Friday 27 December 2013

Painting Again...at last.

It feels like an age since I painted.  It isn't, but it feels like it.
Christmas is always busy despite it being a holiday and today was our only free day, so despite being desperate to paint, today is the first real chance I've had.
This is slightly different from my other paintings of trees, in that it is not a woodland scene. This is a couple of silver birches that are in Hawkhills near Easingwold, where I have been running until the foul weather appeared. I was struck (on one of my runs) by the way they stood alone (there had been some felling around them) and the way they were illuminated by the setting sun. It's still in it's early stages and will be getting some lighter areas picked out. It needs to dry first though, which could take a while because I've used a fair amount of oil in it.
Here it is so far..






Time to let it dry for a few days.

I completed this two or three weeks ago, and it has been sat drying ever since. I used a fair amount of oil on it, so it's still not quite dry.
It is what it is..
7:39

Saturday 9 November 2013

Self Pruning Growth Mindset.

I started this painting last week, during half term. Given that our school has been inspected this week, that seems like a long time ago. I'm looking forward to reading what the inspectors made of us, but until then I'll have to make do with not bringing any work home this weekend, reading books, running, entertaining tomorrow, and of course, painting. It's a hard life.
This is obviously another woodland scene, and I believe that they are scots pine. Self pruning. Apparently that's what some trees do when there is competition for space - drop branches and put all their energy into growing tall. Information courtesy of Matt Simms, who also taught me how to work out how much of a tree is useable as timber by measuring with a stick, in a similar way to measuring proportions with a pencil (Cheers Matt. It was great to see you Gill and the kids last week.). I'm not sure how many more I will paint of these at the moment. I've probably got one or two left in the tank. Sara has suggested that it would be good to do a whole series of them to fill a room...David Hockney style. It would be nice to be able to paint like him. If only!!
I struggled with this one for a while, but stuck with it. I took a little of my own advice to the pupils - try to imagine what it will look like when it is all painted - a little growth mindset if you will.









Friday 1 November 2013

Back Into The Woods.

This is the second painting of a possible series that I intend to do of woodland. This is Long Wood again at Little Ouseburn on the former Thorpe Green estate. I like these tall trees, and I like the ephemeral, speckled light as the sun sinks low, but.... what I really want to do is suggest something a little more fae. It's not that I want to paint a fantasy picture, but there is something about woodland, where you're never quite sure.. I probably need to look at more deciduous woods, so I'm thinking about heading back to Greno Woods in Sheffield, which will mean I can pop-in and see my parents. I'll probably use the opportunity to stock-up on wood for the log burner as well. 
I suspect that it will be more difficult to paint deciduous trees to get the kind of atmosphere that I want without being twee, but I think that that is where I may go next.
I also want to paint something that is about seasons changing, hopefully without being too obvious.
And I want to paint a panorama, on a large canvas, with a few buildings in - perhaps Sheffield from a distance. 
That's the problem, I keep wanting to paint different things.
Anyway, here the latest piece, in stages, as I painted it over the last few days:

 Everything blocked in with a neutral colour - a mix of burnt sienna and pthalo blue.
 Lifting out the lighter areas..kind of drawing in reverse.
 Drawing in a few details.
 Starting to build in a little more colour.
 ...adding lighter areas and more colour...

 ..more colour, more detail...
 It's starting to come together now.
It's almost there. I could call it finished at this stage, but I want to let it dry off so that I can lighten the sky a bit.

Wednesday 30 October 2013

Pre-blog Paintings.

I thought that I'd post some old paintings, before I drag my backside out of bed. These are all painted on location, plein-air.
This was painted at Thorton Bridge, outside Helperby. The house is now gone and the barn has been converted.

Painted at Sutton-under-Whitestone Cliff. A father's day treat about three years ago.

This was a painting demonstration at Dutch House, just outside Crayke, on the day that it opened.

The finished painting.

Sunday 6 October 2013

Long Wood.

I haven't painted for a while, or posted for even longer. Time to put that right. I have been too busy, being back at work, running and reading. Actually the running has tailed off of late and I need to pick that up again, for my own sanity/waistline. This painting is a return to landscape, particularly to painting with the intention of suggesting the possibility of magic. Certain kinds of light at the start and end of the day can suggest magic, especially in the woods. Yep, I've been reading Graham Joyce again, my favourite author this year.

This painting is from some photos that I took last weekend in the woods at Thorpe Underwood estate, near Little Ouseburn. Anne Brontë worked there for a while (it was called Thorpe Green at the time),as did Branwell, and it is believed that the Hall was used as the setting for Horton Lodge in Agnes Grey. Branwell had to leave after being discovered having an affair with the lady of the house.
Anyway, this painting is on a reasonably sized (bought this time) canvas. I am pleased with how it has started. Let's see how I feel when I look at it through fresh eyes in a day or two.







As yet untitled, and unfinished.
The paint had dried off enough for me to pick this painting up again, so that's exactly what I did yesterday. I started by working into some of the foliage a little, to brighten it up in places, and then I started adding the sky. It looks to me like it needs a little late afternoon light picking out some of the boughs, and some of the tangle of thinner branches here and there. I may try to add some of this today, but first I'm going for a run down Nidd Gorge - a new route for me, then I've got lessons to plan, and I fancy a lazy afternoon reading my new book......the painting may have to wait for a week.
Still unfinished, still waiting for a title...

Worked on this again yesterday for a few hours, and then again this morning. That's it, finished, apart from tidying up the edges of the canvas.
Long Wood, Near Little Ouseburn.


Wednesday 28 August 2013

Plein Air Painting In France

I completed only two  paintings whilst we were away in France. This is the second of them, and was painted a couple of days before we came home, at a place called Reals, Cessenon-sur-Orb, gateway to the Orb Gorge, apparently. Archie and I had seen the river valley, as we drove over the bridge on an unsuccessful hunt for snakes and scorpions in the hills. We returned with the others a couple of days later when we were unable to hire bikes at Colombiers, on the canal du midi, and had a great day swimming, jumping and diving off the rocks into the river Orb.
I returned with my paints a day or so later, and set up painting, whilst Sara took Archie on another walk, again hunting for anything venomous..again unsuccessfully.
I enjoyed painting this, and have started a larger version of it now that we are back home. This is the first time that I have worked up a larger version of a painting, using only the plein air painting as a source. My intention is to put swimmers in the bigger painting, but I will post about that later - when it is finished.
Here is the plein air painting.
The scene..
..and from above. That's me sat painting, near the bottom, to the left..
 The first  stage, blocking in and picking out a few details

 Adding in the tonal areas..
 Starting to get there.

 Sara holding the picture up.
 The finished painting.
Reals, Cessenon-sur-Orb.

Saturday 24 August 2013

First Painting In France

After spending some time making a much smaller, and lighter, pochade, and preparing salvaged canvas (again from the old swing) we went to France. The canvas was really convenient; I had primed it before we left- it was unstretched and really easy to transport. 
A few days into the holiday I did my first painting. We stayed in a gite in a small village called Thézan les Béziers, and this painting was done just outside the village. The vin yards in the area were dotted with these small stone buildings, obviously originally intended to store something. This one was a little graffitied, but I was struck by how it was catching the setting sun (this seems a long time ago as I sit here writing this, looking at the constant rain outside). I had noticed it the day before, when I photographed it against a very brooding, stormy sky.
Anyway, here is the painting, in stages, painted on salvaged canvas.
 The stone building.
 More drawing out, less blocking in than usual.








 The end of the session, walking back to the car.
The Finished painting, after I had worked back into it at home, adding the road and sign.