Cola Can commission.

Here is the latest commission piece titled "Cola - Cans" this piece certainly tested me at certain times, Ive always thought the hardest part of art is getting past the mental barriers stopping you from working happily and this happened to me on this piece I started the red cola tin to find i felt it looked flat and unlike my reference photograph, i even got to a point were i was sat in my studio head in my hands contemplating throwing it out and starting again, but i am very lucky to have a wife who supports me and my work 100% and she made me realise how silly i was being and that i needed to get a grip. and thank god she did as i finished it feeling pleased with the end result.

"Cola Cans"

30" x 30"

Oil on wooden panel

SOLD

I'll soon be onto the next commission, but i have had to spend this week priming boards, sketching, taking references and creating a excel spreadsheet for all my accounts to make it easier to keep on top of it. but painting should resume VERY soon.

Commissions, Tallantyres, Portraits and Prizes

So I have alot to talk about on this blog so bare with me, firstly the second commission has been started and I'm pleased to say the progress is coming along nicely.

Here are a few Studio shots from today's painting session, i have also been busy recently painting a portrait of my father, for those who followed my earlier pencil work will know that i loved drawing portraits

since I starting painting i have only done two so i thought it was about time i did another, I have always admired the artist who get Into the BP portrait award in London and after visiting the exhibition last year it inspired me to want to paint

I came away with two things from that exhibition, firstly I must paint someone i know as this helps you achieve a better portrait as you have unknowingly been studying there faces for years,

and secondly size wasn't everything as some of the most amazing painting at the exhibitions were smaller in size that i had thought,  i decided that i wanted to paint my father i had taken some shots of him a few months ago and had done a charcoal study ready for the painting, i then primed a 18" x 18" wooden panel and started sketching his portrait, but i wanted to change my approach slightly i have been drawing and painting in a realistic manner for quite some time and wanted the background of this image to be quite abstract and so i applied extra layers of gesso to add textures and then started to add tones of g blacks and whites but i could help but refine it and blend it, until my wife came into the studio and said "its not what you wanted, just go for it" so i picked up my palette knife and started work and about 30minutes later and lots of smears and flicks of paint later i had a background i was happy with.

I started studying portrait artists i admired and tried to get in my head what i needed to do to achieve a painting i would be happy with, and so the painting started i  mixed lots of skin tones and made sure my observation was on full i had to paint at weekends as i still had to paint my still life images for the gallery and  commissions.

and here Is the finished result below is an image of  the painting and another image of myself & my Dad.

"Portrait of my Father"

18" x 18"

Oil on wooden panel.

The Model, The Painting, and the Artist

I also sent "Tommy K" up to Tallantyres gallery who are representing my work in the north east below Is the piece framed by the gallery and a quote from the owners 

Tommy K framed at Tallantyres

"Introducing Chris Morgan, his first painting for the gallery Tommy K. Chris doesn't know it but I've been following his work for quite a while. He approached us a few months back and we are to be his North East Gallery. A hyper-realist to fit in with our other exceptional realists. Nice work Chris"

For more information on this piece please contact the gallery on 0167 051 7214

or email art@tallantyre.co.uk

I also ran a competition on my facebook page last month were my loyal fans had a chance to win my first ever original - "The Mrs Cherry Cheesecake"

 THE COMPETITION PRIZE

 there were two parts to the competition the first was to share the competition with there friends and those who shared the page went thought to the second part of the competition we had over 90 people share and enter the page and gained nearly 100 more fans for the page

The second part of the competition was down to a pure guess meaning It was open to anyone and i felt was fair,so as i have painted retro sweets in the past I thought why not fill are jar and get people to guess the amount

The Jar with approximately 334 sweets

We had many guesses but nobody guessed correctly and so we had to go to the closest guess of 333 and the winner Amy Lea Garvey from Ireland

I sent her the painting soon after the competition and here she Is with the winning prize and her boys

Congratulations to Amy and her Family

 

Commission Number One

I have been painting away the last couple of weeks on the first of the five commissions confirmed at the beginning of the year, I decided the first painting I wanted to do was the Guinness piece as It had been a few months since I had painted  the last.

Guinness and Smoky (Commission)

30" x 30"

Oil on wooden panel

SOLD

It started well with the Guinness being painted in ever so carefully making sure I captured every reflection I could see, I then moved onto the crisp packet, now I remember from my last Guinness piece "Cold and Crisp" that I found the crisp packet a little challenging mixing the correct blue but for this one It just seemed to flow but as I have posted before I really like painting with all different tones of red.

 I was then filling in the lettering of the Walkers when DISASTER struck as the metal  end of my brush came off the wooden handle falling down my work leaving a trail of white splodges, I could have almost cried when this happened but I remained calm and focused and went about using my experience and knowledge to fix the problem and thankfully all was good again.

I have also been to Warwick studios today to deliver the commission and the latest original "Playing for Keeps" the gallery were happy with the painting and had It framed and up on the wall within a few hours.

Playing for Keeps - Framed at Warwick Studios

For more info please call  - 0 192 642 3529