Paul Talbot-Greaves

Working with Acrylic

2012-02-20T16:42:00.000Z

Acrylics are so versatile allowing you to layer over colours repeatedly but their downside is that they often look rather plastic and clean cut. My aim with acrylics is to pull away from the carefully painted plastic finish and instead to achieve something that is very spontaneous yet has the look of oil paint. Not an easy task but I think I am getting there. I am trying to do this with traditional acrylics on various different surfaces. My favourite is watercolour paper. I try to complete a painting in one go utilising lots of wet into wet and sloppy brushes full of paint. So far I have been using Winsor Newton artists acrylics which promise no colour shift from wet to dry. They are excellent paints however I am going to play around with the Golden open acrylics as they offer slower drying time. Please feel frr to leave any comments.

New video

2011-11-30T23:05:00.000Z

Well it has been a busy old year with lots of tuition and demonstrations for art groups. I find that when I am running courses and giving lectures I don't get very much painting done at all. I do enjoy teaching but after a full day of running workshops I'm afraid my creative energy is rather depleted - hence I have not posted much on here recently. However, here is one of my new paintings that I have created in a moment of calm. Also, I recently started filming some paintings in my studio. You can find the first one here

Art Materials Live

2011-08-10T14:44:00.000+01:00

I will be running two acrylic courses for The Artist magazine in conjunction with Daler Rowney at this year’s Art Materials Live event at the Birmingham NEC on 4th November. See the Artist magazine for details and booking.

Tryfan

2011-05-31T19:02:00.000+01:00

I painted this view of Tryfan after a fantastic weekend of climbing there. One of our routes took us up the North ridge of Tryfan and this is typical of the scenery around that area. Jagged and shattered rocks litter the mountain, the scale of which has to be seen to be fully appreciated. Shrouded in a cloak of hill fog and rain I decided to use a limited two colour palette in order to evoke a sense of mystery and drama to the scene.

The Artist Magazine - June 2011

2011-05-05T20:30:00.000+01:00

Checkout my article on acrylic painting in the June 2011 issue of The artist Magazine. Out now.

Flowers for sale!

2011-04-09T20:59:00.000+01:00

These six loose flower studies are my most recent work which have been completed for a show In Elland, West Yorkshire. You will be able to purchase them at All Saints Church between 29th April and 2 May 2011. They are all watercolours and are 130mm square.

Winter track

2011-04-07T20:17:00.001+01:00

Following the winter snows I have been working on a few paintings utilising the warm and cool relationships of colour temperature. In this picture I was interested in colour, texture and tone over subject matter. I painted the scene on Arches NOT paper 22 x 15in.

Blackstone Edge

2011-03-30T11:48:00.000+01:00

Blackstone Edge is a rocky outcrop running along the western flanks of the Pennines, dividing Yorkshire from Lancashire. Comprising mainly of blackened rocks and bogland it is a wild place attracting walkers, climbers and romantics. Take a look at some of the rocks and you will see names and dates chisselled in them for eternity. Go there at sunset and watch one of the best spectacles for miles around. I have sat and shivvered on many a winter night as I have sketched the view over Littleborough towards Manchester. I have cut my way up there through deep snow and on New Year's Eve 2000 I was up there with a bottle of champers watching thousands of fireworks emerging out of the Manchester gloom.
Daniel Defoe trekked across Blackstone Edge in 1774 and wrote: "Here, tho' it was but the middle of August, and in some places the harvest hardly got in, we saw the mountain covered with snow; but we found the people had a way of mixing warm with cold together, for the store of good ale which flows plentifully in these mountainous parts of the country make up for all the inclemency’s of the weather." Over Blackstone Edge "we had to travel through trackless drifts of snow."
For me the rocks provide interseting shapes and angles for paintings. This image is a small acrylic that I painted using a limited colour scheme.

Late Winter Light

2011-03-03T09:05:00.001Z

Late Winter Light

I'm always exploring new ways of developing as I firmly believe that we should all be pushing ourselves to be better at what we do. That is easy said but for artists it is generally part of the creative drive. This year I am developing my expression and using the brush more spontaneously than ever before and this painting was one of those breaking points. I had been pushing myself for days almost getting to where I wanted to be but not quite achieving my goal. The midday winter sun looked glorious from my studio so I stuffed my camera in my pocket and went for a walk across the moor. I walk past this scene nearly every day but in that moment of intense creativity I suddenly saw the patterns of light and shade that I had been looking for. The painting was done in one sitting later that afternoon.

Winter Light

2011-02-26T17:52:00.001Z

Winter Light

Since Christmas time I have been working on loosening up my style and injecting a little more colour into my work. I deliberately used warm and cool colour contrast here to liven up the picture, along with a little spatter and some spontaneous brush work. Can't wait to get stuck in to some new paintings.

Current Projects

2011-02-26T17:46:00.003Z

One of the portraits for the show

Its that time of year again where my studio work takes a bit of a hammering. I'm tutoring several groups a week at the moment and inbetween those are talks and demonstrations for art groups. If that wasn't enough I am the principle artist for All Souls Operatic Society and time is fast approaching their main annual show, which this year is 'The Merry Widow' to be performed at the Halifax Playhouse from March 29th 2011. The show this year includes two painted backcloths (measuring 22 x 11ft), 2 large portraits (5 x 4ft) an embassy interior and a garden scene. Painting that size is extremely liberating but complicated due to the sheer scale. Yes there is lots of standing back involved and pondering over cups of tea. Members of the operatic help out where necessary and we generally have lots of fun in the process. It really is 4in brushes and large cans of Dulux! Roll on April when I can finally enjoy the spring light with my outdoor painting gear!!

Winter

2011-01-05T19:35:00.000Z

This painting looks straight towards Ovenden moor and I was attracted by the contrast created between the last of the snow and the warmer earth colours surrounding it, especially the dark wall. The valley in the left distance is the top end of Luddenden Dene. I used watercolour to capture the crisp layers and the brilliance of the light. Right now I am busy designing the stage set for 'The Merry Widow' to be performed at the Halifax Playhouse in March by All Souls Amateur Operatic Society so over the coming two months I will be directing a team of painters on the actual thing. I have two backdrops to paint - 22ft x 11ft plus two sets which span 42ft in width. I find it liberating somehow to be painting on such a scale although no doubt I will be itching to get back to my own painting table. A very happy new year to all those who follow my work!

Lliwedd from the Pyg Track

2010-12-29T21:55:00.002Z

This is a watercolour painting I completed after a winter mountaineering trip to North Wales a few years ago. The view is of Lliwedd from the Pyg Track. I used French ultramarine and light red in the distant mountain, French ultramarine and burnt sienna in the foreground rocks to give depth. The light was amazing with deep blue-violet shadows cast across the slopes of Snowdon. I collected lots of scenes on that occasion. The foreground in this painting was brought in from further up the mountain - purely to better the composition.