Blog

This little beauty of a cottage on the beach was for sale when we visited Cayman Brac during Covid. It sits on the north coast, on the beach, overlooking deep blue waters. The yard is full of coconut palm trees. Pure Art Gallery on Grand Cayman has a mini-show at the moment with 18 of my pieces and this painting takes centre stage.

Cayman Brac is a small island, one of two of Cayman's 'sister islands'. It is 12 miles long and just over a mile wide. My wife and I visited there during CoVid, when flights to other place were restricted. It is an interesting place with a huge, by Cayman's standards, projection running along almost its entire length. The beach views to the north and south are very similar, with the cliff dominating both beach scenes. I enjoyed painting the picture, and loosened up a little with the features of the cliff face.

Pastels Are Awesome!

I haven’t painted in pastels for about a year, but I had a flash of inspiration a few days ago and reached for my trusty, chalky friends. I wanted to experiment with some close up images of beautiful tropical fish and turn them into macro-abstract art.

I soon transformed my work space into a pastel painting zone, designed to deal with the inevitable mess, opened the windows to catch the breeze and blow away some of the chalk dust, and I was away. As soon as the first stick touched the paper it was instantly gratifying, and so bright! Pastels give an immediate glow to paper. Maybe it’s because the contrast against the neutral grey is so much more distinct than when paint touches white canvas. Whatever it was, it took me by surprise.

I painted two paintings, based on parrotfish, including this one. I chose parts of the fish that were strikingly bold, with interesting markings, and deliberately avoided the eyes and mouth so that the image became abstract and almost formless. A lot of thought went into the composition too, and I decided to paint one square and one in a 4:5 ratio.

Pastels are a lot of fun, smudging around like a kid. If you haven’t tried them I recommend Rembrandt and Schmincke.
I’m now wondering what else I can paint, with, what was for many years, my favourite medium.

Until next time,

John

It's been a busy two weeks!

Apologies for missing a couple of blogs. I have been really busy - which is good!

First there was a fund-raising event in the grounds of one of the Island’s biggest benefactors. Four local artists were invited to provide two or three pieces to feature at the event and one of mine, Red Trees of Savannah, sold. Thank you. The event was organized by the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands, so it was nice to become involved with them for the first time. When I lived in Cayman previously there was no such organization. Now, they are a well-established gallery and cultural centre, doing all kinds of outreach and educational classes. Red Trees of Savannah is a painting I had done before, but not quite as big or bold as this one, and I really let loose.

I also handed over a commission piece that I had been working on for a few weeks. It was gladly received by one of my favourite patrons. I know she loves my work, but there are always some butterflies when one has to produce a piece of art that is supposed to delight a collector, for a few moments anyway until they see it. Then all is happiness and smiles and congratulations… Phew!

Lastly. I have been trying to organize a small collection of giclée prints for a local gallery. I use a top quality printing service, located just along the coast road from the gallery, and will have 6 new canvas prints available from next week.

Next, I have to get in touch with the person who organizes the biannual art show at the Ritz Carlton and provide him with a few photos of paintings so he can select some for the exhibition next month. I also have three paintings to finish. Busy, busy, busy! I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Best wishes until next blog….

John

Coconuts

I've divided my time this week between two pieces. One of them is a commissioned landscape, and the other is a close-up of some coconuts. It's like a still life, except the coconuts were still on the tree.
We artists are strange folk. Non-artists may not even notice trees, but a big part of what WE do is notice everything! There are plenty of palm trees where I live, but each one to me has its own set of characteristics. A couple also bear beautifully composed fruit, (if that's what they are at that stage), which are also in a place where the light falls on them in a way that makes them a potential subject of a painting.
After a lengthy selection process of spme photos, and some experiments with crop options I decided on the grouping that looked best, and started to draw them on my canvas.I don't usually spend much time drawing, we tend to ‘block in’ with acrylics, but for this painting I made an exception. I knew that if I didn't get the coconut outlines in the right places they wouldn't intersect at the right places. Then I would put some hours into painting them and realise things didn't look right. So, I took my time and quite enjoyed the drawing challenge.
Then I was able to block in the shadows parts an eventually work up to the highlights. The last phase was putting on the vines, which are the wavy sticks on which the coconuts grow.
Another interesting thing for me was the difference between what elements of the painting looked like while I was painting them up close and what they looked like from a few feet away when the paint had dried. The two appearances were very different, but I think that experience must have guided my hand, because some parts, that I wasn't sure about up close, ended up being exactly how I wanted when I stood back.
I am hoping to put the photo on FAA later today, but I thought I would write this first to make sure it gets done, it's already a day late. So, that's all for now. Enjoy the rest of your weekend wherever you are,and have a great week.
Best wishes,
John

I have been busy these last few days and have virtually finished a large colourful piece depicting an avenue of poinciana trees in full bloom. These trees are spectacular and provide a great excuse for painting in reds and oranges, which is always fun. I also allowed myself to play around with some of the other colours in the spaces between the main trees, and in the background too. Look out for this one soon!

Since last week I’ve made contact with the Ritz Carlton, and subject to having my images approved, should be able to put a few paintings in their next show in April.

Today I thought I would have to visit a garden centre to discover the identity of a plant I finished a couple of weeks ago. I had been waiting to put it on FAA because I couldn’t write the search engine tags for it. Anyway, my Google skills came to the rescue and saved me a trip. It’s a cordyline. I loved the drawing challenge in this piece and am looking forward to doing another one soon.

In the meantime, I have a commissioned piece to work on for a client who already owns six large works. I was supposed to just sketch it out yesterday but I got carried away and began painting it. Who am I to fight inspiration?

I hope you too have a great, fulfilling week ahead.

Best regards
John

OK so this is my first ever blog so I hope it goes to the right place, and that someone reads it. If you are reading this, welcome!

I don't know about most artists, but I tend to have several paintings on the go at one time. Whenever I am setting up for a session I have to decide if I am in a 'finishing off' mood, a 'carrying on mood' or if I am in neither and should just start a new piece. The finishing of a painting is obviously the most crucial. By the time the 'finale" comes around I have obviously invested many hours on the painting. It's unlikely that I would mess up a work by not being in the right frame of mind, not because I'm wonderful, but because I paint in acrylic and I could always revisit it and fix it. However, I like to be fresh, inspired and totally in the zone to finish a painting off. Often this isn't the case so I go for one of the other two options.

This weekend I have had my decision made for me! I have recently finished three paintings" North Side Coastline (which should be around here somewhere), one that's like a still life of coconuts, that I haven't put on FAA yet, and one of a big-leafed shrub that I would upload if I knew what the plant was called. These latter two pieces are not what I normally paint so I they are hanging on my wall for a while so I can enjoy them, instead of whisking them off to a gallery. I have two more, each 4' x 3', that are almost finished and two more beachscape/seascape types that require some final touches. There are others too, crowding around my workspace. I have nowhere to hang anything and my studio is getting hard to move around in. I bet there are lots of artists out there that recognise this scenario.

So, the pressure is on to finish the two big ones and the two medium ones and get them into galleries here in Cayman. My usual gallery is full to the brim, but I'm investigating putting some in the Ritz-Carlton next week so, hopefully, all my problems will be solved, and I will be able to get to my painting chair without resorting to limbo moves and other body contortions.



I hope you enjoy reading this. It has been unusual sharing what I do, and how and why I do it, but it was fairly pleasant so I intend to do it every weekend.

Enjoy your week.

John