'Sophie'

'Sophie' Artists soft pastel on Pastelmat paper

Sophie Rolf and Kissy Puppy

Many of you already know all about Sophie and Kissy Puppy but for those of you who don't; Sophie was a beautiful and very brave little girl who very recently passed away, she had an agressive brain tumor. Sophie and her parents started a charity here on the Isle of Wight called 'Kissy Puppy' originally set up to raise funds to enable Sophie to have some magical experiences. Kissy Puppy continues and is raising money for a childrens care department at The Earl Mountbatten Hospice in Newport, hitherto children and parents had to travel to Winchester for palliative care for children and with facilities for parents to stay. Kissy Puppy is doing wonderful work here on the Island for the future care of terminally ill children of which there are fifty on the Isle of Wight alone. This painting is my tribute to Sophie, an incredibly brave little girl. I was inspired to create this painting for Sophie's parents as my little tribute. If you would like to make a donation please check out the web site www.kissypuppy.co.uk on which there is much information and the contact details for your donations. Thank You!

Pen and Ink/Line and Wash

Drawing Styles

'An Old House Of Much Wenlock' (after Miss Wayne)

Technical pen on 140lb Saunders Waterford hot pressed watercolour paper.

'Porlock Weir Beachside Cottages'

Technical pen and watercolour wash on Saunders Waterford 140lb hot pressed paper

 

'Mary Ardens House'

                       Caran Dache water soluble graphite pencil and technical pen on                                   Saunders Waterford 140lb hot pressed paper

If you are interested in drawing and would like a little tuition why not sign up for my one day Drawing and Sketching workshop at Quarr Abbey on January 11th 2014, only £30 for the day. I am also running some more one and two day painting workshops at Quarr in January and February in various mediums, for further details check my tuition listings on the SAA website ~ www.saa.co.uk

4th Place In International Painting Competition

'A Stormy Sky At Le Manoir de Gurson'

This little oil painting was the product of a painting holiday that I lead in May earlier this year at the wonderful Le Manoir de Gurson near Bergerac in France I am absolutely thrilled to have been awarded 4th place out of 343 in the Light, Space and Time Online Gallery's International painting competition with entries from no less than 14 countries. I can't wait to return to Le Manoir in 2014 to demonstrate to some more guests and create some more sketches and studies for some more paintings. Come and join us for some great painting in this beautiful spot and relax, a truly wonderful painting holiday destination!

'A Splash Of Paint' 

Murray Ince, As Seen On TV!

I went up to SAA headquarters in Newark on November 13th and filmed some demonstrations, tips, techniques and product recommendations for the TV series 'A Splash Of Paint' the first of which will feature in the 37th episode and will, I believe, be aired on January 12th, I will also feature in various episodes after that. Artisan water-mixable oils and Unison soft  pastels are the main mediums that I demonstrate and talk about, along with some other wonderful products that I use regularly. The thought of doing this was a daunting prospect and my initial apprehension will probably be clear for all to see, however it got easier (well less daunting at least) as the filming progressed. I'm sure you will excuse and forgive any strange pauses and comments but the gist of what I say and demonstrate is from the heart and will hopefully inspire you all to have a go and maybe come and see me in live action at one of my many workshops or painting holidays!

I went up to Newark last December and filmed a very short demonstration of painting middle distant trees in Artisan oils which has already featured in episode 17, I also demonstrated live at the 'It's All About Art' show in the Business Design Centre in London back in July and am a contributing artist in the forthcoming SAA book '101 Tips And Techniques' which has all been hard work but a great deal of fun, and of course the best bit is getting to meet the most important people, 'You'!

Painting Holiday At Le Manoir de Gurson

Le Manoir de Gurson is in the heart of the Bergerac region of France. Le Manoir estate has three lovely fishing lakes and is a haven for flora and fauna. We saw a great many birds including Hoopoes, Wheatears and Herons, and were also privileged to see Pyramidal and Bee orchids with others not quite as advanced (there are 12 different orchids on the estate). There were also turtles, small lizards and even Coypu to be seen. There are many superb views for the artists inspiration on the estate and many more within easy walking distance, the reward for this little extra effort being some wine tasting in great company among some idyllic settings at Cecile and Gregoirs organic vineyard and also at Le Chateau de Gurson in the shadow of the old chateau ruins. Le Manoir is surrounded by vineyards and the most wonderful scenes for the artist to paint. 

Charmaine, Ray are fantastic hosts and couldn't make us more welcome, the food is excellent, the accommodation superb and we can play petanque, drink some wine and have a thoroughly good time. We will manage to do a spot of wine tasting locally (I may have already mentioned this) we will even manage to get some painting done! Why not join us for a very relaxed, informative and inspirational painting holiday in this glorious region of France? Contact me for more information. 

Dates For 2014 ~ May 24th to 31st and May 31st to June 7th

Pastel Paintings

Borthwood Bluebells 

This pastel painting was the result of a two session  workshop (about four hours in total) I did recently with one of my favourite Island painting groups 'The  Brading (Tuesday) Art Group' who are a talented group who all produced some lovely work! I think pastel works extremely well for this semi impressionistic style of painting and below is a another painting in the same style.

The Wild Meadow, Hidcote Manor

Porlock Weir The Finished Painting

This is the finished painting of Porlock Weir. I have painted in the beach flora (no I don't know what it is) which as with the distant trees, I start by painting in the shadow colour and gradually paint lighter foliage, usually two shades and finally the highlight colour placing the colour on with a No. 2 round bristle brush in the direction of growth. I strengthened some of the shadows around the boats, painted in the missing fenders, put some lighter tones on the grass area on the right and slightly lightened the main roof of the house and darkened the two smaller roofs. I put a little more definition on the right hand beach and signed it in the bottom right hand corner, a little smaller than usual but it is there! This painting is 800 x 600 and is a little larger than my usual work. Don't think that painting on a larger scale is any more difficult because in fact, I find that this makes it easier rather than more difficult! Why not have a go?!

Porlock Weir Update

I have been working on my painting of Porlock Weir for most of today and it is now about 90% complete.
I have painted in most of the foreground beach, added a little more detail to the far beach whilst I had the colours on the go and added some ropes, stones, seaweed and shadows to the foreground beach. I still have a bit of sharpening up to do and will put some judicious glazes here and there to alter the tonal values in some areas where I am not entirely satisfied. There is one more picture to come in a day or two which will be of the completed painting, I can hear you all holding your breath....

Porlock Weir Progress

My Porlock Weir studio painting is progressing as you will see in the picture below. 

I have put more definition in the shadows in the trees and having completed the boats I then moved on to painting the masts of the distant yachts some detail of the middle distant boats followed by the water and reflections, added the nearest boat and moved on to the reflections and seaweed in the foreground. I will now go on to intensify the shadows under the water of the sea weed and paint the foreground beach and detritus and beach-side plants.

SAA 'It's All About Art' Show, London July 25th 2013

I was invited by the SAA to go up to the Business Design Centre, Islington on July 25th to do a 30 minute painting demonstration on the Professional Associate stand which I did and thoroughly enjoyed after the initial but very brief trepidation wore off. It is the first 30 minute painting I have ever produced and though it is not quite my usual style I was not too disappointed with the result, I would call it an oil sketch, I leave you to judge it's validity....

I will be going up to SAA headquarters in Newark in October
to film three 30 minute painting demonstrations for the TV programme 'A Splash Of Paint' hosted by the ever popular Matthew Palmer along with various tips and techniques and the popular 'My Favourite' and 'What's In My Box' for which I am having fun with deciding what to do. It goes out on Sky channel 191 and Freesat 400 on a Monday from 17.00 to 18.00, I will keep you posted as to when it is likely to be aired.