Santa Fe Art show

This coming Friday (19th May) and over the weekend I'll be in Santa Fe NM, for my two man show with the talented Frank Balaam. It's a beautiful town and Ventana Fine Art is a great gallery, right there on Canyon Road.  Stop on by and say hi, you might even catch me painting?

Here's a few images from the show, but you can find more paintings online, just follow the link. There's a great variety of sizes & prices.

Call or visit #Ventana_Fine_art for more info. 1-800-746-8815
http://ventanafineart.com/angus/ ‪‪

Bluefish Cove, California

Some Californian coastal cliffs for New Mexico! One of my landscape paintings going into my two man show in Santa Fe next month. Over the coming weeks I'll post more works.

Call or visit #Ventana_Fine_art for more info. 1-800-746-8815 ‪‪

 Winter Morning - Overlooking Bluefish Cove
36X24                  Acrylic on panel

New paintings in Carmel

One of three paintings I'm delivering to New Masters Gallery in beautiful Carmel CA tomorrow! Drop by of contact the gallery for more info. tel( 831) 625-1511

Harmony (oranges & cherries on purple cloth)

46X30                             Acrylic on wood

Re work, Re imagining, Re finish!

It's common to reach the end of a painting and need to let it sit for a few days, to a week, before I can ascertain if it's completed done. Often times I find myself making small adjustments to these nearly finished paintings. Reaching that point where you feel a painting to be complete, can be tricky. A good number of years ago it was clearer to me; I painted faster and never looked back. However in recent times I have gained great pleasure in reevaluating a painting that I viewed as complete and giving it a little adjustment. Sometimes these paintings I have stored for a year or two, before revisiting.

 Sometimes this process reminds me of giving a room a new breath of energy by moving the furniture around. Some have ask if these adjustments are necessary, and that's tricky and ultimately a personal viewpoint. I would not argue that either painting (old or new) was finished, better or worse. But for me it reaffirms my affection for the painting; the process of applying a new or current idea, to an older painting, is exciting. In short, it breathes new life into the work, even if I'm the only who sees it!

I reworked both these paintings last week. They came from last years paintings, and both changed, by becoming a little more subtle...

The 'new'

Peruvian Lilies & Delphinium over Purple & Violet

24X36                                    Acrylic on panel

The 'old'

This painting worked, but felt a little cool. I wanted to keep everything unified and close in colors, so I adjusted the tablecloth to a yellowish white. Internationally I left parts of the original color shine through to give the effect of a loosely painted tablecloth design. I then lightly glazed the background floor to separate it from the tablecloth. The end result I think has elevated this work with a lot of nuance and subtlety in color, over the original drama of the cyan tone.

The 'new'

Lemons, Poms & Cyclamen over tribal drape

22X22                              Acrylic on wood 

The 'old'

The power of the background design felt too impactful, when the focus needed to be on the flowers and table. I toned the drape design into light yellow/greens, which unified the color design of the overall painting, and brought the focus to where it belonged. For the observant amongst you, you may also notice I altered the cut Pomegranate a little, and adjusted the line of the table, (where it meets the purple vase/cup).

Inspired by Mary Fedden

Here's a fun little painting with a little inspiration from the paintings of Mary Fedden. Don't think she's terribly well known in America, but she's important to British still life painting.  I enjoy her work and it was fun to tweak my usual style to incorporate a little of her work and the Naive like flattening of forms.

White Cyclamen with Pear after Fedden

20X20  Acrylic on Canvas

A Day in the Life of an artist

Here's a couple of shots of a fun little feature in the Spring edition of Acrylic Artist magazine, called 'A day in the life'. Look out for the magazine it's a great publication.

Not sure if my average day is ever quite this busy, but one can hope...

new work - Stargazer Lilies

Here's two recent paintings featuring Stargazer lilies. As flowers they have such dramatic color and shapes, they're great fun to paint.

I begun these paintings together, but after the early 'under painting' stage I finished the one fully, before tackling the other. Looking back now I can't recall, which was ahead of which. The bouquet was the same for both, though you may notice I made a few aesthetic alterations to each to differentiate the paintings, and build different compositions within them. Within "Oranges, reds' the stems of the flowers twists and curl across the width of the composition, whereas in 'Watermelon & Stargazer' the flowers primarily stretch up, lengthening (or 'aiding') the tall design of the overall painting.

I enjoyed working on them as a pair, the same size and a similar subject; however with a few conscious color and composition changes, each seems distinctly different in tone & treatment.

 Stargazer lilies with Oranges, reds & pinks 

36X24                Acrylic on panel

Watermelon & Stargazer lilies arrangement

36X24                         Acrylic on panel