This painting, which I made a couple of weeks ago, is a paean to a pair of boots that I’m particularly fond of. Sadly they’re no longer able to service my feet in the way they once admirably did. The soles are breached, the zip is broken, the seams are coming apart. It’s time to…
Tag: Impressionist
In Praise of Alkyds
These days I like to vary the media with which I paint, in turn embracing the unique qualities of oils, acrylics and alkyds respectively. I’ve been working with Winsor & Newton alkyd paints for over 20 years; most of my pre-2010 work (and around half subsequently) labelled ‘oils on canvas’ on my website (www.birtall.co.uk) was…
Portrait: ‘My Judith’
I started work on this portrait of my fiancée Judith around a year ago, towards the end of summer 2012. Initial sessions from life were followed by sporadic work from photographs, until it was finally completed a couple of weeks ago. It was painted in Winsor & Newton alkyds (quick drying oils) on 20″ x 16″…
Sunflowers, 31 July 2013
I’ve not been doing much drawing or painting of late. The one painting on which I have sporadically been working (a relatively large painting of Kew Gardens from a photograph I took a few years ago) seems to be taking an eternity. When paintings take so long they tend to wear down my energy and…
Drawing Upon Life 