First BBC radio and now the company magazine!
It's still hard to believe that I've only been painting for little more than a year and successfully selling paintings for half that time. I've now sold around 30 pieces of my artwork and am still amazed that people actually like my work enough to buy them.
It's been quite a year so far with highlights including being featured for almost an hour on BBC Radio Berkshire, having my art displayed at the Award winning gluten free cafe, Nibsy's, in Reading (twice!) and now…making it into my company's in-house magazine!
It really has been incredible and, as the article states, I am truly humbled by the success I’m enjoying. I keep trying to add more interest to my work so have now begun to record YouTube videos of some of my work. I'm also enjoying being challenged by friends to paint different subjects that take me away from my comfort zone (landscapes). I'm still growing as an artist but I love the fact that I feel that I can legitimately self-identity as one!
Of course, none of this would have happened if people, possibly you, didn't enjoy and purchase my works. Thank you!
Featured in my company’s in-house magazine
A Winter's tale - another commission finished
Today has reminded me why I love painting and why this hobby of mine has stayed with me when so many others have gone. No, it's not because it earns me money! The smile on the clients face when he saw his painting for himself for the first time. He was rather pleased to say the least.
One happy client with his commissioned artwork by Roy P Awbery
A Winter's Tale by Roy P Awbery - close up
This painting was very challenging but I got a great deal of satisfaction from finally getting this one right. The original plan was just to have a night snow scene but, as the painting developed, the client asked for the addition of wolves and an elk.
I managed to capture a sense of movement with the animals which was not easy. I'd not tried to do it before but it seems to have worked.
I'm seriously pleased how well this one turned out and now understand why my followers were not too happy with the very simple Jumble Animals. Lesson learned!
How to paint a cityscape - A Labour of Love
Blog by colour blind artist Roy P Awbery on painting an epic night time cityscape inspired by New York, London and Toronto. The original acrylic on canvas painting took two months to finish. Find out more about the journey here.
The first time I painted a cityscape was a simple 7 x 8 inch canvas using acrylic paint. From a distance it looked okay but it wasn’t great, in my perfectionist opinion. Mind you, I had only been painting for about two months when I painted it. However, I always love a challenge and, having been inspired by my recent trip to New York, decided to have another go. Of course, being me I couldn’t keep it simple and decided to “go large”! And complicated! I never paint from photographs so this was going to be quite a task and I really didn’t know what the end result was going to look like. In essence, I would be as surprised as everyone else when it was finally completed.
My first attempt at painting a cityscape - 2 months after picking up a brush
My first step was to prepare the canvas and I knew that I wanted to create another night time scene but with a greater focus on the illuminated buildings. Because of the scale of this painting I knew that there would have to be some fine detail in the buildings and that an abstract approach wasn’t really what I was looking for. So, the first step was to get the background in and an outline of the buildings.
Background and building outlines complete the first stages
once all of the major elements and buildings were added it was time to start adding the fine detail and this painting was going to be all about the lighting during the night to give that iconic cityscape look. This part took an awful lot of patience and time!
The impression of the city lights beginning to take shape, layer by layer
Once the city lights were added, which was a real labour of love as each light needed to be added carefully and in several layers to get the effect I was after, it was time to move on to the foreground. I knew that I wanted to have a waterfront with the buildings gently reflected off the surface. It turned out to be a lot harder than I imagined and it took many attempts before I could crack it. I lost count how many times the Gesso undercoat was applied to effectively erase my unsuccessful efforts.
City lights almost completed and then onto the foreground reflections - a major challenge!
In the end, and after a great many attempts, I finally managed to get the reflections just about how I wanted them. If I’m really honest, I think they could have been better but I was up against a deadline to ensure this piece was finished in time for Christmas but overall I’m pleased with the outcome. This one is being given away as a gift but I think I will have another go as, despite the frustration and challenges, this was a lot of fun to create. So, here it is, the final finished painting. If you’re interesting in getting one for yourself I will be selling prints via my store at Etsy.
The finished painting complete with reflections.