Peter G W Geissler   HS, RMS.

~ miniature paintings ~ 

Sorry, but almost all of the above paintings are already sold.  Enquiries are welcome though, and any commissions considered. Price guide (mounted and framed): landscapes £200 to £400, portraits from £500.

background

I have always enjoyed working small, but until about 15 years ago I thought nobody else painted miniatures any more. Then I came across an exhibition by the Hilliard Society of Miniaturists. Anyone interested in painting or collecting miniatures should consider joining this society, as in addition to the summer exhibition and other functions, they also send out an excellent six-monthly newsletter in which members discuss techniques, materials, events etc.. Many Hilliard Society members also belong to the long-established Royal Miniature Society. Both societies hold well attended annual exhibitions of world-class contemporary miniatures, in Wells (Somerset) and London respectively. Non-members can also exhibit, subject to selection.

a bit about techniques

I'm certainly no expert on traditional miniature painting techniques. I never use a magnifying glass. My brushes are not single hair 0000 pedigree sable, but size 1 or 2 synthetic (eg: Pro Arte Prolene, Series 101). I prefer to paint on paper, and use Frisk CS2HP, which is acid-free, very white, and smooth but not without bite.

For the landscapes I take my own photographs. I find slides better than shop prints for recording skies and atmospheric subjects like sunsets and misty mornings. When painting, I hang the slides in front of my northlight flourescent anglepoise for colour-matching, and put them in a desktop slide viewer for composing and seeing details. I am now increasingly using a digital camera for reference, and finding it excellent. Generally I take several photos of the same subject, under-exposing for sky detail and over-exposing for shadow detail.

Usually my miniatures are window-mounted using museum board and framed with glass. Some of the above paintings were removed from their frames for scanning and then combined digitally with a scanned frame. They aren't all shown to scale. The size I most like working to is about  1.5" x 2" (38mm x 54mm).

Please note that I retain copyright of all my artworks except commissioned portraits. Don't panic!....this is normal with contemporary art, and just means you're not allowed to profit from reproducing my work without permission.