The Naked Silo

Since it can be difficult to find an individual painting or groups of paintings on a blog, even if you click on a tag/label, I've decided to gang up all my recent watercolours in one post. I've also done this with my County 101 and 33 on 33 marathon series (and my models, Sci-Fi and Automotive ), and I might even go back and do this with some others like my Interiors, Yupo, and Sunflowers series. So here are all 19 of my watercolour paintings of 2016 (not including a small handful of commissions) in one handy place. Click on a painting to go to its own post for details and info. Krista and Caitlin in Banff 15" x 22", watercolour, 2016 Rosebud in Picton Harbour 15" x 22", watercolour, 2016 Taylors' Tractor 15" x 22", watercolour, 2016 The Crossing 15" x 22", watercolour, 2016 With Fever You Wil Have A Bout 22" x 15", watercolour, 2016 Stojan at Greenwood & Dundas 22" x 15...

22" x 15", watercolour, 2016 It's unlikely that this one will get translated into a larger oil painting in the new year, unlike #1 , which has the superior composition. Sketch. Kimwun detail. Below is the third video I streamed live while painting this painting (and #1 ). I don't quite finish either painting in this video, but significant progress was made... View Video PART ONE View Video PART TWO

15" x 22", watercolour, 2016 Sketches. It's possible some of these 13 recent watercolours, including this one (seeing as it was originally intended as an oil and noted in the sketch as a possible watercolour (secondary mission: accomplished!)), will see life as larger oil paintings in the new year. I find the addition of the background in the watercolour far more interesting than the blank void of the sketch, so that might be carried over. Denim detail. I forgot how much I like painting jeans in watercolours until this latest round of pictures (4 of the 13 have people wearing jeans). Form description detail. Jeans are fun, but I liked the softness of the track pants here, showing the cylindrical nature of that thigh...and that faint colour reflection of the chair is nice, too. Watch some video of me painting this and Inside A Broken Clock, 2 HERE .

15" x 22", watercolour, 2016 This concludes the unexpected trio of moody, figures-in-a-forest paintings along with Artificial Heart and Things Are Looking Up . Read about the influence of painter Jon J Muth (on these three paintings specifically, and on my overall practice in general) in the posts for the other two pictures. And, more comprehensively,  here . Detail showing off hair. In many ways, it still looks like the way I've been painting hair (in watercolours) for a long time, now, but in some small ways, the hair here has some Muthiness that makes me happy. I'm beginning to get the hang of this, I think. Some of my work on this painting was streamed live and you can watch a recording of that  here .

15" x 22", watercolour, 2016 As with Artificial Heart  and Lost in A Riddle , I was going for a mood and technique (mostly for the woods) inspired by Jon J Muth 's work in his Dracula graphic novel. The trees are pretty good, but my autumnal forest floor could stand quite a bit of improvement. I think I might need a lighter touch. Still, I'm happy with how this painting turned out, creating the mysterious and melancholy mood I intended. Some of my work on this painting was streamed live and you can watch a recording of that here . And yes, I've used that reference photo of Sue once before... 22 years ago .

22" x 15", watercolour, 2016 I mention in this post the inspiration certain key artists that got me fired up about painting in general, and watercolours, specifically, but here I am, nearly 30 years later, starting to really learn from them. The mood and the trees are heavily influenced by Jon J Muth 's work in his Dracula graphic novel; it's my own scene, but I wanted to see if I could evoke even a tiny bit of Muthness in this painting. I think I did, in the trees, but the figures appear to be undeniably mine (for better or worse). I'm happy with the result. Conceptual sketch. In fact, it was after deeply considering the sketch above that I decided to go with a forest setting and carry that over to Things Are Looking Up and Lost in a Riddle . Back in 2008 I did a very small series of paintings of some of my friends sitting on a green chair. The common idea was they all wore jeans, were barefoot, and my stained-glass-like matrix of geometric pa...

Another video of me working on those two watercolours (Inside a Broken Clock 1 & 2) that I started in a video  from a couple of days ago. This video is also very silent as I didn't have much to say, so feel free to listen to some music as you watch. Visually, among much else (like when I take a painting away to use a hair dryer on it to speed up the drying process and also to "lock-in" certain bits so they don't bleed into other areas and make a bland mess), there's a whole lotta denim going on... My camera set-up is pretty hilarious when I do these Facebook videos because I have to elevate Krista's iPad high enough for a good view of the painting. Documentation of my documentation. The only thing that differentiates my set-up for recording my painting sessions and my normal painting sessions is the tall stack of books supporting and iPad. Behind that stack is my laptop for break time entertainment, illustration work, etc.