A Passion for Painting Award

I am very grateful to be given "A Passion for Painting Award" by two lovely people Edward Burton and Angela Elledge
Please click on their names to view their art and be inspired.
I must list 7 things I love and pass this award to 7 other artists.

1) My girlfriend of course. She would kill me if i didn't put her first (infact I'm looking over my shoulder right now...) I will put my family and friends here aswell.

2) Animals. Who could live without them? For me they are both the most important and interesting part of being an artist.

3) Art. I love seeing other peoples work. I can appreciate most forms of art, a painting is a thousand words...

4) Seperate from the above is the joy of painting. I'm obsessed. Occasionally I'm still at the easel gone midnight!

5) Music. I listen to music all day and my taste in music is very varied, from Opera, to Coldplay, to Trance.

6) Countryside, mountains and fresh air. It makes me feel alive.

7) Curry. Meat,good. Spice,good. Yum yum:o)

Now to list 7 artists whoes work I admire:

1. Tracey Clarke
2. Kathleen Coy
3. Sheila Tajima
4. Kate Boyce
5. Trevor Lingard
6. Sarah Lynch
7. Robin Zebley

"Blossom" 12" x 16" oil on hardboard (SOLD)

Most of the time I decide on the title of a piece when it is finished. Yesterday was sunshine and clear skies for most of the day, and the first time it has felt like Spring for me this year. A lovely time of year when we have lots of sunshine to look forward to, or perhaps lots of rain as is usually the case for England!
Thanks to Bogdan for the image.

Figurative work

When I was at school I used to fill so many sketchpads up with drawings of people, our dog and our chickens and geese. I was never that interested in anything else.
I spent many hours sketching my mum and dad as they watched T.V. shouting at them if they moved! Later at college it was always people I painted and drew for the next two years. My art teacher had never seen someone with so much preparation. Every exam was a portrait, because thats what I loved doing. So after University, when I had decided to go back to art it was natural to start with painting people. And this was where I got my first commissions.
Therefore, (yes this is going somewhere!) you can appreciate that I am very happy this recent figure painting has been well received. I am already developing this idea although the way I work it will be several weeks until the next human subjects are painted.
So, I would like to say a big thank you to all the words of encouragement on the e-mail and of course the lovely comments from you lovely bloggers!

"The Thinking Man" 12" x 12" (SOLD)

Well I have promised myself (and lots of other people) that I would do some figurative work. Here is the first one. Well actually the first painting I exhibited in Gibralta was inspired by some Spanish men playing dominoes, and I have revisited the theme twice since! So lets call this one 'the new one'. I have lots of ideas on this subject and ideally I would like to paint human portraits aswell as animal portraits so I will try and develop this further.

Commissions

I thought I might give a few details on commissions as they are another side to my work. I do commissions for galleries and private clients. It may be a case of you have missed something on ebay, or you may want something quite specific. Whilst most of my commissions are for paintings of farm yard animals I also paint house pets. I have just completed this one at the weekend for a private customer. She wanted a painting of a cow to match her decor.
Firstly I e-mailed her a dozen or so photographs so she could choose which one she liked best. She chose this one, courtesy of John Morris. The right hand side is almost black in the photograph so we agreed that I would include some detail there and liven up the colours. Then we decided on the colour of the background. After a few weeks I completed the initial colour design and sent an e-mail to make sure at this stage she was happy with the colours (and that it would fit with the colour of the room). I have basically include muted shades of red and green in the background and echoed these in the subject. The next month or so was concerned with the details and tidying everything up. Most commissions can be done in around two months.
If you are interested in a custom portrait please e-mail me at info@samdolman.com.
I will try to put something a bit more comprehensive on my website shortly, time permitting.

Tagged

Thank you to Kate for tagging me!

So, the rules of this game...

1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules in your blog
3. Write five random things about yourself
4. Tag random people at the end of your post and link to them
5. Let each person know they've been tagged

Ok, here i go

1. Still one of my strangest experiences was being able to float in the Dead Sea, I half expected to see people on their backs reading newspapers!

2. Although I was never muscle bound, as a teenager I was very much into powerlifting and weightlifting. After several years of hardwork in 1997 I was crowned the strongest schoolboy in the UK.

3. I like chocolate from the freezer and not the fridge, tea to be drunk cold not hot, and I like my toast to be cold before being buttered. Don't ask...

4. As the saying goes, I am my own worst critic! When I finish a painting, it is never the end. There is no conclusion. I regard it as a stepping stone to the next.

5. Up until recently I thought the correct spelling of an Orangutan was "Orangutang". Well they do sound similar, don't they!?


Right so now for my links. I have tagged three people: Sheila, Edward, and Tracey. Sorry folks!