Mark Alan Russell - Photorealist painter

Astute1

2012-01-23T18:28:00.001+11:00

I have finished a new painting. It is called Astute 1. It can be seen here http://contemporary-artist.info/2012/technology/astute1/

HMS Astute series

2012-01-11T17:27:00.000+11:00

I am feeling much better now I have moved out of that dump in Belgrave Heights. The landlord, Hans Becker, was a total bastard.On to better things - I have started a painting of the HMS Astute - a nuclear powered submarine. It is going to be the first in a series of ten. The progress of the painting can be seen here. The complete series of source photo's which I intend to paint can be seen here. It is a series of paintings centered on the theme of manufacturing and technology - something I have decided to place at the center of my oeuvre as it one of the things I am very passionate about.

My annual nervous breakdown

2011-12-11T22:08:00.001+11:00

This might be my third year in a row where I have had a nervous breakdown in December. Last year it was due to this prick. This year there is so much more - but it's quite personal. This is probably going to be my last post for a while.

Glenn Greenwald

2011-12-07T17:34:00.001+11:00

I have recently discovered an American who writes about the things that really matter - his name is Glenn Greenwald. Some of his online work can be found at http://www.salon.com/writer/glenn_greenwald/
I think he is an outstanding voice amongst the shrill commentators that often make up what is 'news' from the USA.

Bureaucrats are scum

2011-11-29T10:35:00.001+11:00

I have recently had to deal with a government department due to some issues of Justice that I am trying to address. I will deliberately write in a non-specific way in order to protect the turds.
I started to access this form of justice (which is the only avenue open to anyone regarding these type of matters) and was informed by the clerk that the fees would be waived due to my being on the Disability Pension. She added - you just have to fill out this form in order to forgo the small ($40) fee. I stress to this lady that getting this before a court is more important than the cost. She tells me that it won't delay anything - they have to grant you this because of your status. Ok then - I fill out the form. A week later a letter arrives, and it's not for the court date. It's to inform me that if I wish to proceed then I have to forward the $40. So I go into the head office and pay the money. Then I ask if it is at all possible - could someone explain to me why I was rejected. No. Who do I contact? I get given the general e-mail address, which means that my letter must be read by at least one other person than I would like, which is not what I want. My concern's should be heard only by the person who's name is on the letter addressed to me.
So when I get home a quick search reveals this bureaucrat's e-mail, phone, salary - everything! So I send off a polite and brief e-mail asking why I was rejected. The next day I receive an e-mail from his underling saying ...."discretion lies with" but still no reason. Then the next sentence finishes with the following. "I hope this clarifies the..." Any person with a reasonable amount of common sense would know that the letter doesn't clarify anything. Bureaucrats are scum.

Things are not going to well

2011-11-21T19:35:00.001+11:00

My life has been hell the last three weeks. It isn't getting any better either. I'll remember the way I was treated and spoken too by some of the people till the day I die.

Shock slogans and token tantrums

2011-11-05T13:25:00.001+11:00

I recently presented Noam Chomsky with my photorealist portrait that I painted recently. I had done the drawing at the start of the year and then promptly got a full time job as a draftsman. Well that fell apart and the timing worked out real well - as soon as I had it it dry it was off to the framers and for a modest price I had a beautiful (even wrapped in protective plastic) glass framed stunning work. I pulled out all the stops in a very satisfying work and I am very proud of it. The first photo is of a booklet from Crass that I had asked for him to sign for me. I asked him if he'd ever signed this before. No never. Please research Crass if you don't know who they were. They are still to this day a huge inspiring influence in my thinking.

Noam Chomsky was impressed with my work and said he'd hang it up in his office.

My experience trying to receive dental treatment

2011-10-31T11:14:00.001+11:00

Sunday morning I woke up with very severe toothache. I could barely function, so I made the trip (in heavy rain) into the city to get it looked at and some sort of pain relief. I got to the Melbourne Dental Hospital at 11.00 am. Paid my fee and waited five hours in a waiting room with a television blaring and screaming kids. Then when I did see a dentist, she examined me and took two x-rays. My pain was due to a wisdom tooth that was 'trapped' and had to be removed in hospital. I asked a few more questions and realised it was quite a serious job and was going to only get worse with time. I asked the dentist how long before I could get it seen to - answer - current waiting list - 6 months! I was shocked, told the dentist that was crap and left. Then I waited 2 more hours at StVincents Hospital - same lack of care for a fellow human.
I believe that the medical institutions that these people belong to represent their members quite well. That is just how they want the health care system - so that on the surface it appears that in Australia we have a universal health care system. The reality is that poor people get very poor treatment. I will never forget the tears rolling down from my eyes due to the intense pain as I travelled home. All I wanted was pain relief and some certainty that it would be treated. I got neither except an affirmation that a majority of doctors and dentists are turds.

We are the 99 percent

2011-10-21T10:41:00.001+11:00

I have nothing but admiration for all those people around the world who dare to raise their voices. One of the most interesting ideas is the 'We are the 99%' blog. I am often brought to tears by some of the notes that people are holding up. Some people are clearly at breaking point, and unless some huge changes are made quickly, I believe the USA may face the sorts of protests that have started the downfall of leaders in the Middle East. The ultra-rich will also be hung, drawn and quartered if they are not too careful. I do not support violence in any way, but I do support these greedy capitalists being held answerable for the millions of lives they have affected with their thievery.

Photorealist portrait painting of Noam Chomsky

2011-10-13T11:45:00.001+11:00

I have finished it. I have added some background to explain my respect for Noam Chomsky here.

Photorealist portrait of Noam Chomsky

Imagine if draftsmen wouldn't draw weapons?

2011-10-13T00:23:00.001+11:00

I found this after a quick Google search
Popular Science Dec 1943

Rheinmetall AG - email

2011-10-11T18:49:00.000+11:00

I emailed this company after seeing how effective their design was. An Egyptian variant the Fahd 240 armored personnel carrier was used to literally mow down Coptic Christians in Egypt. A little digging revealed who designed these - and I contacted them, Rheinmetall AG - you would think the Germans would know better and renounce violence on a state basis.

Rheinmetall AG - manufacturers of miltary equipment

Exceeded download

2011-10-11T08:18:00.001+11:00

I have just some finishing to do

Noam Chomsky Portrait update

2011-10-06T20:32:00.002+11:00

I have been working rather slowly.

Noam Chomsky - partially completed photorealist portrait

Noam Chomsky - photorealist portrait painting update

2011-09-29T20:39:00.000+10:00

I had to stop tonight due to the constant 10 second blackouts during an electrical storm. I only got a few hours of painting in today. I have been slowly but surely getting the hue's down. Being an elderly gentleman his skin has an extraordinary difficult abstract quality in painting. Even more so when you paint upside down. I may get to meet him and present the painting in person to him in little over a month.

Partially painted photorealist portrait of Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky - Portrait update

2011-09-25T10:35:00.001+10:00

I have done some more work. He is a hero because he stands up for his beliefs. He is someone who promotes non-violence but also civil disobedience when citizens need create change to unpopular governmental systems.

Partially completed painting of Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky portrait

2011-09-22T16:55:00.001+10:00

Professor Noam Chomsky- the 2011 Recipient of the Sydney Peace Prize. My portrait has taken on new significance - I should have it done in time.

Photorealist painting of Noam Chomsky - approx 15 hours or work

Finished work as a Solidworks draftsman

2011-09-21T11:15:00.002+10:00

A few days ago I resigned from my position at Deks Industries as a Solidworks draftsman. I have used this software for 7 years and championed its power. But no more - Solidworks is shit. I will never use this piece of bug-ridden crap ever again. I'll go back to being an artist full time for the next few months at least. I'll start posting pics of my Noam Chomsky portrait soon.

New stuff - but I can't say.

2011-08-10T21:04:00.000+10:00

Ok. I have painted zip in 6 months now, and I am starting to itch, I want to desperately find maybe a 50 hour burst to paint Noam. But first I have to finish the beginning stage of a couple of new projects. But one of them is an anonymous thing that has nothing to do with my other artist hat. There's a hint in there if you know me personally. You'll never see links between the two it's gotta be that secret.

Melbourne Hardcore Punk Photo's

2011-06-26T18:30:00.000+10:00

I have been doing anything but thinking about art for the last few months. I have had enough time away from art in order that I can return ready to keep up a moderate regime of producing more art.

I have some photo's from the mid eighties I took with a crappy film camera. I have now scanned them into my computer and will clean them up and make them available for view on my website.

Arm The Insane - Melbourne Hardcore Punk

Dirty Rotten Imbeciles (DRI) - American Hardcore playing in Melbourne, Australia

SIC - Melbourne Hardcore - Luke singing us a tune.

Mosh pits were wild!

Young ladies of The mid 80's Melbourne Hardcore Punk scene.

Osama is dead!

2011-05-02T19:47:00.000+10:00

The death of one man won't change much, but he was a symbol, and unfortunately a hero to millions of brain dead Muslims. I painted his portrait in 2002. I find little comfort in his murder, I would prefer that he had been brought to trial and shown for the ignorant fool he is. Unfortunately his legacy (Islamic fundamentalism achieving notoriety through violence) is far from dead, in fact it is still a hugely powerful force. What is good news is the courageous millions of people in the Arabic world standing up to brutal dictators, which must appall the Jihadists.

Doctor Amiroel Razif is an Orthopaedic Surgeon who ruined my hand

2011-02-21T17:31:00.001+11:00

Doctor Amiroel Razif performed surgery on my left hand several years ago. To say I had a poor outcome would be understating it. It was a complete stuff up! I had only 10-15 degrees range of motion in each of the joints of the left index finger. The entire left hand was affected and I could barely make a simple cup shape with my fingers, let alone fully curl all fingers up. I suffered nearly two years of the most incredible pain and suffering. The butcher that goes by the name Doctor Amiroel Razif, who thinks he is an Orthopaedic Surgeon, is someone who I believe is worthy of jail. Not only was he poor at his job, he was so arrogant he refused twenty or more pleas from me to remove the finger.

I eventually had the finger amputated. And this will sound strange to anyone that hasn't had a similar experience - IT WAS THE BEST DECISION I HAVE EVER MADE! I can now live pain free and fully close my hand. No thanks to you Doctor Amiroel Razif Orthopaedic Surgeon.

This is my hand with the fingers fully extended.

This is my hand today.

Portrait of Noam Chomsky - Drawing

2011-02-21T13:48:00.000+11:00

I have started on a portrait of Noam Chomsky. I have finished the drawing, it only took five hours as it is only 35x32cm. The board was a bit of old off-cut I had lying around, and there is a slight 'blemish' that needed sanding out in the middle. Nevertheless I am looking forward to painting this as I have been very slack with the Osaka painting.

Noam Chomsky - drawing stage of a photorealist portrait

Contemporary Photorealist painters

2011-02-19T20:27:00.000+11:00

There are numerous photorealist painters working very hard, everyday, trying to get their paintings out to an art world that remains rather indifferent or in some cases openly hostile to the most unacknowledged 'ism' of painting. The subject matter that these contemporary realists cover is extensive and diverse but essentially is easily categorized in the following genres - landscapes, portraits, and still life. For the most comprehensive page on the internet go to Tom Mulliner's Photorealist / Hyperrealist page.

Portraits

Denis Peterson. Vortex. Acrylic and oil on canvas. 40x60in. 2004.

One of the new 'ism's' is hyperrealism and the man who define's this more than anyone else is Denis Peterson. An American painter who's work is unprecedented today in terms of it's humanistic approach to portraits. He has started to paint cityscapes like Richard Estes recently, but his portraits of the homeless and poor are absolutely stunning in their technique. Then once you have finished looking at the impeccable 'surface of things' then you are struck by the 'psychology' of the subject. Rembrandt was the first artist to truly master this and it is best seen in the details of his paintings - like the eyes.

In this example of a homeless man there is the dichotomy of the tattered clothes adorned with newspapers worn by the man who is obviously having a hard time with life, his only comfort seems to be his bottle of alcohol. In the background their is a young lady enjoying a meal with a sports drink safely behind the glass in the restaurant. Their lives couldn't be any more different. In this image the conceptual value dominates the stunningly beautiful painting the more you look at it. I regard this painting as the greatest portrait of modern times. Go to Denis Peterson's site to see more.

Landscapes

Clive Head produces highly detailed landscapes that are some of the most stunning painted vistas in English art. His work usually shows his homeland - England and is beautifully painted with as much 'painterliness' as is possible for a photorealist. Often this is not easy to tell until the viewer has a close up look at areas of the canvas which depict difficult passages such as a trees foliage or the surface of water. Clive is a master at these surfaces and it's no wonder he's been painting for many years.

Clive Head. Observatory. Oil on canvas. 117x198cm. 1998.

His work reminds me a lot of Richard Estes's paintings with a largely empty urban landscape as it's subject but there's is certainly nothing wrong in that - his documenting of our modern urban world in which humans are existing in crowded communities and yet so isolated from one another by this is a very common and easily understood and relevant theme of our contemporary society.

Unfortunately Clive doesn't seem to have his own website, (too many artists are in the same boat), but if you go to his gallery then you can find out a lot more about his work.

Neil MacCormick is a photorealist artist who puts more hard work per square cm into his very small paintings than any other artist painting today. He often spends 300 hours or more on a painting that's usually about 8x6 inches! He has been painting these little gems of a landscape for nearly twenty years and cranks out only a few every year. His technique is quite remarkable, he paints on watercolour paper using only six colors! His is an extraordinary approach and is probably unique in many aspects in regards to the usual approach to photorealism.

Several things make Neil's work stand out from the horde of artists who's works tend to be rather similar.

Neil MacCormick. New tiny. Acrylic on paper 8x5.5in. 2005.

The scale is probably the smallest in photorealism. Most photorealism is on the huge end of things. This makes for incredibly difficult work. Many factors go to making photorealism a hard art to master - a small scale such as what Neil uses is probably the number one on that list.
His landscapes show the somewhat seedy and rundown areas of his part of Canada. Most landscape painters show the beautiful aspects of their environment.
He has no formal art education. There are very few photorealist painters who have produced a substantial body of work who haven't had some form of fine art's training.
One of the other things I read somewhere was that Louis K Meisel told him he wasn't a photorealist. I find this to be one of the most remarkable (and stupid) things I have ever heard. If you LKM's own rules then Neil definitely is a photorealist. I find that people like Mr. Meisel are the main reason I stay away from what might be termed the 'art scene'.

I hope that Neil continues to produce the most contemporary documentation (by way of painting) of these beautiful, and lonely landscapes which in my opinion are both universally recognisable in that we all can identify similar places in our own community and yet are obviously quite local and therefore unique places in his hometown.

Neil MacCormick's work can be seen on his blog (the link above) and at his website.

The first photorealist painters (of the modern era).

2011-02-19T19:02:00.000+11:00

Louis K Meisel was the person who coined the term 'photorealism' in 1968. He defines a photorealist as:

The Photo-Realist uses the camera and photograph to gather information.
The Photo-Realist uses a mechanical or semimechanical means to transfer the information to the canvas.
The Photo-Realist must have the technical ability to make the finished work appear photographic.
The artist must have exhibited work as a Photo-Realist by 1972 to be considered one of the central Photo-Realists.
The artist must have devoted at least five years to the development and exhibition of Photo-Realist work.

That's fine if you believe art needs every aspect to be categorised. I don't. Categories are usefull for comparison of two or more different things but are confining and ultimately meaningless as far as I am concerned. European tendencies are to refer to the genre as Superrealism.

Photorealistic painting came about from taking pop art to a higher level of realism and as a reaction against minimalism and abstract expressionism.

The first photorealist paintings were most probably Robert Bechtle's paintings of cars which began in 1963. He most often paints the middle class surroundings of San Francisco. Friends, family all feature but most common are cars.

Audrey Flack. Kennedy motorcade. Oil on canvas. 38x42in. 1964.

Little more than six months later Audrey Flack painted the Kennedy motorcade from a news photo. This is groundbreaking stuff; firstly these artists have quite deliberately used a photograph as a major tool in the artists technique; and in Audrey's case she has created a quite contoversial (at the time) history painting due to the subsequent tragic events.

Another early photorealist was Malcolm Morley who having little success painting a ship from life decided to use a grid to help him paint ships. He was to paint photorealism until abandoning the style in the early seventies.

Richard Estes is on of the most well known of all the photorealist painters. His scenes featuring reflective windows showing unpopulated streets of New York are for most people; the quintessential photorealism. He still paints to this day and his body of work is one of the largest in the genre and is one of the greatest influences on my work.

Chuck Close has pushed the boundaries of photorealistic technique to the limits. He has always used a grid to transfer, square by square, the image. He has explored the 'process' more than any other painter. His work is always on a monumental scale, usually of the order of 2 - 3 metres in size. However his later works use a rough, circular, colored approximation of the corresponding photograph. From a distance the works look very close to being photographic but up close they are very abstract.

Ralph Goings is another of the pioneers of photorealism or 'new masters' as I have called it. He is most well known for painting American urban life. From his series of pickup trucks thru to the truck stop diners interiors and then still life scenes of salt shakers and ketchup bottles he has documented a slice of America that makes his artwork his own.

Old derelict, rusted out American cars is the subject that John Salt paints. He is an englishman but spent a large part of his early career in New York. His work is extremely detailed and he still paints the same subject matter today.

Charles Bell is another American photorealist who's subject matter primarily of vintage toys, gumball machines, pinball machines and dolls and action figures. His work is like many of the photorealists extraordinarily 'real' and due to the subject matter very colorful. Unfortunately he passed away in 1995.

Photorealism in painting has been with us since Van Eyck

2011-02-19T18:55:00.000+11:00

Jan van Eyck. The Arnolfini portrait.

Louis K Meisel might say otherwise but painters have been using optical aids since Van Eyck and therefore in my opinion are the first true photorealist's. David Hockney and physicist Charles M. Falco have produced much work in this area and I won't go into too much detail. They have put forward a belief that much of the accuracy and realism that came about in painting since the renaissance is due to the use of optical aids such as the camera obscura, camera lucida and curved mirrors. And I believe they are most propbably right. As a draftsman by trade and an accomplished painter I can say that to paint something like the chandelier and mirror in Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait is nigh on impossible without some sort of optical aid. Regardless of anyone's actual technique what is important is what the paintings look like - if they look photographic then as far as I am concerned then they are a work of photorealism.

Old Masters

Photorealism was the cornerstone of art from Van Eyck thru to the Dutch masters like Rembrandt and Vermeer and then to masters of the eighteenth century like Diego Valazquez and Antony van Dyck. From there on Thomas Gainsborough and artists like Chardin are creating photorealist art. Finally the twentieth century gives us great realist painters like Norman Rockwell.

New Masters

The first photorealists are of modern times (as defined by Mr Meisel). Richard Estes, Audrey Flack, Robert Bechtle and Malcolm Morley. They helped revive interest in realist painting after the cheap thrills of modernism had passed. Some are still painting today but due to their 'pioneering' position in modern art history are filed under new masters.

Contemporary Realists

Those who have followed in the footsteps of the new masters are the contemporary realists like Denis Peterson, Clive Head, Neil MacCormick and Eric Wert. Some of these artists don't like the term photorealism but use an alternate : Hyperrealism. The difference between the two categories is subtle and for its worth I think its an unneccesary complication in matters. They do paint brilliant photorealistic works; and many have techniques that are almost absolutely flawless!

Return to the workforce

2011-02-05T18:28:00.000+11:00

I have decided to work full time as a draftsman at Deks Industries. This was partly brought about by my failure to meet my artistic goals in the area of 'marketing'. ie. Galleries were only minimally interested. The biggest influence on my decision was I am tired of being poor. I will continue to paint, but only for myself.

Last year was very rewarding artistically for me, I believe I painted some great works. The failure of Charlie to pay me for his wedding portrait was a real blow and came a few days after having a nervous breakdown and marked the lowest point of 2010 for me.

With more money at my disposal I can also pursue a need to turn my digital models of my spaceships into reality and will be able to afford the cost of having them made using a technology called 'rapid prototyping'.

I look forward to making 2011 a lot better year.

My new website

2011-01-30T00:38:00.001+11:00

I have a new domain name which replaces the two I have recently 'retired'.
It is @ http://contemporary-artist.info/

Osaka painting - 277 hours

2011-01-12T17:49:00.007+11:00

I haven't been working as hard as I would like. On Monday I decided to keep working at Deks Industries despite the fact that one of my co-workers has basically wasted a 185 hours of my time with painting his wedding portrait. I find this person's feeble answers to be absolutely pathetic.

I have been doing a few hours most days and this is now at the 277 hour stage. (206 were just in the drawing).

Osaka painting - 251 hours

2011-01-03T16:03:00.000+11:00

I am working very hard on this Osaka painting. I have included a very detailed view in the second image. This shows the somewhat 'crudeness' of what my technique looks like when an area of paint is in its 'infancy'. Layer by layer it grows into a fully formed image,

Sayyid Ali Khamenei - a quick e-mail

2011-01-02T23:07:00.001+11:00

I sent this e-mail to Sayyid Ali Khamenei because I am still angry at this old fool.
The beautiful Neda Soltan can be seen here

Osaka painting - 230 hours

2010-12-30T11:00:00.000+11:00

I have started painting Osaka. This is what 24 hours of painting looks like.

Osaka painting - 230 hours

Commissioned paintings - never again.

2010-12-27T15:32:00.001+11:00

I will never do another commissioned painting in my life. Not for any amount of money. I have had a huge amount of grief over getting Charlie Chum to pay for the painting he asked me to do. I spent 185 hours on creating a beautiful portrait of him and his wife. He made a part payment when I was part-way through painting, and now it's over two months since I finished and asked for the remainder - he has yet to pay me. Because I work with him at Deks and I am so mad (and cannot deal with his lies without unleashing a flood of abuse) I have also resigned from my part time position as a draftsman. I am on a disability pension and am only just able to make ends meet, so there is a doubled blow. I have no option but to draw a line in the sand and say - I keep the deposit, lose the remainder but he will never get the painting. Ever.
Link to painting

Osaka drawing finished

2010-12-27T15:17:00.000+11:00

It took 206 hours of work, but the drawing stage of Osaka is done. It is by far the hardest drawing I have ever had to do. Now to start on the painting.

Osaka drawing finished - 206 hours of work

Nervous breakdown

2010-12-22T23:34:00.001+11:00

I am having a full-on nervous breakdown. I am trying to finish the drawing of Osaka and keep my chin up - but the tears!!!
I had a video up on my site which I quickly knocked up in Solidworks to show a gallery curator for a proposed exhibition in October 2011. I plan to stick to one theme (technology) rather than my usual everything and anything. I have also changed my website (well most of it) to use html 5.
But the real thrill I got this morning was an e-mail reply from Noam Chomsky. I had asked him for his permission to paint his portrait, and he said yes he'd like that! Usually when I e-mail anyone with a query like this I rarely even get a reply.
Unfortunately about an hour later some harsh words from my brother knocked the wind out of my emotional sails and I was bawling. It will pass, I just need to see the positive side of life.

Osaka drawing - 174 hours

2010-12-06T17:49:00.000+11:00

The drawing stage is the hardest stage for me - usually anyway. Drawing Osaka is incredibly hard! I draw in a completely different manner to every other photorealist in that 1: I use a grid and not a projector, 2: I draw in a very abstracted way. (so I have been told). I've included four images. One is the complete board and due to the resolution and cheapness of my camera - it's a little blurry. The next two are detail shots of the areas I have been drawing since my last post, and then I have added a cropped view of the source image so that it can better explain just what it is that I am drawing.

Osaka - 174 hours

Osaka - 174 hours - detail 1

Osaka - 174 hours - detail 2

Osaka - source image - cropped

Wikileaks.org and the Cablegate information

2010-11-29T18:12:00.002+11:00

I would like to pay tribute to Julian Assange, who is from my home town, Melbourne. He is an extraordinarily courageous person to risk his life in the way he has done with his being the front person for a very valuable part of our worlds community. Wikileaks.org are trying to offer information to demonstrate that those in positions of power and authority DO NOT HAVE THE EVERYDAY MAN'S INTERESTS IN MIND WHEN THEY PERVERSELY ACT IN SUCH OBSCENE AND DISGRACEFUL WAYS.
I am one of a number of people who merely passed on a small portion of these documents (once they had been released) in order that they remain in the public domain. Thanks to p2p technology governments can no longer just shut down a website and hope the problem will go away.
I am an atheist but lately I have been asking myself a question - 'what would Jesus do in this situation'. If you think that he wouldn't support an open society that abhorred violence then I am sorry but you are a fool.

Julian Assange - hero

Osaka drawing - 133 hours

2010-11-23T21:25:00.000+11:00

Some days I work from 6am till 9pm. That's what I did today. With some exercise, household chores and eating I'll get a good ten hourss of work done. The image is a bit average because I couldn't photograph it outdoors.

Osaka drawing - 133 hours - detail

Gildemeister DMC 160 FD duoBLOCK - finished

2010-11-21T18:56:00.002+11:00

I have finally finished this conceptual photorealist painting (it took 69 hours all up).

Gildemeister DMC 160 FD duoBLOCK

Gildemeister DMC 160 FD duoBLOCK - detail

Gildemeister DMC 160 FD duoBLOCK - 57 hours

2010-11-17T18:42:00.000+11:00

Gildemeister DMC 160 FD duoBLOCK - 57 hours - detail view.

Gildemeister DMC 160 FD duoBLOCK - 57 hours.

Gildemeister DMC 160 FD duoBLOCK - 40 hours

2010-11-10T18:52:00.000+11:00

It's sometimes difficult to tell I have done much work with a series of progress photographs of my paintings. In this one it looks like I have gone backwards - it's far less keyed, that's because it was an overcast day when I took it outside for a few quick snaps and about I'd very lightly sanded with 240grit wet and dry paper. I do this because as you paint you get bits of dirt in the paint.

Gildemeister DMC 160 FD duoBLOCK - 40 hours

Gildemeister DMC 160 FD duoBLOCK - 30 hours

2010-11-08T20:07:00.000+11:00

I have been painting this incredible image. It's not only going to be a highly conceptual artwork but also a beautiful representation of 'the surface of things'. Which I believe is what makes photorealist painting amazing.

Gildemeister DMC 160 FD duoBLOCK - 30 hours of painting and drawing

Gildemeister DMC 160 FD duoBLOCK - 20 hours

2010-11-03T11:38:00.000+11:00

I have got this painting almost completely 'blocked in' with the first layer of paint. It shows a very large 5 sided, 5 axis CNC milling/ turning machine creating some large industrial engineering piece.
I have decided that I will concentrate on painting technology as my theme as an artist. Which means I will spend the next six months working very hard on similar pieces. I hope to have my first gallery exhibition in eight months time.
I have had a very bad time of late with some people letting me down in a big way (I will not explain any further) and unfortunately this slows my rate of progress due to huge bursts of tears coming out forcing me to stop painting for a time. However I still believe in my art and in myself.

Gildemeister DMC 160 FD duoBLOCK;

Charlie and Hanna - wedding portrait

2010-10-26T17:15:00.001+11:00

I have finished a new painting. It can be seen here.

Two new paintings I am starting

2010-09-14T19:50:00.002+10:00

I went and purchased some new MDF board today. 4 pieces of 4ftx8ftx9mm. I am quite chuffed at having another commission to do. Again a co-worker has asked me to paint a portrait. Charlie wants to give his wife a special present for Christmas, so I will be painting a 1340x900mm artwork. I am also going to start on the drawing stage of another work which is an engineering drawing I did in my one day a week job as a drafts-man at Deks Industries. I have 5 paintings under-way, all are in the drawing stages. They are Osaka, DMG 2, DMG 3 the Deks shown here and Charlie's wedding portrait. Which takes precedence over the others.

My new painting which is underway (This is the source image).

Osaka drawing - 121 hours

2010-09-12T22:33:00.001+10:00

I have been having a bit of time off lately as I am having a few mental health problems. I have been drawing only a little bit. The Osaka drawing is now at 121 hours worth.

Gigantic 7.4km long spaceship in Colorado

2010-08-29T17:05:00.002+10:00

Modeled in Solidworks 2009 and then some photoshop

Osaka drawing - 90 hours

2010-08-15T18:37:00.000+10:00

I have got to the 90 hour stage. The drawing is rather abstract looking, but that's what makes for realism when using my technique.

Osaka drawing at 90 hours

Gildemeister DMC 160 FD duoBLOCK - drawing completed

2010-08-03T19:36:00.001+10:00

I have completed this drawing of a 5 sided / 5 axis CNC milling and turning machine from Gildemeister, it's a - DMC 160 FD duoBLOCK. I have also included the source image as well to make more sense of what it is that I am going to paint.

Osaka - 54 hours

2010-07-27T14:01:00.000+10:00

I started drawing this large work about a year ago. I've done small amounts of drawing here and there and it is now at 54 hours worth of work. This is the lower right hand side.

Abstract painting - Alien landscape 3

2010-07-27T13:46:00.001+10:00

I have finished another 'alien landscape painting'.

Finished - suicide bomber

2010-07-24T13:21:00.002+10:00

I have spent 215 hours on this painting and I am glad it's finished because it is not an easy thing to paint an image like this. If you would like to see a better picture and a lot more background to the story then go to the website to see the Suicide bomber.

2010 Moran Prize

2010-07-19T18:12:00.001+10:00

Once again I find myself upset at not being judged good enough. I entered my portrait of my old girlfriend Carolyn Francis and thought I had a real chance of making the final cut. I painted this particular work with an incredible amount of passion hoping to impress the departed ex. Please take a good look at the delicacy in the skin tones, the detail of her wavy, golden hair. I poured every ounce of ability into this painting more than anything I have ever done. And then comes the rejection e-mail -"Dear Entrant, Thank you for entering the 2010 Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, overall there were just under 700 entries nationally. Unfortunately you were unsuccessful with the 2010 year selection. The quality of the entries was extremely high. The judges were impressed by the works received and in the judging there were many high quality works that were unable to be selected."
To me that says your not just good enough in plain old language. And whenever you go and look at what made the cut - a good 50% of what made the cut - IS SO CRAP IT MAKES YOU WANT TO PUKE. I now realise that art is truly subjective and if I could offer the best metaphor - it's like having a competition to award a prize for a person's favourite color.
I would like to provide a little more information about the painting here.
If you would like to see a wallpaper size image the click here.

Suicide bomber - 193 hours

2010-07-17T19:57:00.000+10:00

More painting. Painting text like this is very difficult. Because I paint in several thin layers the accuracy gets better with every layer.

Suicide bomber - 181 hours

2010-07-14T20:40:00.000+10:00

I've started on the lettering. I have 98% finished the rest of the painting, and this will just need touching up here and there. The lettering is reasonably hard and I have shown a detail view - it's very much a work in progress and will look much better when done.

Suicide bomber - 170 hours

2010-07-12T18:38:00.000+10:00

I painted for four hours on Saturday. I managed eight hours today. I'm on the finishing straight and will hopefully be able to start on the lettering tomorrow.

Suicide bomber - 158 hours

2010-07-09T22:43:00.000+10:00

Due to my recent illness I haven't been able to crank out the hours as I would like to. A few hours here and there. I am nearing the finish of the gravel.

An idea for a new painting - paint a drawing!

2010-07-07T22:12:00.000+10:00

I've been thinking very seriously about painting a drawing. I work part time as a draftsman and I am propbably going to paint this drawing later this year. It's an incredibly difficult thing to do. It is going to be my main them in art - technology. This drawing is of a cavity tool (the other piece to create the part (not shown) is called a core tool). This part that this tool makes is a rubber flashing which I drew at Deks my employer.
I am still unable to paint more than an hour or two due to cellulitus.

Suicide bomber 141 hours

2010-06-30T20:09:00.000+10:00

I painted for 4 hours yesterday and 7 today. I decided to paint a transparent color over most of the gravel I had been painting in order to achieve the right 'surface of things'. Surface of things is a term I use to describe the two dimensional representation of a three dimensional object. The tarmac is quite a difficult surface to replicate. The depth of focus varies, the scale of the gravel pieces changes from foreground to background and the quite varied, but very muted colors are making for a very challenging painting.

Suicide bomber 130 hours

2010-06-27T20:09:00.000+10:00

I painted for 7.5 hours yesterday and just 2.5 today. Mostly gravel again.

Suicide bomber 120 hours

2010-06-23T18:06:00.000+10:00

I painted for 8 hours today. More gravel and almost finished the last layer of his pants and shoes.

Suicide bomber 112 hours

2010-06-22T19:34:00.000+10:00

Again I managed 9 hours of painting - more gravel. I've got a lot more to come as well.

Suicide bomber 103 hours

2010-06-21T20:30:00.000+10:00

I painted for 9 hours today. Started at 6.30am. Finished at 8.00pm. Once again it was mostly painting those very abstract elements such as the blood and gore splattered road. I've been thinking about the young man who's life was offered up to become a martyr. I think that he was such a fool to not see the absolute obscenity in the act he was to commit. The people who sent him off on his failed mission are some of the most evil people on the planet - and the moderate Islamic community that turns a blind eye to this sort of anti-human crime are almost as evil.
I have probably gone a little past the half-way point. I will have to go over the whole image and subtly refine most of the painting.

Suicide bomber 94 hours

2010-06-18T18:57:00.000+10:00

I painted for 7 hours today. More gravel, going over, refining the gravel.

Suicide bomber 87 hours

2010-06-16T18:03:00.000+10:00

I worked for 8 hours today. It's quite boring, and still quite difficult painting gravel.

Suicide bomber 79 hours

2010-06-15T18:26:00.000+10:00

I painted for 4 hours on Saturday and I managed 8 today. That's taken the total up to 79 hours worth.

Suicide bomber 67 hours

2010-06-11T19:01:00.000+10:00

I managed 7 hours of painting today.

Suicide bomber 60 hours

2010-06-09T21:11:00.000+10:00

I have worked very hard today. From 6am till 9pm at night - that is 10 hours of painting time. I usually don't paint for any more than two hours without getting up and going for a walk around the block (40 minutes). I also have to make lunch and dinner and whatever else.

Suicide bomber 50 hours

2010-06-08T22:54:00.000+10:00

I've been painting a little bit just a few hours every day. But now I feel like I am ready to go full steam ahead with my drawing and painting. This is the progress I've made with 50 hours of work.

Gallery

2010-06-01T18:02:00.001+10:00

I went into the city to buy some art supplies the other day and upon leaving the store I picked up a little card advertising a new contemporary art gallery. It had the words 'early career artists' on it. I have had a lot of difficulty in securing the support of an art gallery. Several times I have plucked up the courage to approach galleries and each and every time walked away humiliated.
One particular woman literally turned her nose up at me and refused to even look at the professional photographic slides I had made of my work. I had only said one sentence, something like 'I'm an artist looking for a gallery...' before she upturned her nose and said 'we don't have any positions..'. It was the physical manner and tone of voice which was most striking. Imagine if I'd started to shit on the floor in front of her - that was the sort of vibe. Anyway the artists she were representing were pretty weak anyway and she looked like a crazy witch straight out of a Hollywood movie.
I remember another occasion when I approached a well known contemporary gallery and the manner in which I was spoken too will live with me for a long time. Even the things they said. I was told by a person who worked at this gallery that my paintings of BMX racers and CNC machines would be impossible to sell. I can point to all kinds of art that seems to be against the norm and difficult to envisage as being successful before becoming the next cool fashion in art. Who would of thought soup cans would ever be popular. I am sure some idiot told Andy Warhol to make art with flowers in it at one stage before he became wildly popular.
Now onto the present time - Tim Bruce owns a new gallery at 188 High Street in Prahran, Melbourne. I talked his ears off for about an hour and he was very kind and courteous. I may have an opportunity to show there in the future. This is hopefully a great new opportunity for me, as I have never shown my work in a gallery.
I am able to now call myself a professional artist as I have finally been paid for a painting. Shane Prendergast paid me for a painting commission of his parents. He seemed quite pleased when I took it to him so we could go and pick out a frame (I refuse to allow my work into anyone's hands unless it's framed behind glass).
All in all I am feeling a lot more positive and happy. I do still have the occasional emotional breakdown over Carolyn's leaving me. She brought such joy to my heart and now equally such incredibly painful feelings of abandonment.

Carolyn Jane Francis I hate you!

2010-05-22T16:36:00.000+10:00

Carolyn Jane Francis I hate you! You have been a manipulative, selfish but mostly cruel woman. I will never forgive you for your latest crap. I hate you and want you to wake up to yourself.

Drawing

2010-04-14T19:50:00.000+10:00

I've been drawing.

Criticism of an art critic - Christopher Allen

2010-03-28T13:36:00.000+11:00

I read something yesterday that made me think about the qualifications of art critics. Dr. Christopher Allen writes for The Australian newspaper and he wrote some things in an article that I feel are ill-informed due to his not being an artist but an art critic. I've a metaphor I'd like to use here - 'you wouldn't want to take advice on how to make passionate love from someone who's only experience is masturbating'. Now I do not mean to make any negative reference towards Christopher but I share this because I believe it communicates the absurdity of the position of the overwhelming majority of art critics. Almost all of them aren't practicing artists in any sense of the word. Then why does the public listen to them?

I believe that the art world is totally infatuated with words and theory's and in many cases these are used to promote an artist who's work can't stand on its own two feet without them. Much of what I read, hear and see from art critics, to me, is half true, irrelevant or utter nonsense. And a lot of this 'word fluff' comes from the artists themselves these days. At least Christopher calls it as he sees it - without fear or favor. But still there was a particular sentence that I believe is completely and utterly incorrect - "When artists copy photographs, there is no more immanent intelligence in their work than in house painting; and when they try to disguise the banality of their material, they never achieve more than painterly effects and gimmicks."

I would like to counter this - if an artist copies a photograph faithfully, then there is almost no room for painterly effects. They can be done but it's only observable at a very close distance. I believe that to copy a photograph is not a denial of intelligence but an acceptance of the best tool in a painters arsenal that has come along in the last hundred and fifty years. It's use requires a great deal of intelligence, but no more or any less, than say the commonly accepted 'traditional observation methods'. I also contend that many of the worlds greatest painters have used photographic like tools since Jan van Eyck. But that's another argument for another day. The claim that it is no more intelligent than house painting is absurd, and insulting to me and makes me wonder has Christopher ever tried to copy faithfully a photograph? From what I have read of his criticism he appears to have a big chip on his shoulder in regards to the intrusion of photorealist art practices into the modern art world. The only difference I believe in using a photograph is that your subject is frozen and it eliminates the inevitable problems with movement (or decay in the example of some still life painting) of the subject or the artist. It still requires a great deal of analyzing, making choices and then articulating them through a brush.

Another thing that Christopher mentions in the article is that he says using a photograph is a shortcut. I believe that the exact opposite is usually true. It's a 'longcut' if anything - if you copy the photograph correctly. In some of the examples the artists (I looked up some of their work online) have shown little skill and they have obviously used a photograph as a source. That simply means they don't know how to paint or draw.

I'd be very interested in seeing all art critics put there own art out there for us to see, so we can judge their most important qualification (in my mind) - how much do they really know about making art? We can also get a sense of their prejudices because this is an important piece in assessing the relevance of their opinion to ours. Ultimately I'd like to finish with another metaphor - 'who are you to tell me what my favorite color is'?

My next painting - Suicide bomber

2010-03-18T19:56:00.000+11:00

I plan to do a truly obscene image after I finish the still life I am currently working on. It is something I feel I must do, it's something I want to say. So I'll use a quote from the Koran to say it, and an image from Rotten.com to reinforce the idiocy of religious belief.

God has purchased from the faithful their lives and worldly goods, and in return has promised them the garden. They will fight for the cause of God, they will slay and be slain. Such is the true promise which He has made them in the Torah, the Gospel and the Koran. And who is more true to his pledge than God? Rejoice then in the bargain you have made. That is the supreme triumph.

Chapter 9 - 111, The Koran.

Now I expect to get a lot of flack for painting this. Especially from moderate Muslims but please remember that I am only bringing others words and deeds together to merely criticize a supernatural belief system. Which is my right as a human being.

Now I would like to comment on the image above. This is not how it will look. I've deliberately pixelated the young man because it is truly disgusting and obscene. This is a very well known image and it can be found at Rotten.com. Now I'd like to inform those who haven't seen this image and don't wish to. He was an insurgent in Iraq who with a clearly visible suicide bomb belt refused to stop approaching a checkpoint and was shot with a very high powered rifle by an American soldier; and his head has split clean down the middle like a melon.

I hope that by pixelating the image people will take the time to read the words rather than recoil in horror and leave the page.

Now I'd also like to add that I feel some sympathy for this young man because he has foolishly handed over his thinking, morality and ultimately his life, to people that have brainwashed him into this stupid heinous act.

Optus mobile broadband is rubbish - now they block Facebook!

2010-03-16T19:08:00.000+11:00

I am in the unfortunate position of having to rely on a USB modem and the service provider Optus are absolutely pathetic. In one month alone I've been tricked into purchasing more credit to get online - I had plenty but they kept redirecting me to a page which said I had none. I buy more credit and still get taken to the same 'no credit' page! So I complained and they agreed to replace the 250 Mb wasted in the process. Every time you turn the thing online they debit you 10Mb! Then a few days later with 3.7Gb they cut me off. They agree that it's a problem at their end and fix it. Now since Friday 12th March 2010 they have not been able to connect any of their prepaid customers to Facebook. I have rung six times and was told at first to re-install Windows - that was the problem I was told. Well I didn't (I knew better) and by Friday afternoon a 'ticket' was raised at tech support. I'm told that this is affecting thousands of customers and is both Optus and FB's problem together and hopefully within weeks it'll be fixed.

Optus are the most pathetic company I have ever dealt with in my life but due to me being poor I can't afford to change to Telstra ($200).

All I ask for is a little respect

2010-03-03T18:39:00.000+11:00

All I ask for is a little respect. A person asked me to paint a racehorse for them last year. So I did, and it took 70 hours all up. Cost me around $50 in materials. I showed him the finished version 5 months ago, he said he wanted me to paint out the horses name (despite approving the source image). So I did. I asked him for $700 and he said no - how about $200? I said Ok. Now I have asked this person three times to come and pick out a frame at the framing shop and pay me the $200. Last week I was promised that he would ring Wednesday morning to let me know exactly what time to meet him. Never called. He has no respect, no integrity and will never see the painting.

This isn't the first time that after producing some art for someone I've been treated poorly. The first time was by Rebecca Amy Parker who when she was high on drugs started an argument over money (she could manage to do such a thing despite the fact I'd already paid for it to be framed and didn't want any money for it.) She then threatened to smash it up so I went to where she was living to pick it up so she couldn't do it (she was away at some drug dealers house). I didn't get to collect it for safe keepings because her flatmate Candace pulled a knife on me.

Another time was my ex girlfriend Carolyn Jane Francis who threatened to sue me because I'd painted her.

Some people have no respect, no integrity or morals.

Still life 1 - semi complete

2010-02-22T18:30:00.000+11:00

The Dutch painted the most incredible still life works during the seventeenth century. I have done a small (20x26cm) still life before but I've decided to do quite a few of them this year. I've started with a medium sized work (59x79cm). I went and bought the food in the city late last year and photographed quite a few scenes for me to paint. This is the first one of those.

This is 43 hours worth and I estimate it'll take around 80+ hours. There is a fundamental flaw with this work - I missed that the horizon line isn't exactly horizontal when doing the basic photoshop stage. It needed to be rotated around 1 degree clockwise. Now if I'm not happy with the result I'll have to cut the board to correct this.

There's an iridescent table cloth on a round table. There's a paw paw, pineapple, purple grapes, capsicum, bananas, strawberries, blue cheese, flowers in a gold plated vase, a blue swimmer crab, a seashell, a 'curio thing' and a Chinese hand painted bowl.

Therion painting

2010-02-15T22:27:00.000+11:00

Yesterday I finished my painting of Therion. It took 99 hours and was quite a challenge. The paint I use (Chromacolour) dries to a very matte finish and to get a black to be 'black' then you need to add a small amount of gloss medium. This caused a great deal of problems. I am quite proud of the painting and will keep it for myself.

I am currently working on a complex still life and will eventually post a half finished version on the blog.

In other areas of my life things aren't going very well. Just prior to Christmas my old girlfriend Carolyn rang me up and I got to apologise for my bad behaviour early last year. We talked for quite some time. Prior to the phone call I'd sent her father my portrait of her and she agreed to come and visit me. Since this time I've heard nothing, despite sending her numerous e-mails she still has made no contact. So tonight I sent her an e-mail basically saying goodbye for the last time. I suffer enormous issues of abandonment and Carolyn still goes on and plays these stupid games with me. It hurts when someone does what Carolyn does.

Painting a photorealist portrait of the best pand in the world - Therion

2010-01-20T19:15:00.000+11:00

First things first. Since I last posted here many things have changed. I had to move out of the shared home in Yarra Glen due to two low life's threatening me with a mattock and smashing me with a chair. Maybe because I complained about them stealing from me. I rang the police, and to be honest, they are useless - weak as piss and not to be trusted to do their jobs.
I now live in my own small unit in Belgrave Heights and it's pretty good. Even Carolyn rang me and I got to apologise for my behavior.
I have been working on a painting of a band I love - Therion. It's only a black and white image and it's sourced from the net so it's not as hi-res as I would usually like. It's kind of hard working with the heat in an Australian summer but thankfully we've been reasonably lucky and not had to many super hot (35+) days.

My healing

2009-11-15T16:53:00.000+11:00

Slowly but surely the wounds that Carolyn Francis inflicted on my heart when she left in March are healing. I have had a few 'mini nervous breakdowns' in the past few months and lately I have had my physical health falter too. However cruel or dishonest others may treat me I will survive all this.
I was shocked to discover recently that my artwork 'Bernardini' which was commissioned was only worth $200 to the person who commissioned it. There's around $50 worth of materials and it took 66 hours to paint. In future I'll make it quite clear upfront to anyone that wants me to paint them something the costs and terms of my services. I didn't have the courage to do this and now I have only myself to blame.

Neda Agha Soltan - winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

2009-10-12T22:06:00.000+11:00

Unfortunately the winner was a war criminal. It's a strange world we live in when an American president who continues to wage war, who refuses to dismantle his military's stockpile of nuclear weapons wins a prize for peace. For all his talk Barack Obama has done nothing to deserve this award. As for prompting him to make changes for a better world - I am willing to bet he'll do very little. Oh but he will continue to sound good, he is after all a very intelligent man who's command of the language is beautiful, but ultimately he must pander to the political system. Even he thinks Neda deserves it.

Neda on the other hand was someone who was murdered for daring to raise her voice. Neda was murdered to protect a tyrannical Islamic state from just such voices. She is one of many hundreds that has died in the recent civil unrest in Iran and they will go down in history as the true people who strove for a more peaceful world.

Check out my website

2009-06-25T13:15:00.001+10:00

Check out my website at http://photorealistpainting.com/ (now defunct - M.R. 29.09.11)

Tough times for all

2009-02-13T11:30:00.000+11:00

We have been in the midst of some severe bushfires in Victoria, hundreds of lives have been lost, countless homes burnt and it still isn’t over. I live in the Yarra Valley at a town called Yarra Glen, and a few kilometers away there are 11 confirmed dead. In the street I live on there was a fatal car accident due to the fire. Much of the nearby hills are black and the road into Yarra Glen shows vast areas of burnt paddocks and bush. It’s far worse in other areas of the state. Whole towns wiped off the map.

I must try and focus on what is important however, and for me that is my art. I had to move the three big paintings (C is for Champion, DMG, Vanquish) back to my mothers home due to their being at risk so it’ll be a while before I’ll be able to finish them to the high standard I set myself. In the meantime I’ll be drawing a work called Osaka. I’ve added a new tutorial section to the website. It covers Photoreal painting techniques from the tools you need through to the drawing stage. Once I commence the painting stages of Osaka I’ll add more pages to cover this too.

The Archibald prize here I come.

2009-01-06T11:11:00.000+11:00

I am going to enter the painting I did last year of Rebecca Parker and her children in the Archibald Prize this year. For those of you who don't know this is Australia's biggest, most famous Art prize. I hope to get noticed by the judges, because the work is important to not only me but Rebecca who has had a tough year.
In other news I am working on finishing my DMG piece , as well as the C is for Champion one.
My relationship with Carolyn Francis is going reasonably well I am glad to report, because there are times when it has seemed to be something that I should walk away from, but when you're in love that really isn't an option.

Planning for next year

2008-12-03T14:20:00.001+11:00

Next year I hope to be the most productive I have had in terms of my painting output, as well as publishing my pdf's on my website. photorealistpainting.com (now defunct - M.R. 29.09.11)
I also must look back at the year has gone and learn from my mistakes. The number one thing I can take as a positive is that I truly believe I did the right thing 99% of the time. I regret some of the things I said to two people: Rebecca Parker and Carolyn Francis.

I went and saw Carcass and then my lover left

2008-10-18T11:07:00.000+11:00

On Monday I went and saw a death metal band - Carcass. They were performing at a venue in the city and I paid for my girlfriend Carolyn to hire a car for the day. We really enjoyed the night, the band were awesome, played a lot of songs of their more melodic album - 'Heartwork' and even left a good impression on Carolyn who had her reservations. This was after I had introduced her to my family, they seemed to like her and she them. But then it all went sour, Carolyn had a few problems with her mind and announced it was over - she didn't have any feelings for me. All I ever wanted was to be loved. Thanks Carolyn!

Drawing Osaka

2008-10-06T10:41:00.000+11:00

I've been drawing an extremely complex picture of Osaka City circa 1970. I hope that it will be an incredible work so I am documenting the creative process. In the next few months I hope to publish a .pdf book on my website www.photorealistpainting.com

I love Google

2008-09-27T11:41:00.001+10:00

Today I noticed that when you type photorealist painting into google I come up as number seven and if you hit the 'pages from Australia' button I'm number one. I am absolutely ecstatic and it is a little bit of a shock to me because I had heard it was difficult to even get on the first page. I created the website from scratch and have had no experience with html or css prior. I am simply stunned and hope this is going to be the beginnings of something truly great. On a sadder note the woman I painted earlier this year has become very angry with me to say the least and I hope she can return to the kind, loving mother as you see on the website. www.photorealistpainting.com (now defunct - M.R. 29.09.11)
I love google!

Not much to say today

2008-09-15T13:17:00.000+10:00

I don't have much to say today - this is just a test run really.