When we moved into this house 24 years ago, we unearthed an old pot half buried in the old Victorian Green House. Pat washed and cleaned it, and it turned out to be a Russian teapot (there were markings on its bottom). Unfortunately the lid was missing, but nevertheless I posed it and painted it, and took the liberty of adding a little bit of a samovar. This is my first attempt at painting detail, and the simplicity of the patterns on the pot very fairly easy to mimic.
The lemon slices were a bit of a disaster.
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| Russian Teapot (Painting #4) John Simlett Acrylic on Stretched Canvas. 14 inches x 10 inches 36 cms x 25cms |
This painting was easier to do than rebuilding the greenhouse, as I did in 1996. I built it exactly as the old Victorian one that had fallen down shortly after we found the pot. I kept the original steel 'A' frame as you can see in the picture.
In the comments, Linda Roth asks to see the finished greenhouse, so here it is:
The building to the right used to be a stables, you can see I've built a conservatory (sunroom) on the side. Inside, downstairs are my workshop and a gym. Upstairs, an office - it was my studio up until quite recently - and a storage room.
fantastic--! I especially like how you made the gold look gold. You are also quite good at making acrylic paint seem like oil paint. Many amateur acrylics come out overly dark ...with lots of hard edges. Not so with your 4th painting. You are very gifted! Looking forward to seeing more!
ReplyDeleteYou really are too kind, Celeste. Trying to get gold and brass to look right was a struggle, I need to learn more about blending pigments and have signed up for a course on paint mixing.
DeleteWhat a lovely find! And given your background in draughting detail work, it is no surprise that you can paint it as well. Excellent job. What really sparked my interest in this post tough, is the green house you rebuilt. I'd love to see it completed.
ReplyDeleteI smiled when I saw you had spelt drafting, the English way. As you can see I have updated the post with a view of it finished.
ReplyDeleteI love your painting John! The shine on the lamp and teapot really makes it come to life. It's beautiful. :) And the completed greenhouse is amazing. My mom would be in heaven with something like that, she loves to garden. I see you're numbering your paintings, you asked me if I still do and yes I do. :) So far I've painted 37. :D
ReplyDeleteThank you, Crystal. The trouble with wooden greenhouses is that they take a lot of maintaining.
DeleteYes I've got to #4, I'm still scratching the surface yet, hoping it becomes natural
Fantastic! The green house and your office addition is to die for. Lucky you.
ReplyDeleteLovely painting. Nicely done. I love tea pots and English Gardens and conservatories. Years ago I read.. and still have the book..The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher..in it she talked about a conservatory that I fell in love with reading about, and when we moved to Oregon I said I would if we could have something like that to sit in. Walla, we ended up with a lovely big sunroom I love spending time in. Thanks for sharing your Conservatory/sunroom and Green house. Happy to hear you rebuilt it as it once was. Keep up the wonderful work.
ReplyDeleteDear John, you have the skill for do EVERYTHING! Your home reflects your passion for doing things, even the garden looks so good! I love the color of your still life, so cheerful and contrasted for materials and composition!
ReplyDeleteHave nice workshop on mixing colours!
I think the addition of the samovar works really well.
ReplyDeleteIf you're unhappy with the lemons, will you over paint them? That is a great advantage of acrylics!
Love your greenhouse too, I can imagine you pottering in there :)
Beautiful painting, John, and you prove my personal belief that a solid drawing foundation always makes a piece! I like what you've done and I like the lemons. The only thing I would maybe do differently on them is to make them less green and more yellow (but what do I know)! Looks like you have a gorgeous property and I sure wish you could bottle some of your energy and share it with me!
ReplyDeleteThis is also very good. The lemon too. Congrats!
ReplyDeleteHi John, I am impressed by your versatility, painter, carpenter, pilot, etc etc, and the most important thing is that whatever you do, you do it very well ..... as we can see from your painting and your greenhouse. Congrats!
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing John - truly amazing! I still can't believe how quickly you have got to grips with painting. Looking at your effortless brush strokes, nobody would surely believe it! What stands out to me the most in this painting is the way you have painted the brass object. This does not appear the work of an amateur at all :0)
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