Bugeye

Here's a detail of the painting.

Bugeye 24 x 18 oil

"Finished" I will post the frame as I continue with it, but really I need to paint something else for the Waterfowl fest which is looming!

Bugeye update....

Here's Fridays' effort. I had so much fun painting the sparkles. I will finish the water tomorrow and then I will start the rigging. The end is in sight. A couple more days should do it.

It's been a buzy weekend and the weather has been ghastly. Went to Terry Miller's house warming in DC yesterday. Thanks Terry, we had a great time. No painting, but I did manage to steam the frame corners, Very grand!

Bugeye frame.

Here's the start of the frame. So far I have cut the lengths and joined and glued them together to the liner.It's raining too hard to start the next stage(filling and sanding) I will choose some slightly nautical corners. should be fun! I promise not to show every frame I make, but I wanted to give the visitors to my blog an Idea of the whole process I go through. from blobby Idea to finished painting, to gallery wall. So please bear with me.

Bugeye 24 x 18 "Stages"

It didn't stop raining long enough to photograph yesterday's effort. So here it is. Today I'm doing sparkles and water, I spent yesterday cutting in around the sailors and boat. I really enjoy that part of the painting process, and it's exciting to see the shapes looking more realistic.

This morning's post shows the progress of my Bugeye painting. I have put in the sky, and have been adding body colour to the background trees. I want to suggest shimmering trees, faded in the afternoon sunshine. I have also started to build a frame for this painting. It's chopped glued and filled . The ghastly sanding comes next... yuk

Very quickly I am blocking in the shape and all the large tonal areas . I am now ready to add some body to the paint. I will move to the sky next but keep going back into the boat defining the shape of the sailors and and putting in the darks and mid tones of the deck and boat body. I will leave the lights, or create them with a small cloth( rubbing out paint) This is typical of how I build up a painting. I will be able to cut in with thicker paint at a later stage to define the the edges of the boat and sailors.( That's the fun part)

I am now playing with the shape and flow of the boat. At this stage the oil is diluted with terp substitute. Very washy

Grand Dame, 1930's Pierce Arrow oil 5 x 7

Another mini of those lovely cars at my neighbour's house The car and the lady were both rather grand. Bloody hell wheels are hard to paint. I think I'll stick to boats, birds in fact anything without wheels!

Bison 48 x 36 oil

I saw this Bachelor Bison wandering around the Sylvan Pass in Yellowstone. I thought he was rather handsome, in a Bisony kind of way.

Bugeye oil 24 x 18

I have been asked for some in progress snaps, Here's a Bugeye I saw out of St Michaels at the weekend. I had never seen one under sail before so I was terribly excited. It is in the very early stages, not much more than a blob. I will post another in a couple of days when, hopefully, it will be a bit more interesting. It is usually the "kiss of Death" to post the early stages of a painting, but maybe this will lift the curse! Usually I stain the board, but to be honest I forgot to this time oops . Iam going to live up to my new name "Sparkles" ( thank you Rachelle and Wes) because this will be rather sparkly( Oh dear , how girly does that sound )

''Speeding By"

There was no reason to paint this, except I just loved the light in the wake of this boat and the feel of speed It's also lovely to see people having a great time on the water.oil5 x 7

"The Reunion"

My neighbour Peter Stifel kindly Invited us all around to see a wonderful collection of vintage cars which were assembled in his grounds before going to the "Concours d'Elegance" in St Michaels. My painting shows John Morrison Low ( another neighbour) examining a vintage Bently which is the actual car in which he rode as a child in the Scottish Isles. Quite remarkable as this reunion took place on the Eastern Shore of MD. John has had a fascinating life which has taken him from Scotland to farming in kenya and South africa and ending up in our small village in Maryland. I'm sure the Bently has had just as many adventures. oil 5 x 7

"Amistad"

A replica of the "The slave ship Amistad" on the Chester river. A replica of john Brown's skiff is in the background 10 x 8 oil. I love dusty breathless fall days on the Eastern shore.