These boots are made for walking

These boots are made for walking

Soft pastel on mixed media board
16x12 inches

This painting just won the April 'Get Dusty' competition for the Pastel Guild of Europe! I'm excited as it's the first time I've won something with a painting and it's the first painting I entered in the guild's competition- beginer's luck I reckon!!

This was a bit experimental too I used mixed media collage of old maps from a vintage atlas. Maps of Scotland specifically where I've walked. I'd just come back from a walking holiday on the isle of Arran. I distressed the maps with inks to add to the weathered look. I tore up the paper's edges and stuck to illustration board. This made for an interesting starting surface but to make it suitable for pastel I needed to paint a pastel primer on top. I didn't have one so made my own! Some gesso and acrylic inks gave a neutral grey colour. For Pastel though you need 'tooth' grit or nice expensive paper that holds the pastel dust in multiple layers. I added sand from Portobello beach and marble dust. This gave me a really coarse sand paper ready for the pastel.

When the competition theme came up 'Old shoes still life' I knew straight away that my muddy walking boots would be a good subject. I set up the still life in an interesting composition and lighting and painted with a mixture of soft pastels.

Ryan

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

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

Whisky in the jar

Whisky in the jar
Oil on canvas

8x8 inches

A small still life continuing my series (http://revanspaintings.blogspot.com/search/label/still%20life), with the light source coming from back right. I wanted to get some of those refelctions and shadows

I was aiming to get the right balance between suggestion and details

Green pepper (and friends!)

Green pepper and friends

Acrylic on canvas
8x8 inches

The next small still life and again my mind is on food! I'm enjoying getting these really simple set-ups with vibrant colour and light. Trying to avoid the traditional dark backgrounds to make something more contemporary. Having the white paper to sit things on flattens the picture frame and allows the light and reflections to jump around. I also like the blue/violet shadows you get.



Ryan

Quick still lifes

Had great fun doing these small pieces. Limiting my time so I didn't get fussy

Humble teacake

Oil on canvas
8x8 inches

Lemon and lime

Acrylic on canvas
8x8 inches

Ryan

The White Cup

The White Cup

Oil on canvas

16x20 inches

I've been doing an evening class working on still lifes in oil paint, picking up a few tips here and there. I do find still lifes a great training exercise for painting. Its a real challenge being presented with a new object and working out how best to render it in 2D.

The copper pot had great colours and shine to it and the different cloths and the weathered slate were also a challenge. I opted for the white cup being the focal point as for me it stands out from a busy set-up.

This took about 5 hours to complete over three weeks. We're now looking at more abstract work and will be working up another finished oil. Abstraction will be a departure for me so I'll see how it goes....

Ryan

Still Life Sunflowers with summer fruits

Still Life Sunflowers with summer fruits

Oil on canvas
12x16 inches

Fresh off the easel, decided to try out a still life as haven't done one in a while. Had just bought some fruit and decided to put it in.

Here is a photo of my set-up
And this is my rough drawing with charcoal onto the canvas. Trying to get the correct tone here.

Next its time to get painting- first blocking-in the main colours at the tonal values set down in my charcoal sketch

This was a fun exercise and I'm pretty happy with the results.

Flower study #1

Flower study #1

Soft Pastel on paper
8x12 inches

My second foray into pastel painting. I love the direct approach of pastel painting, allows images to be created quickly which is great for keeping that fresh spontaneous look.

Ryan

Fruit bowl with pomegranites

Fruit bowl with pomegranites
8x12inches
Pastel on paper

This is my first piece of work for a couple of weeks due to a hand injury. Having been unable to paint for a while, I kept myself going by reading some art tuition books. I was inspired to have another go at pastels- I have not been overly impressed with my efforts so far, but was pleasantly surprised with this small study.

I'll have to try some more pastels in the near future!