Sophie Ploeg

New work: Lace & Silk, oil, 40x50cm Feel free to leave a comment below!

Excuse the title of this blog post...my children are Star Wars mad.... Here is a sneak peek of a work in progress, depicting black lace. It is part of a larger painting of about 45x35cm, exploring the textures of black lace. After having painted a few paintings with cream-coloured lace it is a very interesting process to paint black lace. The technique is the same but, as always, values are key. Although I rarely use black paint straight from the tube (I mainly use it for mixing) I have been experimenting with it and found it a tricky paint to use on its own. I have ivory black and recently bought some lamp black which is a slow drying, deep cool black (of course besides ivory and lamp black, there is also mars black which I’ll try and purchase soon). The funny thing with both is that is dries up quite mat, which lightens the value visually. That makes it, for me, a difficult paint to work with as you can only see what you’ve done when it is dry or oiled out/varnished. Of course ...

I went to see the BP Portrait Award exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London yesterday. I met up with two facebook friends and fellow artists and had a wonderful day.  The BP exhibition is an awesome show and I came back wanting to paint. So, very inspiring indeed. Although I found there were quite a few paintings that used modernist gimmicks and invisible concepts, there were some paintings that showed the work of some of the best painters around at the moment. I feel the term ‘portrait’ was sometimes taken in a very big and wide manner but the majority of works were good-ol portraits indeed. The highlights for me: Alan Coulson. This painting is just so impressive in real life. The picture does not do justice to the real thing. It oozes character. You can feel the bloke in the picture. Technically it is amazing, the tiny brushmarks in his face make the whole thing sing. Richie Culver, 85x59cm. ©Alan Coulson www.alancoulson.com Another highlight was Mary Jan...

My latest painting is in the last stages...perhaps a tiny adjustment here or there, but it is pretty much finished. It is not a commissioned piece but a painting that I wanted to paint for a portrait competition. My inspiration were the deep brown eyes of my young model, I wanted to continue the brown theme with a hint of mystery. Roses Oil on canvas, 50x40cm Feel free to leave a comment below.

A little sneak peek at a current work in progress. I am painting a young girl with a fabric as background. I am currently trying to paint the thread of the fabric, with endless hatching. You can see a the rose in the fabric at ‘underpainting stage’ behind the girl’s hand. Still lots to do, but hopefully this is going somewhere. Feel free to leave a comment below.

Frontage of the Unicorn Gallery in Wilmslow, Cheshire I have delivered 2 new paintings at the Unicorn Gallery this week. If you’re local, do drop by and have a look. Let me know what you think. They are in the centre of Wilmslow on Water Lane, but  they also have a gallery in Widnes, on Victoria Road. Unicorn Gallery, 1 Kings Court, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AR http://www.originalpaintings.com Delicates, oil Silk Dress, oil