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Walking in Oamaru, Otago

I visited Otago a few months back and took photos in Oamaru, from these photos i hope to make a few paintings.You can see more photos in my flickr stream here; https://www.flickr.com/photos/lesterralph/15446002624/

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Driving through a Otago landscape

I visited Otago a few months back and I took some photos from a moving car. I enjoy being a passenger which is not often enough, from these photos I hope to make a few paintings.

More of these photos are in my flickr stream here; https://www.flickr.com/photos/lesterralph/15445977704/in/photostream/

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acrylic on 8oz cotton 900mm x 600mm

near the finish line...

.... a little more refining and the odd correction, but for posting puposes, this is it. I'm away to Taranaki next weekend, probably be able to take a few photos and maybe check out this door in Eltham.

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one more weekend ….

… and I can think about another image. It is near Christmas and I like to help my wife out by choosing some books for this special day. I have ordered two Thomas Struth books: ‘Unconscious Places’ and ‘walking’.  There is a certain quietness about his images, the same reason I like Robert Adams, just saying because this is possibly the direction I would like to go with my paintings.

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on the home straight ... maybe a couple of weekends to go

I have calculated these paintings are taking approximately 16 days to complete. I have been looking at photorealist work (in books from the library) but they seem to be more interested in reflections and shiny things like  automobiles. For me it is the photographers whose strongest work was from the 70's and 80's,  people like William Eggleston, and Robert Adams that inspire me.

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this week I have been mostly adding grey, white and a little raw umber

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the detail bits are moving ahead …

For the next few weeks I may only have a day and half per week to work on this as I make up some work time. Next year I’m hopeful that I will have more time painting.

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the start of another doorway

I used to get some sort of simple pleasure out of a former job as a welder, making nice straight beads, painting a floor pattern was much the same, slow going but a nice way to spend a few days with mostly Philip Glass playing from the stereo. It has taken a week to do this, having to paint it twice to get the colour the way I wanted. Now I have to work a little longer in the coming weeks to make up the time, such is life!

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the image for my next painting ...

I was going to do another landscape, but while re-arranging the photos on the wall (as my paintings have all gone down to the Tennyson Street Fair for this Sunday) This photograph from March 2006 got me thinking, a doorway from my old home town of Eltham, Taranaki. I am encouraged from my last doorway painting, I'm hoping I can keep it awhile on the wall, but if someone wants it, that will be good too ....

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acrylic on 8oz cotton, 900mm x 700mm

almost there ...

...another couple of hours, but have run out of daylight, so next weekend ....

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on target ....

... should be completed next weekend, almost all blocked in, some refining to do, little corrections, that sort of thing. Probably some glazing to correct values. I have some more recent photos to sort through, and I will select one for the next painting.

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been working on the fiddly bits

I'm hoping I can complete this in the next two weeks.

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blocking in

Only one day painting this weekend, it is looking somewhat rough, but I'm thinking this is just the blocking in stage,  I will refine and adjust values further on. After this the plan is to get another landscape finished by 19th October. There is a Tennyson Street Fair which is put on by Elim Church that I attend and I would like to have five paintings to show. (did I mention I sold a painting in the New Zealand Art show here in Wellington).

a doorway, Te Aro, Wellington

I have made a start on a new painting, this is the source photo. It probably features somewhere in this blog, possibly in 2007 when I first began photographing around Wellington. Have been listening to St Germain ‘Tourist’ while working on it, it was probably played around this time in the cafes that are nearby where this photo was taken.

acrylic on 8oz cotton, 750mm x 750mm

Done!  ..... I think ..

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I can see the finish line …..

I spent yesterday and half of today on this hill, and this is as far as I could manage, the right hillside will have to wait till Monday, as I am rostered to drive a taxi tomorrow (Sunday). I have some questions here to resolve, maybe I will try a milky blue glaze over the hills and the water with reflections to hopefully tie it all in. It is all a learning process, I should be okay to post again late Monday or maybe tuesday and then I can think about something else.

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my job for next weekend is to paint some green hills 

last weekend I was thinking this painting might fail, now I'm feeling okay, even though the colour is a little on the imaginative side. So far I have only used Permanent Violet Dark , Paynes Gray, C.P. Cadmium yellow Medium, Titanium White and Ultramarine Blue in the Golden Artist range.

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It has been a long time since I have had stuff for public view

One week ago I bubble wrapped these paintings and took them down to the New Zealand Art show here in Wellington TSB centre.  If they sell, I will be hopeful of driving a taxi a little less and painting a little more.

Art show information:

New Zealand Art Show

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weekly progress report….

I have moved upward and now the rocks are all there, just some refining and corrections to do. I’m hoping the rest will come together rather quickly.

I have reached the other side of the canvas

I am doing something that I don't know how to do, so progress has been slow.

On the plus side, the last three paintings have been accepted for 'The New Zealand Art Fair".

 rock pool painting progress so far ….

This has been slow going, everything seems to go a bit wobbly at first, then corrections and adjustments until it begins to resemble rocks. Reasonably close to the composition of the photograph, but I can’t paint every rock and pebble, so it all becomes a bit of a compromise between how it was and my imagination seems to fill in the gaps.

Click image for a close up

a scene with rock pools

a photograph of some rock pools I took off The Esplanade, near Owhiro Bay, Wellington. I seem to choose a subject for painting that I actually don’t know how to go about. Hopefully I am raising the bar each time.

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acrylic on canvas 838mm x 838mm

it is done

Four days I spent on the sky, my intention was for a believable sky, not cartoonish. It appears as the simple area of the painting, I found it to be the difficult part. I'm happy now to put it aside and look for another image.

I’m on the home straight

Easter next weekend and I hope to have the sky worked out. Music seems to help a lot with my motivation to paint and I have been mostly listening to Philip Glass, “glassworks” the repetitive melody seems to suit my work on this painting.

You can click image for a better view.

slow progress

I would like to think this time next week all the land will be completed and then I will begin thinking about the sky. To see a bit closer just click on the image.

landscape No. 6 in progress

It is in the roughing out stage, I seem to start with the trees first and then work out the landforms from there, making corrections as I go. No logical reason other than one has to apply some paint somewhere to begin ...  then confidence seems to come as I move forward.

Wairarapa valley with trees

Wairarapa valley with trees, a photo by Lester Ralph Blair on Flickr.

a photo I took in the Wairarapa last January, I'm hoping I can make a painting from it. You can check on my progress above .....

No. 5 is done .... I think

acrylic on canvas 740mm x 740mm

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The end is in sight

Just need to complete the sky, add some shadows to some of the trees, and maybe add a little contrast to the bottom of the grassy field. If all goes well I will complete this Monday, if not than next weekend.

As an aside; I have been mostly listening to The Hilliard Ensemble & Jan Garbarek; 'Officium'. A painter is a bit like a monk I think.

P.S. click the images for a larger view.

still working on painting No. 5

This week the studio was made back into a bedroom. My daughter Emily has returned from Melbourne to train as a nurse. This is my studio now in the master bedroom, my kind wife let me use this corner where there are photos of various ancestors.

painting No. 5 in progress

This is the corner of our spare room, I have converted it into a small studio. 

acrylic on canvas 838mm x 838mm

Four months ago I visited the local art supply store, I noticed the studio easels were on special. I made an impulsive purchase. It has been eleven years since I had a paint brush in my hands. In those days I would have Jimmy Hendrix full volume and paint in a quick expressive way. Now I have Brahms, Holst and Beethoven and the work is much slower and considered. It is early days and I have much to learn.

some photos for 2014

some photos for 2014, a photo by Lester Ralph Blair on Flickr.

Well … lots of photos, as I’m off work over the Christmas break and I like to keep the photography thing going. I’m now back to earning a living and my days off are committed to some paintings I’m doing.

some photos for 2014

some photos for 2014, a photo by Lester Ralph Blair on Flickr.

Well … lots of photos, as I’m off work over the Christmas break and I like to keep the photography thing going. I’m now back to earning a living and my days off are committed to some paintings I’m doing.

some photos for 2014

some photos for 2014, a photo by Lester Ralph Blair on Flickr.

Well … lots of photos, as I’m off work over the Christmas break and I like to keep the photography thing going. I’m now back to earning a living and my days off are committed to some paintings I’m doing.

some photos for 2014

some photos for 2014, a photo by Lester Ralph Blair on Flickr.

Well … lots of photos, as I’m off work over the Christmas break and I like to keep the photography thing going. I’m now back to earning a living and my days off are committed to some paintings I’m doing.

some photos for 2014

some photos for 2014, a photo by Lester Ralph Blair on Flickr.

Well … lots of photos, as I’m off work over the Christmas break and I like to keep the photography thing going. I’m now back to earning a living and my days off are committed to some paintings I’m doing.

some photos for 2014

some photos for 2014, a photo by Lester Ralph Blair on Flickr.

Well … lots of photos, as I’m off work over the Christmas break and I like to keep the photography thing going. I’m now back to earning a living and my days off are committed to some paintings I’m doing.

some photos for 2014

some photos for 2014, a photo by Lester Ralph Blair on Flickr.

Well … lots of photos, as I’m off work over the Christmas break and I like to keep the photography thing going. I’m now back to earning a living and my days off are committed to some paintings I’m doing.

some photos for 2014

some photos for 2014, a photo by Lester Ralph Blair on Flickr.

Well … lots of photos, as I’m off work over the Christmas break and I like to keep the photography thing going. I’m now back to earning a living and my days off are committed to some paintings I’m doing.

some photos for 2014

some photos for 2014, a photo by Lester Ralph Blair on Flickr.

Well … lots of photos, as I’m off work over the Christmas break and I like to keep the photography thing going. I’m now back to earning a living and my days off are committed to some paintings I’m doing.

some photos for 2014

some photos for 2014, a photo by Lester Ralph Blair on Flickr.

Well … lots of photos, as I’m off work over the Christmas break and I like to keep the photography thing going. I’m now back to earning a living and my days off are committed to some paintings I’m doing.

some photos for 2014

some photos for 2014, a photo by Lester Ralph Blair on Flickr.

Well … lots of photos, as I’m off work over the Christmas break and I like to keep the photography thing going. I’m now back to earning a living and my days off are committed to some paintings I’m doing.

some photos for 2014

some photos for 2014, a photo by Lester Ralph Blair on Flickr.

Well … lots of photos, as I’m off work over the Christmas break and I like to keep the photography thing going. I’m now back to earning a living and my days off are committed to some paintings I’m doing.

some photos for 2014

some photos for 2014, a photo by Lester Ralph Blair on Flickr.

Well … lots of photos, as I’m off work over the Christmas break and I like to keep the photography thing going. I’m now back to earning a living and my days off are committed to some paintings I’m doing.