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Aldo Auto Portrait

Wednesday 21 November 2007

Odyssey VI 48" x 40"



Odyssey VI is the latest piece of the "Odyssey series". The title means "journey"and is used also as a metaphor for relationships within these conversation pieces.

The scene is St.Marks square looking to the Riva degli Schiavoni , which means the dock of slaves. In fact each of the six pieces take place in Italy.

Monday 15 October 2007

HSBC World Matchplay



I have spent an interesting few days at Wentworth recording this years event. Sponsored by HSBC I was commissioned to capture events as they unfolded and
to produce 14 paintings in a relatively short time span, that will be presented to Wentworth Golf club.
Most were sketches of the golfers themselves including Ernie Els and Paul Casey, but also
Peter Alliss .The Portrait of Alliss himself was broadcast live from the BBC as I was painting it, It was completed within the 2 hour slot that I had been given so was a real challenge against the backdrop of Sam Torrance's continually arriving refreshments.

Friday 28 September 2007

Sunday 16 September 2007

"To sleep a dream within it's bed"


I am in the process of painting a larger version of the attached image . I painted a smaller study from life ,the location is a small town called Durfort at the foot of the Montagne noir.A beautiful tranquil spot filled with the sound of a passing stream.There is a tap here where people fill up their bottles of spring water.

Saturday 8 September 2007

Portrait sketch demo












This a portrait demo that I did recently for my agent and appears on www.commissionaportrait.com under the info link .It is my daughter Gemma and was done in oils on paper sized with lead white.

First I sketched in with a filbert using Trans.Oxide Red and Viridian, slightly diluted in essence of Turpentine.Then putting in the darkest areas with Trans. Oxide Red and Ivory black. The mid tones were put in using varying mixes from the following colours , Alizarin Crimson, Cad.Red Light,Cobalt Blue,Yellow Ochre,Viridian and Titanium White.I normally find the areas around the mouth and temples more green due to the underlying veins.

Apart from the first stages and on some of the background no medium was used.

The highlight on the cheek took a couple of attempts and had to be
scraped off.

These are typical of the
studies I do for a portrait commission.