The Art Blog of Gordon Napier

Joan of Arc finished...

2012-01-28T09:19:00.001-08:00

I think this painting is about done now. A 600th birthday present for la Puecelle.

Google's 'visually similar'

2012-01-26T16:31:00.001-08:00

I learned of this feature just now from reading an entry on it on the Gurney Journey blog.

Very interesting, and a good way of printing some nice wallpaper. I tried it out finding what the computer thinks is 'visually similar' to my 'Adderbite' piece. Here are the results...

2012-01-23T14:38:00.000-08:00

Today's progress on Joan of Arc, impeded slightly by a visit to the pub after picking up the prints of my latest images for my portfolio, (which I will probably take along to the Spring Fair in Birmingham).

The halo is painted in gold metallic oil paint. The face also gains colour.

The Contemporary Realist Movement.

2012-01-21T12:25:00.001-08:00

Interesting article here...
I'd pretty much sign up...

Never permit conceptualists and abstractionists to appropriate the terms 'contemporary' and 'modern' for their style and their ideology. These terms are propagandistic, claiming a monopoly on what is valid in the present. Conceptualists and abstractionists are entitled to no such monopoly. Their art is based on experiments and revolutions that are old-hat, now, and which were never great successes. The 20th century avant-garde never produced greater art than that which went before. I don't believe most abstract art is even as good as much of the figurative ('traditional') work, produced by artists and over the same period (however marginalized they were by the art establishment during the years when 'modernism' reigned supreme).

The idea that non-figurative or anti-aesthetic art is somehow more progressive is baseless. We who advocate figurative art as a valid and virile movement should reclaim the language. We should avoid any terms which imply that figurative art is stick-in-the-mud or obsolete. At the least we should put distancing quotation marks around the term 'modernist', when speaking of a particular style related to a badly-aging cultural movement. No artist today should feel obliged to work within any tradition in order to be taken seriously. Choosing to draw inspiration from the Renaissance is certainly no less worthy than choosing to build on the questionable achievements of the 20th century 'avant garde'.

The only reservation I have with the 'contemporary realism' label is that it might seem to imply a focus on the contemporary world, and a mundane focus on the here-and-now. My own commercial art, however, is primarily fantasy. My personal work often reflects my interest in the past, and a certain romanticism and mysticism. 'Neo-Romantic or Post-Pre-Raphaelite', as it were, is more my thing.

Anyway. Here is how my 'Joan of Arc' is coming along... As you see a start has been made on the colour. I have some gold paint for the halo, the yellow is an undercoat.

Joan of Arc progress

2012-01-20T15:01:00.000-08:00

Here is how Joan of Arc is progressing. Not too much done as had to go out to post Brigantia off, and to attempt to get some prints made up. I also bought some new brushes. Such is my rock n'roll lifestyle. (Also thinking about ordering a medieval knight's helmet off ebay, for reference, and to stop my dog miting my nose when I try to cut his claws).

Painted the chain-maily bits today. Not as difficult as some make out, but somewhat laborious. If I was doing this digitally I could use a photoshop 'brush' I've made which is quite nifty for instant chainmail, but as it's oils that's not really an option.

Planning to add colour as the next stage, the black and white underpainting being nearly complete now.

Warrior Women

2012-01-19T11:29:00.000-08:00

Warrior women seem to be the flavour of the month. Recently I sold a commissioned piece 'The Windigo' featuring an under-dressed heroine slaying an alien.

And yesterday I confirmed the sale of my 'Brigantia' piece, a Celtic warrior goddess who is marginally better dressed.

I have also made a little progress working on my latest painting 'Joan of Arc', who actually has proper armour.

Nudity in Art

2012-01-19T05:45:00.001-08:00

There is an interesting article on the subject of nudity in art, here on ARC website. It makes some good points and is worth a read.

It seems that modern people are often more prudish, puritanical (and prurient) than the Victorians were. This puts me in mind of an annoying aspect of submitting images to deviantART, where all images containing nudity have to be labelled 'mature content'. There is an official inability (or refusal) to differentiate erotic or sexual content with non-sexual artistic nudity. This seems particularly mystifying, and offensive, to traditionally-minded artists especially on the European side of the pond. One feels that if one includes nudity in any context, one is lumped together with pornographers.

I have preferred to put ridiculous shell bras on my recent batch of mermaids, for example, rather than do them bare-breasted and be obliged to put 'mature content' labels on them, (as though the sight of the two concentric circles that comprise a nipple would warp and derange a vulnerable young mind). It is really ridiculous. School kids are dragged around the National Gallery which is full of artistic nudes in classical paintings, nudes adorn public monumens, building facades and fountains, and even churches. To my mind nudity is not intrinsically (or primarily) erotic. To associate artistic nudes with things indecent, by default, is misguided. As the article says, it's all down to treatment of the figure. How much clothing it is wearing is incidental.

The ARC article also touches upon the gender politics related to the subject of nudity in art. Apparently the complaint is that female nudes represent female oppression and objectification, and male nudes represent male dominance (and oppressiveness). Well, possibly this has some justification in some instances, yet it does not hold as a general principle. The overwrought critique seems to belong more to a 'politically correct' attempt to vilify males generally, and to read in to a given artwork an agenda that exists only in the heads of the critic.

Anniversaries

2012-01-18T15:03:00.000-08:00

It's a year of anniversaries. One that has passed is the 600th anniversary of the birth of Joan of Arc. inspired by the recent examples by Donato Giancola and by Michael C Hayes, I thought I'd attempt a painting of la Pucelle, and have made a start. Already it promises to be more successful than my earlier take on the subject, at least in terms of dynamism...

I started off thinking, in this instance, about taking liberties, and giving her feminized armour, but decided against that in the end, given the likelihood that she wouldn't have had armour shaped to her form. This is how it started off...

I shall probably give her a halo, not that I generally tend to rate the saintly credentials of people who fight wars against my compatriots, but I think it might work with the design. Everything is in black and white oil paint so far, as it enables me to sort out the values without worrying about colour. I haven't entirely decided on colour, truth to tell, being still undecided between a vivid red and a muted bluish grey background. I was going to add soldiers, too, but I may limit it to shadowy suggestions in order not to take attention away from the main fighure, which I wish to be iconic.

Other anniversaries this year, by the way, include the centenary of the death of Bram Stoker (April 20), so something based on Dracula may be in order, and of the sinking of the Titanic (15 April), which might also merit a commemorative painting, given that I'd planned a nautical series anyway.

It is also 200 years since the birth of Pugin (1 March), so some architectural gothic revival revival might be in order.

Good and bad Skyways

2012-01-12T15:27:00.000-08:00

The decline in standards in skyway (covered bridges linking buildings) design in the 20th century is well illustrated by two examples from Oxford. One, from the start of the century, is the well-known 'Bridge of Signs' (Hertford Bridge), New College Lane. Design wise, it owes a debt to the Rialto Bridge in Venice, but it is daintier and its its proportions are more pleasing. There is also a Baroque flourish to the central section.

The other was was one from the later part of the century, which I noticed during a relatively recent visit.

Modernists...

There is also a 'Bridge of Sighs' in Cambridge, which I haven't seen, and this looks nothing like the Bridge of Sighs in Venice either. (Which I have). The original Bridge of Sighs connects the Doge's Palace and the prison, convicts were taken across it after trial in the palace, and it is named after their sighs of woe. (Well might they have sighed, especially the poor ones who couldn not pay to be kept in a cell above the water line). Still at least the Venetians took the time to make the bridge pretty from the outside.

There is also a fine covered bridge in Dublin, attached to Christchurch cathedral.

This made a suitably gothic background for the cover I did for 'Kiss Me Deadly' a vampire-hunter comic set in the city. I made it higher off the ground in order to fit the composition, but hopefully it is still recognizable.

Ebay Sale

2012-01-08T09:18:00.000-08:00

Currently auctioning several original oil paintings on ebay:

15% of each sale will go to charity (Cystic Fibrosis Trust).

"The Art of Gordon Napier" Calendars by dashinvaine | RedBubble

2012-01-05T15:00:00.000-08:00

"The Art of Gordon Napier" Calendars by dashinvaine | RedBubble:

A bird May Love a Fish

2012-01-05T13:46:00.000-08:00

But where would they live?

This quote, from 'Fiddler on the Roof', inspired this piece, which I originally did as a pencil drawing, but have just worked up as a digital 'painting' in photoshop.

Good and bad public sculpture.

2012-01-04T12:07:00.000-08:00

Just seen 'Witness', Anthony Gormley's latest public 'artwork' at the British Library, mentioned in that institution's newsletter (which I still get having once had a reader's card). I don't mind some of Gormley's work, but he's evidently taking the you-know-what with this one!

Sorry, mate... This is not art, this is rubbish. No finesse, or inventiveness, or imagination has gone into it. Plus this sort of thing has been done to death through the last 3/4 of the 20th century, when it appropriated the term 'Modern'. It's old now. Yawn!

Here is some more interesting (in my humble opinion) contemporary public art that I have seen on my travels:

Ammonite sculpture in Malahyde, Ireland, by Niall O'Neill, b. 1952:

'Children of Lir' monument, Garden of Remembrance, Dublin (Oisin Kelly, 1915-81):

Millennium monument outside Temple Church, London:

Scultputrs in Stratford Upon Avon inspired by Shakespeare plays:

Sculpture in Croydon that incorporates a hedge...

These figurative pieces have features and details that capture one's attention and spark the imagination, that is my response anyway. A square-cornered abstract eyesore does no such thing, and it only provokes alienation. There is nothing upon which to feast the eyes, the geometry can be understood as easily from a description as from actually looking at the thing. It is cold, shallow, hard and inhuman. It tells no story; a public space, especially a location devoted to literature and history, deserves better. Art should have character, it should have a face. It is true that modern figurative sculptures seldom reveal the skill levels or refinement that those from the 19th and early 20th century do. When a figurative artist lacks skill, it shows. When an abstract one does, there is no-way of telling. Any idiot can hack the corner out of a cuboid. To make a body look like a body is hard work. This, the National Firefighter's Monument in London shows how some modern figurative sculpture doesn't quite cut it. The anatomy of the figures is a little questionable...

Compare it to this sculpture by Lord Leighton, which I got to admire at the Cult of Beauty exhibition last year, and you can see how it fails. Leighton knew how arms and heads attach to torsos, and how long legs need to be!

Art should be hard work, otherwise you're doing it wrong. Once we get back to this idea, our visual culture will enjoy something of a renaissance. Artists should earn their accolades, and their success. Intrinsic quality needs to be elevated over hype, and the crazy critics should only be laughed at when they launch into elaborate explanations of clearly worthless tripe, in order to justify its elevation as 'fine art'. Artists should have to master a set of skills just as people following nearly every other profession have to.

Mermaid artwork

2012-01-02T17:27:00.000-08:00

Here are two recently finished pics featuring mermaids, one an oil painting, the other digital. Now enhancing my mermaid-themed calendars on cafepress.

Mermaids have repeatedly cropped up in my artwork. They seem to come in spates, possibly being connected to nostalgia and escapism. Anyway, as a recurring theme such images are useful as a gage of my artistic progress over the years. Hopefully this comes across in this slideshow I have put on youtube, showing my drawing and paintings in chronological order...

Magic Studio...

2011-12-29T12:32:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a good Christmas. As a belated present my sister got me 'Machines and magic Vol 1' an art book mentioned before, put together by Craig Musselman, and featuring a couple of my images, among much other splendid stuff.

I have a lot of stuff planned for the coming year, and have a few interesting projects in the pipelines. Having completed a number of commissions, I have been taking some time to finish off a mermaid painting that I started a while back.
On a related note, I saw online a former church for sale, which is very me, and would make a great studio. It is in Brixham in Devon which would be a very inspiring place to live and work, and where I spent some great childhood holidays. I need to sell a few more paintings before I can afford it, unfortunately...

One can dream...

Stuff and fluff snuff.

2011-12-19T07:59:00.000-08:00

Sadly the rabbit Charlotte Scudamore died yesterday (the white one), which meant digging another hole. That's three lagomorph fatalities this year (the other male Poppy died while I was in Italy). RIP Scuda-no-more. What with the cat going last year, our little menagerie is rather depleted. Six beasties down to two.

Work wise I've just completed a painting for a book cover, featuring an under-dressed female sticking it to a Grey alien, in the Amber Room, with a broadsword. Lined up I have some more medievalism, some sci-fi and some Arabian mythology, which should be interesting. Also Christmas is coming and we are all getting fat-skinny. I'd really ought to get some shopping done...

Some less well known great artists

2011-12-12T13:38:00.000-08:00

Went to London today, hoping to visit the 'Leonardo Da Vinci in Milan' exhibition at the National Gallery. Unfortunately tickets were sold out, so we just looked at the regular collection, which is worth the train fare in itself. I scribbled down some names of slightly less well known (to me at least) historical artists whose works are well worth a google. Here are some of them (in no particular order):

Francesco Hayez (above)

Salvator Rosa

Christopher Wilhelm Eckersberg

Pierre Subleyras

Elizabeth Louise Brun

Guercino

Guido Reni

Domenchino

Zurbaran

Johann Liss

Cornelis van Haarlem

Simon Vouet

So the day was far from a dead loss. Also had a new experience at a steak house restaurant, when the beef steak was brought out still sizzling on its own red hot slab where it could continue to cook until it had stopped going 'moo'. The world still has things to show me, clearly. Also had a poke around the stalls at Covent Garden market where there is some interesting stuff to be found, including things for securing curtains that look like witch-hunters bodkins, gas masks, telescopes, and marbles (which people from Birmingham call 'marleys', apparently).

My list at the moment...

2011-12-11T15:06:00.000-08:00

I have been quite nicely bust of late. Commissions that I have completed over the last couple of months include apocalyptic and Gothic artwork for a couple of Heavy Metal album covers ('As Empires Decay', which is digital, and 'Brutal Temptress', which is oil on board). I have also completed 'Lioness of the Stars' , a fantasy painting of a lioness-centaur (oils), 'Retours', a book cover for a French author's novel featuring a group of warriors (digital), and some borders and illustrations for wedding invitations with the look of medieval manuscripts (mixed media).

I picked up my 'Blackguard' visual story a while back, and have been reworking that, but it has come to another stand still due to commissioned work.

Jobs I am presently working on include two interior pieces for Cubicle7. I had been planning to do some master studies of historical works of art, but one of these illustrations involves something more interesting, a ghoulish reworking of a certain Dutch Masterpiece. The other involves a monstrous version of a certain sound-making device (considered by some to be a musical instrument), which shows the influence of a more recent, but in his way equally influential master (arguably). These I am doing digitally. I am also doing an oil painting for another fantasy author, featuring a woman slaying an alien, so as I say I am nicely busy. I also have a few things in the pipelines, including interior work for Battlefield Press, (hopefully) the good people who commissioned the cover I did for 'Midway Between'.

Dragonmeet and V & A

2011-11-28T03:43:00.000-08:00

I went to Kensington for Dragonmeet this saturday. My portfolio generated a good response, so hopefully there will be a few things to follow up. After that went to the V & A to look at the cast of Trajan's Column, having been at the real thing earlier in the week...

Rome Trip

2011-11-24T16:54:00.000-08:00

Have just got back from a little vacation/research trip to Rome. Saw a sunrise above the clouds as flying out last Monday. Arrived in time to see Trajan's Column, the Forum and the Colosseum, among other things, the ruins bathed in luminous evening light. On the Tuesday (which was a bit wet) we did the Vatican- St Peters (which had visited before a few years back). Still very grand needless to say. Also went to the Castle St Angelo, the views from the top of which justified the entrance fee. Yesterday we saw the Pyramid of Cestius, the walls, the river, the Temple of Hercules, the British WWII cemetary, the Piazza Navona, the Pantheon with its impressive dome, the Spanish Steps and the Trevi fountain. This morning we did the Roman museum at the Therme di Diocleziano, and S. Maria Magiore.

I highly reccomend the Restauraunt Aquila Nera on the Via Principe Amedeo, 49/51/53, by the way. Nice nice nice!

Fantasy Book Cover Process

2011-11-19T07:28:00.000-08:00

I've made a YT video giving a peek at my latest project, a cover for the fantasy novel 'Retours'. It gives an insight into my process.

Witchfest

2011-11-12T15:10:00.000-08:00

I went to 'Witchfest' in Croydon today, chiefly to check it out as a possible venue for selling pictures that might appeal to pagan and wiccan types. It was an interesting day and I met a few outher artists who do stuff comparable to what I do, who had stands there, including dark777fairy whose work I'd long admired on deviantART and Chris Down, whose work I'd only recently come across on there.

It was also interesting to learn more about paganism, with various lectures and demos going on, though they've not made a convert of me. Another highlight was the talk by historian Prof Ronald Hutton on ancient religion and monuments in Britain up until Roman times.

I have quite a lot of work on presently, hence my neglect of this blog. One of my more recent works has a witchy flavour, an album cover commissioned for heavy metal band 'Brutal Temptress'.

Brutal Temptress by ~dashinvaine on deviantART

Grimshaw Exhibition

2011-10-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

Went to the exhibition of John Atkinson Grimshaw at the Guildhall Gallery in London today. Very impressed with the intricacy, draftsmanship and atmospherics achieved by this painter. He had a tragic life despite being successful, as only 6 of his 16 children survived to adulthood. This goes some way to account for the air of melancholy present in many of his works. He himself died at only 57, so I read, of cancer. His productivity was impressive, as well. Some people have to deal with much tragedy, and those that can overcome it and go on producing things of beauty are indeed to be admired.

Also saw some other great Victorian paintings, including 'Israel in Egypt' by Poynter, one of my favourite Ancient-Egypt themed paintings.

Then looked in St Paul's Cathedral (saw Lord Leighton's monument having earlier seen one of his paintings) and crossed the river to Tate Modern, though C was mortified to be dragged into such an unholy place. She had a point...

This is 'Untitled VII Bacchus' by Cy Twombly.
Surely any sane person can see this worthless rubbish for what it is.

We were confirmed in our low opinion of 'modern' art. Also went past Globe Theatre and Golden Hind to Southwark cathedral, then away from the city 'suits' to Camden...

Tablet blues

2011-10-05T10:16:00.001-07:00

My Graphics tablet seems to have died on me. Shaking and bashing the stylus seemed to give it temporary leases of life, but whatever it had seems at last to have proven terminal. I don't think dropping a Stanley knife on the tablet a while ago would have done it much good either, but it seemed to survive that! I've ordered a new one of the same make, so hopefully that will work and it won't prove to be a problem with the computer itself. Fortunately the remaining projects that I'm working on all involve traditional art, and getting back into oil painting in a big way may be a good thing in the long run. Sometimes I can identify with the Luddites.

Machines and Magic book

2011-09-15T12:08:00.000-07:00

I was honoured recently to have two pieces selected to be featured in a soon to be published art book called Machines and Magic. It's a collection of sci-fi and fantasy imagery (mostly digital) that has been put together by Craig Musselman.

The pieces of mine that are included are 'Thalestris', an Amazon warrior, and 'Bone Head Explodes', a burning skull design. I've seen a preview and there is some wonderful work by other artists, and it's well worth getting your hands on. Thanks and congratulations to Craig for organizing it!

Here is a youtube vid on the book.

2011BC

2011-08-27T13:54:00.000-07:00

I went to 2011 BC, aka. Birmingham Comic Con today. First event of that type I've been to apart from Dragonmeet in a previous year, (although that was more gaming oriented). As expected there were people dressed as super heroes and as sexy cave girls. There was a lot of artwork to enjoy, and real live artists with tables. And comic books, obviously.

I had the pleasure of meeting Matt Warner and Mark and Amy Adams from Hellbound Media, for whose comic 'Kiss Me Deadly' I did the cover.

I Made a few other contacts, got some nice feedback, and had a very constructive portfolio review from David, editor at Titian.

Blackguard promo vid

2011-08-08T06:11:00.000-07:00

Work progresses revising 'The Blackguard'. Here is a youtube video showing the before and after state of the first couple of dozen scenes...

Blackguard reworkage

2011-08-01T08:47:00.000-07:00

I am currently reworking and expanding my visual story 'The Blackguard'. Some of the new scenes can be seen here on Conceptart.org

The Cult of Beauty

2011-07-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860-1900.

I went to the above mentioned expo today, at the V & A, and it was fantastic, well worth the effort. I think I prefer the later 'art for arts sake' paintings over the early preraphaelite pieces, which can be a bit earnest, preachy and over-wrought.

Some of the highlights:

Whistler 'Symphony in White (nubers 1, 2, and 3)

Thomas Armstrong, 'The Hay Field'

Burne-Jones, 'Beguiling of Merlin', 'Laus Veneris' (Much more impressive in the flesh than in reproduction, the detail is stunning)
The Golden Stairs

Lord Leighton, 'Bath of Psyche'

Albert Moore 'Midsummer'

Lawrence Alma-Tadema 'The Tepidarium' (this one is tiny, yet such detail and convincing texture...)

Harry Bates, 'Mors Janua Vitae' (This was a damned impressive thing in real life, can't find a photo that nearly does it justice. It's made of bronze, ivory and mother of pearl.)

Dante Gabriel Rossetti: 'The Day Dream'

Albert Gilbert, 'Perseus Arming'.

And much more besides, often featuring peacock feathers.

True Pirates app

2011-07-13T11:39:00.000-07:00

The 'True Pirates' game, by Disruptor Beam LLC, is now up on Facebook. I did some arrrt for this, including ships, a couple of the icons, the hideout scene and the maps. Nice to see it all coming together.

Getting Flash

2011-07-07T16:27:00.000-07:00

I've been playing with flash, and have had a go at making a character appear to blink and breathe... I think she likes you!

Reworking Old Pieces.

2011-07-02T07:58:00.000-07:00

I have been looking through my old drawings, from a more than a couple of years ago, and faults which I could not see at the time leap out at me. Most look under-worked, and too light in tone, owing to my phobia of pencils softer than HB, which I've found very prone to smudging in my hands. I made a mini-mahlstick to counter this problem not long ago. I've been very tempted to rework my older pieces and bring them up to something like my present standard. This I've started to do on such drawings as this:

White Ribbon by ~dashinvaine on deviant ART

Which now looks like this:

Black Ribbon by ~dashinvaine on deviant ART

Whether this activity is a good idea I don't know. It's alright when it involves minor changes, the correction of missed faults and general finishing off, but there probably comes a point after which it would be better to start again. This is especially the case when one is doing things that change the character of the original picture. There is also the consideration that it might be better to leave old works as they were in order to have a record of your progress!

Death of Cleopatra

2011-06-21T15:45:00.000-07:00

Old news, I know!

Actually this is the theme of my latest drawing, which I was inspired to do after my visit to the Petrie Museum in London- or at any rate I had a mind to do something on an Egyptian theme.

The Death of Cleopatra by ~dashinvaine on deviant ART

I was also inspired by the Egyptian-themed paintings of Sir Lawrence-Alma Thadema, the Victorian artist who was so unjustly maligned in the decades following his death. John Collier, Alma-Thadema's pupil who also did a nice line in Egyptian subjects, was so dismayed by the modernist-leaning critics who slated Alma-Thadema exclaimed: 'his fame will survive their attacks. And when I recall the pictures that they admire I am glad that they have not praised my dead friend! This I gleaned from a book on Alma-Thadema that I picked up on my last trip to London (I have been up since, meeting my father and sister).

BP Portrait Awards 2011 and Petrie Museum.

2011-06-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

Went to the BP Portrait Awards, yesterday, at the National Portrait Gallery. A bit crowded as just opened. Very high standard of work, and some striking images. The enormous painting of a chained nude called 'Holly', by Louis Smith, was the most unusual thing on view. I also liked Daniel Fooks' series of paintings of Peter Capaldi, and David J. Eichenberg's 'Jade'.

Afterwards we went to Petrie Museum and looked at some dead Egyptians.

PS

That dog was still in Camden, in exactly the same place!

Speaking of Lagomorphs...

2011-06-11T06:32:00.000-07:00

I've finished my 'Three Hares' painting, which was on the go:

Three Hares painting by ~dashinvaine on deviant ART

RIP Lofty

2011-06-04T03:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday saw the passing from this world of a little black bunny called Lofty, no more to turbo across the lawn or hide in the shadows behind the hutch, nor to bite sticks nor to have his ears nibbled by Charlotte, who is now his widow...

On Stranger Tides

2011-05-28T15:27:00.000-07:00

I went to London today. Got this photo of the ship in a bottle in Trafalgar Square, which was a fitting precursor; for afterwards we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides. I hadn't been too impressed by the last two films in this franchise, and hadn't expected much. I was pleasantly surprised, it was very enjoyable, and it had mermaids! One was played by Astrid Berges Frisbey, who looks very lovely, and makes up for the absence of Keira Knightley in some measure- as does Penelope Crus who looks like she's already found the fountain of youth. All the cast were on good form, including Ian McShane as Blackbeard, who finally shakes off the shadow of Lovejoy! And of course Depp charmingly roguish as Captain Jack Sparrow...

Good film, although not one for historical accuracy sticklers. Amusing to see well known London locations jumping around, the Greenwich Naval Hospital and the Old Bailey combining and finding a new home in front of St Paul's, for instance, or the interior of Hampton Court turning into that of Greenwich. (I also noticed that the navy/privateer ship had a post-1801 union jack at the rear rather than an ensign- the Union Jack actually belongs on the jack staff at the front!) Anyway, it was all good escapist fantasy, and very much up my street. Shouldn't hurt interest in the pirates-related illustration project I've been involved in until recently, which should shortly come online as a facebook-based game. It may also inspire me to paint some more mermaid paintings, or at least off the one I started a while back. Maybe some more sailing ships, too...

After the film we had a potter around Camden Lock, where I patronized the bookshop and bought a book on Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema. I also saw this awesome dog:

Then went to Worlds End.

A nice interlude.

Terse dream descriptions.

2011-05-26T04:38:00.000-07:00

I definitely agree with the cartoonist in the latest ImagineFX that peoples descriptions of their dreams should be restricted to five words or less, so: 'Rainy street. Horse. Saturn looming'.

Original Oil Paintings for sale

2011-05-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

I have added a section to my website listing oil paintins presently available for sale, along with prices (with or without frames when there is the option). I also include the frames in the photos of the works, to help customers decide. They can be seen here: http://dashinvaine.co.uk/paintings_for_sale.html

Mayflies, Morris Dancing and headless horsemen

2011-05-17T14:27:00.000-07:00

I was out at the pub earlier on watching morrisa dancing. How English is that? Actually it was somethign different, and quite entertaining. I nearly got roped in, but I remembered a solemn oath I had sworn, many years ago, to try anything once except incest and morris dancing. There were two troops of morris men doing their thing, one from Whitchurch, the other from Towersey. The Towersey lot had a badge of the headless horseman, which I assumed must be a referemce to Sleepy Hollow, but apparently there is an alternative explanation.

Came away with a present of some rosemary which was nice.

Nothing much else to report. Last week there was a crisis which turned out ok, and this last weekend we had a family visit which went well, and the dog was well behaved. Ladt week I found myself in the midst of a mayfly orgy, by the thames in Bourne End, which was another novelty. An ugly beast is the mayfly. Apparently the live but one day, mate, spawn on the water, and die.

Eowyn and the Nazgul

2011-05-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

The latest Art Order/Muddy Colors challenged provided me with a pretext to get the old oil paints out. The scene where the shieldmaiden of Rohan confronts the Witch king of Angmar is one of Tolkien's most evocative, and I had it in mind to paint my take on it at some stage anyway.

Eowyn and the Nazgul Painting by ~dashinvaine on deviant ART

Eowyn and the Nazgul.

2011-04-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

I'm planning to do a painting as an entry for the Eowyn and the Nazgul themed contest on The ART Order. I've already done two initial drawings:

Eowyn and the Nazgul drawing by ~dashinvaine on deviant ART
and

The Nazgul strikes back by ~dashinvaine on deviant ART

One more pirate ship illustration to do, out of a batch of 12, and then I can make a start.

Sci Fi Cover and Feature

2011-04-01T14:40:00.000-07:00

I've recently worked on a sci-fi book cover, which is a bit of a change. It's for a reissue of 'Midway Between' by Warren Norwood, to be published by Battlefield Press.
Midway Between cover artwork by ~dashinvaine on deviant ART

I'm also in line for an artist's feature in a couple of magazines, one of which will showcase my sci-fi output, which is an genre in which I'm always happy to do more. I'll say more about these features when I know more. Other recet projects have included a pirates hideaway and some vamped up Egyptias, which is all good.

Worrying things in Egypt

2011-03-13T10:17:00.000-07:00

Funnily enough I was planning to go to Egypt this year, to research a mooted book on the Mameluks and the Crusaders, which however I'd put on hold so that I can catch up with other projects. I might have found myself in the middle of a revolution. I have mixed feelings about what I've been hearing from that country. On the one hand it is good to see the people achieving self determination (if indeed they do) and being vigilant to defend such heritage sites as the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. On the other hand there have been shocking and distressing events such as attacks on Coptic Monasteries, apparently with the connivance of Islamist elements in the Egyptian army, which is presently running the show- promising to hand power to a civilian democratic government in due course. One hopes they will, but juntas have a rather poor record in such scenarios.

The situation for Egypt's antiquities is also rather worrying. Dr Hawass has resigned, clearly distressed due to his inability to prevent armed looters from raiding various stores of archaeological finds. Most shocking was the sight of the damage done to some of Tutankhamun's treasures by looters who got into the Cairo museum. I saw some of there very objects in London a few years back, at the Tutankhamun exhibition at the dome, and was impressed by their quality and pristine condition. Little did I think that they would suffer such vandalism within such a short period. It seems much of the damage may be reparable, and a missing Akhenaten statues has meanwhile been returned, which is good news, but still it is a worrying time.

I wish Egypt well and hope a democracy emerges and a theocracy or military dictatorship doesn't materialise. Egypt has so far got off relatively lightly, as the events in Libya reveal what can happen when a repressive regime digs its heels in.

I look forward to going to see the Afghan treasures currently on show in the British Museum. I hope these artifcacts have a safe future, too, although that seems less than assured.

Laugh for the Lemurs

2011-03-07T12:57:00.000-08:00

I went to a comedy gig yesterday at the Hammersmith Apollo (with Dara O'Briain 'and friends') in aid of the Tropical Zoo, which is apparently in the grounds of Syon Park. Apparently they have lemurs, so if you're a fellow fan of lemurs it may be worth checking out. I've not been to Syon Park, but am aware that it's a historic house with some beautiful classical interiors, formerly an abbey dissolved by Henry VIII. Now I know they have lemurs that's an added lure. Got to love lemurs (platonically). A good place to take a sketchpad sometime, maybe.

Bouguereau's Nympha and Satyr.

2011-02-27T18:17:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post to show some love for William Bouguereau, and admiration, in particular, for his painting Nymphs and Satyr (1873). Apropos of nothing in particular, except I was put in mind of it discussing the perfect female figure with a learned associate. It's indeed a beguiling, joyous, luminous picture. By all accounts the original has the power to stop people in their tracks, a power that clearly transcends its subject matter. My friend happens to be a surgeon, well placed to comment on the nigh-miraculous anatomical perfection of the figures in Bouguereau's paintings. He also commented on the light that is in the painting. As a humble artist slowly achieving incremental technical improvements, I can only hold this up as a gage by which to measure awesomeness, and a distant goal to aspire to. It shows what human hands are capable of creating.

Subject matter wise the image is somewhat echoed by J. W. Waterhouse's Hylas and the Nymphs (1896), though obviously Bouguereau's piece is more lively (despite being more finely rendered). Waterhouse introduced a wistful, intense, slightly sombre tone (common to many of his works). The way one of the females grip's the solitary male figure's arm is very similar in both these paintings. Waterhouse's hero is being lured to his doom; there is nothing, meanwhile, to suggest that anything more untoward than a dunking awaits Bouguereau's satyr. Fortunately his female companions are nymphs of the wood rather than the water, and they are more interested in teasing than entrapping.

I should blog more.

2011-02-23T16:26:00.000-08:00

I have this blog, so really I should blog more- for the entertainment and edification of my bakers dozen cherished subscribers, and to let the world know that I'm still doing stuff. I've heard a horror story, I think emanating from horror maestro and blogging stalwart Christopher Burdett (who was recently interviewed on the WIP Podcast), that if art directors and industry professionals come across an art blog that has not been recently updated, they presume the artist is no longer operating.

I do have projects on the go. I've recently been doing some preparatory work for a sci-fi book cover, which will be an interesting development, all being well. This last couple of days, meanwhile, I've also worked on a design for a Christmas card, which hopefully IBD Licensing will be interested in taking up. (A New England style church in winter, which should hopefully be popular with American customers). It's entailed me snapping out of the Adams-family mindset and activating the cosy/ friendly side of my imagination, and that can't be unhealthy every so-often!

I've also been making some headway with the flash modules of the home learning course in web design, and it will be nice to get that behind me. It may even prove useful at some stage. Personal project wise, I was fortunate enough to find a buyer for the most recent mermaid painting- before it was even finished, so that was nice. I've also done a few more beasties for my animal a-z, namely a fat lizard called an Uromastyx and a Wolf (a wold which looks slightly like a polar bear). I started the animal series ages ago as a means of getting myself out of my comfort zone, and to inject variety into my output. (The poor old cat is no longer with us since then). I've also had a commission to design some medieval style seals (not the animal kind, although horses and humans feature). Aside from that I also have a few things to follow up from the Spring Fair, involving licencing of artwork.

I wonder if I should update this blog with daily sketches and doodles, but to be honest most of the stuff I do that's worth showing goes up on dashinvaine.deviantart.com, my oldest haunt on the net. I have a life drawing class coming up in a couple of weeks. I need to do more anatomical studies.

Best regards to everyone who's reading this. Good luck in whatever you're doing besides, as long as it isn't too naughty. Peace.

New Facebook Page.

2011-02-18T08:02:00.000-08:00

Hi all. I've made a facebook 'fan' page, to contribute to the promotion of my artwork. It will be an additional place for posting news, views, works in progress and a wider selection of artwork than there is on my official site. Bless your hearts if you go there and click 'like'.

Mermaid of the Deep.

2011-02-15T03:24:00.000-08:00

Mermaid of the Deep by ~dashinvaine on deviant ART

Finally got one of the mermaid paintings done. In the course of this I discovered the importance of painting a unified tone in the background, and this has to be done before adding other features. I made a rod for my own back painting the masts of the shipwreck and parts of the mermaid before I'd sorted the background, and had a devil of a time eliminating patches of yellowy green. The digital camera exaggerated the differences, but also helped me to identify places that needed repainting. A more dynamic/less static pose and more consistent lighting might have made this painting better. It could also have done with some more narrative elements, but it's done now.

To the NEC again.

2011-02-09T16:44:00.000-08:00

I went to the Spring Fair at the Bermingham NEC again. Doesn't seem so long since the last one. Did a fair amount of promotion for freelance work and licencing, and hopefully it will be productive.

Star Wars Art Visions.

2011-02-03T10:22:00.001-08:00

I found myself walking past a book shop in High Wycombe today, and treat myself to a pretty lush art book called 'Star Wars Art Visions'. I loved the Star Wars films when I was little, and had lots of the plastic figures, plus a wooden ATAT that my dad made.

The paintings in this book transcend the sci-fi genre of the original inspiration, and are themselves very inspiring. Some of the artwork is really exquisite, produced by such artistic luminaries as Ed Binkley, Donato Giancola, Boris Vajello and H R Giger, plus offerings from a good number of amazing painters that I'd not heard of before. One of my favourite images after an initial skim through is 'Vader's Dream' by Kirk Reinert, which recalls the Symbolist movement. Many artistic styles are represented, and there's something for all tastes (from cartoons and manga to epic fantasy, romanticism and classical realism- even cubism!). Even if you're not remotely interested in Star Wars per se, you should find something that's up your street. Indeed sometimes the references to Star Wars are very subtle and oblique.

It can be found on Amazon.co.uk here.

Revised version of Kiss Me Deadly

2011-01-26T05:33:00.000-08:00

I was given some advice on Kiss Me Deadly, and have produced this revision. Not dramatically different but there are more contrasted tones in the forgreound and the vampire is raised higher so that their heads are not on the same level.There is also a very faint blue multiply layer added.

The Bustini (TM) and a bookshelf

2011-01-24T12:38:00.000-08:00

I've invented a cocktail, I call it the Bustini, because it's orange coloured like my dog (Buster). It's basically Martini and Lucozade: an effective pick me up after a hard day revising CSS and general web design stuff.

I'm in the middle of a Dreamweaver revisathon, ahead of commencing the next part of the home learning course: Adobe Flash. The day was punctuated earlier on when my dad came over to help build a book case. So at least I'm not quie so surrounded by unmanagable stacks of books anymore. Actually he made the shelves himself and it's a rather nifty bit of handiwork, worthy of a photo.

Kiss Me Deadly

2011-01-20T16:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday and the day before I was working on this piece for a comic cover, which the client has graciosly allowed me to share ahead of publication. It depicts a feisty red-head called Dawn Keenan who hunts vampires in Dublin. Dublin (where I had a break in 2008) has some good alleys for hunting vampires in (not that I encountered any vampires, so Dawn must be doing a good job), and some quite nice gothic architecture too. The backdrop is loosely based on the Synod Hall Bridge, a nineteenth century gothic revival feature attached to the medieval Christ Church Cathedral in the city.

New look website

2011-01-17T14:00:00.000-08:00

I have been giving my art website dashinvaine.co.uk an overhaul. It now has its new look, check it out!

Tattoos based on my pictures.

2011-01-12T14:24:00.000-08:00

I was sent a photo today (by 'Jabbajay on Deviantart) who had my Cernunnos design tattooed on the back of her neck. This was done by Warren at Avinit Tattoo in Orpington, UK.

My original:

Cernunnos by ~dashinvaine on deviant ART

This is the second time someone just went and got an image of mine tattooed, and then let me know, and obviously I have no problem with it. It's flattering, actually. The other one was a Knight Templar based on a drawing of mine.

templar by ~bigalalal on deviant ART

I've also had a couple of people commission tattoo designs from me, including an epic Crusader battle back piece, but I don't know if they went through with it. This is a mock up:

Crusader battle tattoo by ~dashinvaine on deviant ART

Feel free to get in touch if you would like me to produce a personal tattoo design, and also if you have already had one of my pictures done as a tattoo. It's always interesting to see the photos.

Still Alive

2011-01-08T16:28:00.000-08:00

Hi All. Sorry it's been a while since I posted here but I am still alive. Chriatmas was good apart from several of the family getting the flu over the holidays. One of the rabbits had to go to the vets yesterday, too, as he's dragging his back leg around. (It bit the end off a syringe, earlier, which is a bit worrying). Seems to be a bit better now, though, having moved back indoors into what was my painting studio in the back kitchen... The bunnies survived all the snow but the damp that has set in now is no good for them. My painting area had sort of shifted back into the living room anyway, so it's no great bother. (I prefer painting within sight of the computer as it's easier to google reference images than to trawl through all my books and cuttings). I've been doing more digital stuff than traditional of late, that said. Commissioned work has included more maps and ships for a pirate game project, and a wedding invitation decoration in the style of an illuminated manuscript. These and a couple of newly coloured old drawings can be seen on my deviantart site.

Marian finished.

2010-11-13T17:15:00.001-08:00

I've finished my painting 'Marian'. It's also been added to my store, in the 'light fantasy section.

Marian by ~dashinvaine on deviant ART

Marian, nearly finished

2010-11-12T12:09:00.000-08:00

My latest oil painting revealed itself to be of Maid Marian, of Robin Hood lore. Coming on reasonably well, I feel, and nearly done. Stylistically I'm aiming for something inbetween those immortals J. W. Waterhouse and Keith Parkinson. (I only said 'aiming'.)

Tate Britain

2010-11-06T13:04:00.000-07:00

I popped into Tate Britain today, and some changes have been made. No sign of Draper's 'Lament For Icarus' or Waterhouse's 'Saint Eulalia' anymore. Instead we have more rooms than ever of minimalist blank canvasses, Damian Hurst's stupid dotty offering and some photos of the tights bunny thing. On one wall, something resembling a crooked ladder was stuck up. Another room was sealed off, with a real ladder lying in the middle of the floor, glimpsed through a tear in some plastic sheeting. The sign read 'room closed for installation'. I LOLd. I'm still not sure if the ladder was waiting for some workmen or whether it was itself the installation.

There were a few interesting new things, like a Harrier jet hanging from the ceiling, and I did yawn once or twice looking at some of Constable's paintings, by contrast. Obviously the spectacle of a jet fighter hanging nose down inside classical building is novel and visually more impressive than a painting of trees, but I don't call it art and I don't buy all the artist, Fiona Banner's pseudo-intellectual justification for the idea, which I suspect was made up after the idea was thought of. (There was another jet further on which was parked upside down. Upside-downness is a favourite theme of modernists, as Burdick observed).

By and large my opinion is that if you want to call yourself an artist, what you exhibit should be a product of your hand as well as your mind, and it shoud involve skill in composition and execution. Recycled aircraft and simplistic abstract paintings don't qualify.

Galleries like this tell the official story of art history, yet seem to conform to a particular ideology. People profess to appreciate this stuff and find it profound because they have been conditioned to, more often than not, and because they don't want to commit artistic heresy, or be labelled 'Philistine'. But of course only a fool can't see the splendid cloth of gold from which the naked Emperor's glorious costume is made.

More WIPS on the Mermaid

2010-11-03T15:18:00.000-07:00

Painting mermaids seems to be a good source of solace from the continuing problems afflicting on the surface of the world. Not that I suppose all is well at the bottom of the ocean. It seems to be mankind's greed for oil that has caused a great deal of carnage in two different Gulfs. It is one of the reasons why I am considering not replacing my car, (fond of it though I was).

A couple more sessions of work on the Red Mermaid painting result in the following...

I'm fairly pleased with how this painting's progressing. I've used a bit of metallic gold and silver paint in the face to add a bit of sparkle, not that it really photographs. I quite like the way the unfinished hair already seems to blend into the depth, and hopefully I'll be able to retain this effect.

I've got another mermaid on the go, too, but I didn't like the face I gave her yesterday (as per below) and today only got as far as scrubbing it out. She is une sirene sans visage, maintenant.

Illustration Process

2010-11-02T04:45:00.000-07:00

An Example of a little illustration job for 'In From the Cold', part of the Dragon Warriors series from Magnum Opus Press.

Brief:
- ½ page of the PCs – Male Sorcerer, 2 male Knights, male Assassin, Female Mystik, female Barbarian.

It was initially suggested that I might put the characters in a tavern scene, so my earliest sketches reflected this idea...

This being given approval by an assistant editor, the sketch was worked up to this in photoshop...

However it was ultimately decided that it would be desirable to have more of a focus on the characters, and it was suggested that they could be assembled in the Sorcerer's house at the commencement of the quest. I therefore redid the scene, managing to reuse a few elements of the earlier version...

Several other illustrations were done at the time including one with the following biref:

- ½ Page of the Melech demon breathing fire at the demonologist who is protected by the pentacle of protection. (These demons are tall, muscular, bronze-skinned humanoids, with malevolent but not unhandsome features and dancing flames for hair. They can breathe fire up to 10m)
I submitted quite a few different sketches for this one...

The assistant editor chose the strongest image and I sketched out the final composition...

The first version of the image submitted was this:

I was asked to revise it making the magic protection from the pentagram seem less like a glass dome. I duly submitted the following, which was signed off.

The other images done did not require revisions...

WIP Red Mermaid

2010-11-01T14:52:00.000-07:00

Something else I've just started on. Looking a bit like a De Kooning at the moment. I don't think that's such a good thing, so I will be trying to refine it a bit. Still not entirely sure whether to have her underwater or in a grotto on the surface. We shall see.

Rider

2010-10-31T18:02:00.000-07:00

Here is a peek at a work in progress, started yesterday, one of a couple of personal pieces I have on the go...

I'm quite pleased with it so far and am letting it develope organically. Sometimes it's nice to start painting and see who or what appears on the board. I originally thought that it might turn out to be a character from one of my visual stories, Asterith the druidess. However she's turned out a somewhat more wistful figure, and a brunette (because there was brown paint on the brush), so probably not. As she has a medieval air (and looks less of a tomboy than the character I had in mind), I'll probably change it so she's riding side-saddle. Maybe a more precise theme will emerge as the piece progresses.

Portraits, Copies and Studies

2010-10-29T05:39:00.000-07:00

I just made a little youtube slideshow of some of my studies and portraits...

The Accolade

2010-10-28T15:08:00.000-07:00

Finished my copy of 'The Accolade' by E B Leighton. Survived the killer chainmail!

The Accolade, after Leighton by ~dashinvaine on deviant ART

Place of Memory

2010-10-28T07:33:00.000-07:00

Unbelievably, it's 20 years to the week since our family holiday in Brixham, the little fishing town in Devon that made such a lasting impression on me. I was eleven at the time my sister eight, and we were both entranced by the place. We stayed at a former fisherman's cottage called Bay View, in North View Road. The view of the harbour at night was especially beautiful, with lights reflecting in the water. A photo I recently saw on DA reminded me powerfully of it.

Brixham-Tilt Shift by ~devincisharky on deviant ART

We went back the two following years (1991 and 1992) but I haven't been back since. Brixham is picturesque place and I hope it hasn't changed. I have fond memories of the replica Golden Hind, the ship in which Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe, and of Perils of the Deep, the shell shop, the aquarium, the fishing boats...

At the end of the long pier was a strange industrial platform called Longbow, the function of which was a mystery at the time. I've lately looked it up and apparently it was a former salvage barge, converted into a missile testing platform for the Navy, and since put back into service.

Also in the harbour was a statue of William of Orange, who landed there and went on to become William III. It was and presumably remains a favourite perch for a Jacobite seagull who poops down the Dutch usurper's collar. Trips we had from Brixham included to Drogo Castle on Dartmoor, and to Dartmouth. We also went to Paignton, where we saw the Disney film The Little Mermaid. Ariel was the subject of my first crush. Silly, I know. (She'll never leave Eric...) This brief moment from my childhood explains the continuing fascination that I have with the nautical, and also why mermaids occasionally appear in my pictures. It taps into nostalgia for these times.

Mermaid's Perch by ~dashinvaine on deviant ART

Copy of The Accolade (WIP)

2010-10-24T06:51:00.000-07:00

I've started a pencil copy of a painting I much admire, 'The Accolade' by Edmund Blair Leighton (1901). Full of gravitas and chivalric spirit, this has long been one of my favourite paintings, though I have not seen the original (in a private collection somewhere, apparently). Getting a likeness of the queen's face was a challenge, given that the whole face is literally smaller than a thumbnail, but it's coming on ok...

Influence Map

2010-10-21T11:34:00.000-07:00

I was inspired to complete one of the 'influence map' things that have been cropping up on DA.
Worcester Cathedral by night, Due South, Burne Jones's 'The Fall of Lucifer', Winona Ryder, Don Quixote, Bouguereau's 'Dante and Vergil in Hell', Vlad the Impaler, Royal Holloway University of London, a spooky mask, the spooky church from 'In the Mouth of Madness', a lemur, the replica Golden Hinde at Brixham, John Collier's 'Lilith', Lady from E. B. Leighton's 'The Accolade', Waterhouse's 'A Mermaid', Red Dwarf, Waterhouse's 'The Lady of Shalott', Guinness, Canova's 'Penitent Mary Magdalene', Knight from E. B. Leighton's 'The Accolade', HMS Victory, Howard Carter examining the mummy of Tutankhamun, the old Fella from the old DeviantArt back in the good old days, Father Ted, the Knights Templar, Kenneth Brannagh as Henry V, cup of tea, Lord Byron, San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, and Zurbaran's 'St Francis'.

Influence Map by ~dashinvaine on deviant ART

Painting plans

2010-10-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

Awaiting a call about a book presently, which I've propposed writing, and which the publishers seemed enthusiastic about. That will keep me occupied for a while. I've been working on the last few scenes for a web comic today, and have some backdrops for a game to do before the month is out. I'm hiping to get some traditional painting done soon, as well,soon, for a change from photoshop. I was thinking of doing a Lady of the Lake scene, for instance. I see ConceptArt.org recently has that as a subject for a character of the week contest but I was too busy to enter. I also thought about doing Shaijar al-Durr, the Sultana of Egypt and wife of the Mameluk sultan Aybeg, who first helped him come to power and then stabbed him (or had him stabbed) in the bath.

Tulip Bubbles

2010-10-16T18:40:00.001-07:00

very busy on illustration projects of late, though found time today to go see the movie Wallstreet II. Quite good film, not the sort of thing I'd usually make the effort to see. The Michael Douglas character's allusion to the tulip bubble in Golden Age Amsterdam seemed a timely parable, considering the current economic climate. Also reminded me of the commodification of modern art.

Pietro Annigoni

2010-10-11T16:47:00.000-07:00

I found this, the artistic manifesto of Pietro Annigoni (1910-1988), on on ARC, which reflects some of my own views, and which bears repeating. Annigoni was one of the generation of realist painters who confronted the shift towards abstraction, which came to dominate the international art scene. His portrait of the Queen of England is an admirable piece of work. Unfortunately half a century after the following words were written, realist painters are still shut out from the galleries and art schools that should be their natural place.

Manifesto of “Modern Painters of Reality”
(Pittori moderni della realtà) Milan, Italy, November 1947
We, “The Modern Painters of Reality” are gathered in a brotherly group to show our works to the public.

The favor and understanding with which the public has accompanied and supported our efforts over the last few years, our certainty to be in the right and that the others are wrong, have convinced us of the advisability and necessity of this exhibition.

We stand united with our strength, our faith, our ideals and our absolute mutual esteem. As opposed to the Ecole de Paris, born in France, but representative of a universal tendency of decadence, our art born in Italy represents an event of hope and salvation for art and this exhibition is meant to be a first effective contribution to the fight that is about to blaze.

We are neither interested nor moved by the so-called “abstract” or “pure” painting, procreated by a decaying society, which is empty of any human contents and has retreated into itself, in the vain hope of finding a substance in itself.

We disavow all contemporary painting from post-impressionism till today, regarding it as the expression of an age of false progress and a reflection of the dangerous threat that looms over mankind. On the contrary we reaffirm those spiritual and moral values without which painting would become the most fruitless exercise.

We want painting to be moral in its most intimate essence, in its style itself, a painting that in one of the dimmest moments of human history should be filled with the same faith in man and his destiny, that had made the greatness of art in times past.

We recreate the art of illusion of reality, the eternal and primeval seed of figurative arts.

We do not lend ourselves to any comeback, we simply keep on with our mission of true painting, which is the image of a universal feeling, which we want to be understood by many, not just by few “sophisticated ones”.

Long before gathering, each one of us had deeply felt the need to research in nature the leading thread that would allow us to find our true nature in the labyrinth of schools that have multiplied over the last half a century.

Each one of us has spontaneously addressed himself to reality, the first and eternal source of painting, confident to find his own expression in it.

In the face of a new academism or conventionalism, made up of the remnants of cubist formulas and of a standardised impressionistic sensuality, we have exhibited a way of painting that, mindless of fashions or aesthetic theories, is striving to express our feelings through the language that each one of us, according to one’s temperament, has found by looking directly at reality.

Signed by: Pietro Annigoni, Antonio Bueno, Xavier Bueno, Gregorio Sciltian.'

Scott Burdick on the banishment of beauty.

2010-10-10T17:06:00.000-07:00

(Above) Modern ART by Scott Burdick. http://www.scottburdick.com/

I'm a great admirer of the classical/romantic realist tradition, and an admirer of the great artists of the pasts, such as the Waterhouse, Burne-Jones, the two Leightons, Bougureau and Gerome. This is what I aspire to in my fine art, and though I hopefully edged slightly closer to it in paintings like 'The Lady of Shalott' and 'Tell Me More or Tell me Less', I'm under no illusions of being on that level yet. The frustration is that in the current art world, there is no incentive to pursue this ambition. Still I try, and by doing so gain a greater appreciation of the dedication, discipline, patience and skill that went into paintings such as those I was admiring in Oxford yesterday. I should do some more traditional painting, but I've been kept so busy lately with digital illustration commissions, not that I'm complaining.

I've just been pointed to Scott Burdick's discussion in a set of youtube vids, contrasting this tradition to what prevails in the Modern Art establishment.

He's preaching to the totally converted as far as I'm concerned. There are living artists every bit as skilled as the artists of the Renaissance and 19th century, as able to evoke elegance, beauty, emotion, grandeur, poignancy and deep humanity with masterful technical skill.

In many galleries, traditional art is represented up to a certain time (around the turn of the 20th century) and then disappears with only the modernist avant garde movements being represented. This, as Brudick argues, leads to the false impression that no one (with the possible exception of certain Surrealists) retained the ability or desire to produce technically compitent and aesthetically beautiful paintings.

The criteria of what makes art are held as valid up to an arbitrary point when experimental alternative ideas came along. This is well and good but we are led to take for granted that the experiment of modernism was valid in every respect, and that it was legitimate to rewrite the definition of art, which had essentially held good since the renaissance. Therefore none of the founders of the English Royal Academy for instance, would be considered serious artist by the present art establishment. Conversely, I doubt the founders of the RA, or subsequent members like Millais, Leighton and Waterhouse, would recognize the present members as their true artistic heirs. Contemporary traditional painting is only really well represented at somewhere like the National Portrait Gallery, presumably because abstract and conceptual artists don't excell at portraiture, for the most part.

Duchamp was significant in so far as he inspired a certain manifestation of existential philosophy that uses visual props and calls itself art. The thing is that nothing new has been said in conceptualism since Duchamp but conceptualists still rather dominate the art scene. This is a bit odd when you think about it. There are still people painting like impressionists and preraphaelites, or whatever, who are dismissed as obsolete and unoriginal and historically irrelevant by these same conceptualists who are themselves only churning out variations on a now-antiquated theme. So what it really boils down to is the establishment preferring a style than to any real progressiveness, and pretending that it is philosophically superior to classical painting. Part of the false premise is that beauty equates to cheapness or triviality, whereas in fact beauty is rare enough, hard won, and can be profound in its own right.

Pre-Raphaelites at Ashmolean

2010-10-09T11:58:00.000-07:00

If anyone is anywhere near Oxford over the coming months the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition at the Ashmolean museum is worth checking out. If you like that sort of thing, it will be just the sort of thing you like. Focusses on the Italian subjects chosen by the likes of Rossetti, Hunt, Burne Jones and Rushkin and Noel Paton. Some brilliant paintings and drawings to be seen. One of the paintings that is really striking in the flesh is Burne-Jones' 'Fall of Lucifer', which anticipates the art movements and the tragic history of later centuries and is full of defiant melancholia. Another impressive exhibit was 'Dante meditating on Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta'.

The encounter with the shades of Paolo and Francesca is one of my favourite parts of the Divine Comedy, and is a subject I've attempted once myself in a picture. other things in the expo that were a pleasure to see were Italian landcapes and architecutal drawings by various artists (especially Ruskin in the latter case) which reminded me of my own visits to Venice, Verona and Florence.

Also had a brief look at the rest of the museum, which I haven't been too since I was little. Unfortunately the two main Egyptian galleries were closed for refurbishmet, which was disappointing especially as I'm having a bit of an Egyptian phase.

An unusual gathering.

2010-10-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

There is an unusual gathering on top of my writing desk... Bonie, Woodie Bagpus and Chalkie. Chalkie is latter a head thing I started carving. Bonie and Woodie were vital business investments. Bagpus is an old cloth cat.

Hellraiser Comics, Vampies and Egyptians.

2010-10-05T07:24:00.000-07:00

Greetings gentle readers. Had a cheque for some chiristmas card design sales in South Africa today, from my agents at Image By Design, which was nice. I'm presently working on some darker stuff, another comic involving vampires for a certain website. Here's a wip of a section of the first scene as a taster.

Here's a sample of the Hellraiser comic I did recenyly on a favour for an associate, which will hopefully have portfolio application... been doing it in between other things and it's finally finished. Should be going online soon.

And here's a glimpse of the Egyptian characters done for a facebook game, quite a cool project to be involved with.

More details

Speaking of facebook game commissions, may be some more pirates on the horizon. Meanwhile may be going to Oxford next weekend, to see the Preraphaelite exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, and maybe check out the Egyptian stuff. Last when there when I was little, and it's all been rebuilt since then.

A Storytelling of Crows

2010-09-12T05:20:00.000-07:00

I was just walking the dog around a big field nearby, where more crows were about than I've ever seen before. On the yellow stubble agains a sky where a storm might be brewing, I was reminded of Van Gogh's painting 'Wheatfield with crows', which has an ominous atmosphere. I've always been fond of crows, and their big brothers of the corvus familiy, the ravens, some of which I saw at the Tower of London yesterday. I was brought up with a superstition about magpies too, which was hardwired into me. It is supposedly bad luck to see a solitary magpie and not say 'Good morning Mr. Magpie, how's your wife today?' This was mainly something I got from my dad. It seems a magpie on its own could be the devil in disguize, or else that these birds are unlucky becaise they are the only crows that did not wear all black to Jesus' funeral! I tried to break out of this superstition lately and have been saying 'It's just a bird, whatever you've heard.' This was turning into an alternative superstition, however, and I managed to ignore the single magpie that I also saw on my travels just now.

I like the idea that the collective noun of crows is a 'murder' or a 'storytelling'. That adds to their gothic appeal. You also get a storytelling or an 'unkindness' of Ravens. I've experienced that. Magpies come in tidings, if you're lucky.

Tower and BP Portrait Awards

2010-09-11T13:52:00.000-07:00

A messaged out of the blue this morning led to my going in to London to meet up with soneone I knew through deviantART who is on holiday over here from the US. Think it went well, met at the Tower of London where saw the Crown Jewels, armour and swords (swords make her happy). The punch bowl that is part of the crown jewels is no trifle either.

Prior to meeting up with them, went to the BP Portrait Awards 2010 at the National Portrait Gallery. A lot of stunning paintings, as there was last year. Many a 'wow' escaped my lips.

Brum and Coventry

2010-09-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

Out and about today. I went to the Autumn (trade) fair in Birmingham with the usual incredible array of stands full of stuff. Hopefully made a few more useful contacts, and didn't break anything. Stopped at Coventry on the way back, where I have never been before. Had a look at the Cathedral- the gutted old one with its surviving magnificent tower, and the new edifice adjacent designed after WWII by Basil Spence- a concrete tunnel leading to the Graham Sutherland tapestry of Christ with his waspish abdomen and pharaonic feet.

Update + Autumn Fair

2010-09-06T08:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've updated on here. Been busy with an Egypt-related illustration project which was well up my street. Also had to fetch my father from hospital the other week after his hip op. Have sold a couple of paintings lately and bought one which I've yet to collect. Will probably go to the Autumn Trade Fair at the NEC in Birmingham tomorrow, so see you there if you are going.

Draw, Antonio, draw, Antonio; draw and don't waste time!

2010-07-23T03:55:00.000-07:00

Went to the British Museum yesterday to catch an exhibition before it closes: 'Fra Angelico to Leonardo: Italian Renaissance Drawings.' Quite busy and with drawings everyone wants to get their head up close. Worth seeing though, particularly intrugued by some of the allegirical pictures by Giovanni Antonio da Brescia, with whom I was not very familiar before.

Critique and Technique.

2010-07-14T15:52:00.000-07:00

I went to the second of two day art classes today, given at the Rebecca Hill Modern Art gallery by local artist Ali Cockrean.
I was quite inspired by her work in acrylics, and learned a bit about applying paint with more texture. It's always useful to find out about other artists and their different styles and ways of doing things. We did a bit of colour mixing this morning which was something I needed to learn more about. Later I produced a quick painting of a dragon flying over some mountains. It's only small, but this is my first vaguely presentable picture done in acrylics in a long time. I was always fonder of oil and have made the transition to digital of late, though I like to keep my hand in with traditional art.

Gerome and Knight's review

2010-07-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

I'm not local or loaded enough to see the Gerome show at the Getty.

I was just reading the below-linked rather scathing review by Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times. Knight accuses Gerome of inventing the 'sword and sandals' genre that is now has its home in Hollywood epics. There is some truth in this although the implication that this is somehow a low-brow 'populist' manifestation represents only modernist critical snobbery, and a warped set of artistic priorities. Why should drama, history, spectacle and narrative content be banished from the art gallery and exiled to the cinema? It makes no sense to me. I have often said, indeed, that the movie industry is the true heir of the great western art tradition, that which the modernist artists and critics consciously sought to bring to an end. Contrary to Knight's opinion it seems to be this lot rather than the classicists who lack a clue. Thanks to the denigration of the likes of Gerome a world of skill and knowledge was all-but-lost.

Knight accuses Gerome of a 'disengagement with art's possibilities.' A prejudice aginst the academic painters is revealed throughout Knight's review. An example is the irrelevant note that the winners of the Prix de Rome were always males. In fact one of the most notable winners, Bouguereau, would later do much to open up academic studios to female students (and eventually married one). There were as many female classical painters as there were in any other movement, many of them very successful.

Andromeda Finished.

2010-06-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

Put some finishing touches to Andromeda today. Goes quite nicely in an old fashioned frame that's been waiting for a picture... Feel free to get in touch if you are interested in purchasing original works or know of any suitable venues for exhibiting. I would be much obliged...
email giaour94@hotmail.com

Andromeda wip

2010-06-16T13:25:00.000-07:00

Something I started today is this painting of Andromeda from Greek mythology, who was nearly eaten by a toothsome beastie from the deep on account of her mother's boasting that she was prettier than the Nereids. Nice. It's time to break out the old oils and give myself a break from digital media. (The only bamboo involved is a component of my maul stick!)

Kick It!

2010-06-12T13:45:00.000-07:00

So England tie 1-1 with the USA in the Football World Cup. Jolly good this is, meaning we all retain some dignity and I don't lose any customers across the water! Most of my recent illustration clients have been based in the States lately (with the notable exception of Magnum Opus Press, which I seem on course to debut with). I'll confess, I'm not hugely into football, which oddly seems to capture the imagination of the females in my family more than the males. (My sister, who lives in Tottenham but supports Manchester, has a job designing footie merchandise). I get more of a patriotic stirring watching things like the Trooping of the Colour, which was this morning. For the last couple of years I've happened to actually be in London on the day and to get myself to the Mall to catch the parade return towards Buckingham Palace. This year I had a better view, from the living room. Here are a couple of photo from a previous year...

In so far as I take an interest in the world cup, I now look forward to supporting both the Brits and the Yanks. Any fellow Englanders- whose patriotism isn't compromised by their pragmatism- may be interested in some of the designs I've added to my cafepress shop, especially the Crusader section, where there is a range of stuff with the shield of Saint George.

Pirate Wench wip.

2010-05-30T04:22:00.000-07:00

A pirate I'm working on...

Just been listening to Ninja Mountain, the illustration podcast, episode 67 (again some relevant discussions went on, including what to say and not-say online). Sorry to hear Jon Hodgson is leaving it due to work commitments. His wit and enthusiasm contributed much to the show. Still, if it means more art that's a consolation. Thanks to all the 'Ninjas' for their past and continuing efforts.

Dashinvaine Designs: Shop from the comfort of your own home...

2010-05-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

Done more consolidating on my big main shop on cafepress, which now has a wide range of my stuff in several sections. If you like that sort of thing, it should be exactly the sort of thing you'd like. It can be found here:

We're All Doomed!

2010-05-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

This struck me as amusing and suitable twist on the 'Keep Calm and Carry On' poster from WWII. Get it on teeshirts and stuff...

Crusader Tattoo Design

2010-05-27T17:10:00.000-07:00

This week I've had time to complete a commission to design tattoo for a brave soul who wanted a crusader battle to cover his whole back. Ouch! The design can be seen here:
Crusader Battle by *dashinvaine on deviant ART

I was initially a bit reticent, as my comment makes clear, about the idea of putting an angel and a devil with the Crusader and Muslim sides, as there wasn't much to distinguish the two creeds in the era in question. I would have preferred to leave supernatural participants out of the equation.

Cafepress shops

2010-05-23T06:23:00.000-07:00

I've recently opened several more cafepress shops...

Adderbite

Assassin Demon

Board to Death

Older shops linked to from here

All's well that ends well.

2010-05-22T16:27:00.000-07:00

It always puts things into perspective when terrible things happen or almost happen in real life. Concerns about what an illustration of a ship's reflection should look like, or gripes about the new interface on deviantART suddenly seem relatively trivial.

A female relative of mine was jogging in a park in the city where she lives, early this morning, when she became aware of a man seeming to follow her, matching her speed, stopping when she stopped, pretending to walk. And then he dropped his stuff and started running after her as she tried to get away. Fortunately there was a knight (on a shining bike) who saw what was happening and intervened. Something unthinkable might have happened had not this other guy been around. Thanks to him, and to whatever fortune or providence caused him to be there. I feel an abstract gratitude beyond the personal and am greatly relieved that the outcome was not worse. I would say 'thank God', but for the knowledge that many other victims have found themselves cornered by perverted predators only for no saviour to appear in the nick of time, with consequences that don't bear thinking about.

Hare today gone tomorrow?

2010-05-19T16:33:00.000-07:00

In between working on a game project, I've started this odd oil painting based on the mysterious motif of the three hares joined by their ears. The intention was to get it done for a local exhibition on the theme of nature, but that starts on this coming Friday and there's no way it will be dry. I've been more experimental with this one (intuitive even) but I think it might be a failure, and I can see myself wiping all that wasted paint off tomorrow. There really is no substitute for proper planning and having a clear idea what you want to depict from the offset.

V&A

2010-05-15T09:55:00.000-07:00

Went to London again yesterday. The day included a picnic in Hyde Park, and the discovery of the source of the Serpentine. Then we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum, sketched a pretty statue of Eve by Thomas Brock (indifferently) then visited the Strawberry Hill exhibition, with some of the artworks and artefacts collected by Horace Walpole for his extraordinary gothic revival house at Twickenham (which is currently being restored, and which will be worth visiting). We then looked at some authentic gothicry in the medieval bit. After an unplanned detour we ended up at an Italian restauraunt in Leicester Square.

Recent Stuff

2010-05-13T12:01:00.000-07:00

This week a fairly major, on-going illustrati project on got going, and I'm quite pleased to have my instructions. Meanwhile the UK had an election. I spoilt a good walk by going in and voting, so some I have to take some of the blame for what transpired. There again it's probably for the best. Labour need to be put out to pasture for a while to get their act together. (Governments are like nappies, as someone said, they need to be changed regularly, and for the same reason). The Liberal Democrats should counteract the worst excesses of Toryism, and vice versa with some of the sillier aspects of the Liberal agenda. The coalition's the best that could have been hoped for, and I wish it well.

Speaking of crooks and unlikely alliances, I've started reading a book about Barbary pirates. I was interested to discover the career of Sir Francis Verney as a renegade, apostate and corsair in Algeria. I visited his family home Claydon House last year, but he was evidently not the ancestor they liked to talk about. They are keener on Edmund Verney, who had his hand cut off while holding Charles I's banner during the Civil War. (I went to Bradenham also this week, with another big manor house that was apparently the home of Benjamin Disraeli's father. Some beautiful woodland around there, good sniffing country for the dog.)

Also rather enjoying the new series of Doctor Who, which has so far treat me to the spectacle spitfires in space and (supposed) vampires in Venice. What more could anyone possibly want? Thanks BBC! I'm toying with the idea of getting a tweed jacket.

Sadly the world of fantasy art lost its granddaddy Frank Frazetta this week, famous for his conan illustrators, and his death dealer horseman, who has finally come for his maker...

Hats and art

2010-05-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

I've had the three paintings I entered accepted for an exhibition at a new art gallery in my home town, the Rebecca Hill Modern Art Gallery. The Old Vicarage, Market Square, Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire UK. HP27 0AN

The exhibition is themed on Hats and Shoes. It opens on Fri 7 May.

Sergeant Dan

2010-05-02T15:21:00.000-07:00

I spent the day racing to finish the latest Character of the Week contest on Conceptart.org, in this case the indomiatble comic hero Sergeant Dan. There have been some very good entries for this contest, really capturing the spirit of the old pulp comic covers. Mine is here...

I was pleased yesterday to confirm the sale of a couple of older pieces, actually from the old version of my website dashinvaine.co.uk . A link to the archived pages and the more extensive galleries of older work can be found from the new site by going to the links section.

New Website

2010-04-28T12:29:00.001-07:00

I have spent the day finishing off my website (interrupted at one point by the Speaker of the House of Commons turning up on the doorstep). Got the new site uploaded just now. There is room for incremental improvement and expansion, but in general I'm happier with the slicker, simpler and more specialist nature of the new-look dashinvaine.co.uk . I decided to keep the name, obscure and made-up as it is, as I've used it in a number of places besides online (including this blog) and may as well stick with it. I was worried I had too many sections in the previously thematic portfolio, meanwhile, so I've redone it grouped by medium.

AA come down!

2010-04-26T03:38:00.000-07:00

The AA are trialling rocket packs. The future is here: http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/apollo/

Leonidas

2010-04-25T07:10:00.000-07:00

An old drawing of Leonidas (the Spartan king) which I've started to colour. I'm still undecided whether to go with the enclosed Corinthian helmet from the original drawing or to go with a helmet showing more of the face.