6th January- a rough idea for a painting (Patreon)

Quiet day to day after a late night yesterday. But I did have some time to doodle on my iPad in the dining room and plan a future painting. It’s only a VERY rough doodle but it helps to sort the overall structure of composition before I get the actual paints out. This is often the way I start my pictures. I wouldn’t normally share the starting pictures but a number of you have asked about my method and this is often it, though sometimes I also start with a simple pencil sketch.

It’s loosely base on reality but I don’t like to be too constrained so in this I am imagining more vibrant colours and the warmth of summer. Also each to their own but personally I find art that is too close to reality or copies of photos to lose a bit of magic -I prefer the imperfections of freehand drawing as this is is often where the magic comes from for me even if the proportions are not always 100 per cent correct. For example I know the table proportions are ‘wrong’ and the angle is wrong (the same for the lamp and the doors, in fact everything) and I could correct them but I prefer the balance and feel it gives and that to me matters more than exactly copying reality which I have always avoided.

It is why I love artists like Bonnard or Munch. It’s all about the ‘feel’ and the senses the colour evokes.

I also wanted to have the juxtaposition of a small Ophelia absorbed in her world and the size of the room around her. The real painting will evolve on the canvas so I hope to show you where it eventually ends up. It will likely look pretty different.

I have a board primed white ready for the painting process to start but it will take a few days to dry before I can begin.