Recent pieces in Acrylic

I have neglected to post my work for a considerable time for various reasons, I am now intending to post on a more regular basis. Marine subjects are still an important area of interest for me as can be seen in these recent works Below are pieces of work mostly exploring the effect of light on water, trying to capture the translucence and refective effects of the sky on the sea under specific conditions.

Classic Boat Prizewinner at the Royal Society of Marine Artists Exhibition Mall Galleries 2020

October saw the Royal Society of Marine Artists Exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London, I was lucky enough to get two paintings into the show this year. 

The day before the show opened I received an email informing me that I had won a prize with one of my pieces "A Breeze on the Blackwater". I was delighted just to get work into the show, even more surprised to find two of my three submissions had made it into the exhibition. So a prize was very much the cherry on top!

A Breeze on the Blackwater

America's Cup 2003 Painting Commission

A recent commission to paint the GBR entry to the 2003 America's Cup was a very interesting journey so I felt I would share some of the stages on the way to the final piece.

My client was very clear in his requirements, I had a list of what needed to be included. Thinking forward to the final piece I needed to determine which elements of the requirements took precedence.

A series of pencil sketches refined the most likely routes for an action packed view which I could translate into a impactful painting.

From this I produced five colour sketches (I don't usually do more than three visuals) but in this case I was not sure what my client was expecting to see - and I wanted to experiment.

Initial sketches and a couple of quick watercolour visuals

Visual 1

Visual 2

Visual3

Visual 4

Visual 5

The final artwork

Steamships and sail

Commissioned work has rather taken up my time recently, given the unusual times we are living through and the diminished state of the worlds economy I am grateful for the work.

Prior to the latest commission I had completed a number of marine paintings in the hope that this years exhibition season might not be completely eliminated. More a hope than an expectation at the present time.

Two of the works are of steam merchant ships in the 1920s based of photographic records from the family archive. They are effectively a pair in that they depict a ship taking on timbers in Canada and discharging the cargo in Boston harbour. The others are sailing vessels all of the works are painted in acrylic on stretched canvas.

Genoa Bay Vancouver

Timber for Boston 1924

A Breeze on the Blackwater

Running before the storm

Latest work

I have neglected the post for quite some time so I am not determined to post on a more regular basis. Here are a few pieces of my recent marine work, largely in acrylic but with a few in oil and one watercolour.

All the work is for sale on my website:

https://www.kevinclarkson.co.uk

Racing on the Blackwater (acrylic)

Drying Sails (Acrylic)

The stern escort ((Acrylic)

San Francisco Bay (Acrylic)

St Malo Summer (Acrylic)

Boats on the Seine (Oil)

Christchurch harbour (Oil)

Guerin Brittany (Oil)

HMS President (Oil)

RMS Aquitania in floating Dock (Acrylic)

Tower Bridge 1930 (Watercolour)

Oil studies

A recent inventory of work in the drawer of my plan chest revealed a number of pieces which have not made it online (or anywhere else) for various reasons. The two oil studies are from photographs taken at the RAF Museum are part of my oil painting education process.

RE 8 At the RAF Museum

Bleriot Monoplane at the RAF Museum

Small boat paintings

A trio of small boat paintings in acrylics. I was exploring the effects of light on water, trying to capture the intense glare and reflection. Two of the paintings were of Woodbridge in Suffolk and the two boat painting was of St Malo in Brittany.

Pilot cutters in Jaque Cartier Basin St Malo

A weekend with Lula

Something for the weekend

Oil Painting

Having spent most of the last eight years painting in acrylics and watercolours I have decided to take a proper look at oil as a medium.

There is a lot of prejudice and bullshit written about the merits of oil versus acrylics, much of it driven by snobbery, that oil is the superior medium. There are merits and drawbacks to either medium but any competent artist should be able to get a quality result from either.

So, a few months ago I took the plunge and began experimenting with oil in between other projects. I had dabbled with oil occasionally many years ago but never for long enough to form an opinion as to whether it would suit me as a regular painting medium.

Superficially they look the same, with a toothpaste like consistency and these days some brands of oil can be thinned with water. But that is where the similarity ends. It has been like going back to school, mixing colour and getting the appropriate fluidity has been an issue as well as the basic techniques of constructing a painting.

Below is a slightly impressionist oil sketch of the Gare du Nord in Paris. I was aiming for a feeling of movement with depth and perspective.

Gare du Nord Paris

New Work

A number of exhibitions are looming so I have been busy generating new work.

Connie in the clouds

Paris from Suresnes

The view from Sun Pier Chatham

The Old Royal Naval College Greenwich

Luke Wickenden of Kent

Luke was my reserve choice for the Sir Peter Buck portrait painted for Eastgate House in Rochester Kent, and was disappointed when a slightly more mature sitter in the shape of Phil Gomm was selected.

I promised I would produce a portrait of Luke anyway and finally got around to it just before Christmas. Just to add to the challenge Luke is an avid online gamer and asked to be dressed in the armour of one of his favourite characters.

No pressure then.

Life Drawing

After a gap of more than 40 years I have recently taken up life drawing again.

Drawing the human figure is possibly the most challenging of subjects. The drawings were produced in a life class and were done in timed sessions, usually around ten minutes, this focuses the mind on the essential shapes and tones. It also show up weakness in technique, essential if you aim to improve!