Sins of the past

 

Just found this painting buried in my old studio, it was painted by me 23 years ago,I had only been painting a couple of years. It was hanging in a local pub for years, but when the pub was sold it was gutted and the painting ended up in the skip…obviously it didn’t appeal to either the former or latter owners. A friend saw it and rescued it and returned it to me, it has been buried ever since. It’s a bit smoke damaged and scuffed but I cleaned it and another friend fell in love with it so I gave it to her.

So be warned….your sins will come back to haunt you….lol.

Reworked Kingfisher

 

Painted this in 2007, but was never really happy with it, being fairly new at the time to coloured pencils I found it difficult, or maybe I didn’t have the patience, to build up the colour to the extent needed. I hope I have made a better hand of it now!

When, years ago, I first started painting, it was birds that were my main interest and I spent hours in the field trying to sketch through a telescope and then making finished paintings at home. I never felt that I managed to transfer the life from the sketches to the paintings, so gradually did less and less birds.

 

I think I’ll give it another try, for a long time I have wanted to do a series of common Irish birds, so maybe nows the time.

Christmas Cards

 

It’s that time again. I have produced these images as Christmas cards, They are 7”x5” and are in packs of 10, with two of each card in the pack.The cost is 95c for single cards or €7.50 per pack of 10. Wholesale prices are available. Of course they can be bought singly or in any multiples of each card.

To purchase email me at phildavis@iol.ie

The Blackbird

“Acrylic on paper”

Have just finished this painting of one of our village pubs. Painted from a photo I took recently, unusually there were no cars blocking the view.

New Prints

 

This is a collection of my black ink images that I am producing as prints.

Next week- end I am showing them at the Ballymaloe Christmas Fair in the Grain Store , Ballymaloe, along with a selection of my other prints, greeting and Christmas cards.

Don’t forget to call in if you are in the area.

Barrack Hill

I can’t believe it’s a month since I have posted on my blog. The time just seems to disappear! This is my latest pen and wash, “Barrack Hill” which is in Ballycotton, where I live. At the lastmoment I decided to put the old water pump in green and I think it works as it tends to pull you  through the picture.What do you think?

Rose of Sharon 2

 

“Rose of Sharon 2” Acrylic on canvas.

I sold this painting today from the easel, I had intended to do a bit more to it but the customer wants it as is, just with the mouse finished.

So much going on in the last few weeks that I have neglected my blog. I had my students exhibition at the start of August, then exhibited my own paintings at the Kilkenny Art Festival, and as from yesterday, have an exhibition of my work, at the Sheen Falls Lodge in Kenmare, Co Kerry. If anybody is in the area please take a look.

On the way back from Kenmare I called in to Deborah O’Keefe at the Back Lane Gallery Artist Collective, near Scotts Hotel in Killarney. This is a great place to see art from many different artists, including some of my own, and of course Deborahs. A must see if visiting Killarney.

Of course,if you are in the vicinity of the Shanagarry Design Centre,

don’t forget to call in to my studio and say hello.

Kilkenny Art Festival

I am exhibiting at the Kilkenny Art Festival with a fellow artist Catherine Pereira Rodgers at “The High Street Mall” Kilkenny. If you  are in the area or plan to visit the Festival please call in and introduce yourself.

New Painting

I have just finished this painting, acrylic on canvas. I was suffering from artist’s block so my wife said she would set up a composition and I used her idea with a few of my own. Not sure why I put the Robin in but I think he looks ok there, what do you think? I enjoyed doing it so I think I might ask her to suggest some more ideas.

I will be at the Kilkenny Art Festival in August  and would be delighted to see anybody that’s visiting. I am sharing a shop premises with another artist, Catherine Pereira Rodgers, and  will be in the High Street Mall in the centre of Kilkenny.

Ballycotton pen & ink

Another pen and ink, this time from a reference photo of Ballycotton a long time ago, with a few additions of my own , such as the figures and the donkey and cart. This one is on  heavyweight Fabriano watercolour paper which I find a much better surface for the ink than the other papers I have used so far. I am going to take a photo from the same place and do a painting showing the scene in the present time.

Pen & ink again

 

A view of Ballycotton as you enter the village, pen & ink on Bristol board. The ink seems to dry very quickly on this paper, which sometimes results in hard edges where values meet, …..or maybe I have to learn how to use it!

LiveJournal Tags: Ballycotton,pen,ink,bristol board,village,paper

Poppies

Here’s another one ready for the Art Festival.

Cabbages and ?

I have been working towards the Kilkenny Art’s Festival, during which I will be exhibiting with a fellow Artist Catherine Rodgers. I’m trying to decide whether these giant cabbages should have a giant caterpillar or giant cabbage butterfly or to just leave them as is. Any suggestions?

I will also be exhibiting in the Kinsale Art Festival, in Engel and Volkers, Estate Agents, 71 Main St, Kinsale, from the 7th July.

Another pen & ink

This is Cloyne Cathedral, a church badly in need of maintenance. A local group has been formed to raise funds for it’s restoration and I promised a painting them to auction. I felt a pen and ink would be appropriate for an old building like this. What do you think?

WIP Finished

This is the finished version of my last post. As you can see it is framed and mounted and is now hanging on the wall of a pub called “The Inn by the harbour” which is located on the hill just above the house on the top right. Hopefully it will lead to a few sales !

As I said in my last post , I really liked the feel of the ink, so I intend doing a series of images of Ballycotton,both past and present, in black ink.

LiveJournal Tags: Ballycotton,harbour,ink,framed,mounted,pub,hill,series,images

Another work in progress

 

I have used this reference, of Ballycotton Pier long ago,  for paintings before, but I have just discovered the joy of using ink, with a pen and brush and I thought this would be an ideal subject to try it out on. So far I have not been disappointed, it is such fun to use and the results are amazing, I think I have just found my new best friend! As you can see by the original, some of the detail has to be guessed at a bit, the cottage behind the fishermen is still there, as are the houses behind the lifeboat station, which has subsequently been rebuilt.I am glad to say, for the sake of the fishermen, the boats now in the harbour are a major improvement.

Peppers (two ways)

I am working towards an exhibition in the very near future, but still can’t help myself from leaving the main work and experimenting.

I tried these peppers first with pastels (above) and then with Promarker markers, which I bought ages ago but haven’t really tried. I had trouble with them bleeding on paper and didn’t realise you could get special paper for markers, until I saw it online and got some. Any way , here is my effort, which I hope I can improve on…anyone out there using markers, I would welcome some tips.

 

I made a disaster of the green one, I found they all improved a bit when I outlined them with a black liner pen, the shadow is another disaster but is all a learning curve.

Collage

 

Thought some of you might find this interesting. Was messing with Picassa and found out you could create a collage from your photos,,, so here are some of my latest works. Makes a great screensaver!

Damaged goods 2

Reference photo for the damaged painting. As you point out Charlotte very similar  to  Van Goghs painting.

Damaged goods

 

The ref photo for this painting was taken from the back of my house. I was taken by the dark sky against the yellow of the rape field. Finished it on last Saturday  evening and on Sunday morning knocked it off the easel and ended up with two large tears in the canvas. Tried to patch it up with tape on the back and painting over the rips but didn’t really work ,so started it again on another canvas. Will post that when done,…..providing it stays in one piece.

Something a bit different

Acrylic and pen on paper.

A bit different to what I normally do. What do you think?

Bumblebee and Rose

 

 

Acrylic on mountboard.

First time I tried acrylic on mountboard, probably not the best surface to use but it worked in the end. The paint tends to skip quite a lot.

Coloured Pencils

 

Another coloured pencil effort, the inspiration came from a photo on “Wetcanvas”, so I set up my own pencils  as well as using the photo as reference. Not sure if the background works but will keep looking at it until it tells me.

Have put up a new page on Facebook, “Downstairs in Shanagarry Design Centre” .There are 3 artists including myself with working studios, 2 of us are also running classes, so its worth a look and a visit anytime you are in the area.

Sea Shells

“Seashells” Coloured pencil on cartridge paper.

This started off as drawing practice before a class.I started with the oyster shell and then got carried away , putting in the other shells and decided to add some colour. I do love coloured pencil, but it is very time consuming building up the layers.

For the birds

“Puffins”. 7”x5” Acrylic on canvas board.

For reference I used a photo from a friend of mine, DaveEdmunds, http://www.facebook.com/dave.edmunds1

I wish I was as good a photographer as him , because then I would be able to take decent photos of my paintings.

It looks like summer has arrived in Ireland as the weather today is brilliant, sun shining all day, should have got outside painting instead of being stuck in my studio, but at least I did some work.

Why is it that the paintings in your head never seem to get onto the canvas. I conjure up all these wonderful masterpieces in my imagination, but can never remember them when I need to. Hey ho!!!!!!

del.icio.us Tags: puffins,photo,photographer,acrylic,canvas board,summer,Ireland,Phil Davis,masterpieces,painting,studio

Life’s a Bitch

“Life’s a bitch.” Acrylic on paper.

The second in the “dog walker” series.Not sure why I chose to do this one in acrylic rather than watercolour, but it’s done now so it doesn’t matter, does it? The colours aren’t so bright as this, I’m just a crap photographer.

Super Son

Once again the Ballycotton 10mile road race has come and gone, it was on yesterday and it reminded me that I had not embarrassed my son by posting the painting of him that I did  when he ran the race for the first time. It was on his list of things to do before he reached 40, and he achieved both last year. So there you are , I have suitably shamed him and probably ruined any chance I had of becoming a portrait painter.

My friend Missy

Acrylic on paper.

This is Missy, my friend the Bulldog puppy. She belongs to Orla, a  brilliant potter who has a studio next to mine. After a shaky start, Missy and I have become great friends , as you can see, she allowd me to paint her portrait, without a hint of embarassment. Maybe I have found another string to my bow….Pet Portraits.

Still running

Not positive that I haven’t posted this before, forgive me if I have, but my memory(and record keeping) are getting progressively worse.

This is from a series of paintings, well 4 , that I did of runners after last years Ballycotton 10 mile road race, where does the time go, its on again in two weeks! I tried to give the impression of movement in this one and I think it worked up to a point.

The weather over here is amazing for the time of year, 13c today, I hope it stays like that as I am going to Limerick on Sunday to embarrass myself ,painting En plein air with a group of fellow artists.

Back from the UKkk(thats me shivering)

“Play with us daddy!” Watercolour on arches paper.
This is the first effort from the sketches I put up on my last post, what do you think?
Was in UK for a few days for my sisters birthday. Bloody cold there, snow on the ground, my feet were frozen. –1 degree, I know for a lot of you guys in US this is wimpy, but flying from a veritable heatwave of 9c it was a bit of a shocker. Anyway had a great time.

I painted this for my sister, for her birthday, she will probably kill me for posting it , but I quite like it. We were in Buenos Aries in 2010 for her sons wedding and I took the reference photo at a flea market.

Sketches

“HAPPINESS IS! “
Spent the last two days sketching out a couple of ideas for paintings. I used photos I took of a man in a park in Buenos Aires, don’t know  if he was a dog walker or just a dog lover, but he had about 8 dogs with him!

“PLAY WITH US DADDY”
After spending 2 days sketching them out my wife begged me to leave them as sketches and not put colour in, so I now have to draw them again to paint them!

The last paddle

Not sure if I have posted this before, not a very good photo I’m afraid, but it brings back memories of warmer days. I was going through my sketch books looking for something to inspire me when I found this little watercolour from a couple of years ago, maybe even longer. I think I will use it for a bigger painting , maybe in watercolour.
I am starting a new beginner course this morning, and I am a bit nervous. I haven’t run a beginner’s class in a couple of years. Been content to work away with improvers and advanced students.
Although we have had a very mild winter this year, the last two mornings have been cold and wet and windy, the light hasn’t seemed to break through at any stage, and it’s kind of depressing, but I suppose I shouldn’t complain, at least we have had no snow!

Another Watercolour

Wet Night in Manhattan…Ref Photo courtesy of Wet Canvas.
I wanted to credit the photographer but can’t find the image again.
Decided to try something different from faces so spent the last couple of days on this. I think its a bit  over worked but I enjoyed doing it and it is good practice. I am determined to keep at the watercolours until I beat them or they beat me.
My classes have restarted this past week so have not got as much time to paint myself.
I have a new beginners course starting on Thursday mornings if anybody is interested, still a couple of places free.

New Year Resolution

Normally my resolution is not to make any resolutions, but this year decided to tackle two, faces and watercolours.What am I doing?
This is my second watercolour of 2012, unfortunately I made my daughters cheeks too crimson alizarin, looks like a rash. Any suggestions? Have tried damping and spongeing, also tried Gouache over it but it’s still to RASH.

This is my first painting of 2012, I used an image from http://www.wetcanvas.com/, which you can find at http://www.wetcanvas.com/RefLib/showphoto.php?photo=132878
I am reasonably pleased with the result, but obviously there is huge room for improvement.