I built this city from, er, stuff and paint

Over the last few weeks, I've been working on a new painting/mixed media piece entitled 'City'. It was one of the more technically challenging pieces I've attempted, encompassing painting, ink-drawing, collage and some unfamiliar techniques/materials so here's an insight into the stages it went through.

The initial collage layout - plastics, polystyrene, card and wood on laminated hardboard.

Everything was spray-painted white. It makes a good photo, but in reality looked like what it was - a blank-but-heavily-textured canvas.

Sections of text from a lecture on NGOs and environmental law, and graphs from scientific papers on ecology were photocopied onto acetate sheets, then cut and attached to the discs already present.

The background was painted in black oils.

The black background highlights key features such as the organic structures made by applying solvent-based (but non-toxic!) products to polystyrene.

'Stars' and 'galaxies' are added in white spray, oil and acrylic paints. It is now a city in space!

Details at this stage include a fox and an angel... to my eye, anyway - to yours?

The final stage - 'circuitry' details in black ink.

The finished piece - 'City' (80 x 60cm). Texture is a huge part of it, and a photo doesn't really convey this, but I hope you like it. Once framed it'll be up for sale...

This is not a homage to Magritte

My painting's been fairly eclectic so far, but does seem to be coalescing into a couple of core styles (for now) - 'cyber' and 'thick oils'. The Quantum Triptych is of the first type, so here's one of the others, entitled 'This is not a portrait (storm)'.
 

'This is not a portrait (storm)' - oil and acrylic on canvas, 80 x 100cm

As the title rather strongly suggests it ain't a portrait in that it is not of anyone in particular. It is also, for me, unusual in that it is more-or-less representational rather than abstracted. It is however textural (I like to get through a lot of that costly goop-in-tubes) so here's a bit of detail:

'This is not a portrait (storm)' - detail

'This is not a portrait (storm)' - detail - trying to access just a tiny bit of my inner Frank Auerbach maybe!

So, why the title? Well it sounds like it's a play on Rene Magritte's famous 'pipe' painting The Treachery of Images, but it isn't - at least not consciously so. Instead, please feel free to make of it, and the storm subtext, what you will - and more importantly, enjoy!