We have another 4 paintings from Ian's collection
Fenella
Acrylics on canvas. I always remember doing this one through the summer of 2008 I really tried to get the effect of a summer’s day imaging myself being there watching Fenella pass by with her train. In the Isle of Man locomotion’s that pull the trains were given names and No.8 was Fenella. I think the picture has such warmth about it as though you could vanish into it and be there. It has a feel of summer. It took me a couple of months work because I used a canvas that was too rough and needed lots of coats. Being a railway enthusiast I was looking through some old magazines and saw a b&w picture and thought it would be nice to paint. It was a lot of my imagination as well.
I’m really proud of this painting. It exhibited in several places and when I went to the IOM in 2016 I presented it to the team there. It is now on permanent display at Castletown station. It is in the right place, where it belongs.
The Umbrella
Acrylic on canvas. Done over the summer of 2009. What I most remember about this canvas is adding the brick work which took about three days to do…..I keep meaning to count these (lol). Every brick was painted. It surprised me how much patience I had. I like the picture. It’s a very personal picture for me, the inspiration for these canvases is how the PSS Umbrella has helped me and others over the years. A big thank you.
This painting was sold but there’s a print of it in the Umbrella. I have started another painting of the Umbrella (to coincide with the 100 anniversary of PSS) and will adjust the windows and door on the new one. The basics are there already and now have to add the details but I won’t be painting every brick individually this time.
Once Upon a Time
This was done in 2008 and ended up being donated to Alder Hey. This was quite an unusual painting for me to do and I don’t quite remember how this came about. It still feels odd now but I think it worked out well. It has a feel of taking you somewhere nice and I like that. It took quite a few weeks (10+) to do and I grafted away on the sky for ages – it kept on going wrong but I kept on with it and it came together. The castle was the most fun part to paint and the easiest. I must have had a picture in my mind but I had fun with it and it moved away from the picture as I painted. It worked out well.
I gave a step by step guide to painting this picture on the blog.
A Winter's Day '2'
Acrylic on canvas. I decided to paint this again for a second time around 3 years after the first one (around 2008). I said I didn’t like a Winter’s day so I wanted to have another go and be closer to the original photograph. It was a lot of fun painting in the trees (lol) but there is some nice effect here with the colours. I got rid of the blue sky in the original which I think makes it feel more realistic. It didn’t take that long to do – within a month. I like this picture but I’m still not sure about the trees in the foreground. I tried to paint a Winters Day ‘3’ a few years ago but it went wrong – I do think I’ll come back to it though. I don’t know where this painting is but will start looking.
Below is the original Winter’s Day and the Original photograph
See you next week with more art. Take care, Ian.