Three Colours: Bleurgh (new acrylic paintings)

Earlier this week I dusted-off my old acrylic paints and had a play around. First up was the following Impressionist-inspired landscape of the local countryside:

I'd estimate it to have been an hour or two, of vibrantly splashing paint around until some kind of form began to appear through the mess... Yes it was based upon a photo, but I wasn't trying to be too precise about the representation - I was just trying to get a feel for the acrylic paints again.
I used a palette of three colours (red, yellow, blue, plus white) in a desperate bid to avoid greens straight from the tube.
It's created an interesting result: Yet 3 days later, I still have no idea whether I completely love or hate it!

Following that, I found myself to have a bit too much leftover paint on my palette, so rather than completely waste it, I decided to paint this very random self-portrait:

This was 10 minutes of throwing the colours anywhere they fitted, and again, a case of just waiting for the final image to make some kind of appearance...
...And here was you thinking that there's some kind of logic to painting!? Haha, sorry, not in this case!

Commission: Chatelherault

Here is a large painting commission that I completed a couple weeks ago.



It is an acrylic on card portrayal of Chatelherault near Hamilton (Scotland); and measures roughly 80 x 40cms - making it by far the largest painting I've done in several years.

Work in progress teaser

I'm making slow progress on the largest painting I've done in about 5 years. It's an acrylic on card commission, and measures roughly 80cms x 40cms (32" x 16").

The photo below is a wee teaser, showcasing the painting and my re-arranged work space (which is temporarily set-up to accommodate work on this painting).

Some landscape practice

Here are some quick landscape sketch/painting tests that I made late last month, but forgot to upload.

Majorca

Hamilton Mausoleum

Edinburgh North Bridge

Commission: Machrihanish Beach

Here is a painting commission of Machrihanish Beach (near Campbeltown) that I completed earlier this week:

Not only is this my first painting since July, but surprisingly it is my first acrylic painting in 12 months (according to the blog history)!

I can understand why I've not done any major paintings in the past 3 months, and I'm aware that I've not painted on a regular basis since my Film-inspired Painting Series exhibition last December, but I still find it hard to believe that I've not touched my acrylic paints in 12 months.

Commission: Rumbling Bridge

This is my most recent painting commission, completed last month. I'm pleasantly surprised with how well it turned out considering that it's the first 'normal' painting I've done in several months!


The painting portrays a local landscape, called Rumbling Bridge, that I've enjoyed visiting since childhood. Located about 7 miles west of Kinross, it is a two-tier stone bridge dating from the 1700s, which spans above an impressive 120ft gorge.

Due to the surroundings of Rumbling Bridge, trying to get a good vantage point from where to take photos of it is awkward at best. For example, through a camera viewfinder the bridge often looks either way too close (it doesn't fit enough of the structure into the picture to convey its size), or too distant (it seems lost within a mass of leaves, branches, and trees, making it look insignificant).
I'm including a photo and video as examples:

Commission: West Coast Seascape

Here's another commission I did a number of months ago: somewhere along the West Coast of Scotland.

Landscape 04 - Majorca 2

A quick little painting I did on Sunday:

Landscape 03 - Majorca 1

Having returned from my holiday in Majorca on Sunday, I wasted little time getting back into my art. Here's my first painting based on a Majorcan landscape/sunset that I did within a few hours yesterday afternoon:

Landscape 02 - Ochils from Muckhart G.C.

Here's a 5 hour fingerpainting portraying a view of the Ochils from Muckhart Golf Club in Clackmannanshire, Scotland.


Note: The colours in this photo are really muddy, which doesn't look too good, but I couldn't get a better quality photo. (The blues and reds are actually a lot stronger, the yellows are weaker, and the green colours are darker).

Landscape 01 - Doral, Florida

For a potential gallery exhibition in the New Year, I'm creating a series of colourful landscape paintings, and although I've known about it for over a month, I've only just got around to starting the series...
So here's Landscape Painting 01, based on a photograph from my 2007 summer holiday in Florida, USA:


This is another one of my acrylic fingerpaintings, and although the sky works well, I'm not too fond of the texture in the lake area along the bottom section of the image.
In my opinion, the contrasting textures almost make it seem like two seperate paintings stuck together, however I think the colouring mitigates this to some extent and kinda unifies it as a whole - and the colour is my main priority, so it doesn't bother me too much... But I'd be interested in hearing what other people think of it.