FIRST BLOG OF 2015

It's the first blog of the new year, and in all fairness it's been a pretty manic few months in the Morgan household, but lets start at the beginning.

January saw my Mum and Dad celebrate there 30th wedding anniversary and I wanted to do something extra special for them and so I decided to take some time out of my schedule to create them there own original painting, but what to paint??

This was actually easy to decide because during my show in November a client had called me over who was speaking with my parents, when I went to speak with them she asked me why my Mum and Dad didn't have one of my originals, we joked a little and then I remembered...wedding anniversary!

I asked my parents "what would you even have" and my mum went on to say that she loved Walnut whips but hated the actual walnut and always broke it off to give it to my Dad, I quite liked this small gesture of togetherness and decided that this would be the subject for there  Wedding anniversary present.

 

"You're the Walnut to my Whip"

18" x 18"

Oil on wooden panel

 

I also decided this year was going to be the start of a new body of work, as artists I think its good to evolve and allow that to happen naturally without forcing it.

My new work will be more narrative, sometimes this narrative will be serious, sometimes comical.

 I think that the majority of the time I may use toys to explain this narrative and I'm excited to produce them as I have so many ideas.

 

The first piece of this new series was created during January, this idea had been playing around in my head for quite some time and was so pleased when I had finally settled on a composition.

 

 

"Make Peace Not War"

40" x 20"

Oil on wooden panel

 

SOLD

 

PRINTS AVAILABLE

 

I decided to use toy soldiers propped onto wooden toy bricks, the bricks spelling out the narrative clearly "make peace not war" like many people, I hate war and although I'm under no illusion that world peace is around the corner I'd like to think maybe one day we will all just ....get along....but I doubt it.

 

I decided to keep all the soldiers green so to not give them "Sides" and I changed almost all the colours of the blocks because the original colours were quite dull, thankfully this piece was really well received and sold the day after I had created it which was totally amazing and cemented my belief that this new avenue was the right way to go with my work  and Im currently working on the next

 

Also Excitedly I have created a limited edition print run on this piece

The image below shows one of the prints next to the original painting and as you can see the colour matching is very good. Each print is 700mm x 351mm It's printed on smooth rag 300gsm paper using lucia pigment colours, each print is hand signed and a certificate of authenticity provided with matching serial numbered hologram on both the certificate and the print

 

Prints are sold unframed although I can provide a framing and fine art delivery  service but obviously this would be at an additional cost

 

If you are interested then please email me on  - chris_morgan13@Hotmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

I also decided to create a new portrait of my father, I created a portrait of him back in 2012 and so I just wanted to create another to see my improvements over the last 3 years, I have been studying skin tones and form quite intensely over the years as I really want to get good.

 

I was so pleased with how this piece turned out and I feel showed a true evolution in my painting, I have decided to create a few more portraits throughout the year to keep on learning. How many I will actually do I have no idea as this will be along side my still life pieces.

 

 

Portrait of my father

18" x 18"

Oil on panel

NFS

 

And last but certainly not least, on February 15th 2015 at 00:48 my new son Charlie Sydney Morgan arrived in the world, It's wonderful to be a father again to this little bundle and have enjoyed taking a couple of weeks off to enjoy him fully and help my wife out, My other son Lewis is totally in love with him and we now feel complete as a family unit. My drive to work even harder to provide for them has increased and I'm so thankful that my work continues to make people smile

 

 

Charlie Sydney Morgan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jack Daniels, Mini portraits and Liverpool

Here is the latest commission that I finished a couple of weeks ago and let me tell you it really did test me. I was always unsure about doing this subject matter as it was such an iconic brand and the lettering was so complicated.

But I was encouraged to give it a go, and three weeks later was still painting the label, moving back and forward nudging the letters a little this way and a little that, making them slightly bigger or slightly smaller. 

My Patience was seriously tested but I persevered and I'm really happy with the end result. 

J.D - Comission

30" x 30"

Oil on panel

SOLD

After the tough slog with the JD bottle and the fact that my last few pieces were so large and complicated I needed to take a few days out, so I painted a mini portrait of my step son Spencer. 

Spencer

8" x 8"

Oil on panel. 

N.F.S

Now as you will have known from the previous posts I have been commissioned to paint a commemorative portrait of Steven Gerrard to celebrate his 100 caps for England and 600 appearances for Liverpool. I was originally supposed to be meeting with them in August but with changing schedules for both myself and Steven we had to keep pushing it further and further back until eventually we settled on a date we were both free in November.

The night before the delivery of the painting the usual doubts started to creep into any artist's mind...does it look like him...will he like it..so after I finished up painting that night at around 10:30pm I went online to flick through some images of Steven to just put these doubts to rest, only to find that his eyes were blue and not the brown that I had painted them! my reference picture for the main portrait was so poor that I was unable to see the true colour of his eyes and as they were so dark in colour assumed they were a dark brown. 

Panic kicked in at at 11:00 pm I got the easel out and paints and started to correct the eye colour and re shape his nose slightly.....thankfully It came out well and looked even more like him so the gamble paid off.   

I drove up to Liverpool with my wife, who had already stated that she was not in the slightest bit bothered by SG and that the whole football player thing, didn't really impress her (This statement will be important a little later on) 

We arrived at Melwood training ground were we were greeted by the LFC Security, after explaining who I was and what I was doing there he invited me to park in the car park, what he didn't tell me was the restrictions of parking at the very top end....I couldn't see any spaces in the areas he had said, so I continued to drive to the top end of the car park where the caliber of cars jumped from the ordinary to the extraordinary, cars so flashy and expensive that I reddened in my face at the fact I was driving a "Normal" car and that I was currently backing my huge 7 seater family car into the only available space between a Porsche and an Aston Martin, I unloaded the car to then here the Security shouting "No...No..you cant park here this is for the players"

We ended up parking on the road side and walking into the main reception we were ushered into a room ready to meet SG. 

When he arrived he had just finished training,he was really lovely and was really pleased with his portrait which was a huge relief. We chatted for quite some time about the painting and how to market it to gain the best kind of exposure to gain the best amount we can to donate to the Christie Cancer hospital. 

And what we discovered is that we both knew the owner of the huge high end clothing store Flannels in Manchester where he had seen my latest sports painting "Untitled" hanging in the office of the owner. I don't think he realized that the art work he had admired hanging in Flannels was done by the same artist who had just painted his own portrait. 

Now the biggest surprise for me was not the amazing all round experience of once again being a part of the LFC team for the day, or the amazing cars that I got to admire, or the meeting of SG and seeing other huge players just walking the corridors....No...the biggest surprise for me was the reaction of my wife when Steven walked into the room, (its at this point i'd like to point out her statement a few paragraphs up)

She was really star struck and all of a quiver....to the point where I could see her visibly shaking taking the picture of myself and Steven with the painting.

I Never expected her to react in this way....but I'll let her off....I mean it was Steven Gerrard. 

Myself and Steven Gerrard 

With his signed commemorative painting 

We were then invited to have some dinner where the players dine,we were really looked after by this lovely catering lady called Carol who I had taken  shine to when I had visited last year. 

As you can expect all the dishes were extremely healthy but that's just fine by me and so I sat down to a dish of rice, chicken and broccoli, the wife ate nothing....as she was still churned up from meeting SG. 

I said my goodbyes to SG and then left my painting with the main organizer of this whole event Chris, who is one of the most amazing and genuine guys I've ever had the pleasure to meet, he has personally raised sooo much money for the Christie and I personally cant thank him enough. 

I'll keep you updated when the Auction is up and running.

Gobstoppers and Candy Canes & Steven Gerrard Portrait

A few weeks ago I completed this latest original, and as you can see I decided to use sweets for the composition. After recently purchasing some ice cream sundae glasses I really wanted to include one of them in a painting, I played around with a few compositions until I eventually settled on this one as I thought it had great balance.

"Gobstoppers and Candy Canes"

36" x 20"

Oil on panel. 

SOLD

This piece was destined for Warwick Studios Gallery and once again they did an incredible job by selling it within a couple of days, I have also just completed a commission of Hotshots 2 for Warwick gallery. 

I have also planned to do another of the sport series and after finding a really great model I'm really excited to get started I have booked a photo shoot for reference shots this Thursday so I'm hoping for some great images then I can decide on what size panel with suit the composition best but all that will be guaranteed is that it will be BIG!

I have also just finished the Liverpool FC commemorative painting to celebrate England and Liverpool captain Steven Gerrards 100 caps with England and 600 appearances with Liverpool. 

I'll be meeting with Steven sometime in August If we can work around a date for both our schedules as he will be signing the piece, I've also been told that there are plans to do some limited edition prints that will be sold for the Christie Charity, I'm still unsure If the original will be up for auction but I will keep you all posted. 

Commissioned by Liverpool FC

Commemorative Steven Gerrard Portrait.

Oil on Panel. 

Must do better

Once again I must apologies for the lateness of this Blog. I do try and keep my Facebook followers up to date with all new works and information and post frequently on my page and If you haven't already then please follow the link on the right of the page and give it a "Like".

But with  my blog  I like to have a more in-depth feel to them, so can only really post when I have a spare hour In my day,which at the moment is becoming more and more rare the busier I get. But I know I must do better!!

Firstly I'd like to announce that I will be working with and represented by Cloud galleries, Cloud have three galleries that they manage based in Chester, Brighton and Worthing and I will be showing in all three in the near future. Damian the Gallery director approached me recently wanting to work with and show my work and of course I was more than happy to do so. I have created two brand new originals for my launch with them as well as providing them with three older pieces from 2012

"Crayon Stack"

24" x 24"

Oil on wooden panel

SOLD

"The perfect accompaniment" 

24" x 24"

Oil on wooden panel 

SOLD

Both of these pieces are available through Cloud Galleries - Telephone 01224 324 638

I have also just completed my 3rd of the sports series,  again using the sport of Boxing as the main inspiration. This piece was so much fun to paint and was one of my biggest ever paintings, and once again Sold within days of me finishing it so a BIG thank you to David at Warwick Studios Gallery 

 I have agreed that Warwick Studios will be showing the majority of  these new sports series of paintings as well as my more known still life works, so watch out for more to come and not just in the sport of boxing as I will be creating a number of sport related paintings over the coming months. 

"Champions are made not born"

48" x 32"

oil on wooden panel

SOLD

I am also currently in the process of creating a brand new sweets original for Warwick Studios that should be completed next week, so keep a look out for it. 

Cola Crush

I can only apologise for the lateness of this blog but as the saying goes better late than ever. I've just been very busy using every spare hour I have to paint and sketch to meet a deadline for the replacement commissions and I'm happy to say I'm way ahead of my self.

Now I finished the piece "Cola Crush" a few weeks ago and boy did i have some problems with it,  usually I put a few coats of primer on the side to be painted and one coat on the back and sides, once dry I sign the back of the board, but for some reason with this board I signed the front not the back, I then sketched the cola cans without to much issue but when it came to painting I noticed that something wasn't right the paint wasn't taking to the board and it was sinking into the wood, I realised what I had done and had to go about fixing it, after sanding the paint away re-priming the whole board and re-sketching I was good to go.

I painted in the silver cola can that took alot longer than I had thought but I don't know why I was surprised with all the change in colour and tone in the reflective can and the sheer size of it I knew it was going to be challenging, I then hit problem number two.....the red paint.

My Cadmium red had ran out and I needed some more, not a problem I just ordered some more from my online art suppliers, but when it arrived I started to use it and realised it was VERY opaque some thing that's usually an option with paint,  but when I checked the website there was no option and basically you just got what you got. I called the company to ask why this was and was told that the type of paint id had previously had was no longer available!! I didn't have time to mess about sourcing a new supplier and setting up a new account and so I worked with a mix of the Cadmium medium, Cadmium deep and Alizarin crimson to make the paint work, and thankfully it worked.

"Cola Crush"

30" x 30"

Oil on wooden panel

SOLD

I'm really pleased with how it turned out despite all the problems, and I've now moved on to the next commission, the grolsch bottle & after thinking about what composition I wanted I decided that I really liked the original and so I'll be changing very little to it & the only thing I'm toying with is a change in the background as I've always been a little unsure of the green in the first piece.

I've also completed the first two boxing figurative pieces, & I'm now contemplating what to do with them, a gallery, competitions, a private buyer........I'm still undecided.

Bombay and portraits.

I was commissioned to paint a bottle of Bombay Sapphire a few months ago and I completed it earlier this month but for one thing or another I just haven't found the time to sit down and write a blog about it.

I knew from the start this would be difficult as it contained a bottle that had a difficult label, a glass that had a mixer and a crushed can. And not only did i have to contend with all this i had all the reflections to. I started on the blue of the bottle and I cant tell you how much I enjoyed painting it, then confident i moved onto the label and i felt like I had hit a brick wall as it became a very  slow process, but a slow process that was needed to make sure that i was capturing all details and lettering as well as i could.

 

G & T

30" x 30"

Oil on wooden panel

 

SOLD

 Then came the glass and it felt good to be a bit a little more free with the paint strokes after being so constrained while painting the label, but one thing that a lot of people ask me is "how do you paint glass...Its clear" and my response is always that yes the glass is clear but the surrounding environment change that to something that is quite solid in colour and so all I'm doing while painting glass is observing  the squiggles and blobs i see in the translucent object that then make up colour and eventually create the feeling of a clear glass object

I then moved onto the can and although i have painted crushed cans before i did seem to struggle a little bit, this was probably due to the fact that i had spent a long time painting it and was now on the final part and also once again yellow is never my favourite colour to paint with as i don't feel it covers well. but i finished it and was happy with the final result. I do have a few alcoholic based commissioned paintings in the next few months so keep a look out for those.

Now for those who have followed my work for a while know i LOVE portrait work and some of my favourite artists are portrait painters but with demand for the still life work i don't get much time to actually paint many portraits, but i was itching to get one done and so decided the best thing i could do was to paint on some smaller wooden panels this would then cut the painting time down considerably, I knew i wanted to paint another painting of my son Lewis now his second birthday was just around the corner and so after taking a lovely reference shot i got started and i cant tell you how happy i was with the results i believe i have made some real strides with my portraits in terms of colour, this is without doubt down to amazing artist Mitch Griffiths who invited me to his studio for a chat and master class earlier this year if i could be half as good as this man when I'm his age I'll be a very happy man, see his work here  - www.mitchgriffiths.com

 

"That's my Boy"

8" x 8"

Oil on Panel

 

Painting Sketch

Ive wanted to sketch with oil paints and make the whole painting process alot quicker as this makes your brain see things more instinctively, and yesterday i got the chance, I found a old box canvas that had been unused lying about the studio and so i thought why not....two hours later i had a quick painting sketch done in a looser style than I'm used to and my first ever self portrait.

Step by Step process.

Close up of self portrait sketch

Oil paint

on Box Canvas.