Author: Jo

Country Cottage Painting Commission

Here’s a stage by stage painting sequence of a recent painting commission which became more enjoyable the more I worked on it. It’s a painting of an out-building beside a holiday cottage in the North of England where we stayed with some of our extended family for a week last year, so it brings back good memories of the happy time we spent together. One wonders if our political ‘leaders’ will ever have the humility to step back from the unnecessary carnage they’ve inflicted on us over this past year and give us their ‘permission’ to enjoy such innocent and normal pleasures again. So, all the more treasured a memory this is.

 

 

Bible Prophecy Panoramic Chart

Several years ago two good friends in our church, Neville and Helen,  commissioned me to re-create a full-size copy of a Bible Prophecy Chart used by Harry King, a respected Bible teacher and authority on Bible Prophecy. I ordered a roll of good quality Belgian linen canvas and working from some photographs I’d taken of Harry’s chart many years ago, when I accompanied him during a series of special meetings he held at Myrtle Hall – the meeting place of the Church of God in Lerwick, Shetland – I painted a new version of the chart.

Part of Harry’s original chart, on the wood panelled wall in Myrtle Hall, Lerwick, Shetland

At the time of the commission, Neville and Helen were seriously considering a house move to a small Castle built in the Baronial style. It had a huge dining room and their plan if the property became theirs, was to hang my painting like a tapestry on the wall. Unfortunately the deal didn’t materialise and the chart remained rolled up except for an occasional outing when Neville gave a presentation on the subject of Bible Prophecy.

A few years back, Helen died. Last year, Neville was clearing things out and generously decided to return the chart to me as a gift. I was very grateful, put the chart away and thought no more about it until Neville phoned me just at the start of ‘the lockdown’ with an idea. (Now, I should say, when Neville has an ‘idea’ – it usually involves a considerable amount of work for someone else – in this case, me! Neville is a past master in the art of delegation.) For six months we collaborated on a book featuring coloured photo’s of the chart. To cut a LONG story short, I designed and laid out the book including cover, allocated an ISBN number and uploaded the files to Ingram, Amazon and Apple Books. We launched the book last month.

Check out the following links to find out more:

Amazon

APPLE BOOKS (digital e-book version for iPad)

Rosebine Press (my book publishing website)

Aurora Borealis

I was commissioned to paint a couple of paintings of the Aurora Borealis a.k.a. the Northern Lights. These were quite challenging to do – paint imitating light! The stunning beauty of God’s creation impressed me all the more as I did these. Truly, ‘The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.’ (Psalm 19:1)

Available as prints on canvas at Fine Art America:

Photography Prints

Snake’s Head Fritillary – Homage to CRM!

A watercolour of “Fritillaria Meleagris”, after the great Scottish Architect, Artist and Designer, Charles Rennie Mackintosh. (A small commission which I completed recently). I thought it would be relatively straightforward to make a copy of one of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s most iconic flower paintings.

Getting the drawing right and finding the colour mixes that came close enough was one thing but mimicking the exact way “Toshie” must have laid down his watercolour washes, was quite another!

It is certainly true that “most learning takes place by copying” (as one of my old lecturers was fond of telling us!)

I learned several things about Mackintosh’s technique from this exercise: Firstly, only when you draw and paint it do you really appreciate the care and attention Mackintosh gave to getting the delicate structure of the Fritillaria just right.

Secondly, he simplifies the pattern – if you look at my photo (below), you’ll notice that the chequered pattern is not quite so regimented in nature!

photo of a fritillary flower
Snake’s Head Fritillary, Fife

Thirdly, he carefully arranged the flowers and leaves to create a pleasing composition, utilising the negative spaces to balance the structure of his design. In the original, he has pencilled in three little centre marks which suggest that he consciously planned the drawing to fit the page. (I left these out in my version).

Fourthly, the darker colour washes on the flower heads have been applied while the lighter first washes were still wet, achieving a balance between harder edges and the bits where colours run into each other.

Very instructive and quite satisfying to achieve what I think is a reasonable approximation of the original!

(With hindsight, I should probably have changed the inscription from “Walberswick” to “Glenrothes” or something more local!)