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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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