James Flynn

Here I am again, just finished writing up a little list of local galleries that I will be paying visits too very soon.

I say soon because I am getting very very close to my solo exhibition, very close indeed. I have basically been working up to this for about two or three years now, I have around forty paintings up in my studio, just waiting to get out there and get some attention.

It is going to be a mixed bag of an exhibition too. Portraits, landscapes, and wildlife. In fact, I have been trying to think of what I am going to call it for a while now.

I would not say that it is an exhibition with a specific theme, rather it will be split up into sections, gathering relevant paintings together by genre.

Anyway, the important thing is, I will soon be laying out my works of art for all to see, and I literally cannot wait. I have put my story book on hold for now, while I knock out the last few paintings that I will exhibit, I aim to get my childrens story book out there by the end of the year, whereas my exhibition I was aiming for around spring, although I am tempted to bring the date forward a little.

I have the lee green/blackheath area in mind in south east london, and I know of a gallery which has just opened up there. I have not been in the premises yet, but it looks fairly big from the outside, and just down the road from posh old blackheath. Can't be too bad can it?

Exciting times, 2012 is going to be a busy year for me, I am certainly not going to hold back, I have put a lot of work into the last couple of years and it is time to really get my work out there.

Speaking of which, I would like to share with you my most recent paintings, which will be part of my exhibition.

I have not really regarded myself as a wildlife painter in the past, but I have had an urge to paint wildlife all of a sudden. I have completed three animal paintings here, and I can feel plenty more coming soon after these too.

I really enjoyed painting these, and I am glad that I have them for the exhibition.

This first piece I have named - King of the Jungle.

I had a good time painting this, I wanted the painting to have "energy" to it. I wanted it to have a rough feel to make it more vibrant, hence the paint marks I have left in the background.

This is acrylic on canvas.

My next painting I have simply named - Tiger.

Again, I really enjoyed painting this, and I finished it fairly quickly, which means that the painting went well in my book.

As with the lion painting, I wanted to keep a certain roughness to this piece, so I have again kept certain paint marks in at the end, as you can see.

This is acrylic on canvas also.

And finally, on to my most recent painting.

This one actually hasn't got a name yet.

It has turned out to be a much more "polished" painting than the last two, even though I originally was going to give it a more rough look, but I suppose this one kind of "painted itself".

I added the background in myself, which was not in the reference picture I had, as I felt it would help the atmosphere of the painting.

This is also acrylic on canvas.

I really like the outcome of this one too actually, the only thing is, is that I think of PG tips tea every time I look at it, which is slightly offputting!!

I wont let that ruin it for me though, and I think I have added three strong paintings to my exhibition here over the last few days, and there will be more over the next few weeks too.

In fact, it will be a great thing to see all of my work on display all at once in the same room. Usually, when I finish a painting I add it to the collection and do not really hang it up to look at for a while. So to actually be able to look at my work all at once is something I am really looking forward too.

On a final note, I just want to say that I try to update this blog as much as I can, but it is a very busy time right now as I may have mentioned earlier, so forgive me if I can only write up new updates every few weeks or so. I will try my best!

Take care,

James