My new book is here!

My book cover!

Well I've finally finished writing my book on oil painting, and Search Press have done a wonderful job with the design and layout and now it's actually here and I'm so pleased with it!

I've also seen this really lovely review of my book, written by Henry Malt of Art Book reviews, and I promise you I didn't have to bribe him with chocolate biccies!

Vibrant Oils || Haidee-Jo Summers

This is really rather wonderful. The initial impression, picking it up, is that it’s more than usually substantial and, at 176 pages, it most certainly is. A quick flick through reveals a wealth of illustrations and an enormous variety of subjects. Haidee-Jo’s style is loose, relaxed and colourful and this doesn’t, on the surface, feel like an oil painting book, insofar as those are often rather lofty and worthy. The truth is that it’s not really a medium book at all, but rather a guide to the whole creative process that just happens to use oils as its vehicle. I’d even go so far as to suggest that you could find plenty to get from it even if you never had any intention of working in the medium at all.

Investigate further and the next thing you might notice is that, for all its size, there are only 4 step-by-step projects. This is entirely in keeping with the approach, which is to teach you about the subject, rather than simply to train you to emulate it. In the old analogy, it teaches you to fish and feeds you for life, rather than giving you a fish and feeding you for a day. Subject matter is catholic and includes landscapes, seascapes, still lifes, figures and flowers.

Along the way, Haidee-Jo considers composition, colours, light, cropping, the use of layers, tone and more. Some sections are quite short paragraphs, some are sidebars and others simple hints. Everything is accompanied by an example painting and the explanations are commendably clear.

The publisher is trying to sell this as suitable for all levels of ability. I have my doubts. If you were a complete beginner, I think you might find its comprehensiveness overwhelming. However, if you have some experience, or are new to oils, as opposed to painting, it has a great deal to tell you and won’t disappoint.

As a special thank you the first 300 people who buy the book through my website will be entered into a draw to win one of the original paintings in the book. I have also promised (although I am quite possibly at risk of writer's cramp) to sign those first 300 copies! 

Click to see more info

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

Fisherman's shelter

Fisherman's shelter, Portscatho
8" x 10"

Just so that you can find me when you come by for a celebratory drink tomorrow evening (Tuesday 25th August) 6.30 - 8.00 pm, this is where I'll be - at the fisherman's shelter in Portscatho, Cornwall. Right by the harbour and the red telephone box, you can't miss it. 

I'll also be painting at this fab venue on Wednesday and Thursday from 11.00 am - 4.00 pm.

I have a poor mobile phone signal around here and no internet access in the daytime so if you need more information please contact Mark at the Harbour Gallery. We can't wait to see you in this idyllic place :-)

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!

In the cooling shade

In the cooling shade
Oils approx 12" x 16"

I'm telling you the terrace was the only place to be in the afternoons... unless you were in the pool, or having a siesta in a darkened room ;-)

St-Just-in-Roseland

The creek at St-Just-in-Roseland
Oils 16" x 26"

I had a great five days in Cornwall last week plein air painting while filming for my DVD with APV films. The weather was variable but we didn't get rained off and one of the days was an absolute scorcher. I found some cracking subjects and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We are going to have a day filming in my studio this winter and then the final editing will take place.

I'm gathering together a list of people who'd like to be the first to know when the DVD is available, and those people will be able to order a signed copy direct from my studio. One lucky person on the list will be sent a free copy of the DVD!

If you'd like to be added simply send me a message or reply to this email and I'll pop you on there :-)

Great Art Award

The thaw, Drove allotments

Another very happy and fortunate event from my Patchings festival week... my painting 'The thaw, Drove allotments' won a prize in The Artist exhibition in the Barn Gallery!

The exhibition is open until the 19th July and well worth a visit, but if you are too far away you can see all the paintings in the exhibition, plus the Leisure Painter exhibition, and the Highly Commended entries here - click on the links at the side to view all the categories. You can also vote for your favourites for the people's choice award.

My prize is £250 to spend on art materials from Great Art - woohoo! I have received my catalogue and vouchers and will really enjoy spending them :-)

Many many thanks to Great Art, and Patchings art centre and The Artist magazine and the judges!

With Penny German and Sally Bulgin, editor of The Artist magazine

I was absolutely over the moon that my friend Penny German won The Artist purchase award with her beautiful painting of the cribbage chair. Take a look at Penny's daily painting blog here.

And enjoy the armchair viewing of the exhibitions at Patchings! :-)

Patchings festival 2015

My stand, ready for visitors!

I finally have a few moments to share my experience of Patchings festival with you! It was my fourth year as an exhibitor at the festival and as always I loved every minute of it. It is an intense week, as it takes me a couple of days getting things ready at my end, then a whole day setting up the stand. I was very lucky to have my husband helping again with this! The festival then runs for four days and I travel to and from home each day, so I leave the house at 8.00 am and by the time I get back at about 7.00 pm I'm pretty shattered. As you can see from the photos things get really busy!

As always bunting and fairy lights!

Things got BUSY!

We had fantastic weather for the whole event, apart from some pretty extreme wind on the Saturday. Thursday was baking hot in the marquee which was unpleasant at times, but at least the sunshine brought all the visitors out.
 As always I was chatting to people all day long but I managed to get some painting done, starting off with a large canvas of Polperro harbour. Yes it was hard to concentrate on the painting because I break off to answer somebody's question and then before I know it two hours have passed!

A small crowd watching me paint

Just starting

Thursday morning, me and Sue ready for action!

We sold lots of cards and 2016 calendars and four original paintings, and gathered lots of email addresses for the newsletter. I'll be pulling a name out of the box any day now to win the painting of clementines. Good luck if you entered!

As always an original painting in the prize draw (above the flowers)

Choosing a frame for one of the paintings sold during the festival

More than anything we had lots of fun chatting to old and new friends, and as always it was great to catch up with twitter and Facebook and Instagram friends - meeting some of these for the first time! I also had friends who were stallholders for the first time this year and it was great to see them doing so well and having a happy experience. It is such a friendly festival and I'm looking forward to next year already.

With Robin Mason, fellow Harbour Gallery artist

With Luigi from Venice, who was a gondolier for 45 years!

With twitter friend artist Alice Hall from Cornwall

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

California flowers

California flowers
Oils 14" x 10"

I've come back from the convention full of inspiration, refreshed and raring to go - which is exactly what I was hoping for! It was terrific to spend time with my friends and meet lots of new friends and put a face to existing Facebook friends! Especially Cory who's been following my blog since just about the time when I started it in 2011 :-)

 The coastline in this part of California is incredible and I know I will have to come back here to paint. The light seems crystal clear and of course for me the sunshine makes a subject of just about anything. Take the backlighting on these flowers for example.

It was a wrench every day - be out painting or be in the conference centre watching all the wonderful demos and talks. Did I tell you they laid on free coffee all day too? Yes that pleases me ;-)

Look - freebies!

Look at all the gifts! I love gifts - and stickers! There are stickers for my easels ;-)

How finished is finished?

Morning sunlight on the campo

Ah, the eternal question! When do you know a painting is finished... if indeed, a painting ever is finished? And does 'finished' mean 'finished off' as in, well... I think you know what I mean!

Here's an interesting case in point. I was working on this studio painting a couple of weeks back and then I had to put it on standby and get on with other work. In my head this painting was labelled 'needs further attention, needs a lot more work, must go back to it, it's quite a way off being finished (the dreaded word)'.

Now today it's caught my eye again and what's happened? Have the studio elves been working while I've been in France? It caught my eye and my mind said this 'that's an interesting piece, it evokes a mood, what more is there to say? By golly I think it's .... (insert dreaded word here)'

What do you think? How much information is enough? For me this is the eternal question. Firstly you should know what you are trying to say in your painting. Then, it's easier for you to recognise when you've said it. That's about all the help I can give today but I know it's a topic I'll come back to ;-)

And now I'm a teensy little bit excited because the suitcase is zipped shut, my passport is in my hand and I'm heading to Heathrow ready to fly tomorrow. See you in California!

Rocks and waves

Rocks and waves at Mousehole
Framed size about 21" x 25"

Back in the southwest of Cornwall again with this one - and you can see the pretty village of Mousehole nestling in the background. Maisie loves to run around on these rocks and bark at the waves! For now I'm enjoying having it up on the wall in the studio, but if you'd like to purchase this painting you can contact me and we can discuss framing/delivery etc.

Shadows at Bedruthan

Shadows at Bedruthan
Oils, framed size 16" x 19"

Here's another new studio painting of a different view at the Bedruthan steps. Oh my, I'd love to live with this painting. It takes me right back to the hypnotic motion of the waves swirling around over the rocks below, the feel of the sun on your face and the salty breeze. That turquoise water, those scudding soft clouds, and that brightly lit grass on the cliff top... just lush.

Alas, I won't be keeping the painting because it will have a nice home waiting for it somewhere. I am having it made into greetings cards though, so far this is one of four brand new card designs that I will be showing at the Patchings festival in June. There will be many more new ones, original paintings and 2016 calendars too!

But if this gorgeous painting belongs with you, feel free to contact Mark here. I don't think it will be on the gallery wall for long.

Beach at Bedruthan

Beach at Bedruthan
Oils, framed size 19" x 23"

The stunning rugged National Trust coastline on the north Cornwall coast at the famous Bedruthan steps. Really wished I lived closer and could get here at different hours of the day, and to be able to make the most of good weather days such as this one!

This painting is also heading to the Scarlet Hotel which is within two miles of the steps. The price, framed, is £850 and again if you'd like a closer look you can contact Mark at the Harbour Gallery because he's a lovely and helpful chap!

Breaking wave

Breaking wave catches the light
Oils, unframed size 16" x 20"
Framed size 23" x 27"

Here's a change from all those lovely wintry paintings I've been doing lately - I've also been busy painting lovely seascapes so I'll show you a few of those this week. I really love this one, that marvellous green glow as the sun illuminates the breaking wave. This is a studio painting but I have stood on these rocks at Mousehole and painted the waves coming over the rocks from life, so I hope I have captured some of that feeling of urgency and movement here. As always, distilling the information received down to it's essential components, is what counts.

This one is being framed up for the Scarlet Hotel in Cornwall, and will be for sale there at £1100. If you'd like to rush in and grab it before it even makes it to the gallery wall or the Harbour Gallery's website please contact Mark here :-)

Exciting times - new book!

Washing day, Venice

I must fill you in on my very exciting news! My Facebook friends may have already seen me mention this earlier in the year when I asked which topics you would like to see covered, but of course not all of my lovely blog readers are also on Facebook.

I have begun to write a book on oil painting. Its going to be full of information and inspiration and of course my paintings. A lot of the information will be useful for working in other mediums too, as it will be about the properties of a successful painting and how to put them into practice. I have had a planning meeting with the publishers so all I need to do now is work on the content - all 144 pages!

I'm hugely excited, but I also wanted to warn you that I have a very busy year ahead of me! I will continue to blog as often as I can but please be patient with me if you don't hear from me for a few weeks sometimes. I will be having not one but three solo exhibitions in 2015 so I need to be ultra productive and organised.

I've got lots of fab travel plans for this year - California, France, Umbria, Channel islands, Venice... which means there will be lots of good stuff to blog about when I get the opportunity ;-)

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.

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...

View with a room

View with a room
Oils 8" x 16"

We were blessed with a covering of snow again last week! It arrived overnight and by three o clock the next day it was all but gone. Luckily I had the chance to make the most of it and was able to get out early with all my paints and equipment in the car. After dropping the children off at school I was ready to go and I managed to find an allotments which I knew existed but I'd never been able to find before.
Everything there was covered in a blanket of snow, and my excitement level was at about fever pitch!

At first the sky was quite brooding and overcast while I had a good look around taking lots of photos, but by the time I was back where I started the sun was shining and things really started to warm up.
This is the second painting I did there, which took less than an hour and a half. You can see how rapidly the snow was melting by looking at this photo taken after I'd finished. It went from everything blanketed in snow at 9am to mostly mud and greenery by 2.00pm. The plus side to this rapid thaw was that I was lovely and warm standing in the sun, and of course I love the chance to paint strong clear shadows on snow which I wouldn't have had if the sun had stayed hidden.

The thing that really grabbed me here was the table and stack of chairs which looked kind of inviting in the sun there, although covered in a fine coat of snow. I also loved the light valued canes against the dark trees behind.
I must confess I was really pleased with the economy of my mark making on this one, was able to describe effectively what was happening with just a minimum of shapes and colour.

A detail

On my screen the shadow area of this picture looks a ghastly blue, which it isn't in real life. It really is a lovely subtle violet. Hope it looks ok on yours!

Magic and bubbles

Bubble stall, Christmas market no 6

Back to the Christmas market theme, which I can't get enough of at the moment, my favourite part was the bubble stall.  I will definitely be painting a studio version of this subject because it was a 'coup de coeur' moment, I knew it instantly. The red and white of the awnings against the dark stonework and dusking sky, the life and movement provided by the figures and the fun - oh the FUN - given by the vapour and bubbles moving upwards and out towards the sky!

So what I'm really enjoying at the moment is working these small (around 10" x 12") studies on Arches 'huile' paper. It's like a very lovely watercolour paper but it's oil primed and I love using it. The paintings can still be framed without glass, you just attach the paper to a board and varnish as usual.

Anyway, I will perhaps work on half a dozen small studies of this very subject, while exploring ideas about colour and composition for the larger painting. I find it very freeing, this way of working. The big challenge will be retaining the freshness on a larger scale. We'll worry about that later though :-)