One of my collection of decorative (and cheap) porcelain urns, jars, soup tureens, jugs and tea-pots was looking for an idea to add to its appeal, and I happened to buy a packet of macaroon biscuits that were coloured white, yellow, pink, green, and brown. So I thought that they would provide the colour notes to a fairly monochrome jar. This is the outline and first infilling of underpainting in hard pastels. The background colour varies only because of the changing light when photographed. It is really unfortunate that the medium gray Pastelmat shows such variation - that's Irish light (an ..read more

These are the progress shots of the ceramic Tang horse I painted last spring. The sketch outlines the positioning of the figure, the vase and the spray of clematis. Happy with the layout, I start to lay in the underpainting with hard pastels. The basic elements are starting to take shape - and, just as important, to realise their values. These values are thrown into relief by the laying in of the background, which  allows me better to judge the contrasts. More work on the cloisonné vase, and the texture of the horse. At this point I have moved on to soft pastels. In the clematis ..read more

Wishful Thinking © Niall O'Neill We have an abundance of bluebells in our garden; they grow with enthusiasm and spread themselves about, both the blue and the white varieties. I wanted to paint some in a little brass jug, to get the colour harmony between the complementaries. After trying out some other sundry objects in my collection of bric-a-brac, I decided to put the brass jug on a little Buddhist stand, and used a cloisonné snail as a whimsical note. This is the initial sketch, which as you can see is very cursory, and a fill-in with basic colour and values. The colour change on ..read more

I have a collection of copper and brass pots and an intricate brass tray, that I wanted to paint as an ensemble. This is the set-up: Using an editing program, I reduced the photo to 16 colours - I call this process the "digital squint" - equivalent to squinting your eyes to simplify an image and better determine the values. Using the swatch, I chose the initial colours for the underpainting, and scribbled them in with pastel pencils and hard pastels. Working from top left, I started painting the corner of the tray, and the copper tea-urn. Rembrandt umbers were very useful. More pots ..read more

I haven't posted here in a while. not because I haven't been painting, but because I have been exploring other mediums. However, after buying Dan Massad's Palmer Museum retrospective catalogue/monograph I thought I might like to try a stark image against a  black background - something I hadn't done before. This striking image of a fungus was taken by by Mick Grant, who kindly gave me permission to use it.. This is the initial sketch and scribbled infill using pastel pencils on a grid drawn only where the image will sit. Much of the caps is completed using a variety of soft pastels, Rem ..read more

For the circumstances regarding this flower with raindrops, see previous post. I'm going a little deeper into my method here. The first image is a photograph of the flowers reduced to 16 colours in Paint Shop Pro, with a 10 x 8 grid imposed (my support will be a 10 x 8 in. piece of Pastelmat). Now you can use the colour palette in Paint Shop to make a swatch, so that the underpainting is reduced in complexity of colour although the tonal range is not altered. I used this as basic palette to to the first sketch. Followed by a bit of quick blending. I usually select a subset of soft past ..read more

After two weeks of unremitting heat in early July, the temperature dropped from 39-40 degrees Celsius and it rained - just for a day - on July 26th. So I took some pictures of this Hibiscus Blue Bird (and a Campsis or Trumpet flower) and decided to paint it. The first picture shows the support, some scribbled petals, and a colour chart of the few pastels used to get me to this point - CarbOthello in the main. The pencils are fine for initial drawing, but not for painting, with the exception of the stigmas and pistil in the flower's centre. After checking all my blues, I decided on Sennelie ..read more

What are the essential elements that make up a painting? In no particular order, composition, drawing, perspective, values, edges, colour – all of these contribute to the outcome. Edges are arguably the least appreciated of these, but contribute greatly to the three-dimensionality of a painting that aims at being representational. I was re-reading Charles Sovek’s “Catching Light in your Paintings” recently, in which he lists the four kinds of edges – Hard, Firm, Soft, and Lost.  Hard, and Lost, are probably the easiest on figure out. Hard edges are clear, well-lit, in focus, and catch th ..read more

Two diverse objects found in a French brocante. I can't resist brass, and the tea urn was a lovely large surface to paint. I associated the two, and put in a  lemon for a bright link and reflection. First off, I scribbled in some undercolours with pencils and hard pastels. Based on the undercoat, I chose a selection of pastels that would be the main workhorses for the next phase. As you might be able to make out, it's a varied range of ochres, yellows, and umbers, and draws from Artisan Pastellier, Blue Mountain (the square ones), Sennelier, Rembrandt and a few Caran d'Ache. You can mak ..read more

I found an interesting porcelain and silver ewer at a brocante in France and teamed it up with a coffee-mill that had similar white porcelain with blue flowers. The lace worked as a traycloth. I started off with a pencil scribble. Then I filled in the interior of the coffee-mill with Sennelier neutral greys, and the exterior with Rembrandt light greys. The wooden box, and the handle,  were mainly painted with CarbOthello pencils. For the ewer, the silver top and the base were a mix of Rembrandts, and CarbOthello pencils 704, 708 and 728 - I found number 704 especially useful.  ..read more