of carnations, but I’ll save that for another post! You could have a look at more flower paintings in this post here.

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New Show for Arts Week

Four Flowers

Hi everyone. I know it’s been a longish time since I posted. But I’ve got two good excuses – I’ve been very busy with arty stuff. And there are still problems with my website. Anyway, this image shows some of my paintings in the new show that we have installed at the lovely Generations Cafe Bar. And it’s for the arts week. Happily, I was invited to take part in the Arts Week in Penistone, a little town near where I live. And we have created a High Street Gallery, so you can see our art in shops, windows and cafes etc.

The Poster

As you can see, there’s lots going on. And I was so pleased to be allocated a busy, welcoming cafe right in the middle of the art walk for my new show.

Spinning Jenny

Actually, this one is all about the wool industry here in Yorkshire, UK. And I was so pleased to have the opportunity to show this painting again for the arts week.

The Progress of Mankind

Finally, you might remember this one from recently, when I had it displayed in the fab Urban Commune Gallery in Wakefield. That’s all for now and I’ll show you even more soon!

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January Sale in Wakefield Gallery

Going for a Swim

Good morning everyone. Things are still a bit dodgy here, so I’ll hurry up and write this post while I can! Actually, I don’t think that I showed you this acrylic painting before. In fact, I almost forgot that I had painted it. And I found it while going through my stash. Because I was looking for work to put in our January sale at The Urban Commune.

The Face of the Sunflower

This one was a study in watercolour for a series on flowers, seen close up. Perhaps you remember four small canvases in acrylic – sunflower, oriental poppy, cone flower and pansy in this post here ?

The Pink Pig

While I was looking for unframed stuff for the January sale, I pulled out my pink pig! And I do remember the fun I had painting this, with the help of Simon, our tutor. Happy Days!

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My New Show at Commune

New Show

Good morning everyone. Well, I’m back for now! This is my new show. But I’m still struggling with my website. Incidentally, if you’re wondering who madpainter is, it’s me!

Anyway, I’ve been very busy in the meantime and this image shows my new show at The Urban Commune. I love the place, and I was thrilled for the opportunity to show my paintings on canvas in this gallery.

The Setup

In fact, it didn’t take us too long to install this, we’re getting better at it now!

Me, Looking Delighted

To be honest, I’ve been very busy recently with my arty stuff. But when opportunities come up, I can’t say no! For example, this morning we went to suss out a lovely cafe to display my work in. I can’t wait to set it up! More of that later.

Finally, if I were to chose a favourite painting in my new show, it would be this one . The Silk Princess. To be honest, I really would like to refer you to another post which tells the backstory of this acrylic painting. However, I can’t do that at the moment. Here’s hoping that things will only get better!

The Silk Princess
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Happy Christmas to you All

Christmas Eve in the Mountains

Good morning everyone. This is the ‘Happy Christmas’ acrylic painting I chose for my card this year. Actually, I didn’t think it printed out so well, but friends and family seemed to like it! Perhaps as artists we are sometimes too critical of our own work. Obviously a little bit of objectivity about our own work is helpful. But I do know a few amateur artists who have no confidence at all and that can be toxic. Anyway, I enjoyed painting the cool colours of the ice and snow, contrasted with the warm brown and gold of the cottage.

The Call of the Wild

I don’t think I’ve posted this before, something from a few years ago. In fact, at that time I had a great tutor. And I learnt such a lot in the years I went to Simon’s class. As you can tell by this painting, which I would have struggled to do on my own then.

Finally, this is an on the spot watercolour sketch of the snow of last year’s winter. And, I couldn’t call it ‘plein air’ because we were sitting in the car! Happy Christmas everyone and keep on painting!

The View from Woolley Edge
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Christmas Fair at the Urban Commune

The Path Through the Fields

Good morning everyone. I’ll just make this a short post because I’m not sure whether it will succeed. In fact, I’m having loads of trouble with my blog and I apologise if I don’t see and like your posts. Actually, I’m very limited with what I can do, with no hope of any progress until the beginning of January. Anyway, we went to the Christmas fair at Urban Commune and, for the first time ever, I had a stall! And this is a gouache painting that I finished while I was minding the stall.

Painting at the Christmas Fair

As you can see, I had a great time – met some lovely people and connected with new artists. I even got a chocolate sweet from Caribbean Santa!

Caribbean Santa and his Chief Helper at the Christmas Fair

Also, there was some fab live music (even some dancing!). So, what a great start to Christmas.

The Knight in the Chapel