17 November 2009

Rose on the Half Bottle


12 x 9 inches oil on linen panel - SOLD

This is another trompe l'oeil (fool the eye) that I did to fit in this particular frame but rather than do it on hardboard I did it on Belgian linen to see if I could get the same effect (it doesn't work quite so well in the photo becasue of the glare and shadow from the light) ....... and yes, I did drink the wine first ;-) I must do more with wine bottles, it's a good incentive.

14 November 2009

Interview

If anyone is interested, I gave a small (and probably dull) interview to José Carrilho on his The Art Inquirer blog
You may notice that my name has changed to Paul Coventry-Brown, this is to avoid my being confused with the, seemingly, millions of other Paul Brown artists out there when you Google the name (Coventry is my mother's maiden name).
I am working on a few commissions at the moment but I hope to get a new post up soon.

30 October 2009

Synchronicity

There is a story behind this painting:



SOLD: 9 x 12 inches, oil on Belgian linen

Four weeks ago I took my father for a minor operation to the suburb of a city 40 miles away and while I was waiting for him to come out of surgery I took a drive into the historical town centre to walk around and take some photos.
I saw this 18th century door and brass knocker and thought it would make a nice composition:
The square, the circle and the almost triangle of the shadow - I left the knocker at an angle on purpose so that it wasn't too symmetrical.

Then, last week I had to take dad for an eye examination to the same city (but this time in the centre), we didn't know where the clinic was so we printed a map from Google maps, when we found the road we were looking for, we counted the doors down to number 9 and guess which door we were standing outside .... yes, this one, this was were the appointment was for.
What drew me to that door weeks ago in a city with thousands of ancient and small streets - I have no idea!
The chances must be millions to one of this happening ... weird huh!



7 October 2009

Au Pear

9 x 12 inches, oil on Belgian linen panel - SOLD

A break from the 3D stuff (but more to come) and back to black with more of a classical theme.
I do love this oil primed linen and would recommend that you give it a try, if you haven't already. It is Claessens #13 (fine weave) and I get my panels here: SourceTek
I thought painting pears would be easy, but it took a lot of fine tuning to get them to this stage (I'm a bit of a plodder) but it hasn't put me off and I will be trying some more very soon. Methinks a levitating pear is called for to counter the gravity of the above ;-)

26 September 2009

Snug as two jugs .....


8 x 8 inches oil on panel - SOLD


Right ..... I also had problems with this one with a certain blogger (yes, you know who you are Rahina ... OOPS!) who wasn't sure what exactly was painted so I guess I need to explain that everything here is painted except the black background which is just the board I hung it on for the photo.
I posted the side view so that you can see the depth of the panel. It also surprised me that the illusion of 3D worked from the side too .... shiver me timbers (am I too late to get the Pirate talk in?).
Still life next time while I work on the other 'trompe' paintings.

25 September 2009

The illusive Pimple ... sorry! ... Pimpernel

Yes, I'm back and a tad later than I thought I would be.
I decided to try and do some more trompe l'oeil (fool the eye - 3D will do just as well) paintings and they take a lot longer to do because of the care you have to take to create the illusion. It no longer is just a painting, it has to look as real as you can make it with a flat surface and some paints.


The painting is hanging on a black board so I can show the shadow the panel casts on the wall to help the illusion (the black background is not part of the painting). The photo below shows it from different angles.

Art Deco Espresso Cup 8 x 8 inches, oil on panel - FOR SALE

Now, some people who had sneak previews actually wondered what is going on here (they thought that the outside 'frame' was real and not painted) .... so I did these four photos of the painting from different angles hanging on a black board.
It is painted on a flat panel that has a frame glued to the back as shown below (courtesy of Dick Blick art supplies).
More 3D and still life to come over the next few days (then probably silence for the next 2 months ;-)




3 September 2009

Back from the dead?


I thought that I had better put something on the blog before it became extinct.
The lack of posting is due to receiving a commission from Winsor & Newton in July. They wanted one of my paintings to put on the labels of a new fine detail canvas that they are going to market, so I did two paintings (so they could choose one of them) and they took both of them ......
They wanted a similar one to the lemons on the home page of my site. I don't know how the design will look yet and they have promised to send some photos when they are done so I will post them when I get them.

This lily painting was done for Regina (a great customer in Bermuda) and I also did two other commissions since the W&N one but can't post them becasue I forgot to take photos before I sent them off!!!!!.
I am working on some new ones though (one trompe l'oeil as promised - which is taking more time than I thought!) and I will try to be a good, if somewhat erratic, blogger by getting them on here soon ..... duck, there goes a flying pig ;-)

8 August 2009

Flying saucer ....

Well, couldn't find any more gravity defying fruit but I did come across this cup and saucer to continue the theme. Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible!

8 x 8 inches ready to hang panel: SOLD

23 July 2009

There are just not enough levitating fruit on these blogs ...

Just a bit of fun ..... who knows, there may be more of these gravity defying fruit in the future :-)

SOLD - 8 x 7.5 inches (including frame)
oil on hardboard

21 July 2009

Trompe l'Oeil bottle

SOLD
17 x 17 cms (approx 7 x 7 inches) including frame


I had a frame lying around so I thought I would do a painting to go in it (hmmmm! isn't it supposed to be the other way 'round ;-)
It was so much fun trying to make this look three dimensional and I'm happy with the way it turned out. The shadow on the left and top is not from the actual frame but painted in.
If the buyer hangs it on a wall with a window to the left of it it should be very effective.
I am going to do a series of these little trompe l'oeil (which means 'fool the eye' in French, for those wondering what I'm on about) after I have finished a few commissions that I have on at the moment.

20 July 2009

Time for some lilies ....

I tend to have about four paintings on the go and they all seem to get finished around the same time, hence the gap between posts. Maybe I should aim for one post a week at least, but that would mean being disciplined and the shock may be too much for my system ;-)
So, here are some lilies from the garden. I intentionally left out all the leaves and stems as I wanted them to be free of clutter in this nice little arrangement.
The background is really shades of dark green but I couldn't adjust the photo any more without bleaching out the petals, so it's a compromise.
More photos coming over this week so please pop back :-)

SOLD
35 x 30 cms (approx 14 x 12 inches)
Oil on hardboard

29 June 2009

A quick one .....

This is a one day 20 x 20 cms (approx: 8 x 8 inches) painting of two Japanese tea cups done on canvas which I thought that I'd post just to add a bit of volume to the blog, seeing as I am such a sporadic blogger ;-)
Again, the image is de-saturated (when I compare it to the original that I uploaded) and the blues are not quite as washed out as they appear in this photo.

SOLD

28 June 2009

A couple of new ones

Here are a couple of new paintings (blogger seems to be de-saturating the images so they look really dull - the shell has a rich red background really, not dull brown). As usual, the shadow is just as important as the object (sometimes even more so).
I am working on a butterfly commission at the moment so no new paintings of my own on the go just yet, but I am trying to get back to some new stuff as soon as possible.

8 x 10 inches - oil on Belgian linen panel - SOLD

25 x 16 cms (approx: 6.5 x 10 inches) - oil on hardboard - SOLD

23 June 2009

Yes, it's another blue moon ....

Where does the time go? I just don't seem to have got anything done recently but I am going to post some images over the next few days of the few new paintings that I have managed to do.
This one is on hardboard and is probably the last one of this size that I am going to do, I'm just not comfortable with painting large areas ;-) Maybe it's just a matter of confidence when faced with all that space.
I'm still dismayed at my photographic skills and pull my hair out (what little I have left!) trying to get the photos to look like the paintings, but this is the closest I could get and it is still with reluctance that I am posting it ;-)

60 x 25 cms (approx: 24 x 10 inches) - SOLD

28 May 2009

One for the road ...........

I used an oil primed Belgian linen panel for this painting and I just love the way the paint sits on the surface, such a pleasure to paint on ... expensive though (especially after postage to France)! If you've never tried it, I suggest that you give it a go, I wish I had found it earlier!
I think I need to redo this photo as it looks ill defined and muddy on this shot.

SOLD
8 x 10 inches

Some more photos from the art class. We couldn't set up easels this time, but next time we aim to have it all worked out. It was a little difficult for them painting flat on the tables but in the end it all worked out fine and they managed very well.
It was all about the basic handling of paint and how to start and finish a painting with the wet in wet technique. We didn't touch on underpainting, glazes, or scumbles, etc. but I'm hoping that they will progress to that over the next courses.

Showing them the colour I was mixing

My first oil paining :-)

27 May 2009

Still alive and well ......

I guess I'm not the world's most prolific blogger, but I get back here sooner or later. I tend to have about four paintings on the go at any one time and usually end up finishing them all around the same time so the posts tend to be once a month.
I have also done a couple of commissions but I'm not posting them as yet.
This was a big one for me 60 x 25 cms (24 x 10 inches) and is done on gessoed hardboard. I liked the delicacy of the iris against that big, heavy stoneware jar resting on the edge of the table. Any suggestions for a title?

LinkSOLD

I taught my first all day art class yesterday and it was a lot of fun for me and the students all seemed to have enjoyed as we are planning more classes. I just worked on basic painting techniques with them and they managed to complete 2 'alla prima' paintings in one day!
For some it was their very first oil painting (close up view below) and they were thrilled with what they achieved in such a short time.
It was great to have students who were so enthusiastic and they did a fantastic job of pushing away that fear of failure and the "I wont be able to do that" mentality and did themselves proud (just look at those smiling faces).
I did the lessons at a painting holiday resort here in France so if anyone is interested in painting holidays (with a swimming pool!!!): www.paintinfrance.eu/index.htm




I'll be back tomorrow with another painting and maybe another pic of the art class.

21 April 2009

Day three .... more stuff

Bored yet? Anyway ..... a few more pics for your perusal. I may leave a few days between the next post for a bit of a break.
This is an old cast iron kettle that was given to me by friends in Yokohama and I love the unusual shape, it seems to float above the table because of the unusual hidden bottom.

40 x 30 cms (approx. 16 x 12 inches)
oil on canvas board

SOLD

24 x 19.5 cms (approx. 9.5 x 7.5 inches)
oil on gessoed hardboard
SOLD

A few more paintings ....

As promised in yesterday's post .... a few more photos with more to come tomorrow ...
As you can see, I re-visited a few old friends just for the enjoyment I get out of painting these dark background subjects.

For sale: 24 x 26 cms (approx. 9.5 x 10 inches)
Oil on gessoed hardboard
SOLD

8 x 10 inches (approx. 20 x 25.5 cms)
Oil on gessoed hardboard
SOLD

20 April 2009

Long overdue .....

It's been a tough month as I haven't been happy with what I've done recently and hesitated posting anything new, but I have decided to just go ahead and put some of them up for show.
I guess I have been feeling a lot of peer pressure, because before I started the blog I wasn't getting praise from artists that I admire so much and now I feel that I have to live up to their expectations of me, so 'good' is not good enough!
I've had a few paintings that just haven't worked at all this last month and they have been consigned to the bonfire pile.
I will post more work over the next few days.

The 'hat' paintings were done because of all the painting I have done over the last few years, the previous hat paintings seemed to be the most enjoyed by a lot of people ... and I enjoy painting them (my summer and winter hats).

8 x 10 inches Claesen's Belgian linen panel
SOLD

8 x 10 inches Claesen's Belgian linen panel
SOLD

19 March 2009

Winsor and Newton Featured Artist

I received great news today .... that I am now a Winsor and Newton featured artist.
I am absolutely thrilled by this and it made my day!
You can see it here if you are interested:
If you use Firefox as your browser and don't see my profile, please make sure to click the UK Union flag at the top of the page. Then enter the address above once more (copy and paste it from here).

Firefox loads the US site as default and not the UK one. Only Firefox seems to be a problem.

16 March 2009

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Jennifer Bellinger so I promise to keep it going when I have a bit more time to write up the five facts about myself.

10 March 2009

A change is as good as a rest

I decided to try and do a loose painting in as quick a time as possible and I did this in one sitting in about 3 hours. No touching up later and all brushstrokes left in place - I had to strap my arms to my sides to stop me 'improving' it and making it more like the real thing. It was a good experience and I may continue doing more to try and improve the technique ..... hats off to all those 'one a day' painters!


SOLD

SOLD

28 February 2009

The last of the dark backgrounds

I think I'll take a rest from the dark backgrounds for a while ... I bought this lighter in Vietnam about 10 years ago.
I am going to re-do the matches photo when I have time as I am not happy with it as it is.

13 x 13 cms
SOLD

Japanese matches - HARUMI 15 x 15 cms
For sale

24 x 30 cms (SOLD)

14 February 2009

A few new works ....

I thought I'd better get a couple more photos on here and maybe a couple more next week. Both are oil on hardboard.


30 x 24 cms (SOLD)

Font size
24 x 24 cms
SOLD

20 January 2009

My First Post!

Firstly, I'd like to thank one of my favourite artists, Neil Hollingsworth, for getting me to do this and for his recent encouraging e-mails. But most of all I'd like to thank my sister, Sheila, in Bermuda as without her none of this would have been possible.
I have always been a fan of the old masters, as you may guess. I have tried a looser approach to my work but I can never help tightening it up ;-)


SOLD


SOLD

The paintings are all oil on hardboard and I only use Windsor and Newton 'Liquin Original' for my medium and rarely use bristle brushes as I usually end up taking more paint off than putting it on :-)
I will be happy to answer any queries about my work or art in general.

I sometimes put work on eBay but I have been lucky enough to sell most of my work privately and all paintings shown in the blog are sold unless stated.
If you are interested in being added to my mailing list, for when new paintings become available, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Day 2
I just thought I'd add another photo today (hmmm! looking like I have a kind of lemon fetish huh!) and, hopefully, when my new camera arrives I'll be able to take some nice photos of the house and my studio.

SOLD

OK! Enough of the lemons (this is a very poor photo even after trying to tweak it in Photoshop):

SOLD
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