I have moved!

you can now find me

at my new home

here ...

http://lesterblairstudio.com

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 1000mm x 750mm acrylic on canvas

another week has gone,  it is now done!

Last week I thought I was there, but I touched up a bit here, repainted there, mostly just polishing up. The floor was redone, plus right hand roof more resolved and repainted, I think it is as good as I can do. I have to get going on with my new web platform, so probably a week off painting ahead.

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The Photographer #2

I am getting a little faster. This is a 750mm x 1000mm canvas, my largest yet and the time frame is a little less. I am also working on a new web site which will also carry my blog, so everything will be in one place, but that is maybe a week or two away.

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closing in on the middle ....

... then after the tricky middle bit a general tidy up will see this done!

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It has been a month since I began

I think another eight days not counting the weekend, and I may be near the end. I think I have gone a little faster, plus the canvas is bigger, and it has been somewhat more complex than I envisaged.

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little by little ...

It does not look like much for a weeks work but I had to do some careful drawing as the details were not that clear in the photograph. I even revisited the building to check this ceiling out. I simplified a little and hopefully it will be a clear run from now on. This might be an historical painting as there is a sticker on the building saying earthquake risk. The area is slowly being gentrified.

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some more paint on the canvas

I have taken some liberties in regard to colour matching the photograph, but still at the roughing out stage. Though if I can improve on the image then I'm thinking that's okay because I'm not trying to reproduce a photograph, just making an image that is believable to the experience of standing here, taking a photograph.

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painting red

Have put some paint on a canvas. This will be mostly a red theme. Red can be a little tricky as I don't want any pinks in the bright red, mixing a little yellow with white for the light red seems to work. 

Colour mixing so far has been cadmium red dark medium and light with cadmium yellow medium, titanium white. To darken the red I have used a complimentary colour - Phthalo Green (yellow shade).

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subject for paintings

Some photos that I think might be good for a painting. The red door is a subject I have already used for a painting, but back then it was painted white. I think it is good to get several paintings from the same place, and I don't have to walk far. I will start with the bottom two for now.

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acrylic on canvas 900mm x 700mm

Finished!

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I can see the finish line now

Last Wednesday my hard disk failed on my eight year old 27" iMac. My new friend Shobhit from eServe did a great job recovering all my data. So this Monday it is back into my normal painting routine with my new 27" Retina iMac. Though I did not have my image up on the screen I did paint the sky, the wheels and refine a few details. A few more details to do, and then the road. This week the job should be done. I just got to get my speed up as this one has taken two months (I think 4-6 weeks would be about right).

For the sky I used a mixture of Ultramarine blue, Cerulean Blue and a dab of Medium Cadmium Red, and Naples Yellow, I wanted a warm sky with pinky tones (this is remind me how to mix it again if needed).

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detail stuff mostly done

I now feel that I can paint motor cars, even cars with dented panels, yea! They appear in most of my photos, they are everywhere. Just need to tackle the wheels, a job for tomorrow then road and sky.

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small alterations ...

.. this week due mainly to being sick with winter cold virus, a little more detailing on building completed including exposed weather boarding on the left ... and now the car ....

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starting with some detail on the left

Have included a close up here to show the process but this is in constant flux as I work out how to do this.  It has taken a week to cover 200mm x 150mm though the left is like a little landscape on its own.

under-painting

I'm trying a different process. Rather than complete one small bit at a time, I have blocked in the whole thing with an acrylic wash. Not water but using acrylic glazing liquid. My thought is it might be a faster process to have most of it worked out, reasonably accurate before I begin the detail process.

a modest dwelling

This slightly odd house is on the periphery of a small town in the Wairarapa, the subject of my next painting. I have made a drawing of it on a 900mm x 700mm canvas and am now wondering where to start. 

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Acrylic on canvas 600mm x 600mm

almost ...

... done, I will have to think about it a bit

Update; since the first posting (monday 1st June) I have repainted the road once and painted the door about five times .... it's done, it's as good as I can do for now.

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today I have been mostly painting a letter box ...

... plus window curtains  (just blocked in at this stage). Yesterday it was brickwork. These things are more challenging then I first estimated, but a little bit at a time. The windows at this stage are just grey monochrome, it was too difficult to paint the subtle colour directly, will add colour later once resolved.

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just over the starting line

I first blocked in the sky, I will smooth out later. I wanted this to be the key tone that everything else hangs off. The left side seemed the trickiest, so that is where I am now, once I get past this my confidence should build. To help with the process I use photoshop layers with different curves so that I can see details in the dark foliage shadow areas, another layer to see the high key tones in the sky. I also use a black and white layer so I can check tones as I go. It also helps to photograph my work in stages to check with the original as I go. That is my evolving process in a nutshell.

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a simple photo for a smaller canvas

I tried my hand at painting eighteen months past. I started on small size canvas and now I would like to revisit these small sizes again. Have searched back for simple images that would make simple little paintings (600 x 600mm). I guess the last painting took longer than I wished and I would like to make up some ground.

You can see the result of my search here; https://www.flickr.com/photos/lesterralph/

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Acrylic on canvas 840mm x 840mm

It's there ...

.... almost, maybe a little tightening up here and there, a couple of coats of acrylic varnish, sign it, and  get on with something else.

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details are mostly resolved

My mission for today is to resolve the rough chip road in the foreground, whether to abstract it into a smooth surface, or to indicate the gravel chips .....

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drawing mostly there now ...

... still at the blocking in page, colour, tone correction, and any sloppy drawing corrections to follow. I am hoping that soon I may spend more time on this, and then my posts will be more regular.

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blocking in...

... will add subtle colour and correct/adjust once all blocked in. This is a slow cooking one for sure. I only get about 1  1/2 days on this per week, but I am hoping to change my circumstances soon.

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making a little progress ...

.... though I am having to learn some new techniques, google and youTube are proving to be very helpful, this week I learned that a rigger brush is very helpful to make straight lines.