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Saturday 5 November 2011

A few new pieces

First off I have two pieces trying my hand at abstract landscapes. For the past few years I've been following an artist called Kurt Jackson, a Cornish abstract landscape painter. His work is incredible and after going to one of his exhibitions I always try my hand at a few pieces myself. These two are based off some photos I took on Dartmoor a few years ago.
tree1
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Next a piece I've recently been working on. I've been trying to develop my figure painting skills for some time and this piece has been a big leap forward, particularly as its not in my usual medium. Acrylic on canvas 18X26 inches
DSC_0032

Finally an old painting I've just found again. Again this is an acylic on canvas figure. I never quite got the skin tones right on this but may revisit it soon.
DSC_0034

Artist reference photos

A brilliant facebook page for artists/photographers to submit photos for artistic reference. The hold a monthly art competition as well as a photography competition. Simply comment on the user agreement note to have full access to their imagebank. This was my submission for the october art competition.

bird1

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Artist-reference-photos/196240920396276

Dore Copy

Finishing university left me at a real loose end for a little while. Over the summer I intend to develop my basic drawing skills particularly in anatomy and classical realism. This image is the first I have produced since finishing uni and helping me get back into the swing of things. It is a graphite copy of a Gustave Dore engraving. I particularly like Dore engravings, not only for the imagination and creativity in them but also in that as engravings they are forced to leave smaller details and gradual tonal shifts out making for an interesting challenge in producing copies.

dore1

End of University and beyond

So university finally came to an end some months ago now but I never got around to making a final blog post about it really. Below are a few images that may not have appeared on here before from my time at uni, just to draw a line under the whole thing so to speak and show the work I produced.

redeath

3 min fix 2084

3 min fix 2085

horseweb

blackcat

Tuesday 10 May 2011

Swansea Metropolitan University, Illustration 2011 Graduate show

The third year students of Swansea Metropolitans Illustration course 2011 have just finished their first final year show titled Arboretum. The title came from the concept of the university experience been like a tree. Student came together as roots, joined together during university as the trunk and are now flourishing and spreading the seeds of their work around. An Arboretum is an area dedicated to the study  of various trees for exhibition or scientific study.


35 Students exhibited work with a broad range of medium and styles. 25 of these students elected to go on to produce a second show at London's prestigious Brick Lane Gallery in their new space The Annexe. This show will be on from the 22nd to the 26th of June (add a comment to receive fuller details as they become available).

Thursday 21 April 2011

New website

My new site  Still very much in its infancy but this is my new site which will serve as portfolio site and work in progress blog. Please take a look.

Thursday 7 April 2011

The Archbishop Calls

Another illustration for Caliban Full Text (please check it out the image will make a lot more sense alongside the text). Im particularly pleased with this piece and thanks to everyone on Conceptart.org who have given me feedback as its improved. The piece is cropped A3 bristol board with graphite from HB through to 9B pencils. I used a number of reference photos of ottoman tea sets to construct this composition. I was planning to add elaborate scrollwork to the image but with my graduation exhibition looming and a history of overworking and destroying artwork I thought it best left.

The Archbishop calls

Wednesday 16 March 2011

The Contestants

Another illustration for Caliban. This story is on a sword fight between a young man and an aristocrat. The fight ends with the death of the aristocrat so used to the fine art of fencing rather then the reality of a true sword fight Read the full story. This particular piece, despite its simplicity in composition, took around 9 hours to complete due to the huge amount of graphite required to light the area by candlelight.

contestants

This is the original drawing on A3 bristol board but I felt it lacked the true atmosphere of a candlelit area. So using a simple texture of some old sepia toned paper with very dark edges I created this piece.

contestantswash


While it isn't true candlelight colour I think it does go much further towards creating an atmosphere of candlelight.

Thursday 10 March 2011

"Egg"

Second illustration for text by author Caliban. This piece of writing looks at the small signs that a mans marriage is collapsing. In this case his egg which normally always has its top taken off is left intact. The stark nature of the intact egg made for a very simple but powerful symbol. Check out the full text Here
"Egg"

Sunday 6 March 2011

Knight Arrival

Knight Arrival
First illustration for a collaboration between myself and a writer working under the pen name Caliban.
This story is a short descriptive piece on the arrival of a crusader to the Holy land and the quick realisations of the brutality of war.

Knight Arrival

Full text to accompany this illustration

Friday 4 February 2011

Two new pieces

This is an image I've been working on for a while and am particularly pleased with the way its turned out. Its based on a vintage photo and I'm planning a few more pieces based on vintage photos as I feel the poses and feel of the images is something rarely captured in modern photos.

sepianude1

And this is my second design for our university valentines card fundraiser. Personally I'm not sure on the background but everyone else seems to like it. Im considering doing a fuller oil painting of the same subject as I do like the subject in the style it is.

roses

Monday 31 January 2011

Valentines day card

This is a design for a Valentines day card to help raise money for our third year graduation show. A3 pencil.
lovers embraceFB

Start of a blog

Okay so I finally decided to set up a blog (decided/coerced). This will be where all my new work and works in progress will appear, hopefully at a good pace.

Thanks for stopping by,  I assure you it will get better.

James