Thursday, September 24, 2009

Back in the Studio

A combination of a flu type virus (hopefully H1N1 - so I won't get it again!), which totally floored me, and less than perfect plein air conditions drove me back into the studio today after a break of almost six months. I took these photographs of sheep grazing on Valentia Island on the same morning that I painted "After the Storm", so I had some good plein air reference material for sky and sea colour. I remember that there was an intense golden light from the early morning sun and that is why I took the photos.
































I decided to home in on the big fellow looking out to sea (possible title "Admiring the View"). I also re-arranged things a little, and included the distant Skellig Islands in the painting, which were just out of view to the left.

This was my block-in after about 45 minutes (the canvas is 16" x 20"):-



And here is where I got after about another two hours:-



















I hope to finish the painting tomorrow. Feels real strange being back in the studio again. I found myself looking at the ceiling a few times checking for rain!

4 comments:

rob ijbema said...

life must be tough michael,especially with the kind of studio you've got!i can still sense that northern light...
i will follow with interest

as it happens the boys brought back a cold from school for me,
yes studio time for me too!

Michael McGuire said...

Yeah, that studio of mine is not great, is it? Sorry to hear you caught a bug too.

Prerana Kulkarni said...

oh I see now what you meant on wetcanvas forum... in the second stage it pretty much gets a 3-D effect!

Michael McGuire said...

Yes Prerana, Even though this was a studio piece, what you're looking for in "Stage 2" is something which looks 3D as it does here. Think of it as the backbone of your painting. Susan once said to me that "the strength of a painting lies in the relationship between the main masses". I didn't really understand that until quite recently.