Madras (Chennai) Rickshaw

24 x 18 Acrylic on canvas board derived from a photo (see this post for copy) which was taken during my visit to Madras (Chennai) in August of 2010.

The original photo which was the insparation for the painting Madras (Chennai) Rickshaw. At the time of taking this photo there were 52000 new Rickshaws available but the prospective applicants were unable to receive finance from banks due to the world economic crisis.

David Beattie

A photo opportunity during my visit to Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK. I had the privilege of meeting David Beattie at an exhibition of his in the St Davids Cathedral Rectory. David specialises in producing detailed etchings using the intaglio method which is hundreds of years old. I have long been an admirer of his art and have several pieces in my own home. There is a link to www.original-etchings.co.uk on the blog if you would like to take a look at his work.

Bobs wall

24 x 18 acrylic on canvas board depicting a wall in my good friend Bob and Pam Hart's home in California. A beautiful oasis were everything justs grows, you take a cutting and stick it in the soil and it grows, amazing.

Three Trees (KidsCope) Art Spree

Just an update on the submissions to the Three Trees Annual Art Spree fund raiser. I had submitted two pieces "Sunday Morning Call" and "New York Cafe" and was concerned because one was very abstract in content and the other more traditional and how would the audience respond to the two styles. Well thankfully they both sold for the same price and so were both equally appreciated which is freeing as I can choose too paint either abstract or conventional dependant on my mood, being a Gemini I never know which one of the twins it will be on a daily basis lol.
In the middle of a conventional scene I have named "Bob's Wall" and this is a depiction of a red brick wall in my good friend Bob Harts place in sunny Thousand Oaks California, should be finished soon.

where are you now

24 x 18 Acrylic on canvas board. The subject was created as a result of reading an art news magazine who had a challenge for artists; the challenge was "where are you now". The challenge was to use any medium to create the image of what place in life you find yourself. The image above shows me being torn between two continents, half being in Europe and the other half America. Which ones winning is not clear, you decide?

Visit to India

Currently in India in Chennai formerly known as Madras. Fascinating country steeped in history and tradition. I have taken the camera so that I can capture urban scenes and life as I see it and use these for future paintings.
I had underestimated the level of poverty that I was likely to see, it is a dichotomy there are people living in palm covered wooden structures and corrugated steel fabricated buildings or even tents, no running water or sanitation but the city proudly records that an automobile is manufactured three every minute and a commercial vehicle one every 75 seconds. The business that we are visiting is on IT Highway and Paypal and Ebay, Accenture, Tata, Cognizant and many large software companies share the same stretch of highway as the temporary shelters that the people reside in.
The cows are sacred and therefore have right of way and can be seen in the middle of the highway or on the side of the road eating the garbage that is put out for them to eat. There are LPG powered yellow rickshaws and thousands of motor cycles and scooters, these appear to be the primary mode of transport and I have seen a family of five being transported in and out of the traffic on there way to wherever they were going. The roads are a cacophony of sound as the vehicles all sound there horns in an effort to alert the other road users of there presence. The vehicles have on the rear of the vehicle "sound horn" written advising the vehicle approaching that if they wish to get past just sound the horn and I know that your there and I will move over. Red lights and stop signs have no meaning, the vehicle that we have been driven in each day approaches the stop sign or red light and trucks on through blasting away on the horn to deter the traffic joining the intersection. The British presence is still in evidence with many colonial buildings still standing but many are falling into disrepair through lack of attention or lack of finance. As you can see I will have plenty of material to use for future paintings.

Sunday Morning Call

24 x 18 Acrylic on canvas board. The image shows people being drawn to church on a Sunday morning by a hidden spirit, some of the people are distracted by the shop windows and are instead drawn to shopping. I have submitted this piece to the annual Three Trees benefit Art Spree. I was at first reluctant thinking that it was maybe to abstract for the audience but have submitted it anyway together with New York Cafe. I will be interested to see the feed back and see what the audience think of the two pieces, one is more traditional and one is clearly abstract. The event is August 21st 2010, I will keep you posted.

stepping out

24 x 18 acrylic on canvas board. Three girls stepping out for a stroll down main street not a care in the world. Another similar group a small distance away probably out shopping on Mothers Day. Happy Mothers day to all you mums.

window shopping

24 x 18 Acrylic on canvas board. My work has been described as esoteric, ephemeral and nostalgic and in this piece I have attempted to capture all of those qualities. It was fun to do so I hope you enjoy viewing it as much as I did painting it.

Waterloo The Southbank revisited

I revisited the painting as I had described a lot of people movement and the solitary soldier with a back pack did not seem to promote the movement so he has been replaced with a group in transit. Its part of the process I have as over time there are several reviews and changes made as someone told me once "its not finished until you say its finished" and this is a regime that I have followed over the years.

Waterloo The Southbank

24 x 18 Acrylic on canvas board derived from photograph taken while visiting London during Summer 2009. Photograph outside Waterloo Station on the southbank in London of people walking past the entrance. The movement intrigued me, no one had time to stop or feel the rain on there faces except for the two guys beside the advertisement board who were unaware of the activity around them and just continued to chat and smoke not a care in the world. The rain was coming down at a steady drizzle so my wife and I had taken shelter in a coffee shop whilst waiting for friends we had arranged to meet. I took several photographs while sitting there and these will be used in future works.

Evening Standard

24 x 18 Acrylic on canvas board derived from photograph taken while visiting London during Summer 2009. Photograph outside Waterloo Station on the southbank in London of people walking past an Evening Standard newspaper stand. The rain was coming down at a steady drizzle so my wife and I had taken shelter in a coffee shop whilst waiting for friends we had arranged to meet. I took several photographs while sitting there and these will be used in future works.

Evening Standard Stage 2

Stage 2 of painting after sketch drawing on canvas board black and white and shades of grey are added to establish the values for the final painting.

Black cab Kensington

24 x 18 Acrylic on canvas board derived from photograph taken while visiting London during summer of 2009. My wife and I had just been to Kensington park and had walked through the gardens of Kensington Palace the former home of Prince Charles and Lady Diana.

Stage 2 of painting after sketch drawing on canvas board black and white and shades of grey are added to establish the values for the final painting.