The Studio

The studio at night, viewed from the entrance towards the painting and sculpting area. In the foreground is the illustration area, with a drawing table on the left and a lowered ceiling, which is used for drawing and watercolours, and includes a complete airbrushing station with compressors and a selection of airbrush guns, predominantly used for whale and dolphin scientific illustrations. An upright storage area and counter-top separate the illustration area from the painting and sculpting space.

Nearing completion on #21 The Crow, using a mahl stick to steady my hand and complete the detail of the eye, probably the most important element in this painting.

Some of my ‘tools of the trade’, a selection of used brushes, ranging from large flat brushes to detail brushes, with a couple of specialist brushes and knives in-between. A usual painting actually involves only using five or six brushes, starting from larger background brushes, to detail brushes which are usually a number 8 or 10 as these hold good volumes of pigment.

My painting table is laid out carefully to enable good access, as well as to ease the movement between palette and canvas. The marble mixing surface is a heavy but ideal mixing substrate.

Late into the evening and The Crow nears completion. The next morning will involve a final check before this space is prepared and transformed into a photographic studio, with a special lighting set-up positioned to reduce flare and reflections from the canvas as they are photographed. All the time I am thinking about the words and thoughts which I will include in the blog posting.

Apart from the office space and library shelves, the workbench completes the eastern side of the studio. Although most of my sculpting is done on a plinth in the middle of the painting area, armatures, bases, moulds and other detailed work is done in this area. For many years I have been assembling a range of beautiful old tools, working on the premise that many of the older tools were made really well, using superior materials that can last many lifetimes, as well as instilling in me a wish to raise my standard when working with tools which are works of art in their own right.