Highlights from the Royal Institute of Oil Painters Annual Exhibition 2012 (Main Category)

The Doors open at The Mall Galleries

On Tuesday this week the much awaited Royal Institute of Oil Painters Exhibition 2012 opened at the Mall Galleries! It is going to be on till the 23rd of December. Don't miss it! If you are in London or anywhere you can commute to London, make it a priority if you are a lover of Oil paintings! Every year I try to just pick a few works that I personally like but it doesn't really do justice to the whole show. It's another great show this year! But for those of you far away from the UK, it gives you feel of the show and some of my tastes.

View of The Crowd during the Prize Giving Ceremony

Just before I keep writing and ramming on, If you are also interested in watching some FREE PAINTING DEMONSTRATIONS-during the show, you'll be most welcome to watch Roger Dellar ROI RI PS at 2pm on Monday 17th December and Tim Benson ROI on Wednesday 19th December at 2pm. These will all take place at The Mall Galleries.

Peter Wileman PROI RSMA FRSA and the Guest Speaker Gyles Brandreth

And If you'll like to watch ROI members paint alongside some non-members on a very exciting night from a selection of 3 models- you can come Monday 17th December from 6-9pm. For spectators it's £7 and if you'll like to paint it's £10. But you'll have to book in advance-(call 020 7 930 6844).

A wider feel of the Crowd during the Private View

Now, back into the main post and the highlights! I'll just have the pictures of the paintings with a few comments on why I like the paintings. Sorry for the quality of some of the pictures. My camera played up this year....might be time for a new one ;0)

Bill Dean, ROYAL GATES FROM GREEN PARK, 36 x 51cm- I love this piece because of the freshness I feel in the air while looking at it and the amount of little specs of colour he has been able to introduce in this brilliant plein air piece.

Chris Daynes, HAZY SUN VENICE, 36 x 42cm- I love this piece because everything here is based on a sketch,  the sketch or the drawing is the foundation and every other subtle stroke, colour or mark just adds to the spice! He is a perfect example of when less is more.

David Curtis ROI  RSMA, FOGGY SUNDAY MORNING-YORK STATION, 74 x 59cm- my picture didn't do justice to this piece, it was placed high up near the lights in the gallery. But I love it because it has a striking mysterious mood of that foggy feeling one encounters on days like this. Its a perfect symphony of greys!

David Curtis receives one of the two prizes he won on the night. This one was the  L. Cornelissen  & Son  Award

David Pilgrim AROI, OLD HARRY ROCKS DORSET, 49 x 42cm- It looks very simple but it is David's mastery of colours to capture that warm light as it hits the sea and rocks that makes this one remarkable for me!

Edman O'Aivazian ROI RSMA, THE PARADE, 68 x 98cm-Anyone that knows my Rush Hour scenes would know of my love for crowded scenes and I love this one especially, because even though it looks crowded, he has been able to treat the figures with uttermost simplicity-then that lone red figure just compliments the rest.

Edman O'Aivazian receives the DAS award

George Delvin ROI RSW RGI RBA RWS, KELINGROVE IN WINTER, 36 x 41cm-It's basically the warm and cool  colours that makes this snow scene click for me. Its a very simple snow scene in which the play of the warm background against the branches makes for an interesting abstract!

Haidee-Jo Summers, INCOMING TIDE, HOOK HEAD, 47 x 57cm- There's movement with vigorous strokes and exciting colour. I also love the simple pathway that gives room for the eye to move from the background to the foreground.

Haidee-Jo Summers with her painting

Keith Morton, AUNT MABEL'S JUG, 45 x 53cm-I seem have no particular reason why love this piece other that the colour scheme and his cubic brushstrokes-it's just a delight to behold.

Lachlan Goudie Prov ROI, OPENING ACT, 75 x 110cm- I just love the full blooded explosion of excitement and colours that his Still life's present-they are a complete feast for the eyes!

Lesley Dabson, SUSPENDED, 28 x 33cm- Water isn't an easy thing to paint, so  I always admire anyone who can take their time to paint water and make it really feel like water! That's what Lesley does best!

Linda Alexander, PHYSALIS AND NUTS, 30 x 30cm-I seem to fall in love with all her  paintings . It's just the way she takes ordinary day to day stuff, arranges them in dramatic way and produces these mouth watering still lifes that never get me tired-The transparency of those shadows are my favourite bits!

Liz Balkwill. LE RUSTIQUE, 33 x 38cm- It's just the beauty of the simple old traditional still life set up that is painted so skillfully that really wins me over here. Looking at this painting in the flesh makes you just want to reach out and grab some of that cheese!  

Liz Balkwill. THRO' A GLASS DARKLY, 33 x 33cm- This is one little painting I'll just love to take home!  It  has  everything I love in a simple still life-blazing colour, texture, transparency, reflection, strong tonality and chiaroscuro!

Natalie Holland, ANNUNCIATION, 50 x 70cm- It's an unusual piece. I'm sure there has to be a story behind it. It gets me thinking and it fits the season we are in. Then the deft way she has treated the folds in the garments is a great thing in itself. I love the composition, colour and content.

Nicholas Verrall ROI RBA, FOUNTAINS AIX-EN-PROVENCE, 84 x 112cm-Sparkle, motion, excitement, Colour harmony and great textures! The textures can't be appreciated from this picture. It's just an interesting piece! Also it's the way the statues take on a soft feel, almost shadow like that makes me love this one!

Peter Brown ROI NEAC RP PS Hon RBA, TOWARDS ALBERT BRIDGE WINTER AFTERNOON, 34 x 61cm-This is my route to my Studio and I just love the Embankment, passing through here, brings one into the full appreciation of the Thames and the different moods it takes at different times in a day. The mood here is rather unusual, I just love the purple feel that the whole picture takes on with the sparkle of light that adds a blazing contrast!

Peter Graham ROI, STILL LIFE ON A YELLOW GROUND,  117 x 117cm-This is a very large painting and what excites me here is just the boldness and courage to use blazing colour and not loose control of it. I particularly love the cool yellows which help in the most disguising manner to temper a rather "hot painting"

Peter Wileman PROI RSMA, THE CAROUSEL SACRE COEUR, 49 x 58cm- This piece is just full of life! There's excitement, movement, energy and pure colour harmony here! One would almost think Peter took on the flames of a splash abstract painter here! Great stuff!

Roger Dellar ROI RI PS, BY THE FISH MARKET, 72 x 97cm-This is my favourite of Rogers this year and I  like the fact that every part of the painting seems to be in the dark tone value. The only light, apart from the highlights comes from the sky. It's the light from the sky that brings the excitement of highlights that spark up in different places all around the piece. It's pure drama in Venice!

Tim Benson ROI, OLD MAN WEARING BIB, 143 x 112cm- When  one is looking for paintings for the sake of the paint, for he love of the paint, for real loaded quality brushstrokes full of life and energy-it's Tim Benson's applications! 

Tim King, OLD HARRY ROCKS, STUDLAND, 36 x 63cm-A very powerful  plein air painting of the  Old Harry Rocks. My picture failed to get the right colours here and I probably cropped a bit off because of the shadow casts by the frame. But in all I love the placement of the rocks in the composition and overall balance of the composition. Its a beauty! The marks are fresh with vibrant stabs of juicy lighter strokes on the top of a more transparent handling of the mid tones and the darks.

Tina Spratt, THE BLACK DRESS IV, 66 x 66cm,- Apart from the fact that this piece is well treated in every  aspect, it has a nice balance and centrifugal force from the sleeping figure that radiates outwards and it's a very good use of a square format!

Valeriy Gridnev ROI PS RP-THE PHOTOGRAPHER, 120 x 99cm- one of my best in the whole exhibition, just for  his  ability to utilize direct painting to the fullest. Every stroke is a sketch stroke, the colour is pure, almost seems effortless. But this kind of painting comes with years of honing on ones draughtsmanship. It's a delight to behold, another one that my picture did not do justice to.

Close up-THE PHOTOGRAPHER by Valeriy Gridnev-I just had to have the close-up included because this close-up illustrates what I talked about above. The freedom at which the brushstrokes are laid with an impression but reads so well, when looked at from a distance.

Valerie Smith ROI, WORK TABLE WITH LAMP, 58 x 63cm- This was one painting I had to spend so much time in front of.  The marks were incredible! Everything had a feel of sketchiness to it, but then it kind of vibrated together in the most painterly fashion. In some places there were scratch like marks of very transparent washes. I just love it!

And finally a peak into a demonstration pulled of by Roger Dellar at the DAS Event yesterday. DAS are the proud sponsors of the ROI and they had a lovely event at The Mall Galleries yesterday. Lots of networking went on while Roger pulled this one off!

Roger  Dellar during the first hour of the demo

The complete demo under 2 hours!

My next post will  be on some of the paintings that caught my eye in the Winsor & Newton under 35 Category. Stay tuned!

The Face of Homelessness, Southeastern Trains

The Face of Homelessness, Southeastern Trains, Oil on Board, 2012

This is another in my series of the Face of homelessness. This was a homeless guy I encountered on the trains. His face was just simply irresistible, I was drawn but the flow of his hair, his strong and prominent cheek bones and his beard.

The original Sketch I did on the trains-this was done with a Black BIC Ball point Pen and  the N75 TOMBOW Dual wash pen for the tones.

STAGE 1-I really take my time to get a really accurate drawing here, this is because the head is at an angle and there are so many different tilts. I had to connect all these marks in relationship to other parts just to make sure they aligned up properly. The sketch is done in willow charcoal and fixed before paint is applied.

STAGE 2-Using the Zorn palette of Ivory Black, Cadmium Red, Yellow Orche and Titanium White,  I go straight into painting moving shape by shape, filling each part and moving along. Again, this is the inside-out-technique. in this painting, I decide to be a bit more loose and vigorous with my brushstrokes to bring in some character to the piece.

STAGE 3-At this stage I had finished. I ran out of Ivory black in the middle of this painting, I had to mix up another puddle of black with Ultramarine, Alizarin Crimson and Viridian Green. But I noticed it didn't have the right qualities of an original black, as it gave most of my mixtures a bluish green cast. But in the end I was still satisfied with the result.

SPECIAL QUOTE
It takes some amount of boldness to follow ones passion. It takes a fair amount of courage to keep going. But in the end it's when all odds are against you and you can keep believing, that you prove to even yourself-The miracle within! That miracle is YOU!-Adebanji Alade

The Face of Homelessness, Piccadilly

This is a guy I did a drawing of in my Big Issue Series and I decided to add him to the Face of Homelessness because of his amazing beard-you can hardly see his mouth and it really conceals his identity.
I saw him recently at St James Street and his beard was even longer, I hope to approach him to make a sketch of him with a longer version of his beard.

The Face of Homelessness, Piccadilly, 12" x 12", Oil on Board, 2012

I did take some stage shots of this one and I also have the drawing I did of him in the Big Issue Series.

This is a drawing I did of him in 2011, It was done in oil based pencils on gessoed card. the gessoed pencils I have used are black and sanguine.

These stages are not step by step procedures of doing this kind of painting, but they are just shots at different stages while the painting is in progress. I think there's so much that happens during the process of a painting that it would be hard to break it down into a step by step procedure.

Again using the Anders Zorn palette, I first plot the position I'll like the portrait to be on the canvas by using squares and diagonals.

I plan to give this portrait a bit of "edginess" by placing the face totally off the centre.  I feel his face has a feel of  concealed identity, so I think this will enhance the idea. I sketch with a mixture of black and red on a gessoed board that has a tint of light brownish orange to it.

The full sketch is now complete, I am quite pleased with the position.

Here, I start applying paint, I actually started from the left eye and I moved out  to the rest of the face moving to the right. It is the shape by shape method of just filling in each space with thick colour, this colour is not diluted with any medium.

Moving to the right, I add some of the suggestion of the background  and keep the paint thick and workable , I constantly make sure every stroke I make is a drawing stroke to help in the accuracy of the piece.

I really loved painting his hair and moving on to the rest of the his clothes, I left the best part to last, that was  his beard.. These pictures just show the way I work and how it all comes together just through little shapes of colour. It's the INSIDE- OUT Technique.

SPECIAL QUOTE

"....Skill has become a commodity, a very affordable commodity, and possibly, as a consequence, has been devalued. This may be in part the reason why we still turn to the unique, hand-crafted portrait, because in its very form, it remains a metaphor for the uniqueness of the individual depicted. "-Anthony Connolly, Painting Portraits

The Face of Homelessness, Charing Cross Rd II

This a guy I have painted and sketched before-but I decided to revisit him and add him to the series of the "Face of Homelessness". I will never forget the day we met at Charing Cross road outside the National Portrait Gallery. He had his bags and a few belongings around him. It was more of a scary sight but deep inside I could see he had the heart of angel, I got talking to him and he sounded sweet as ever. He allowed me to sketch him and to take photos too. He looked through my sketchbook and said the sketches there were quite impressive. 

The Face of Homelessness, Charing Cross II, 12" x 16", Oil on Canvas, 2012

I did this painting of him on a 12" by 16" Canvas. It was done wet on wet and with no initial sketch at all. I just started with the shapes and finished of that way. It's a shame I didn't have any stage pictures for this one.   This was because it was mainly an experiment and I never knew how the outcome would be.

The completed sketch I did of him in 2009,

This is me sketching Paul around Charing Cross Rd in 2009.

I have used the Anders Zorn Palette again here, consisting of Titanium White, Cadmium Red, Yellow Orche and Ivory Black.

This shot was taken on the easel when the work was just completed and fresh. I had already cleaned up my palette. But you can see the Yellow Orche and Cadmium Red left. The containers carry thick Liquin  and the liquid.

SPECIAL QUOTE
"Sketch, sketch, sketch, draw, draw, draw"-Adebanji Alade

The Face of Homelessnes, Clapham Common

 This is another one of my series of portraits on  the Face of  Homelessness. I worked with this guy for close to 3 years while working for the homeless and we were able to share different passions. He liked art, bowling and most of all pool. He was very competitive and so was I, he'd been on the streets for a long while before he was discovered and he also had a wonderful dog. I have added him to this series
 because of his cheeky smile, not all in this series are smiling but he was a real character and this was how he looked in his proper element!

The Face of Homelessness, Clapham Common, 12" x 16", oil on board, 2012

This is a sketch I did of him in 2008. His features are prominent but very hard to depict. But in all his face is a dream for a portrait painter! This was done with sanguine and sepia dust and the lines and details were added with oil base pencils-Black and Sanguine.

STAGE 1-I used a  canvas board that had been prepared for a self portrait, the colours have nothing to do with this piece. I just happened to want to use it. These colours were acrylic washes and if you look carefully I had used a blue coloured pencil to square it up, this was not for the portrait of Alan but I decided not to remove it. I just went ahead and sketched with a willow charcoal., trying my best to approximate where I would like his head to be positioned on the surface. The ability to sketch fluently and confidently with lines that depict structure and form is very important at this stage.

STAGE 2- Here I get a bit more specific with my lines and once I am a bit more confident, I darken the lines.  I don't really want a detailed drawing but just a kind of map to follow on, because I'll be putting rich, thick paint on soon.

STAGE 3- This is where I introduce colour. It's just like I explained in the post before this one. I am working in the method called, "INSIDE-OUT"- where I start from one spot, this time it's the forehead and I move outwards to other parts  of the face. This method as mentioned before keeps one at full anticipation on what is to come. It's always nice to see the face unfold.

STAGE 4-I move to the left side of the face which had a lot of complications and the ear but I managed to just keep going, painting shape by shape and putting down the colour just as close as I could  mix. Sometimes the initial sketch is wrong, so I basically forget about it at times and just sketch with colour as I go along.

STAGE 5-Gradually I get round to the main features and just keep adding piles of paint with  expressive brushstrokes to follow the form and structure of the face.

STAGE 6- I'm not impressed with the shape of his head, as I feel I have got  something major wrong at this point, so I just keep correcting the drawing with colour. This is an important process in painting, as nothing stays right until it feels right. So I keep cutting backwards and forwards on the surface, adjusting and re-adjusting until I am fully satisfied.

STAGE 7- After I had corrected the drawing endlessly at the other stage, I now go over the whole piece with a bit of detail here and there, trying my best not to overwork it but to keep it fresh.

THE COMPLETED PAINTING WITH THE PALETTE- The palette shows the 4 colours I 'm working with. It's a limited palette of Black, White, Red and Yellow-popularly known as the Zorn palette.

SPECIAL QUOTE
"Many of us tense up when rendering another person's face. Perhaps you've experienced this; I do, even though I've drawn and painted countless faces......"-Charles Reid, Painting by Design

The Face of Homelessness, Bath

Face of Homelessness, Bath, Oil on Board, 12" x 12", 2012

This post mainly features on my keen interest in depicting interesting faces. All year I have been working on this project of homeless peoples faces and I'll be sharing the ideas behind this and sometimes where I can, I'll document some stage by stage thoughts that go through my head while working on them.

Same Model- sat for me for my Big Issue Series 9

I meet these people while commuting or walking down the street. I'm always armed with my sketchbook and  pencils and my camera, if they allow me a photograph or two. Once I fall in love with a face, that's it! I'll just find every way possible to convince them I need to draw, sketch or paint them.  We get talking and share some of our interests while the sketching or photographing goes on. This particular guy I painted here is called Rodney, I met him in Bath.

That's Him with the Big Issue Sketch

For the whole of this project I adopted the Zorn Palette, which consists of 4 colours. Titanium White, Cadmium Red, Yellow Orche and Ivory Black. These three colours are basically used as 3 primaries. The Cadmium Red is RED, The Yellow Orche is YELLOW, while the Black acts as the BLUE. Once I have this thought it mind, it's easy to mix secondaries and even tertiary colours.

STAGE 1-The Sketch is done in conte, I used 2 colours sepia and black-the sketch is not that accurate but it givers a sense of the  proportion and composition of the head on the square surface.

STAGE 2-The method I embark on here is called-"Inside Out"- Where I just start from a particular place INSIDE the face, this time it was with one of the eyes. From that point I just paint shape by shape till I get to all the OUTSIDE features. So its starting from the INSIDE and moving to the OUTSIDE.

STAGE 3-I plan to move upwards and here I  have almost covered the whole surface here, introducing a dark background to  bring out his  light toned  face.

STAGE 4-Here I start moving downwards, trying my best to adjust errors as I go along. This method demands full concentration and good drawing skills but the slower one goes the better.

STAGE 5-At this stage I have only one shape left and that's why this method is quite exciting as one is able to  watch the picture come to life from little brush stroke applications,

STAGE 6-Finally I have all the surface covered and it's all done wet  on wet , with  no underpainting. 

I really love weathered faces, faces that have seen life, I love the faces that tell stories and while talking to these guys, it's always a great opportunity to listen to what they have been through!

SPECIAL QUOTE

"One is never fully satisfied with the portrait of a person one knows"-Johann Wolfang Von Goethe

Sketches on the Bus, Train and Tube in November I

These are more of the sketches I do on a regular basis on public transport. I love this exercise and I think it is something anyone who embarks on long journeys around London should try and do at one time or the other. There are so many interesting faces on the bus, train and tube!

The human face remains to me a thing a wonder...I am on the train, I have just finished sketching an old man, then he gets off at London Bridge and sitting by his side is a lady, she's on the phone, her face is well treated, a sight that would hold any guy for a second or two-I hold my breath and sketch for 20 or so minutes...it's the life of an urban sketcher-this is the page spread....shame I had to change at Woolwich Arsenal...

I hope I can cover all that I have to post before the year runs out. I thought I'd be able to do lots of back-dated posts but I couldn't. But I'm back on them now and I am happy to get back to blogging again!!!

As usual, these are all done onh the train, in full blooded speed, with everyone packed and watching! It's a great experience and sketching doesn't get any better than this when one is fully out there, armed with a sketchbook, Bic ball point pen and a Number 75Tom Bow Dual Wash pen.

These two sketches were done on the bus, I was on the Bus 11, facing the front window and right opposite me was this lady biting her nails. I sketched her from Kings Road to Buckingham Palace Road.

It's one of those days, I haven't sketched all day! I hate those days......I have been in the studio painting my life out....then I lean back on my chair in the studio and I catch a glimpse of my face in the mirror behind me! I'm a bit alarmed but all the the same-It's time to pull out my sketchbook! I sketch my face with a few items in the background to hold the composition together. 

I love sketching random heads on a page! This one makes me tick! These are all sketched from London Bridge to Abbey Wood. A journey that lasts up to 25 minutes!

These are more random heads on buses this time. Bus 11 and Bus 53!

Some of these heads are just glimpses I manage to catch on journeys-The old man was a good shot, I sketched him from Charing Cross to London Bridge. The profile of the lady on the right was sketched on Bus 37 on the way to Clapham Juction.

Here, I am on bus 11 and I sketch this lady's profile from Buckingham palace Rd to Victoria Street. I make 4 attempts as she keeps on moving, each time she moves, I start again. It's all about pure observation, no room to measure but its about imaginary plumbing and angles relating to others, Plotting's are essential. The guy sleeping on the right was comfortable in his world, nothing seemed to bother him. He was just content and relaxed until he got to his stop. People are experts at these short naps and if you think they are really sleeping, you'll be shocked that immediately they get to their stops they spring to life! I sketched him from Greenwich to London Bridge-a journey that lasts 8 mins.

I made 2 attempts to sketch the guy on the left, from Charing Cross to London Bridge, this journey lasts approximately 7 mins. I just love this man's features and hair, it's hard to resist. His features were outstanding. Then a man with a cap on the right was just pure delight! I just love faces like this, full of character! I make a more detailed study of him from London Bridge to Abbey Wood, a journey which lasts 27 minutes.

Special Quote
"You can't do sketches enough. Sketch everything and keep your curiosity fresh"-John Singer Sargent