New Direction

Busy..busy...busy but loving it, can be the only sentence that could describe the last couple of months since my last blog......so what's been happening.

I'm hoping by now you may have noticed that I work in series of work, sometimes the series are long sometimes they're short, some are obviously different & some more subtle. So why do I do this.....simply put, I don't want to be forced into a certain type of work that I feel obliged to do over and over and over again until inevitably boredom kicks in and I end up going insane due to the number of overlooked ideas simply because I sold a few of a certain type of painting. So what I do is different types of work in series, when I'm toying with an idea I decide if I can make at least 5 paintings from this idea and if I can then a "Series" of work is created until I want to move onto the next but I never close any series completely, they are always there in case I feel an idea would suit that particular series and I can simply add to it.

So why am I telling you this??

Because I have recently started a new series of work.  It came to me when I was watching a classic James Bond Film and I thought it would be cool to create a still life that was typically traditional whilst using items that only hinted at what the film might be and so I go started and this is what I created.

"Shaken not Stirred"

30" x 20"

Oil on Canvas

SOLD

Varnishing Shaken not Stirred

The painting was completed and sold on the same day which was amazing and I'm always so humbled when people support me and enjoy what I do.

This of course boosted my confidence with this new direction and so I threw myself into the next. I wanted another nostalgic classic film that I could put my own twist on and wanted something that would appeal more to the ladies and so I decided my next would be an Alice in wonderland inspired piece and this is what I created

Mad Hatters Tea Party

30" x 20"

Oil on Canvas

SOLD

Varnishing "Mad Hatters Tea Party"

This again sold super fast at only 30 minutes after I painted it....And so I'm onto the yellow brick road to do the next of this series.

Between these pieces I have to wait for props etc to be delivered and so I have created some fun oil sketches that are available through Room with a view fine art gallery or Jamie Leigh fine arts

Lego Marvel Super hero oil sketches

Thunderbirds Oil sketches
Collection SOLD

I also had the privilege to be invited and teach at my son Lewis' school. It was a brilliant fun day that wasn't all about the technical aspects (mainly due to the majority of the children being very young) but instead about having a go and being creative and I even got to do my own assembly, the fact Lewis walked around the entire day with a smile that beamed at how proud he was that his Daddy was at school made me incredibly proud to have done it also. and best of all I got to have a school dinner with him....plastic trays and all.

And Finally I would like to give a big thank you to Jane and Gary at Room with a view fine art gallery, after becoming one of my main stockists through my dealer Clive Ashmore they have gone above and beyond to represent myself and my work and sold several of my pieces in the last month alone included originals and study sketches. Be sure to pop in and visit if you're in the area.

Away but for good reason.

It's been too long since I posted a proper blog and for good reason, I'm not the type of person to vent my opinions, concerns and annoyances on social media and having just gone through a combination of disappointment, let down and upset I felt I needed a little time away from the blog so I didn't let my emotions get the better of me and end up writing a blog that quite frankly would have been totally unprofessional, all I'll say on the matter is that I felt very let down and wished people would be more open and honest as this is how I live my own life.

But the new page has been turned and here I am writing once again for all you lovely supporters. Regardless of what happens I continue to keep busy and create everyday and the last few months have not been any different, I have recently been working with fine art dealer Clive Ashmore and also teamed up with AC fine art galleries to create a number of limited edition fine art prints that I am super excited about.

The decision was made to put in two of my toy soldier paintings into print and these were "Black Gold" and "Make Peace Not War 2"

"Black Gold"

Signed limited edition of only 75 

28" x 19" Printed on Canvas

Framed

 £395

"Make Peace not War 2"

Signed limited edition of only 75

36" x 18" Printed on canvas

Framed

£475

Signing Prints - Canvas on board

for more information on prints email me on chris_morgan13@hotmail.com

And of course I've been working away on a whole bunch of other originals and commissioned pieces

The first is a piece that was something a little different for me but I wanted to convey my feeling of how I feel women should be treated, I feel that all to often men think that treating there women mean will keep them keen but I'm so far away from this opinion that I wanted to create a piece surrounding this very subject....I personally believe that a woman should be treated with respect and love and showered with compliments every day, building her up not putting her down and so I created this piece and as I am using a lot of toys in these new series of painting I decided to use little girls favourite the Barbie/Cindy doll.

"Shower Her with Compliments"

24" x 32"

Oil on box canvas

SOLD

I've also been Commissioned quite a bit recently and created three commissions for clients all different but all equally as enjoyable to paint.

 The first is of a Bertie Bassett box, a classic favourite sweet of many.

"Bassetts All Sorts"

22" x 16"

Oil on Canvas

SOLD

The Second was the entirely the clients idea as he had seen my star wars Lego commission and liked that idea but came to the table with his own twist, he wanted the characters stood on top of a floating galaxy bar and have the piece titled "On a Galaxy far far away"

"On a Galaxy Far Far away"

20" x 16"

Oil on Canvas

SOLD

and the third was a ladies favourite chocolate bar....the small but mighty Freddo and I was quite happy to paint this as it brought back a lot of my own child hood memories of going into the local paper shop and paying just 10p for this little chocolate frog

"Freddo"

30" x 18"

Oil on Panel

SOLD

And of course aside from commissions I've also created a few new original pieces, after being inspired by the Star Wars Galaxy commission I wanted to come up with something myself and decided to add a few more space related sweets in there and this is what I came up with

"Choc Wars"

18" x 30"

Oil on wooden Panel

SOLD

And of course I added to my toy soldier series with two new pieces one of which went straight into print with AC Fine art

" Make Peace Not War"

Oil on Panel

Original Available from Jamie Leigh Fine arts - sales@jamieleighfineart.co.uk

Accompanying this original I created a little promotional video and a new series that I will frequently post called "Studio Life" you can find it the video on my face book page -

just search Chris Morgan Art

"Rebel"

30" x 20"

Oil on Canvas

Original Available from Jamie Leigh Fine arts - sales@jamieleighfineart.co.uk

NEW WORKS

Please see below a selection of new paintings

Sweet Rock - Original Study - Oil on canvas Paper

SOLD

 

Trick Shot - Original Study - Oil on Canvas Paper

 

SOLD

 

 

War Study - Original Study  - Oil on Canvas Paper

 

SOLD

 

Sweet Bowl -  Original Study  - Oil on Canvas Paper

 

SOLD

 

Love - Original Study - Oil on Canvas Paper

 

SOLD

 

 

Sweet Bowl - Original Painting

24" x 24"

Oil on Panel

 

SOLD

 

 

 

Sweet Rock - Original Painting

40"x 30"

Oil on Canvas

 

SOLD

 

 

Make Love not War - Original Painting

30" x 20"

Oil on Panel

 

SOLD

 

 

Trick Shot - Original Painting

24" x 24"

Oil on panel

 

SOLD

 



 

Black Gold  - Original Painting

24" x 36"

Oil on Canvas

 

SOLD

 

 

Remember  - Original Painting

24" x 24" 

Oil on Panel

 

SOLD

 

WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO

With each new Blog post I always tell myself that I should do them more frequently than I do, but I have kind of given myself a break about it recently.  Of course I could create a blog post each time a new piece is created or when anything remotely interesting happens to me, but I kind of like waiting a couple of months between Blogs so that they have more meat to them, yeah sure they take me longer to write but I think I'd much rather be sat down in the right frame of mind with the right kind of  focus and create better content for you guys to read than bang out a blog every week or so.

Anyway, I'm rambling....

Since the last Blog I have created four new pieces and I'm currently working on another.
The first piece since the portrait I created of my father, is another toy inspired piece and one of my largest pieces to date, My father quite a few years ago gave me an old wind up toy aeroplane, I think with the intention to paint, but at the time I didn't really think of anything I could use It for so put it away for safe keeping. It was only when I was sorting through a few things that I stumbled across this wonderful little toy, obviously now I was creating a few pieces with toys and so this sparked a few ideas.

I knew I didn't want to paint the plane just on it's own and had a few Ideas, but one that kept coming around again and again was a composition that included a pilot, I started to search the web to find the right kind of toy but had no real idea what I would find, until I stumbled across the most perfect toy pilot I could have ever wished for, the colours were a perfect match for the plane, the little details on his uniform etc were exactly what I was looking for, and so a purchase was made.

A Couple of days later he arrived and I set about creating some compositions until I settled on one, this composition was simple yet striking and as I knew what the title would be It would be a nod to the British dry sense of humour.....the title...."Is this a wind up"

I felt this worked as I created the pilot with a very unimpressed expression as if to say "You don't expect me to fly this...do you" whilst at the same time having the more obvious fact that it was indeed a wind up plane.

 

"Is this a Wind Up"

48" x 36"

Oil on Panel

 

SOLD

 

 

The next piece that came out of the Studio was again based on an old Vintage wind up tin toy I had purchased for my self, It was a small boxing ring with two fighters in the centre and when you wind the toy up the fighters moved backwards and forwards allowing there one riveted arm to move freely and look like they were indeed throwing punches. Again I didn't want to just paint it exactly how it was and so I thought it would be a nice to give the piece a little change so I could show a mark of respect for one of my favourite films growing up, What film??.......Rocky

 

The way I was going to do this was to change the shorts of the two tin fighters to the short designs that both  Rocky and Apollo wore in the first film, only a true fan would notice this small change but for those of you that are not familiar here is a screen shot from the film Rocky

 

 

Film Still of the film Rocky.

 

Now I started painting this piece and to be honest I really struggled for some reason, I found the characters looked too cartoony and kept working on them to make them look more realistic, but then they wouldn't look like the tin material they were made of and this went on back and fourth until finally I decided to stop messing around and paint exactly what I saw  

 

 

The actual Tin toy I was attempting to paint with my painting in the background

 

I worked at it more and more and I feel it actually came out really well and looked like the material I was trying to render with paint

 

 

"Slugger Champions"

30" x 30"

Oil on Panel

 

AVAILABLE

 

The next piece came as a commission, the client was a chief fire officer and had liked some of my toy pieces and asked if I would paint him a little Lego fire fighter character putting out a tea light, his only request was that I painted the character with a white chief's hat.

 

I set about creating this piece for him and loved every minute of it, the particular challenge for me whilst creating this piece was painting the smoke drifting away from the candle wick, but I was really pleased with how I rendered this and felt it came out better than I was anticipating

 

 

"FIRE" - Commission

30" x 18"

Oil on panel

 

SOLD

 

 

Hanging in the clients home

 

 

At this point I was craving something with reflections and glass, for those that have followed my work this is as you all know something I love to paint.

 

And so this piece was created

 

"The Gambling Game"

21" x 21"

Oil on panel

 

SOLD

 

 

I also had a print made of one of my paintings from my show last year and had it framed to hang in my kitchen and finally got around to hanging it on the wall....and I love it!!

 

 

Marmite print hanging in my kitchen.

 

So, that's you all up to date with my goings on, I'm currently working on a few commissions but as always I'll be blogging about them soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IN OTHER NEWS

So I wanted to just finish the year with this last blog, As you know from my last blog the major thing that happened last year regarding my art was the solo sell out show that I had in November with Warwick studios Art lounge but I have had some other things happen too

Firstly I have teamed up with the Darren Baker Gallery in London and am now being represented by them and was involved in there Christmas group show, I didn't have much work to offer them with me working towards the show but they had my large Untitled boxing painting to show in there gallery and believe they had an amazing turn out on there opening night

For more information please contact them on 020 7580 5332

Or visit them at 81 Charlotte Street London

Secondly I have been fortunate enough to have been commissioned a few times this year, I was firstly commissioned by a client in January to complete two paintings for her Son and Daughter these were to be given as gifts and I am grateful that they had the patients to wait for me as I tried to squeeze them in between doing the show pieces, I managed to get them finished,framed and delivered ready for Christmas and I'm delighted to tell you when they were over the moon with there gifts. 

"Blue Label and Belvedere"

24" x 24"

Oil on panel

SOLD

"How do you eat Yours"

24" x 24"

Oil on panel

SOLD

I was also commissioned by a client from London and he wanted me to paint him something so different to what i usually do that it knocked me back for a second, but after having some thought on it I felt it would be an interesting challenge and that it would be nice to try my hand at something different. 

To just give you an insight to the client he is a young very successful business man based in London a bachelor with a house that James bond would be happy with and the Lamborghini to boot. He wanted something "Sexy" and we settled on an image he was happy with. 

Also Cloud Gallery came to me with a Commission for one of there clients and again managed to get it sent over to them before Christmas. 

"Ice Cold Cola"

30" x 18"

Oil on panel

SOLD

And I'd like to end this blog by saying, 2015 is just around the corner and its been an incredible year with the Solo show success and commissions and to top that off my wife and I expecting a baby late January it's certainly had some amazing highlight's

But the year has not been full of joy tho because in April my Granddad passed away, the news was heart breaking but what death always teaches me is that life is precious and you must live it to the full and be appreciative for what you have whilst always trying to strive to better yourself, and so I wanted to take the time to thank you all for taking the time to read my Blog,  and following me on all my social media pages your ever growing support, your encouragement and kind words inspire me daily to strive to be better and better and I hope my work inspires you. 

I hope you all have a fantastic New Year and an even more incredible 2015

Much love to you all 

Chris 

x  

SHOW TIME

Well It's been nearly a month since my collaboration and first UK showing with Warwick Studios Gallery and the first opportunity to sit down and write this well over due blog. Now if you have been reading the few posts I have been making throughout the year you will have seen some of the things I've been getting up to and a few of the early releases of some of the originals for the show but this is whats been happening.

In January David at Warwick Studios asked me if I would be interested in having a show with him at the gallery, I accepted and got to work on 12 large original oil paintings and 12 original study sketches , I knew that with each piece taking anything from 3-4 weeks to complete I would have to cram potentially 12 months comfortable work into 10 months hard slog  to hit the agreed November deadline, I knew in order to get this done I would need to be super organised and extremely dedicated and so  I worked tirelessly making sure that each piece was done with as much love and passion as the next trying never to get complaisant or let standards slip and 10 months later during the late part of October I had completed all 24 originals.

Now I usually like to go into details in my blogs about individual pieces and explain what triumphs and tests I have had during the process. But in all honesty the pieces for the show, because of the nature of doing them back to back to back without being able to post about them or share them on social media became somewhat of a complete blur, but what I can remember about a few of the pieces is this..."Fingers in the Sweetie Jar" took me the longest and towards the end of the process had lost my patience with it but was happy with the end result...."Love is on the cards" was one of my personal favourites especially as it was the first piece of mine that had double meaning...."My last Rolo" was a challenge as I had never tackled tin foil before but I think I handled it well and I always had a soft spot for this piece as it was the main feature in my promotional video for the show..."Colmans" required 3-4 layers of yellow paint to get it looking right....."Cola Crush 2" really tested me so much so that I almost didn't put in the reflections but was so pleased I talked myself into doing them as I felt it really made the piece...."Chutney and Cheese"...first time painting bread and I had to use a block of real cheese to match the right colour....."Fish Supper and Sarsons"....really liked painting this piece and enjoyed eating the composition :-)......"Chips, Cone and Ketchup"...by far my favorite piece to paint, big, bold, great lighting, and I loved the composition..."Guilty Pleasures" inspired by a UK seaside holiday I had with the family in August, I thought this piece would be easy to paint until I started to do the wafer cones and realised just how fiddly painting the little squares was.

But that i'm afraid is about all I can remember. Just know there were lots of testing times but a lot of successes, a huge amount of work and a huge weight lifted when I hit the deadline.

I had all pieces picked up by a great fine arts delivery man called Andrew Shrives who always looks after my work and had them sent for framing. Once framed, David had them returned to the gallery ready for the hanging, but picture this for me if you will. Its Friday night the next day is the show. Im feeling a little rough with a cold and David is trying to hang 24 pieces in the gallery. I get a message from David at 7pm telling me that the pieces had bent his rail as they were to heavy (I paint on wooden panel and once framed especially if there large can be quite heavy) his fridge in the gallery had broken and water had run everywhere, one of the posters had been accidentally thrown out with the trash and he had hurt his back!! As you can imagine I was pretty panicked 10 months hard work was now in the balance and was looking like it might not even happen, but David pulled it off and we were back in action.

It was now Saturday morning and as you can imagine I was feeling the nerves of excitement and also the feelings of worry and doubt. Now anyone that has ever produced anything personal that has been created and put out for the public to judge, whether it be a Poem, a book, a song or in my case art work  they will all know that thought that pops into your head....will people like what I'm doing?

My appearance at the gallery was between 1 and 4 and so I decided to get there a little earlier to have some lunch before hand...12:30 arrived and I'm just enjoying my lunch when David calls me and asked if I'm nearly at the gallery, I explained that I was just having my lunch and was only minutes away, he then told me that people had come early to see the show and that it might be a good idea to get to the gallery as soon as I could and so I stuffed my face as quickly as I could and got myself to the gallery. I arrived and was blown away by the way that David had hung the work, on a lovely slick black wall all framed and looking beautiful together and people already admiring the works. I got chatting to a lovely bloke who had taken a liking to Cola Crush 2 and after a brief conversation with me decided that he must have that piece and brought it there and then, I felt chuffed and remember thinking to myself "Brilliant at least one had sold"....then it went manic. as collectors from all over the country from London to Manchester  and everywhere in between came to view my work, I literally would be speaking to one person discussing the work then I would  turn to find someone else who wanted to talk It was amazing to say the least. One and a half hours went by and I looked up from talking to see a sea of red stickers....in 1.5 hours I had sold 23 of my works and I was blown away!!!

I met some lovely collectors from the old to the new that day and I just wanted to say a Huge thank you to all who came on the day to support me in my work,, you all know it really does mean a lot to me and without your support it would make it very difficult for me to carry on. I want to say a big thank you to David Sands for doing an incredible job, my family for there every growing support and lastly to my wife and kids who have always stood by me throughout all the late nights early hours and long weekends without me being there, I'm just so pleased its been worth all the hard work.

My family, and the reason I work as hard as I do

Fish Supper and Sarsons

30" x 30" 

Oil on wooden panel

SOLD

"Chips, Cone and Ketchup"

45" x 30"

Oil on wooden panel

SOLD

Chutney and Cheese

30" x 30"

Oil on panel

SOLD

Cold and Crisp 2

30" x 30"

Oil on wooden panel

SOLD

Colmas

30" x 30" 

Oil on wooden panel

SOLD

Fingers in the sweetie jar

48" x 32"

Oil on wooden panel

SOLD

Guilty Pleasures 

30" x 30"

Oil on wooden panel

SOLD

Love is on the cards

48" x 24"

Oil on wooden panel

SOLD

Mighty Marmite

30" x 30"

Oil on wooden panel

SOLD

My Last Rolo

30" x 25"

Oil on wooden panel 

SOLD

Cola Crush 2

30" x 30" 

Oil on wooden Panel

SOLD

Billiard Balls

30" x 18"

Oil on wooden panel

Available - at Warwick Studios 

Contact David Sands on 07807 540 498