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Painting: Neowise
This painting reflects a time for me when I felt very connected to the night sky. This coincided with the arrival of the comet ‘Neowise’. I’m an avid sky watcher and events like this are very interesting to me. This is a self portrait and I’m reaching into the night sky, immersing my hands in the red that represents blood as a cosmic element. This painting was another important style development for me, with my brushwork getting looser and the increased use of palette knives. I use a lot of layers and glazing to get deep multi-layered colour like this deep blood red. Neowise featured in the 2022 Scottish Portrait…
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Painting: Ronnie Buddha
Ronnie was a larger than life character who I encountered when he was studying welding at evening class. Uncompromising would the best way to describe him. He was a real north east Scotland character and the landscape in the background was intended to reflect this. I’m sad to report that recently I have learned of Ronnie’s untimely passing. Thoughts are with his family. He was a genuine and unique individual with a strong appetite for life. He’ll be missed by everyone who had the pleasure to encounter him. Rest in peace Ronnie. Every piece of work helps to refine your process and this was no exception. We did a half…
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Painting: Self Portrait
This painting has a rich personal history. It was a very important one for me and was an affirmation of my identity at a very difficult time in my life. There is something of me in it that is not in any other work. I generally don’t like painting self-portraits, but I hadn’t painted one in many years. I was glad that I did because this painting helped to get me selected to compete in the Sky Portrait Artist of the Year competition and has also featured in the long-list for the Scottish Portrait Awards. This portrait now resides with a private collector. You can read about my experience at…
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Painting: Nocturne 18
This is an older painting of mine from 2018. I’d forgotten it existed honestly, although it hangs in our downstairs toilet at the moment! It had become such a part of the scenery that I’d stopped noticing it. Yesterday I nearly knocked it off the wall by accident while chasing a fly and it made me stop and look at it again. There’s a mixture of oil paint and wax on the surface. I used the wax to build up texture to paint on top of and it was amazing to paint on. I must try that again and look into the use of wax in painting more in depth.…
David Herds Night Studio
Creativity and Self Development
