Monday, December 21, 2009

Jools

Jools
Acrylic on canvas
16x16 inches

A portrait I've just finished of a fellow artist that I've done as part of a portrait exchange. Its such a good idea! Jools is working on her portrait of me so will be great to see. She's a fabulous portrait artist so I'll be in good hands.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Heading for home


Heading for Home
Pastel on paper
8x12 inches

A local scene that I've worked up in the studio from a plein air sketch. Added the surfers from a reference photo taken on the same day.

This was a nice day- bit windy as I recall!!

Ryan

Monday, November 02, 2009

Morning light at Bass rock

Morning light at Bass rock
Pastel on paper
12x8 inches

I realised how long it was since I posted a landscape! I've been focussing mostly on figurative/portraiture work for the last year or so and have neglected landscapes

Better late than never! Here's one of my favourite muses, the Bass Rock. This was worked up in the studio from a plein air sketch I did a while back. I really liked the soft light that I saw that day- nice violets and peach/yellows.

Ryan

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Roland

Roland
Acrylic on canvas
16x20 inches

I'm really working hard on my portraiture at the moment. Feel like I'm getting better and more confident with each one, so I'm happy to be progressing.

When it comes to portraits I'm a huge fan of Lucien Freud, Sir Henry Raeburn and John Singer Sergeant's style and I guess this stylistically guides my portraits (still a long way to reach their standards, but you've got to aim high!!)

2nd year at Leith School of Art is in full flow, so being kept busy with that.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

My first Linocut print!

Life #1
Linocut print on paper
My first attempt at linocut relief printing. I enjoyed the abstract mark making opportunities of the medium. Limiting to black and white makes for a bold design, hopefully I've included enough interesting variety of marks with recognisable imgages in there to.
I really enjoyed the excitement of lifting the first print off and seeing the image for the first time- a real buzz!
Ryan

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

The brown hat




The brown hat

16x12 inches
Pastel on Murano paper

Bought some lovely new Sennelier soft pastels and decided to give them a whirl on some portrait practice. I liked the quizzical look the guy had and wanted to capture some of that.

Ryan

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Made from girders

Made from girders!
Acrylic on canvas
8x8 inches

Another small still life. A well known Scottish soft drink- like to include some contemporary items that portray life in Scotland at this moment. Also liked the strong bold complementary colours blue and orange that make this striking!

Ryan

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Peter


Peter
Oil on canvas
12x16 inches

A recent portrait, using a limited pallette.
Titanium white, ultramarine blue, burnt umber, yellow ochre and raw sienna.

Trying to keep a sense of colour harmony as I did with Becka. Really enjoyed doing this one and am pretty pleased how it turned out. I wanted to capture the emotion in his face and am calling it a success.

Ryan

Monday, April 20, 2009

Becka

Becka
Oil on canvas
16x20 inches

Here's the final painting done from life. Finished it quite a few weeks ago but work committments have made posting tricky

Ryan

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Oil life sketch

Here's the first part of a three-week project we're doing at night-class.


Becka (sketch)

Oil on paper 6x10 inches

We had an interesting approach to our colour pallette. first we made a 'parent' colour Yellow Ochre and titanium white. Then we mixed this into a range of primary (yellow ochre, Alizarin crimson, Ultramarine blue and Lamp black) and secondary colours (derived from mixing our primaries 50:50).

Then we were limited to this pre-made pallette for sketching out our composition idea for a final painting. This took 25 mins so have ready made colours helped from a speed point of view!

Over the next two weeks we are painting the final image

Ryan

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Leith School of Art term 2

I've been busy beavering away at my life drawing and paintings course at Leith School of Art. Term 2 is in mid-flow and again is high paced and challenging. The emphasis this term has been mark-making, and I've really been enjoying the use of different media and the new effects you can create.
Here's some recent portraiture work that illustrates how the different media are influencing the marks and approach I make to the same subject

Charcoal and chalk





Oil bar and graphite
Ryan

Monday, January 26, 2009

Happy Birthday Rabbie Burns

250 years old- and still looking pretty good!

Hears a drawing I did while digesting my haggis, neeps and tatties. It was Burn's night, celebrating the 250th birthday of Scotlands National bard. Caught up in the spirit of the year of homecoming and a' that, I raised a wee dram for Robert Burns.

Auld acquaintance

Pen and ink on paper

8x10 inches


The drawing is obviously based on the famous Alexander Nasmyth’s portrait of Robert Burns that hangs in Edinburgh's Scottish National Portrait gallery

http://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/online_az/4:322/result/0/1962?initial=N&artistId=3547&artistName=Alexander%20Nasmyth&submit=1

Ryan

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

First of 2009!!

Happy 2009!!

It's good to be back painting after all the Christmas and Hogmany chaos!
Here's another small still life continuing my series, in this one I liked how the shadow patterns linked the cherries and keep the eye moving around the composition



Three cherries
Acrylic on canvas
8 x 8 inches
Back to Leith School of Art tomorrow- term 2 kicks off and I'm really excited. I really enjoyed the first term, which culminated in a exhibition of all the students' work. I was amazed at how many people were there, and not just for the free wine!!
Ryan