POTD: Lunch interrupted

This is an acrylic on canvas painting of a black cow having a snack on some heather and grass while enjoying the fresh summer air whilst taking in the view of Tors and distant Devon hills from Dartmoor in Devon United Kingdom.
It is painted using Atelier interactive acrylics which allow the paint to be readily blended and uses a combination of techniques including glazing and scumbling for the distant hills, impressionism for the ferns, heather and gorse in the mid ground and gestural brush strokes for the painting of the bovine beauty.
see more at www.mikejory.co.uk

This painting will feature in my forthcoming exhibition 'Are you looking at me' which will open on June 1st 2010 at the Picture House in Exeter, UK.

You can also buy a print here

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Portrait connections

I painted this portrait of Tara (then aged 3) a couple of years ago for her parents. It's painted using conventional acrylic applied in a series of glazes using acrylic gloss medium. Tara is shown holding a doll of her favourite TV character from the show "Lazy Town"! and the blanket on her lap features some cartoon animals.
This recently led to portrait commissions of Tara's cousin Adam and family dog Flynt. Both of these paintings were done by under-painting with conventional acrylics and then ovzer-laying with Atelier interactive acrylics which allow the paint to be more-readily blended. Adam is shown with 2 of his favourite things, a tractor on his shirt and a Thomas the Tank Engine book. Flynt is depicted taking it easy which is apparently his one of his favourite states! :-)

POTD: Time for a nap

Time for a nap by mike_jory
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This acrylic painting was inspired by a cow found on dartmoor taking a nap amid the heather and gorse. It features a combination of painting styles including an impressionist treatment of the mid ground foliage and employs the use of blending that interactive acrylics readily allow. If you would like to purchase this original painting please contact me via www.mikejory.co.uk

POTD: 'Two and a half cows'

A calf peeking out between 2 adult members of the herd. These bovine beauties were found in a Devon field on the way to Dartmoor, United Kingdom. The original is still for sale either by contacting me directly or through the Cove's Quay Gallery here

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Delightful to Frightful

When I started painting portraits in earnest about 11 years ago I painted the portrait of a girl called Theresa. She sat in a chair, illuminated by a strong light and had striking red hair. The finished work, painted in acrylic, although a good likeness and vibrant in colour, depicted her with a somewhat fierce expression.
My sister saw the pic and asked if she was "really grumpy"! I said that, in fact, she was quite the opposite, and was calm and polite. This gave me the idea for the sequence shown here.
As you can see it is a series of six portraits. The first shows a conventional face and expression, the next a broad smile, but the hair is a little unkempt, by picture 3 the hair is coming alive, medusa-like, and the tentacles gradually progress in their behaviour until the girl's head is flung out of frame!
So, a little unconventional, but hopefully dramatic and good fun. The sequence was created by painting the 1st picture independently of the others. Having established this initial image, I then marked the positions of the eyes nose and mouth, in pencil, on 5 other sheets of paper. Theresa then sat for a further sitting during which she smiled for painting 2, and I painted for 10 minutes or so, then she would adopt a look of confusion / curiosity for picture 3, again I painted for 10 minutes. She would change her expression, I would change the picture I was working on and so the process cycled round and round until I had established the sequence. This quick 10 minute-at-a-time method kept my work spontaneous and helped prevent the sitter from adopting a somewhat fixed / unnatural expression (which can sometimes happen if one sits absolutely still for too long).
This sequence is now available as a print here or on a mousemat / shirt / card etc as you can see below:


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