Alan Oliver

I've been going through old issues of my painting magazines so that I can add the pictures I find inspirational into my scrapbook and then discard the magazine. I used to keep them.....all of them, every single one......and all I ended up with was a pile gathering dust that I never looked at again. So the scrapbook is a much better idea. It's also really interesting to look at the pattern that emerges.....it really helps define your style.

Anyway I digress. In the October 2010 issue of The Leisure Painter magazine there was an article on Alan Oliver and his use of gouache. Perfect timing to go through this magazine as I have just received a lovely gouache paint box. So I read on in earnest.

I must say I really liked Alan's style. I loved his loose expressive brush strokes and his use of colour. He paints mainly on mount board and he suggested for anyone who would like to try this to visit their local framers to see if they could purchase any scrap mount board - some even give it for free.


The colours in the painting above are wonderful - I just love the lilacs and blues against the white.

I am struggling to find a favourite painting and the one above and below are on par with each other. I love the abstract look to the above snowscape, how Alan scraped the paint on and off the board to get the desired effect. Again I love the lilacs....but then again for some reason I am always drawn to paintings with this colour in it.

The painting below is called Thatched Cottage and Alan has used Indian Ink to draw in the dark shapes. I love the way the paint has merged into each other to create this beautiful soft effect. I am seriously in awe of these two paintings.

I will definitely be adding these to my scrapbook and I really couldn't recommend creating one of these for yourself. Very inspiring.

If you want to find out more about Alan, then please check out his website.

Hope you are all having a good Tuesday :o) xx