Glimmer

Glimmer
Oils on canvas 12" x 16" £795

I painted this at Hook Head in Ireland a couple of years ago, and although I was always happy with it I've really enjoyed making a few minor changes to it in the studio this week and now I love it. The 'idea' or story behind the painting is really that fleeting light effect on top of the headland there, in the midst of an oncoming storm. By the time I'd packed up big fat spots of rain were starting to fall, and as I reached the car it started to hammer down!

The photo above doesn't show the subtle colour shifts so I've added a few close-ups to give you a better look.

This painting breaks one of the rules of atmospheric perspective, by placing the more saturated high chroma colours in the distance. To balance this unsettling effect somewhat I made sure to place the strongest tonal contrasts in the foreground, see the light valued sea spray against the dark crevices in the rocks in the section illustrated below -

Detail of waves and rocks

The distant glimmer, fleeting light

I am taking this painting up to Hull this weekend with four others, where it will be part of a mixed group show called 'Water runs deep' at the Studio Eleven gallery.
The exhibition opening takes place on the 19th July from 2-4pm, and the show is then open until the 7th September. 

Hook head - horizon

Hook head
Oils on canvas 12" x 16"

I've been on the computer for about 24 hours (not quite but feels like it!) designing a 'self-publish' book of my latest paintings. I'm hugely excited about it and I think it's going to look great. It's 100 pages long and I've included all my favourite paintings from 2012 so far, plus it's absolutely littered with inspirational quotes about painting and life! I can't share details of it with you yet until I've received an actual physical copy to hold in my hands and see that it's as fantastic as I hope it will be!

I'm also working on two current portrait commissions so I can't show you pictures of those until completed.
I can show you this however! I painted Hook Head back in summer in Ireland with my new friend Lori Putnam painting nearby.
I was really happy with it as it was my best painting of the week but one thing niggled me - the wonky horizon line! Today I finally got around to fixing it, I don't know how hard I thought it was going to be exactly but it took me all of five minutes to sort it!

Before - with wobbly horizon! I'm using masking tape to make a straight edge

I'm off to London again tomorrow, handing in two paintings that have been pre-selected for the New English Art Club (do not hold your breath - I'm not!), and hopefully will be meeting with someone special...

Hook head, big surprise!

Hook Head, oil on canvas 12" x 16"

Incoming tide at Hook Head, oils on canvas 12" x 16"

I must admit, I had my doubts. This morning was the worst rain yet. I could hear it beating down outside as soon as I woke up, you know, the kind of rain that slaps the pavement!
We were heading out to the tip of a peninsula, to a lighthouse of all places, the most exposed painting location of the week.
We had a plan, me and Lori my new friend. Turn up, get canvasses stamped, turn heel and drive inland. Somewhere with shelter.
But what was this? As we drove towards Hook Head, spots and patches of blue started to appear in the clouds.
We arrived in glorious sunshine! We painted in sunshine all day, and it was my best painting day of the week, without doubt!
Now I'm off to the Festival BBQ! It's pouring with rain again now, but that doesn't matter at all!