Seeds for the birds

Seeds for the birds
11" x 14"

On the cold crisp and bright morning which followed the bonfire I painted these towering sunflowers. It's funny that when the glorious yellow petals have died away the leaves themselves take on the golden hues, lighting up the soggy autumnal landscape. I loved the contrast with the purple greys of the white house in shadow, and the silhouetted shapes of the seed heads against the sky.

Dahlias at the allotments

Dahlias and green shed
Oils 10" x 20"

The last day in October was unseasonably warm, like a mini heatwave. I went out to paint hoping to find either a pumpkin patch or some dahlias, aware that autumn was passing me by and I hadn't been outside to paint for a couple of weeks. 

I didn't find pumpkins but I was rather pleased to see this colourful display of dahlias. The arrangement of the flower bed and the long shed behind did seem to suit a longer format and luckily I had this 10" x 20" board with me, not a size I usually carry around.

I've attached a few photos of the work in progress below -

Leaning sheds and allotment hens

Leaning sheds and allotment hens
Oils 8" x 12"

Do you see what the hens were doing when I painted this one? They were queuing up to take turns in that lovely dust bath, so funny.

I really loved the strong lean on these characterful sheds and yes, I may have over emphasised the extent to which they leant ever so slightly ;-)

Beetroot and pears

Pear blossom by the greenhouse

At last we are enjoying some gorgeous spring sunshine this week, and happily I was able to get out to my favourite local allotments. I didn't spend time looking around because this dilapidated greenhouse caught my eye immediately, and I especially liked the pear tree next to it with the sun glowing through its leaves. 

In situ, bright and breezy day

Afterwards I couldn't resist a little study of these beetroot plants nearby, with the gorgeous little glimpses of pink and red amongst the green leaves.

Beetroot going to seed

Mud bath

Mud bath
20" x 30"
SOLD

My exhibition in Putney with Paul Curtis NEAC is finished now but was a great success. I was so busy with the house move that I didn't get a chance to blog about it so I'll try to make up for that now and show you some of the work from the show. 

This is one of the large studio cow paintings that sold. I found I couldn't get a good photo of this piece but it gives you an idea anyway. It excites me the way the cows become a part of the mud, and the light catches the wet surfaces with little glimpses here and there in the darkness. I look forward to returning to this subject, I just need to find a local dairy farm willing to help out an artist.

Graze
20" x 24"
SOLD

New studio in the countryside!

Most beautiful view framed by the large door!

Less than a week ago we moved house and moved studio so we've had a fair busy old time of it, packing and organising things for weeks and weeks on end. Now we are finally here and although we  are going to be living in chaos for a fair while longer we are enormously happy with the new place and on a sunny day there is nowhere we'd rather be! We have moved less than a mile away, only to the next village so we have the advantage of knowing the whole area and yet still there is something exotic and holiday-like about our new situation and we are loving the views.

I'm feeling very inspired and can't wait to get those paintbrushes moving again, and soon I'll have to get into a new routine that allows me to get my work done alongside getting jobs done for the house and studio.

Tuesday

Sunday - I have some floor space! Yay!

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 :-)

Where in the world...

English summer pasture
12" x 16"

This is my second painting as part of the Illume Gallery's 'Where in the world is plein air' event. For three days over a hundred artists took part from all over the world and made short videos to accompany their paintings.

It is so much fun watching the videos and fascinating to see where everybody has been painting this week. You can see my videos here and then click on 'artists' to choose which other videos you'd like to see.

I was amazed what I heard Lori Putnam say when she was filming for day one, about the passers by who stopped to chat!

Now all the finished paintings are for sale with the Illume Gallery of Fine Art in Salt Lake City in Utah, so I will be wrapping mine up and posting them off there. 

The team involved has done an incredible job co-ordinating all the artists and uploading the videos, and now they have a big exhibition to organise! 

'Down on the farm' - just needed a piece of straw to chew on!

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

Snow glow

Snow glow

This is a study for a future studio painting, another in my favourite series of the snowy allotments. Is there anything better, I ask you, than when the sun glows through a greenhouse and lights it up like a jewel? I'm very excited about the abstract possibilities of this subject. 

By the way, blogger can't cope with the blues again! The shadow areas of snow are so much softer and more subtle in hue than they appear on the screen. Sigh.

Turkey at the allotments

The pens
Oils 12" x 16"

It's been a week off school and a week of birthdays and celebrations at our house. I've had little time for anything else, but it's been good fun. Great to get back to a working routine today though!

The week before I had a most enjoyable afternoon at the allotments with my friend artist Mo Teeuw. I mostly talked while she painted the view behind me and at some point in the proceedings I managed to paint this fabulous shed with the corrugated metal fencing that has seen better days. 

The turkey was a little further away and was making a big show of his feathers every time I walked near to warn me off. I thought he would make a great subject but there was nothing of interest to me in his environs. I did however like this shed, and it came with the added bonus of being within talking distance of Mo. And this was the outcome.

By the way you might like to look at Mo's blog - in January she managed to get out and paint every single day, which is no mean feat in the UK! Well done Mo x

A cold corner

Sleeping awhile
Oils 14" x 18"

My big painting from the allotments last week in the snow. I really am pleased and excited with this. I feel as though there is a real breakthrough going on for me at the moment, and that the recent studio work I've been doing with the Christmas market scenes is now impacting on my plein air work. It's hard to put my finger on exactly what's going on but it's all very exciting. It's all to do with being able to say it more succinctly - "marked by compact precise expression without wasted words".

Incidentally I should tell you that it doesn't always go swimmingly and sometimes progress seems just beyond reach but I always know that it will come. When I'm going through a period of self doubt I just believe that it means a change is coming. I had this belief strongly in November and December last year and now I'm starting to see why. I just tell you that in case it's any use to you, to encourage you to develop that belief for yourself and carry on when it feels like you're dragging your feet through mud!

In situ

So for now I'm very happy to see where it takes me!

A detail showing brushmarks

I love the interesting marks and edges in this painting and I'm going to hang on to it for a while here in the studio. It's leading the way for now...

Across the snowy fields

Across the fields

We haven't had lots of snow this winter, but more than last year anyway which was none at all! In the couple of days of snow we had in January I had a drive around the local villages and found this wonderful view, looking across the fields outside Londonthorpe. I was particularly struck by the shape of that lovely tree halfway down the hill, and the gorgeous light effect giving warmth to its higher branches. Also how that warmth contrasted with the cool violet shadows falling across the foreground field. Gorgeous!

While I was there I saw a villager pouring salt on the icy road, another clearing a driveway with a shovel and one struggling to get his car out of a side road because of the depth of snow there. An awful lot of disruption and then within two days, there was no snow to be seen except for a frosting of ice here and there. This tends to be the way of things when snow falls in England, absolute pandemonium and then it's gone :-) 

Christmas market at dusk

Christmas market series no 3 - market at dusk

I love this one, it's got such mood and expression and again that economy of strokes which is what I'm always striving for - how to say more with less.

This is such a good time of year to reflect on where your work has been and where it might be heading in the year ahead. I'll certainly be giving some thought in the next few days to personal objectives and projects in the year ahead.

My biggest project in 2015, which I'm very excited to tell you about, is that I'm going to be writing a book about oil painting and I'm going to be starting on that very soon. I'm so excited! I'd love your help with that, if there is anything you struggle with or think should be included in the book then now is a great time to let me know as I'm only just beginning with ideas of topics to cover. Although the book will be written specifically about oil painting I want it to be full of painting advice that you can take to any subject and other mediums also. 

And very soon on my blog I'll be doing my annual review, as I find it really helpful to look back over the year past before making plans for the new year ahead. So in the meantime I can only say that I wish you a happy, healthy and fulfilling new year, and I look forward to seeing you in 2015 :-)

A holiday snow day!

Snow over Wilsford
12" x 16" Oils

In between the fun and feasting and visits I was able to get out locally and paint the snow that had fallen overnight - such excitement after not having had snow here for at least 20 months!

I didn't have a suitable board prepared with an under colour, so I had to start with a white surface for this one which I don't really like to do. So I used some glaze medium mixed in with the paint and turps for the first stages adding thinned blues and purples, very much like a watercolour technique. 

This was dry enough to add thicker lighter paint on top within the hour, without any difficulties.

 

Painting in situ

A Boxing Day sketch, family watching TV

Mulled wine and hot chocolate

Mulled wine - hot chocolate
Christmas market no 2
24 x 30 cms

Continuing on with the Christmas market theme, this one concentrates on the action within the mulled wine stall. I particularly was after the warmth, the bright lights and the distorting effects of the steam. Again I tried very much to stick to big shapes apart from the odd bits of interest. I loved it in it's fairly abstract stages, shown below. I was very tempted to leave it at stage two but I do like people to be able to recognise the figurative subject matter and so I felt it didn't say enough about it yet. I don't know, maybe there's an abstract artist within me trying to burst through!

The mostly warm colour palette offset by those lavender/grey blues, and small touches of hot red, pleased me no end. I think when a painting speaks to you in this way, you just know that something about it will affect something you work on in the future at some point, like having a new arrow in your quiver. You don't need to be conscious about it, or try too hard, it will just infuse and develop within your repertoire. 

Stage 1 - darks

Stage 2 - large shapes - could have stopped here

Lovely blog readers, I need to ask your help with something. I've decided to rename this blog in the new year. At the moment it's called 'ma vie en couleurs' which seemed appropriate when I started as I was living in France at the time. Well I've been back in England three years and I need a new title. Don't worry, everything else about the blog stays the same.

But here's where I need you... can you think of a couple of words or a short phrase that describes me and my work and my usual blog content? Please drop me a line or even better leave a comment on this blog post so that others can see your ideas too. If you are reading this in your email inbox, you can redirect to my blog here. Thanks so much for taking the time :-)

Christmas market

Christmas market no 1 - mulled wine stall
10" x 12"

I loved the lights, colour and busyness of the Lincoln Christmas market that I visited a couple of weeks ago. I did find a place to set up and paint but it was away from where I wanted to be and I got very cold! After a couple of hours of painting followed by a warm up in a cafe I decided to walk around taking photos on my phone if anything caught my eye. It was very busy by then and day was turning into dusk which was the very best time for me.  I find it magical when the artificial lights start to take over from the light from the sky.

Since that day I've been developing the theme in the studio, and trying some new approaches. In many ways this is easier to do in the studio than en plein air, when it's best to get the job done as quickly as you can (especially in this weather!).

With this one I really wanted to keep the drawing quite fluid, so I started with painting large shapes and masses rather than a linear or drawn approach. If you imagine screwing your eyes up so that you can only see a blurred vision of the subject, that's how I began. 

I carried on with large shapes and then assessed which places needed more definition and which didn't.

I wanted to describe a little more the two central figures and the lights and decoration of the stall, but to leave the background group of figures as loose marks and large shapes. I think it's best this way as the figures look as though they are moving and populate the scene without dominating it.

You can probably tell I really enjoyed the whole process, I think it shows in the juicy paintwork!

Detail

Detail showing broad treatment of figures

Back of Millfield Terrace in winter

Back of Millfield Terrace in winter
Watercolour and acrylic ink

Another recent snowy watercolour based on one of my favourite local painting spots, the allotments in Sleaford. 

I started this one with a fairly careful pencil drawing and some blue masking fluid to reserve the highlights. I knew that getting this structure in place early on would enable me to apply the paint and ink freely in later stages.

Firstly the warm sky and reflections in greenhouse glass plus some warmth for the snow in the foreground.

Next I used a mix of ultramarine blue watercolour and sepia acrylic ink diluted with water for the snow in shadow areas and the shadowy backs of the terraced houses, sheds, fences etc.

When that was all dry I went back in with neat ink and a wet brush to confirm all the darkest passages. All that was left to do then was the peeling off of the masking fluid when the paint was dry.

COUNTDOWN!! Only 32 days until my big exhibition begins in Nottingham UK...

8th to 18th January 2014 10.30am - 4.00pm at 71 Friar Lane Nottingham NG1 6DH