Arboreal Magic

After reading Dark Sister by Graham Joyce, not to mention Some Kind Of Fairytale, Tales For a Dark Evening, Silent Land and The Tooth Fairy, by the same author, I wanted to go back to painting landscapes, especially woodland. What I really want to do is to suggest something of the magic that you feel in the woods at certain times of the day, when you are alone. I don't know if I am having a great deal of success with this, but I am enjoying leaving the built-up areas alone for a while. It's also getting me out of the house more, which is exactly what I need.
This painting is smaller than I have worked on for some time, and just as scaling-up presents challenges, so does scaling down. I have struggled with this, and interestingly I found myself tightening back up, adding details that on reflection I'm not sure I needed to add. I'm tempted to redo this painting, but on a bigger scale, and much looser in style.
We'll see..

The Path, Yearsley Woods.

Oil on Board

Back In The Woods.

Enough with painting York for a while. I might look at Sheffield and Leeds (going there for son number one's birthday present today), but before I do I am going to do some woodland scenes. Hopefully with a fey feel to them. I've been fancying this after reading several books recently by Graham Joyce, particularly 'Dark Sister' and 'Some Kind Of Fairytale'. 

This painting is of Yearsley woods:

I used linseed oil to thin the paint on this one, so much longer drying times between sessions.

'Last Light, Yearsley Woods'