And for my first post.

Hello and welcome to my art blog.
Lets start with an aquatic scene.

I am painting a large circular scene for a client in Paris. It's an underwater view of a school of fish with kelp in the background and will be done using oils on fine linen.

The drawing doesn't give an idea of the luminosity of the scene in my mind nor the colours that I will use.

I need lots of shadows to help create the luminosity I'm after so I used the kelp as a swaying curtain to create the contrast between the light and shadow. The light will filter through the kelp to the scene below.

There is a sense of a fish eye lens in the drawing but that's caused by the shape of the canvas being round and the view being taken from under the fish looking upwards. The swaying kelp helps to give that impression too. It should take a few days to complete. Hopefully it won't be a problem to photograph when it's wet and shiny.

The inspiration for the painting is a Trompe L'oeil which I am working on with another artist in the 5th, in Paris. It's an apartment which is a gift from a mother to her daughter who is getting married. The daughter loves submarines.

For this woman, as a gift to her daughter we are painting the hall of the apartment to look like the interior of a submarine. It will be dark and metallic with many different coloured metals. Copper, tarnished and rusty iron, brass and some silver for artistic license and to lighten the mood.

The portholes of the submarine will look out onto a fantastic world. Two views will be under water and two will be of landscapes. One man made, of NY and the other desolate but beautiful, of the Saraha desert.