Tag: landscape

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Art Painting

Sea & Sky – Seascape Paintings Exhibition and Commission Presentation

Sea & Sky – Seascape Paintings Exhibition and Commission Presentation 

JAG Gallery, Arch 283a Madeira Drive, Brighton, BN2 1PT

Saturday 10th March 2012 from 2-6pm

Jacqueline Hammond painting recent seascape commission.

See it happen: the creative process behind Jacqueline Hammond’s ‘Sea & Sky’ seascape paintings

You are invited to join Jacqueline Hammond, the established South Coast artist, at a mini-exhibition to mark the completion of her latest work: a large-scale seascape commission. The artwork will be handed over on 20th March, 2012, and will be leaving its current home at the JAG Gallery, Madeira Drive, Brighton, where Jacqueline has completed it from her studio space overlooking the English Channel.

Renowned for her strong body of work depicting water in its various forms, Jacqueline grew up on the South Coast of Devon and moved to Brighton in 2006, where she was soon drawn to painting the local sea and skies. Her interest in seascapes has led to several recent commissions in this area, with works being completed from her studio at JAG Gallery.

To mark the launch of her latest seascape, Jacqueline is revealing the creative process behind the painting and is providing an opportunity to ‘meet the artist at work’. Anyone interested in what lies behind commissioned paintings can find out how to brief an artist (on any subject – not just seascapes), turning a ‘dream picture’ into a reality, and imagining / inventing a scene that can work well when displayed in a particular setting or space.

Jacqueline, who likes to depict “life’s rich tapestry”, believes that a completed work can be a celebration, an affirmation of a shared vision, and also a memorial to a loved one or a particular moment – real or imagined.

As part of the mini-exhibition at JAG Gallery – a prime location for the production of seascapes and other artworks, such as the quirky ‘Pebble Head’ series of portraits that use stones from Brighton beach – Jacqueline will be revealing her preliminary paintings, sketchbooks and works produced to tie in with the final piece. The event will give visitors an invaluable insight into the process of working with an artist, from the client’s perspective.

Seascape sketchbook by Jacqueline Hammond

Join Jacqueline’s Facebook page at…. Jacqueline Hammond Art

Blog – artbyjaxx.wordpress.com

http://www.jacqueline-hammond.com

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Art Painting

Progress with the Seascape Commission

The boat has now been painted, just got to work on the reflection and possibly add a few more details and a softening glaze.

Seascape Painting Commission by Jacqueline Hammond
Seascape Painting Commission by Jacqueline Hammond
Seascape Painting Commission by Jacqueline Hammond
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Art Painting

Pebble Heads Portrait – Jacqueline Hammond (acrylics 29x21cm)

This painting is a commissioned portrait for a client who’s giving it to his wife as a Valentine’s Day present. They’re collecting it tomorrow.

I have an ongoing series of paintings known as The Pebble Heads which depict people on a trip to the seaside here in Brighton, England. This is a popular series with visitors to JAG Gallery in Brighton, where I exhibit them. I can often be spotted scrabbling around on the beach collecting suitable shaped pebbles for these paintings.

I paint the subjects bodies directly on to the canvas but paint their facial features on to pebbles, incorporating the contours and markings of the pebbles.  I then  glue the pebbles to the canvas.

Most of the subjects in the series are based on my observations of people, but often the pebbles ‘become’ characters once features are painted on. The scene, the pose, the narrative of the portrait seem to occur simultaneously and becomes a caricature as painting progresses.

I accept commissions for portraits of family groups, couples or groups of friends. The client just emails photographs of the people to include in the portrait. A photo of the group is ideal as well as ones of the individuals, but it’s important to know the difference in height. I also ask for a few details about things such as favourite clothing, colours, accessories and an idea of character traits is also useful.

This is the painting of the family before their heads have been glued on to the canvas.
Surreal stage of the painting where the subjects have dismembered heads!
Pebble Head Portrait Commission - Jacqueline Hammond (Acrylics, 29x21cm)

Other paintings in The Pebble Heads series can be viewed at http://jacqueline-hammond.com/gallery_205473.html

Categories
Art Daily Life Painting

Slug Past the Post

Managed to nip in the gallery and eradicate ‘The Slug Cloud’ as we have affectionately named it! These were my thoughts on the matter last night:

Slug

Progress has waned this week. I still wasn’t proud of it, I certainly wouldn’t want to exhibit it yet, despite the positive remarks. The problem with painting ‘in public’ and, although I’m allowed to paint upstairs at the moment, is that you have witnesses to your painting habits and everyone sees those touch and go decisions being made mid painting, mid

No slug - as demonstrated with Photoshop

flow, expletive moments of spontaneous mark-making that can go either way when you get carried away, or when you’re maybe testing alternative slants or options and seeing how they develop before eliminating the duffers. Even those ‘just enjoying what the paints do’ periods, painting just for the sake of it.

In spite of the sketches and preliminary paintings, because the painting doesn’t have to resemble anything specific and I’m not painting with photos in front of me, there is less emphasis on looking right or wrong and more time to play and develop by going with what works. Although the composition is in place by this stage, one still tests the ground with unsatisfactory parts of the piece, to see where it could go: after all, you don’t want to mess with the bits you like that work.

The focal point of the painting is crucial. I’ve been in a pre-menstrual, overworked with the business side of things state of delirium! And maybe over-submerged in my work, I literally needed to take a step back. In more ways than one. But a bigger studio would help.

I’ve always known it would have to go: the cloud that has so far resembled a crocodile, a rodent, a whale, but ended up as a huge slug. Pretty colours though!! I’d been working on other areas and avoiding starting the boat. I’ve been too tired in my painting sessions to tackle the important bit – the boat – and the slug has slept and slugged off. Back to slugging the kids round tomorrow, difficult even to dip in and scrape it off, wish it was upstairs at home.

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Art Painting

A Place to Think

This painting is set to exist in this young man’s life with a purpose; as a way to remember, in memorial, in memory of his Dad, who died at sea while scuba diving. Painted from the heart and the imagination, the piece is a vision… an ocean… a lovely day, a beautiful place. The painting is becoming the picture to serve its purpose. After the client’s viewing, I could’ve painted all night! But this is where its at. The boat is about to set sail.

It's time to set set sail.
Categories
Art Painting

Seascape Commission – Latest Progress

Painting in progress. Seascape commission by Jacqueline Hammond.

Latest developments to the painting have consisted of the following:

  • Dabs of a vivid orange to the clouds, then toned down.
  • Adding more cerulean blue to the lower part of the sky to balance the sky with the sea.
  • Faffing about with the shapes and positioning of the clouds.
  • Testing the inclusion of blue / purple tones that clouds often have when the sun is low in the sky.
  • Adding those rolling clouds on the horizon in order to create a sense of distance and as a substitute for land.

I’ve been working late in the studio when I’m into the painting. The problem with this is not just the eating of junk food but the lack of natural light, meaning the painting can look very different the next day. Mind you, it has to look good in both natural and artificial light, as the client will want to admire his painting in the evenings too!