Water gardens

Dappled light at the water gardens
8" x 10"
Sold

I was in Norfolk last week painting with friends and taking part in the 'Brush with the Broads' painting festival. It's the third year of the festival and we had as glorious weather as we have enjoyed the previous years. Norfolk seems to be the place to be at the end of September! 

This little painting took place at Fairhaven water gardens. I didn't have very much time there but it was a magical place, a beautiful wooded glade with a network of little rivers and larger lakes. 

I would like to come back here and paint another time, I really like the challenge of the little glimpses of light here and there amongst all the dense foliage.

Painting in situ

Cherry blossom

Cherry blossom
8" x 12"

For me May is the finest time of the year to be outside painting in the UK, everything has burst into life and the greens are lush and fresh, there are stunning displays of blossom everywhere you look, all the trees and hedgerows are putting on their best show and when the sun is shining there is nothing more glorious.

And yet every May I seem to have a crazy busy schedule with travelling, teaching, studio painting for deadlines... you name it. I often get to the end of May and feel I've missed the best of the year and hardly managed any plein air time.

So around eight months ago I blocked out this May in my diary as far as possible as 'plein air painting' and it seems to have done the trick! Although I have had other commitments to manage I have also made sure to put everything aside when we have a beautiful day and get out somewhere with my paints.

And I didn't have to travel far for these little studies of cherry blossom, painted from my garden looking at my neighbours trees. 

With these I wasn't trying to make a composition of a usual 'finished painting' for me, I was trying really hard just to match spots of colour and value with what I was seeing. I felt that the blossom was worthy of serious attention in itself and worked really hard with the colours and values rather than 'making do'. 

And then as it turned out, they would make rather nice little paintings framed up after all!

Cherry trees
8" x 10"

Yellow pavilion with Mercury fountain

The yellow pavilion

I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the gardens at the Alcazar Palace in Seville. Fountains, hedges, palm trees, Seville oranges growing on trees, ornate arches, peacocks, shady corners and vibrant warm colours... and all seen in the most beautiful light imaginable. Plus, Sorolla painted here so I was walking in giant footsteps. All this made it very difficult to calm down and actually paint! This was my first attempt in the gardens, I couldn't resist that wall of yellow and it's reflection in the pool.

Fountain study, Seville

Fountain in Seville
Oils 8" x 10"

I've just got back from a wonderful painting trip to Seville with friends. The sunshine and laughter was such a tonic for me. I've had an email this morning from a blog subscriber who said 'Are you ok? I am missing seeing your paintings'. I had forgotten that not everybody sees my posts on Instagram (I put almost daily snaps on there) or on Facebook, which I update about once a week. So I will get to work sending you, my lovely blog subscribers, some recent images of paintings!

To start with this is a little plein air contre jour study of a beautiful fountain in Seville. There were lots of people around and I was hoping to catch a figure sitting on the wall of the fountain but I didn't get the right person in the right place. When I visit Seville again I most definitely need a model with me!

Ormesby pumpkins

Ormesby pumpkins
12" x 16"

I should have posted this one for Halloween! I painted it at the end of September when I was in Norfolk for the 'Brush with the broads' plein air festival. I was delighted to find the allotments but the light was pretty flat and uninspiring that afternoon. Never-the-less I was taken with the shapes and colours of this pumpkin patch. The painting was feeling pretty flat and uninspired until I took a palette knife to it and started breaking up edges and letting colour travel around. I really liked it in the end. I'm afraid there's a bit of glare on the photo though. I used a gamblin solvent free gel to speed up the drying time. It also gives a pleasant overall sheen but makes taking a photograph more difficult!

This painting is currently on show at the Picturecraft Gallery in Holt, Norfolk with the Institute of East Anglian Artists.

My solo exhibition in Nottingham 'A lighter touch' opens on Friday 13th November until Sunday 22nd November, at 71 Friar Lane Nottingham NG1 6DH. I will be in the gallery each day and showing around 70 new paintings. We will have late night openings until 7.30pm on Friday 13th, Saturday 14th and Friday 20th. All other days opening hours are 10.00am to 5.00pm. Ten days only, don't miss it! 

Meanwhile on a French island

Freshly laundered
Oils 8" x 10"

Meanwhile my lovely summer continues on the French island of Bréhat with the family. I painted this small oil study yesterday and am hoping to get a few more small oil paintings to take back with me as well as sketch lots and get on with writing my book! Not forgetting eating yummy food, testing the sun loungers, shopping for fresh local produce, BBQ's on the beach, strolling in the sun, playing games with the family and reading all the books I haven't had time to read...  I do so love August!

The blue carrot shed

The blue carrot shed

The third day of filming in Cornwall was a beauty, and we found ourselves in this south facing cutting garden. It was very hot but I was so happy to be there surrounded by such fantastic subject material. In part my choice of viewpoint was influenced as to where we could find space for three people to stand with three camera tripods. But had that not been the case, it would have been very hard to resist this little blue shed with the pink roses in front!

Again I was working with a little pochade box and an 8" x 10" board. I used to really struggle to paint small sizes outdoors and found that I had a tendency to tighten up and get a bit fiddly. I decided long ago that 8" x 10" was as small as I was happy to go.

I think I've overcome that now as I was very comfortable with the 8" x 10" format. The trick is to keep using a good sized brush and not feel you have to go tiny. Plus I had to make extra choices regarding selection and simplification. There are areas I would have worked more information into had I been using a larger canvas.

Detail

Huge thanks to Susanne of The Blue Carrot for allowing me to visit and paint in her beautiful space. If you are on Instagram look up @the_blue_carrot for beautiful images of flowers and weddings!

And while you're on Instagram, did you know I'm there too? I put more on Instagram than I do on Facebook or twitter, I find it's the perfect place for sharing a quick snap of something exciting or beautiful - without the need to add text! I'm there as @haideejosummers 

Back to the roses

Walled garden, Belton House
10" x 14"

I grabbed the chance to go back to the garden a couple of days later. I was rained off on this one, spent about half an hour fiddling about with the umbrella. Undoubtedly I would have gone on longer but really what more was there to say? I think it's all there, with a refreshing spontaneity. Sometimes we just go on too long... like an after dinner speech...

As seen (unframed) in a group of paintings in the studio

All of these paintings except the two small ones on the right are now wrapped up and on their way to Josephine Harpur Fine Art, to be exhibited in Suffolk shortly. 

I'm here!

Rose garden at Belton House
12" x 16"

Ok so it seems as though two months has passed since I spoke to you last - it isn't that long but I've been packing a LOT in to the last four weeks! I'll try to get you back up to date with a lot of mini blog 'postcards' and action shots!
This is my favourite of the three paintings I did for the 'Where in the world is plein air' video event. This was day three for me and again I was blessed with fantastic weather. It was a really hot day but I had a tree fairly close to me so I was able to step back in the shade and cool off now and then. What an idyllic spot and subject, I didn't know which way to look! The roses in England have been absolutely amazing this year.

It was a nice surprise to find one of my Facebook friends/blog subscribers sketching in the garden too :-)

Actually this is one of my favourite paintings of the whole year so far, and it's now in America at the Illume gallery in Salt Lake City along with my other two from the event. If anyone could show me a photo of them in situ I'd be enormously grateful, it's a little far for me to get to at the moment.
You can watch the video of it's creation here.
You could even be the rightful owner of this gorgeous painting :-)

Regency picnic

Regency picnic, Gunby Hall
12" x 16"

It's not every day you get a chance to dress up in a regency style dress and bonnet, to paint similarly attired people having a picnic in sunshine at a beautiful stately home in the countryside, is it? 

Painting the picnic

I count myself extremely lucky to have done exactly that at Gunby Hall in Lincolnshire, and I also made a short video of the day which you can see here!

Selfie in bonnet - I always wanted to be in a Jane Austen movie ;-)

Bees in the orchard

Bees in the orchard
Oils 10" x 14"

We've had some fantastic weather this week in Lincolnshire, so I had to get out painting and where better than the gorgeous gardens at Gunby Hall? I headed for my favourite spot but the pond was brown and left me uninspired. This turned out to be a good thing as I wandered into this gorgeous orchard, and I've always hankered after painting bee hives! How exciting! The setting could not have been more lovely, and I'm very glad I came.

Can you see the bees? ;-)

Not a cloud in the sky

Drying in a sea breeze

Drying in a sea breeze
Oils 12" x 16"

Here's a lovely calm painting for you from this summer in France. It's one of the many new paintings I'm framing up this week for my new exhibition! 

There are frames all over my studio and my lovely friend Imogen has been here all day painting them for me while I try to get a few paintings finished off and signed. 

I've managed to write a newsletter at last - I discovered that it's really easy to do through my website, although it has no frills and I can't add pictures so it's not a permanent solution. It is however a terrific way to give you a brief overview each month about what I'm busy with so if you'd like to be added to the list just send me your email address and I'll pop you on.

Another new discovery is how to add a 'store item' to my website so at the moment you can buy my lovely 2015 calendar direct from there using your Paypal account or credit card and this is just the start... I will be adding some paintings and cards but not yet... large show to get ready!

Take a look at my 'store item'!

Reverie

Reverie
Oils 28" x 20"
SOLD

A recently finished larger studio painting, finding inspiration in the Gunby Hall pond again. I was mesmerised by the deep dark reflection of the large tree, so I decided to call this painting 

reverie  noun  a state of being pleasantly lost in one's thoughts; a daydream.

Sometimes when I worked on this one I turned it the other way round as though I was painting a landscape and sky instead of a reflection in water. I really really love painting still water and reflections, mind you it's the ever changing sea that keeps me on my toes.

 

At the start, all splish splash

A section of the work in progress,
a pleasing piece of abstract design

Belton House fountain

Belton House fountain
Oils 16" x 20"

Here's a closer look at the fountain painting from last week. Despite the outbursts of rain I really thoroughly enjoyed painting this. I only live a couple of miles away so I can easily return here to paint the fountain again. Lucky me. Usually when I come here it's with the family at weekends and without my paints, so I will have to make another midweek visit.

We're having quite a lot of rain showers at the moment, with sunny intervals in between. I've got plenty to be getting on with inside but I'm keeping a lookout for a consistently fine painting day.

Here's a detail from the painting so you can get a better look at the brush marks. I especially like that squidgy turquoise stroke in the water section. 

Belton House fountain
Detail

Movie star!

In the spotlight!

Movie star? No not really, but if you were one of the school children on a trip to Belton House near Grantham yesterday you might have been forgiven for thinking that I was a VIP! 

I met up with a photographer there to have photos taken for a forthcoming article in a local magazine, the Lincolnshire Journal. 

The weather looked a bit dubious, and after an hour of painting I was caught in a downpour, thank goodness I had my umbrella with me! I could do very little for twenty minutes except stand close to the painting huddled under the umbrella. 

After the rain, painting again!

Luckily by the time the photographer came the sun was shining again. I think the magazine will be published in early June, so I'll show you what the article looks like when I get a copy.

I need to put a few finishing touches on my painting of the fountain and garden, and then I'll take a better photo of the painting to show you.

I'm also planning images for a 2015 calendar right now,  maybe this painting will make an appearance for the month of May ;-)

Gunby Hall gardens

Gracie in the gardens at Gunby Hall
Oils 10" x 12"

It's always exciting to find a great new painting location and I found one on Monday. It's a National Trust stately home and garden called Gunby Hall in Lincolnshire, and only a little over an hour's drive away from me. The gardens are absolutely beautiful and I could find so many subjects there. As a bonus on Monday it was 'regency day' and there were people walking around and dancing in regency costumes which was so exciting for me, like visiting a Jane Austen film set.

After a lovely picnic I looked for a spot to paint in the gardens. The sun was out a little bit but when I was painting it was mostly cloudy, so I chose a subject with a little inherent colour. 

I was hoping to get a passing figure or two into the painting, and when I was almost beyond the point of being able to add anybody my goddaughter Gracie came along and offered to pose for me. She stood there by the sundial for between twenty minutes and half an hour bless her. She didn't mind at all, and I kept asking her if she'd had enough and wanted to stop.

She really improved the painting by her presence I'm sure you'll agree. My absolutely favourite part is her right foot which was turned inwards for a moment and I managed to catch it!

Painting at Gunby Hall

Sketches of ladies

Oil sketch of friends in repose

Then I took the high key colour palette and used it to paint these small sketches in oil, based on my line drawings from the day spa and using a little artistic license regarding backgrounds etc. I just can't wait to be able to paint like this outside in summer. I just need to find willing models. 

In the meantime, if you're local and willing to spend a few hours sitting around in your dressing gown for me please get in touch!

Oil sketch of friends in repose