Tag: artist

Categories
Uncategorized

Decisions, decisions….

Yes, I know the horizon is wonky at the moment! It doesn’t matter at this stage.

Seascape Commission by Jacqueline Hammond

However, there are several decisions to be made (and it’s not until you write them down, do you realise the amount of decisions you make when painting). Take this excerpt from my recent email to the client, describing what I’m weighing up at this stage in the painting.

Just thought I’d mention a few things / thoughts about the painting…

  • Don’t worry, the horizon will be straight! I might also bring it down a bit…
  • What do you think about the beach? The sea currently comes in as far as the rocks and the area between the rock is still ‘dry land’. I’ve left it as it is for now. The sandy areas between the rocks might end up being reflective pools as if the tide has gone out, or the indents in the sand caused by the drag of the tide, as in the foreground.
  • The first strip of sea that’s lighter is likely to mirror the sky – orangey streaks, etc. The area to the right is becoming swirly, whitewash water with  aqua  colours, it looks like a fairly large area of shallow water at the moment.
  • The rocky area at the bottom right is where the sea could come in further – either the rocks go or become submerged (this is where there is an element of going ‘with the painting’ as to what works) or end up being painted over but I am aware you didn’t want ‘too much beach’.
  • The painting of the beach / sea looks quite spontaneous at the moment. I don’t want to ‘overwork it’ and make too ‘photo realist’ but more detail in the rocks, for example, will make them less abstract. The sea has more colours, tones, ripples, detail to add.
  • As the clouds are yet to come, the ‘light’ is not established yet. Once the clouds are established I’ll get a sense of the overall light effect on the scene. The sky reflecting on the sea, pools, shallow area. It feels ‘warm’ to look at, at the moment, if you know what I mean!
  • I have a few diff ideas for the clouds / sky that will sketch out based on our previous discussion and notes / images… but I’d appreciate you making any thoughts you have on this known at this stage, now that you have seen the painting. Or you can just trust me!
  • Now, the placement of the boat is trickier… instinct from the composition, the rocks point towards a focal point in which the boat could be placed. This is the most obvious position for the boat. Here it would be in the distance and look something like (image ‘boat 1’ or ‘boat 2’ when painted. The detail of the reflection might go as far back as the pools then… not sure!  Remember I mentioned about the boat heading from left to right? Well, the other option is to have the boat further to the right. This would make it closer and more detailed – particularly if you want the kind of reflections in the images of the boats you liked, such as ‘boat 3’. However, in the shallow, reflective areas of the sea, it wouldn’t look like these images.

Aspects of these decisions are a bit speculative anyway.  I will go with ‘what works’ as I’m not painting what’s in front of me and because it’s important that all the elements of the painting work together. But before I go any further, it’s your chance to check I’m going in the right direction, state preferences and make any suggestions.

Categories
Art Painting

Seascape commission so far

 

Here’s a photo of the painting taken in natural light. Got to work on the cloud formation next.

Categories
Uncategorized

The cat seeing it happen!

Marmalade, the Jag Gallery resident cat, tends to like sleeping on the floor below my painting and on my sketches!

Categories
Painting Uncategorized

SEE IT HAPPEN! – Planning sketches

The initial sketches that were selected by the client during our 2nd consultation and used to lay down basic composition of the painting.  Followed by some of the sketches using photocopies of the painting to plan the shoreline, placement of the boat and sky formations. Still more planning to be done at this stage.

Categories
Art Painting

SEE IT HAPPEN – Update

The seascape commission is underway! Before Christmas, I painted the sky in a blended graduation of predominantly colbalt blue and established the basic layout for the sea, beach and shoreline with the rocks suggesting a focal point. Although the early stages look very basic, it is surprising how influential they are. Even though the scene can be altered at any stage, these areas establish the composition and, personally, I rarely stray that far from these initial parameters. Casually sketched-in rocks become permenant features that guide the rest of the piece.

Categories
Art Painting

Painting the outside wall at JAG Gallery

I battled against the wind today, working on my outside on my painting and battled with 

beefing up the lad in the middle, as his lanky limbs and spazzer legs had been bugging me 

all weekend, he's moved to the foreground now, which is what I wanted, and in fattening 

him up, he now looks shorter and older, but I think I prefered his younger self. But that's 

the fun of paintihhhhnnhing, you never know where the piece might go, once you get 

going.
Working on a large piece, you have to keep standing back to look at the painting, being a public pavement this is quite fun listening to the comments such as 'My Mum can paint better than that',  look darling 'That lady's using her imagination',and toddlers simply ask what you are doing,or repeat the word painting over and over, some lads much like the ones I'm depicting ask if what I'm doing is graffiti, then snigger at naked lady painting , people weigh up which is there favourite (and go to prove how much tastes vary) art is a conversation starter, some people are lead to impress their hand held lover with 'I used to be good at art' type revelations. Creativity feeds creativity. The novelty spreads, people look at the rest of your work and surprise you by saying 'very good Jacqueline, to show that they've noted your 
name. The bin man passes several times, passers-by tell you which pictures are rubbish!
 At one point, little did I know, but I was being filmed! A guy came over, said they were from 

ITV and asked if they could film some GV's of me painting. I agreed and for some reason 

decided to add that I once worked on programmes for the ITV Westcountry region, as if 

this meant I was used to this kind of thing and able to concealexcitement and nerves. I 

said yes, as long as I could do my hair first, remember, this was severe weather 

conditions I was working in. It was an intense few minutes, some token daubs of paint 

later, they left. The programme is called 'Drive To Buy' a property programme, to be aired 

next year. The guy asked if I knew '60 Minute Makeover' as it would be on the same time 

as that. Ironically, my lampshades will also be on 60 Minute Makeover in January. Look 

out it'll be some Seeking Pop Art Idol next!...