To market, to market

Well, there's just a few days left till I put my paintings up for sale at an open air art market this weekend in Maidenhead. It'll be my first time, and I'm sure it'll be interesting. I'm looking forward to talking to some other local artists as well as the general public – and maybe I will sell a painting or two. By getting some more giclee prints done of a few paintings I will be offering a range of prices – and hang onto a couple of originals I'd rather not part with! Let's just hope the weather isn't too inclement!

Since my last blog I've completed one small oil painting of a crab; I enjoyed painting the previous one so much I had to do another. I had planned to finish another version of 'Tree near the Jolly Woodman Pub'  in time for the art market (the first version of which I donated to Thames Hospicecare), but I wasn't enjoying painting a copy of something I've already done, so it's been put to one side for now. Anyway, here are the photos I took as the crab painting progressed:

Charcoal sketch of crab

Crab on a white plate (1)

'Crab on a White Plate' (2)

 'Crab on a White Plate' by Karen Davies  (20cm x 20cm)

 

As the festive season approaches and we are subjected to an avalanche of yuletide images, I've been thinking that perhaps, one year, I could join in and try to get a suitable painting accepted by a greeting card manufacturer. What about a painting of a handsome turkey? After all, I do like painting chickens so I reckon I could give it a good go and I do have some holiday snaps I took a few years back of the livestock on Lanlas Farm in Wales. I'll keep you posted on whether that little germ of an idea grows.

Recently I was surprised to be asked by for some tips on portraiture by a friend whose son is studying for his art 'A' level. The only nougat of interesting information that I could think of to offer was one that I gleaned from a book about the Welsh artist Kyffin Williams – and while it is fresh in my mind I thought I'd pass this on here in an attempt to make this blog as helpful as possible. In the book it was noted that Williams was influenced by an Austrian artist Oskar Kokoschka (1886-1980) who, in his portraits, 'would use the features of the face – particular the eyes – in a asymmetrical way, to heighten the impact of the portrait and to give the viewer greater insight into the subject's character'. After learning this, I noticed that many artists do this, including Vincent van Gogh, who uses this approach to great effect in his portraits. So next time I paint someone's eyes a bit wonky, I'll inform them it's deliberate and adds character.

And here endeth the lesson. Bye for now.


Reference
Nicholas Sinclair, The Art of Kyffin Williams, London, 2007.