Friday, April 18, 2008

For a Local Exhibition

This is one of my paintings I have submitted for a local exhibition, hopefully I shall be as successful as last year when I made several sales. I'm planning my next project which will be a change from my usual seascape and landscape paintings. Watch this space.

 Duel to Windward - Ken Gillam (c) www.artyman.co.uk

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Richard III


4 x 6 inches, watercolor, gouache and gold ink, 2008
Richard III is one of the most controversial monarchs in British History. After his brother Edward IV's death in 1483 the succession was to pass to Edwards elder son, Edward V, who was only aged 13. Richard executed Antony Wydeville, Earl Rivers, the child's guardian and took on the role of protector. Edward and his brother Richard were placed in the tower and by the end of the year had disappeared, presumed murdered. Richard had his brother's marriage to Elizabeth Wydeville declared illegitimate, thereby removing young Edward and Richard from the succession. He was crowned King in July of 1483. However, he only reigned for two years. A rebellion headed by Henry Tudor saw Richard defeated and killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, ending the reign of the Plantagenet's and the House of York.
The fate of the Princes is still hotly debated - did Richard give the order for their deaths? A chest containing two children's skeletons was found buried under a staircase in the White Tower in 1674. It was presumed that these were the Princes. What is certain is that Tudor propaganda created the image of Richard as the hunchbacked and crippled villain of Shakespeare's play.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Daffodil on Green


Just playing around with different daffodil colors and background. I started this with my regular yellow and was playing around with cadmium orange and cobalt blue but then decided to switch to quinacridone gold and winsor blue. The gold really gives it some life especially contrasted against the blue. To bid on Ebay, click here.


Tuesday, April 15, 2008

The Wicked Lady ACEO


ACEO, 2.5 x 3.5 inches, watercolor and gouache, 2008.
The Wicked Lady was Catherine Ferrers, a young woman married to a man she disliked and living in the country in the mid-17th century. For excitement she began to disguise herself as a highwayman and rob coaches. She soon became notorious for a series of daring robberies. She had no need of the loot she stole and hid it in a secret room along with her disguise. Eventually she was wounded during a robbery. Her husband found her dead at the door of her secret room. He sealed the room and had her quietly buried. However, Catherine's ghost is said to haunt her old home, Markyate Cell, and the surrounding lanes.

Monday, April 14, 2008