Rob Adams a Painter's Blog painter's progress

This is a Blog mainly  to do with painting and drawing and the trials and tribulations associated with such a calling. I have been painting all my life indeed I have made my living entirely from artistic activity, which 30 years on still astonishes me. Despite all the years of daubing and drawing it is still as damned difficult as it was at the first and just as prone to failure, which is I suppose the attraction of the business as it never palls and each new thing is a challenge.

I intend to add pictures, drawings and a certain amount of prose tracking my feelings and attitudes to my own and others art. Rather than rattle on to much at first I will add some recent paintings which have been done over the last month or so. I have decided to paint around where I live in London, it is easy (and very pleasant) to go to special places to paint but we often tend to miss the wonderful things close to home because we are so familiar that we no longer really see them any more. So these first paintings are my attempt to see it all afresh! Some of these paintings are available to buy, there will be a link added that leads to my gallery site at treeshark.com, the current site is largely commercial projects but I intend to increase the personal work shown on it shortly.

This was painted on a fine evening looking west. the tide was very high. Mostly done plein air but time ran out so finished off in the studio. It’s about 14 by 10ins in oils

I have been mostly painting in acrylics and watercolours for the last 30 years I’ll post some examples in later posts, but I want this to be a sort of painters progress with the oils at first, there will be drawings too as I am very keen on the merits of good drawing… but I’ll rant about that later!

Another Greenwich view done as I recall the previous day. Looking east this time the wonderful light transformed London to Venice, again the tide was so high it splashed my boots as I painted. I don’t know why I have done very little oil painting before now, but so far I am enjoying the process with the feel of the paint on the brush more pleasing than acrylic which is like painting with hand cream!  Oils 14 by 10 ins 

The river at Greenwich is endlessly interesting, but alas much of it is being tidied up . This removes all the history of boats and their (very paintable) clutter in favour of horrible lazily designed flats set too close to the river. Below is a bit that hasn’t been ruined yet…

I started this on site but I was so perched that it grew too uncomfortable a more stoical painter would have finished it on the spot but I gave in and finished it back at base, but I was careful to retain the fresh sketch feel of the whole thing.

That’s it for a first post I intend to update once a week unless away so I hope some people will return and follow my progress or lack of it!