Peter next to his painting ' ‘The Gardeners of Claydon Estate Pollinating the Fruit Flowers’ at the opening of the Oxford Art Society exhibition.

Peter next to his painting '‘The Gardeners of Claydon Estate Pollinating the Fruit Flowers’ at the opening of the Oxford Art Society exhibition.

  • Peter will be showing a large painting at the Oxford Art Society Open Exhibition from 2 - 27 October 2019 at St John Evangelist Cloister Gallery.

  • Peter’s painting, ‘Family Self-Portrait’ was part of the RSBA Portrait Award, RSBA Gallery, Birmingham. The painting has also been awarded the Jacksons Art Young Artists Prize.

  • In July 2019, Peter was made an Ambassador of Michael Harding Oil Paints.

  • Peter's studio will be open to the public from Sat 9th March 2019 at the National Trust's Claydon House & Estate. Open Saturday - Wednesday weekly, 11am-5pm. For appointments with Peter, please call or email in advance to ensure Peter is at the studio.

  • Peter has filmed some of his most popular art courses with ArtTutor.com which are available to download to your computer/tablet here.

Family Self-Portrait, oil on canvas. Awarded the Jackson Young Artists Award at the RBSA Portrait Prize Exhibition.

Family Self-Portrait, oil on canvas. Awarded the Jackson Young Artists Award at the RBSA Portrait Prize Exhibition.

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Very excited to announce that I will be realising a new Podcast especially for artists and creatives called ‘Ask an Artist’. Recorded with fellow artist @laura_boswell_printmaker (and the @talentedmrb on sound!) the Podcast will be discussing all those need-to-know tips and advice for those looking to become a ‘working artist’ or if you’re curious to know more about what us jobbing artists do all day! Launching on 8th Nov on all major Podcast channels. For updates, please follow @askanartistpodcast
I had the absolute pleasure of meeting and painting a very special lady last night. I gave a portrait painting demonstration for the Ickenham Art Society and was looking out for a model in the audience who I thought would make a great subject. When I saw Flora I knew immediately that I’d love to paint her. I approached her and asked if she’d be up for it and she kindly agreed, telling me that she was 100 years of age - my fist centurion model! She was so giving and gracious about the whole process, sharing her own wisdom and knowledge of decades of painting and teaching - it was one of those paintings that was a complete joy to paint. Thank you Flora for being the best artistic muse! • Swipe through to see how the painting developed and a pic of artist and muse together! • The painting was done in 1.5hrs using @mhoilpaints and @rosemarybrushes on 50x40cm canvas paper.
Varnishing time for this painting. The varnish is Lefranc Bourgeois @lefrancbourgeoisofficiel Retouching Varnish, suitable for oil paintings that are less that 6 months old and dry to the touch. The varnish will give the painting more ‘sparkle’, especially in the darker areas of the painting. As for the brush, I’m using the excellent @rosemarybrushes Hake 4.5mm. #varnish #varnishingday #oil #oilpainting #painting #portrait #portraitpainting #portraiture #studiowork #workingartist #rosemaryandco #retouchingvarnish #lefrancbourgeois #peterkeegan #artist #britishartist #painter #bucksartist #buckinghamshire
Had a great evening pushing oil paint around at @thecourtyardartstudio for the last Portrait Night of 2019. We had an extra special model in the form of Kerry and her dog - managed to get this done in the 2hrs of painting. Not finished by any means, but something to carry on with when time allows.
A little sneaky peak at a private portrait commission finally coming together. It’s always a challenge when painting a group of people; it’s a balance between making them all ‘work’ together and keeping those loose brushstrokes against not loosing them to the background or making them too fussy and fiddly. Almost there with it.
A little time lapse I managed to capture today of me giving a demonstration of a quick charcoal portrait sketch, done in about 30mins. Only managed to capture the first part on camera but you can swipe to see how it ended up. I’m releasing my 2020 course dates at @thecourtyardartstudio this week so check out their website or page for details. #charcoal #drawing #charcoalsketch #sketch #charcoaldrawing #portrait #portraiture #portraitdrawing #blackandwhite #teaching #artdenonstration #timelapse #timelapseart
Here’s another of the charcoal portrait demonstrations I did last week for the Winslow & District Art Society. This one was drawn in about 20mins, thanks to Nick for posing!
Delighted to have my painting of the Gardeners of @claydonestate on show as part of the @oxfordartsociety Open Exhibition. The exhibition is open to the public from Wednesday 2nd Oct until Sunday 27th Oct at the SJE Arts, Oxford.
An enjoyable morning had capturing the beginnings of 2 new portraits. When I’m commissioned to do someone’s portrait, I always enjoy visiting the home where the paintings will hang and try to do the first sitting there too. I feel it helps me get a better feeling for both the subject and how I will go about representing them in paint. For further details about my commissioning process, please visit my website or click on my bio.
I had the pleasure of drawing renowned musician and master instrument maker Zachary Taylor at the Winslow & District Art Society. I’m an Honorary Member of this, my local art group, and have always wanted to capture Zachary’s portrait. This was completed in just under 1hr with me explaining the whole process to the audience. I plan to one day paint Zachary’s portrait, playing one of his beautiful guitars. • ‘Zachary Taylor’ Willow Charcoal and white chalk on toned paper, 60x50cm For more of my Charcoal drawings, please visit my gallery page at www.peterkeegan.com
I had a fun few days teaching an ‘Expressive Portraiture Workshop’ at @thecourtyardartstudio to a lovely bunch of painters. Here’s one of my demo paintings of student Alison who has one of the best smiles to capture! Keep an eye out for my 2020 art courses being released very soon! #allaprima #allaprimaportrait #portrait #portraitpainting #portraiture #oil #oilpainting #oilportrait #art #britishart #workingartist #contemporaryart #contemporarybritishpainting #figurativeart #brushstrokes #figurative #painting #paint #allaprimapainting #britishportrait #followart #peterkeegan #colour #expressiveart
Portrait of Bruce, senior gardener at Claydon Estate. Bruce has worked on the Estate for over 50 years and I wanted to capture the bright (@mhoilpaints Kings Blue) blue of his shirt against the tanned orange of his skin. ‘Bruce’ Oil on canvas, 75x95cm #allaprima #allaprimaportrait #portrait #portraitpainting #portraiture #oil #oilpainting #oilportrait #art #britishart #workingartist #contemporaryart #contemporarybritishpainting #figurativeart #brushstrokes #figurative #painting #paint #allaprimapainting #britishportrait #followart #peterkeegan #michaelhardingpaints #rosemaryandcobrushes
It was a real pleasure to set up and organise the first Open Art Exhibition inside the National Trust’s Claydon House (my next door neighbours). The exhibition, titled ‘The People’s Landscape’ opened on Saturday and it was both a pleasure and a challenge to judge the entries and decide the winning paintings. Here’s me pictured with (from left to right) James Rothwell Senior Curator of @nationaltrust, Yvonne Partridge Claydon House Manager, Artist David Pilgrim, Artist @christinebass.art, Artist @robin.souter, me and Mel Czapski Kepler of Fine Art at @buckscountymuseum The exhibition will be on until Wednesday 2nd October and is well worth a visit. #nationaltrust #claydonhouse #thepeopleslandacape #peopleslandscape #art #exhibition #artexhbition #bucks #bucksart
It’s always a challenge to decide when a painting is ‘finished’ and this one has been sitting in my studio for a few months now asking that very question. One of my biggest paintings to date (measuring 150x100cm), it depicts the gardeners of @claydonestate hand pollinating the apricot and nectarine flowers in the beautiful Victorian Glass House, a ritual that has been done for centuries. I loved the composition of depth and perspective the scene gave along with the bright and dazzling effect of light. It’s no secret that I was compelled to paint this painting after seeing the Sorolla exhibition at the National Gallery London, in particular, the painting ‘Sewing the Sail’. Although I’m very happy with most of the painting, I still feel that the areas of dappled light on the floor and the greenery need more work. For the moment, I’ll leave it on the studio wall whilst I dwell on these points. Maybe I’ll ‘finish’ or maybe I’ll abandon it...I’ll keep you posted. How do you know or consider when a painting is finished? • #art #painting #figurative #figurativeart #figurativepainting #claydonestate #gardeners #sorolla #bucks #buckinghamshire #bucksart #contemporaryart #contemporarypainting #workingartist #artistproblems #peterkeegan #michaelharding #rosemaryandco #canvas #brushstrokes #light #colour
I had such a lovely afternoon at the @rbsagallery gallery for the closing party and award ceremony of the Portrait Prize. The best thing was to finally meet so many of the ‘Insta-family’ of artists and painters in person. Congrats to all the winners and looking forward to seeing you again at the next gathering! #rbsa #rbsaportraitprize #artists #portrait #portraits #painters #art #gallery #exhibition #britishartists #ukart
Thanks for the closeup pic @peterdavis_art! Very much looking forward to seeing the @rbsagallery Portrait Prize Exhibition for the prize giving ceremony next Saturday and meeting many of the artists. I wonder what the collective noun is for a group of portrait painters? 🤔😁 #rbsa #rbsaportraitprize #closeup #oil #oilpainting #colour #brushstrokes #art #portrait #portraitpainting #britishart #britishportrait #contemporaryart #contemporaryportraitpainting #collectivenoun