Commissioned Painting for Maureen Ritchie as a gift to husband Mark Searle, retiring  CEO of Marion Council.

After photos  were taken of the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre in the  Warrapiringi Wetlands, Maureen and I selected a view which best gave the feeling of the area and showed important and meaningful aspects of the Cultural  Centre. In step one below Jim is ensuring accurate drawing of the perspective of the building.

 

 

 Living Kaurna C C. step 2

Next I transferred the drawing to the canvas and set up with masking tape to protect a border ready to make a start with paint.

Now to start blocking in colour paying attention to different tones and textures to capture the basic elements of the architecture. I used mixtures of french ultramarine with burnt sienna and light red ochre to capture the earthy indigenous hues I wanted to feature in this painting.

Next I continue to block in colour on the window area of the building. I concentrate on trying to achieve the particular hues and tones of the window frames. The addition of a  little cerulean blue to my palette helps

Now to establish depth of the composition with foliage in middle and back ground areas. The expanse of the area I decided to communicate mainly through  the windows of the building. I used  sap green and yellow ochre mixed with a little ultramarine and light red ochre and applied paint with watercolour technique to  achieve some softness to especially the background trees.

step 6 I decided I needed to make another on site visit and take some more photos so that I could detail the  struts and galvanised iron under the veranda. I also started to work on the little wall and barked areas. Yellow ochre underpainting on the wall I hoped would unify it with the natural parts of the painting.

Foreground perspective needs to now be firmly represented. The decking was tricky. two different vanishing points were required. Blinds were also shown with the aid of one of the vanishing points. The foreground plant was slowly developed , mainly with one layer changes of tone.

Step 8 involved generating a little more life in the foreground areas with some carefully blended lighter colours……..and now to the much anticipated focal point of the painting.

I was confident about detailing the stone work on the little wall. (Much practice in other paintings lately). I blended transparent perinone orange with different blues to provide varieties of browns to detail individual stones and the mortar of the wall. I was hoping to define the wall faithfully but at he same time create a lively, happy mood in the colours that I used. I know that the wall holds a special significance for the clients and was keen to  do my best work on this focal point.

And now for the final step. Some general tweeking of light and shade and colour in places …especially foreground areas. ….and then the ‘big reveal’ with the enjoyable process of peeling off the masking tape. As usual I   stare in wonder at the hard straight edges of the whole composition juxtaposed against the stark outlines of a 6cm border!!!!

 

Would you like an original art work tailored to your specifications?

I can produce work designed for specific domestic or corporate wall spaces.

I enjoy working in all sorts of media  – charcoal, pencil, pen and ink, mixed media, water-colour and acrylics. I can develop ideas for artworks in a range of styles from different forms of abstract and expressionism through to impressionism and some degrees of realism.

I enjoy the process of working with people, (individuals or groups) to discover their needs, their artistic likes and dislikes, their ideas and preferences. We can look at my past and current work to trigger ideas, establish the subject, media, style, colour scheme and concepts for the final composition.

Once clear on what is required I will quote the price, provided in writing.

I will probably need photographs or other references depending on what is required. (To be taken by me or provided by the client).  I will complete sketches and colour roughs and meet several times with the client to show developing  ideas and progress of the final piece.

We will work on any problems together if need be, so that you are fully satisfied with the final result.

Pricing is very difficult to indicate here, as it depends on size, style and media used, but will always be very reasonable and can be negotiated.

If you are interested in starting a conversation about a commission…….