Total Art Soul - for artists

Being a non smoker, I was pleased about the UK ban on smoking in public places. I've lost count of the number of times I've returned home reeking of second hand smoke. It did however occur to me, that it was a bit unfair on those that don't chain smoke in public places, and this is one of the very few comforts that they desire, to enjoy a smoke along with a drink.

I wanted to show this with the image of a middle aged man, still working and clearly a labourer. A clear example of the backbone of our nation. Here he is enjoying a few of the simple pleasures he desires in life, a smoke and a dram.

This is quite a large oil painting, and I experimented with some new ideas of moving the oil around the canvas using my fingers and pieces of cloth. I was very pleased with the results, and continue to use the same methods with other paintings.

Prints of The Simple Things and other artwork of mine can be seen and purchased here.

www.2canvas.co.uk Paul Reeves Art

And here.

www.pearlprints.co.uk Paul Reeves Art

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ink and watercolor on Ampersand Aquabord 6x6"

Here I used one of the four brushes that my dear husband brought me from Japan. I’m sure there’s a name for this kind of brush but I don’t know it It has stiffer, longer hair in the center and softer, short light hair (goat?) on the outside. The variety in the hair length and stiffness adds variety to the brushstrokes. A rather interesting tool

Don’t forget to take a look at all the wonderful entries for this beautiful, colorful city at the Virtual Paintout blog!

Originally published on November 1, 2010 at: http://watercoloredhands.com/2010/11/01/san-miguel-de-allende-october-virtual-paintout/

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12×16″, watercolor with touches of gesso on Arches CP 140lb. I’m done and I’m glad I haven’t overworked it. But I keep thinking that the background on the right should be darker. What do you think?

For comparison, here is what it looked like before gesso touch-ups: http://watercoloredhands.wordpress.com/2010/10/03/a-portrait-a-day-23-blacksmith-wip/. That post also has a link to the reference photos that I uploaded to WetCanvas reference library. Please feel free to use them for your projects

In case anyone was wondering what happened to me, I am quite well and keeping up with the Portrait A Day project. I am also a mom of a 14-month old boy, who takes a little too much time per pound of weight I have about 6-7 posts worth of material (including some watercolor book reviews) that I will try to post soon. Stay tuned!

Originally posted on October 28, 2010 at http://watercoloredhands.com/2010/10/28/blacksmith-watercolor-finished/

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