Diego Velázquez

I’ve linked all of the following paintings to their respective pages on the Prado website, where you can zoom in to minute detail.

Ignacio Pinazo Camarlench

At this size, this painting below by Pinazo looks quite illustrative. However when you see it in life or if you realise that the painting is over 4 meters wide and zoom in on the Prado’s on-line gallery you’ll notice how free and painterly the brush strokes are – even the chainmail has been treated quite losely.

Raimundo de Madrazo

Raimundo was the son of painter Federico de Madrazo – who’s work including an excellent portrait of Steve Coogan can also be found in the Prado. Raimundo was a great portraitist, confident strokes bring his subjects to life. This painting of an actress dressed as a nun was one of my favourite paintings in the museum.

Joaquín Sorolla

The image below does not do justice to the rich vibrancy of the colours in Boys on the Beach. Broad fluid brush strokes and thickly applied paint make it look like this painting’s only just been finished and not yet dry.

The paintings are nearly finished, here’s a preview of my progress so far…

I’ve used a medium fine linen canvas and I’m trying out some new aluminium stretcher frames. I decided to use aluminium for this commission to ensure that the canvases will not warp in the air-conditioned office environment. This type of stretcher is stronger and lighter than typical wooden stretcher bars and when assembled the sides are always perfectly square.

For the second London Lives competition entrants were asked to capture the spirit of travel. The Gold Medal winner will have their work displayed in the new south entrance of London Blackfriars station, as well as being awarded £1500 of artist materials from GreatArt.

My painting along with the other 100 shortlisted entries will be on exhibition at Bankside Gallery, London (next door to Tate Modern) from 9 – 18th September 2011.

Installation view of Gallery III, Summer Exhibition 2001. Photo: John Bodkin/DawkinsColour

After a couple of hours wandering around the Academy I left and as it was still sunny and I was in the area I headed off to visit a few galleries in Mayfair. After a quick look in at a couple of the plethora of galleries along Cork Street and saw a mixed bag of cityscapes and figure studies. Just on the off chance I looked in the window of the Halcyon on Bruton St and saw a painting that actually caught my eye it was one of a series of ballet dancers by American illustrator turned painter Robert Heindel. After a nice chat with a gallery assistant there I walked on to Mount Street Galleries to have a look at Hector McDonnell’s exhibition (pdf), which consisted of a few good paintings but for me nothing really exceptional.

Hector McDonnell 'Rose in a cold spring cafe'

Robert Heindel 'The Watcher'

Then it was back to Green Park tube station to make my way back to the National Portrait Gallery to have a look at this years BP selection. I didn’t bother going last year after both 2008 and 2009 were dominated by photo realist works, although highly skilful these days I tend to seek out more painterly work. However this year I was pleasantly surprised, amongst the selection there were quite a few less photographic paintings…

My favourite piece (which also won the travel prize) was probably Jo Fraser‘s painting of Flora, a young girl standing smiling in her bedroom. Strong colours and an unfussy style provide plenty for the eyes to drink in…

This year I’ve been given a slightly larger stand where I’ll be showing a selection of my new paintings.

If you want to find me I’ll be hanging about near stand 62, tucked away in the middle of the hall.

My BAF page…

James Hart Dyke in his studio with one of his MI6 paintings, Going For a Meeting 3. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian

Some of the paintings are of a distinctly military nature set in the middle east, some are more mundane western street scenes or meetings in hotel rooms. As you move around the gallery taking in the varied subject matter you begin to realise the enormous scope of what the SIS deal with on a daily basis.

Espionage by James Hart Dyke

The thing that struck me was how loose his style is, yet it still retains enough information to be technically accurate. Even in some of the mid-sized paintings there were brush strokes over four inches wide. This allows for broad swathes of colour to be blocked in without becoming overworked, it also made me realise that I had to buy a bigger brush. James was at the gallery while we were there so it was a nice bonus to have a brief chat with him, pleasant chap. Plenty to enjoy but I think my favourite paintings were some of his monochrome ones, in particular Housing Estate & Helecopter.

See more at his website: www.jameshartdyke.com