Chris Rose - Artist - Studio Page

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2010-04-27T11:22:00.001+01:00

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2009-10-28T22:09:00.002Z

Stage 9 - I've almost completed the grass now. The bottom few inches are partly done and the bottom right corner is as yet untouched. The addition of these stronger greens has helped to lift the colour values of the picture.

2009-10-27T09:33:00.002Z

Stage 8 - I've completed the background hillside and the juncus sedge and am about to start working on the grass.

2009-10-26T19:44:00.002Z

Stage 7 - I've started working on the distant hillside at the back in opaque colour. I make up a good quantity of the four or five colour mixes I need, in sealable pots. As acrylics dry very quickly this allows me to work on a passage of the painting over a few days without the need to re-mix colours to match areas I have already painted.

2009-10-19T22:45:00.002+01:00

Stage 6 - I've finished putting the basic colours in on the birds so now the whole painting is broadly roughed out and I can see at this early stage if I think it is working and what might need changing.

2009-10-13T08:46:00.002+01:00

Stage 5 - I've started putting in some 'local colour' on the birds. The paint is being applied quite quickly and relatively crudely at this stage, just to give me an idea of how the picture as a whole is shaping up.

2009-10-10T10:10:00.003+01:00

Stage 4 - Still using fairly thin paint I have blocked in the main areas of colour for the background: the grassy field; the line of rushes at the back of the field; an area of long, dry grass behind and then a heather-clad hillside rising beyond it.

2009-10-09T09:07:00.006+01:00

Stage 3 - I've finished 'drawing' in the geese refining shapes and adjusting positions until I was happy with the overall look. As this was done in thinned down paint, which dries very quickly, it allows me to add colour now without disturbing the underlying drawing.

2009-10-08T08:22:00.002+01:00

Stage 2: The geese are taken from sketches made on Islay and from watching slowed down video footage which enabled me to really see what was going on with those wings! I'm starting to get more of a feel for how the painting might look at this very early stage.

2009-09-27T22:19:00.002+01:00

Barnacle geese, stage 1 - This will be an acrylic painting of part of a flock of barnacle geese coming in to land in a field on the Inner Hebridean island of Islay. On a tinted background I have started to rough in a few bird shapes and have indicated where certain horizontal elements of the background will be positioned. I always draw directly with the paint - it is so much quicker and freer and it allows one to rapidly block in areas of tone. It is also easier to wipe off than it is to rub out pencil lines.

2009-09-27T21:48:00.002+01:00

Finished painting - It just remained to paint the bird and its reflection to a finished state. There were a few minor alterations to be made to the shapes of the bird and reflection, otherwise it was a reasonably straightforward exercise to paint over the underpainting with more-or-less the same colours and with a bit more attention paid to plumage and structural accuracy.

2009-09-14T08:26:00.000+01:00

Detail of foreground.

2009-09-14T08:15:00.002+01:00

Stage 4: Having painted all of the water and sand to a finished state it still did not look entirely convincing - it was hard to 'read' the transparency of the water, particularly in the foreground. I noticed in some photographs I had taken that there were scattered fragments of dark seaweed, mostly in the water between the ridges of sand, so perhaps it was these that gave the idea of transparency in the water. I painted some in and suddenly the effect I had been searching for was achieved. I also added some worm casts.

2009-09-09T22:13:00.002+01:00

Stage 3; I have now worked down the painting, almost to the bottom, finishing the water and cloud reflections and the sand ripples.

2009-08-09T08:00:00.002+01:00

Stage 2: I've finished roughing in the gull and have started painting the mud and water to a level of finish at the top of the painting. I shall conitinue in this vain down the rest of the painting and then end by painting the gull and it's reflection.

2009-08-03T20:31:00.002+01:00

Black-headed gull
Stage 1: This is the start of a large oil, 34" square, of a black-headed gull on the expanse of rippled sand between Lindisfarne and the Northumberland mainland at low tide. To get to this stage took only a couple of days. Having roughly marked out where the sand ripples were to go I filled in the water inbetween, giving an indication of clouds reflected in the water at the top. All this has been done in thinned down paint. I've also started roughing in the gull.

2009-04-28T17:10:00.004+01:00

Finished painting; I've continued in the same vein to the bottom of the picture and finished off the birds and their reflections. This painting can currently be seen at my one-man show at the SOC headquarters, Waterstone House, Aberlady, E. Lothian, Scotland (see 'Events' page for details).

2009-03-24T07:37:00.003Z

Stage 14; I've completed the rock reflections and am now blocking in the broad areas of colour for the water and wet mud, over which I will add details like small pebbles, bits of shell etc. The dark rock-reflections will be dissected by steaks of grey/purple which are where the mud breaks the surface film of water and so disrupts the mirror effect of the water. However, I'll put these in when the paint is dry otherwise the brown pigment will mix with the fresh paint and I'll end up with a gungey mess!

2009-03-20T09:40:00.003Z

Stage 13; The seaweed-covered rock is now complete and I have started working on the reflections of the rock in the water at the ducks' feet.

2009-03-18T22:32:00.002Z

Stage 12; I've added cool highlights for light reflected off the wet seaweed and warm orange-browns for the 'transmitted light' where the sun shines through the fronds.

2009-03-17T20:24:00.001Z

Stage 11; Here I've started work on the seaweed-covered rock, putting in the dark shadows first and painting over with the brighter colours to give a sense of sunlight shining on and through the bladderwrack.

2009-03-08T22:15:00.002Z

Stage 10; I've worked up the clumps of bladder-wrack that sit amongst the green stuff(!) and have started to work on the mud infront of the seaweed.

2009-03-07T08:31:00.002Z

Stage 9; I've added highlights including a few pinpoints of white for the 'sparkle factor' where the sunlight glints of the wet seaweed. I've also added some paler blue in the very wet places where the water film reflects the blue of the sky. This section of weed is now complete, although I may add a seashell or two...

2009-03-02T22:37:00.002Z

Stage 8; Lighter greens on the sun-ward side of the shadows I put in give the weed real form and help to give the effect of late afternoon sunlight.

2009-03-02T22:33:00.001Z

Stage 7; I've added some shadows to the green weed and some pale blue where water has collected in hollows in the weed and is reflecting the blue sky.