Happy Christmas time

Snow at the Roseland Inn

I hope that you are all having a nice Christmas and New Year break. I'm loving the way that everything slows down and you can spend time relaxing with friends and family and not worry that you should be doing anything else. I love checking my emails and seeing hardly any new ones - except for all the January sale ones which I'm deleting straight away.

This painting of a Cornish pub in the snow - oh how I wish we had snow on the way - is now on show in the winter exhibition at the Harbour Gallery, Portscatho. 

You can have a look at all the paintings in this lovely exhibition here.

Snowy new homes

First snow,  Drove allotments

These favourite snow scenes of mine, painted this year, have all sold in the last month and are heading off to their new homes. It's so rewarding every time my passion for painting the gorgeous snowy domestic subjects is deeply loved and appreciated by somebody else.

'First snow, Drove allotments' is a complete favourite of mine. Painted entirely en plein air I haven't had a single day since where I have been quite as euphoric painting as I was on that day. Such excitement, to be at the allotments with snow. Simple pleasures eh?

This painting also felt like real progress to me, in the manner in which it was painted. It was as though I'd passed another level or grade in my pursuit of simplification.
It goes to join another of my snow scenes from the previous winter at it's lovely new home.

Treading softly

 What can I say about 'Treading softly'? Well this photo doesn't do it justice at all. It marks another huge turning point in the development of my work and I was almost holding my breath all the while I was painting it. I was desperate to communicate that delicate softness of the icy early winter morning when your breath hangs in the air as if frozen and shapes are emerging and hidden by the morning mist. I have a tendency to be heavy handed and knew that with this one I had to approach it so delicately and softly and not like a bull in a china shop! That's why I was holding my breath the whole while!

The abstracted shapes and colour combinations within this painting do take my breath away, and I actually feel cold coming off the painting when I stand in front of it. I'm also very proud of this one and happy that it has gone to a very good home.

Out of the woods

'Out of the woods' is a good example of the less is more and get it down quick tactic. It's a much smaller painting than the others here and it's that end of the winters day, do I have it in me to stay out for one more hour? Oh my gosh look at those long shadows and the sun going down behind the trees. Yes. I. Do.

The thaw, Drove allotments

Aww 'the thaw'. Well this one is the largest snow painting yet and I passionately love it also. It's a bittersweet emotion because the snow is melting and my time to paint it is running out fast but what an exciting contrast to try to capture! The warm sunlight, the cool shadows on the snow and that really fresh green of the sodden grass emerging from it's cold cloak. Added to which the structure of the sheds, the opportunity for little abstract passages. Bliss. And strong tonal contrasts which meant that for this one I could be just as gung ho as I wanted! This one is like the 'yang' if 'Treading softly' is the yin.

'The thaw' is currently on display in the Royal Institute of Oil painters annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London. Do go in and see an amazing show if you can but be quick, it ends at 1.00pm on Sunday 13th December.

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! :-)

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!

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 :-) 

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

Making a mark awards

Leek pickers in Lincolnshire

In between all the festive feasting and socialising I got out with the paints for a couple of hours. This was exactly the subject I was looking for and the weather was kind plus I had permission to paint here. All favourable conditions but I could have done with more time. Maybe I'll get another chance but not today, the weather has turned pretty wild again.

I'm honoured to have been nominated again in the Making a Mark awards 2013, for best landscape picture on an art blog during 2013. There are four categories for best artwork - landscape, nature, portrait/figure and still life. The deadline for voting is tonight at 11.00pm GMT and you can vote for your favourites quite simply by clicking here. Katherine Tyrrell explains the annual awards and the reasons behind her choices plus shares her thoughts on art blogs and as always it makes for interesting reading.

Galley hill allotments in snow
the painting nominated for the award

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

Orchard in the snow

Orchard in the snow
Watercolour and gouache

The days are too short and too dark at the moment, and now we have 70mph gales! On Tuesday our heating stopped working but luckily it was fixed yesterday. Then today we've had a power cut lasting most of the afternoon, but fortunately it's back on just in time for darkness falling. Amazing what you miss without electricity ... heating, wifi, phone and coffee to name just a few!

Anyway here's a cheery scene, a glowing watercolour that I painted recently. There's no actual snow here yet but they're saying blizzards are on their way so watch this space...

I started with wet into wet watercolour for the yellow and orange glow, and while this wash was still damp I used a darker warm colour to start to describe the background tree shapes.

Closer trees and a little bit of fence went in next...

Establishing the darkest darks is tricky to get right in watercolour, remember it dries a lot lighter than it looks when you put it on. It's a good idea to have a little test sheet nearby to try out your colours on.

Some purple shadow washes and the addition of a few chickens in watercolour, and then I finished off in gouache putting some warm whites back into the sunlit snow.

If you're in Scotland, Wales, the north of England or East Anglia, especially by the coast, I hope you manage ok tonight with the storms. 

Sledging at Belmont tower

Sledgers at Belmont tower, Grantham
Oil on canvas 14" x 18"

Here's the studio version of 'Sledgers', starring my own son in the foreground! I hope you like it, it really pleased me to do it. I loved painting the original at the time, but I feel this is a better painting. I hope I have managed to keep the freshness of the plein air piece, I think I have. I was careful to keep the sketchy treatment of the figures. The nice thing about painting this version in the studio is that I could better consider where to place the figures.

The original version painted en plein air
Oil on panel 10" x 12" 

In case you missed it back then, this is the fun video of the painting day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GH5vzEqp8I

North Heath Lane in snow

North Heath Lane in snow

Our snow has all gone now, but here's another one from last week. It was Monday and we had about four or five inches of snow settle overnight. The local roads were pretty dangerous that day and I decided I'd rather not drive anywhere if I could help it.  So I took my paints out on a sledge and headed up this hill away from the village. The effect of looking back towards the village and hill behind was lovely and soft and muted - things which don't come easily to me with painting but I'm trying hard to introduce softness and blending where it is needed!

Now that the snow has gone outside, I'm working on snow inside the studio - the painting based on the sketch of the ponies that I showed you last week. I'm not sure how it's going - it's exciting and terrifying all at the same time. It's not very often that I don't have the subject in front of me! Well I do have the line drawing in front of me, but no colour notes which also makes it quite freeing.

It's amazing that in the space of a few days all this snow has gone, and this lane is now back to it's default winter setting - mud!

Snow on the beach, Sutton on sea

Snow on the beach, Sutton on sea

Yesterday I thought it might be nice to have a change from painting snow, so headed over to Sutton on sea again and would you believe it? I was amazed to find the beach was covered in snow!

So here we are - first time I've ever painted snow on a beach and I think it's the first time I've ever seen snow on a beach...

I used one of my 8" x 16" wooden panels for this, and at the time I was really unsure about how it was going but after getting it home and warming up (and quite a few favourable comments) I've really warmed to the painting too. I think the snowy beach looks like a snowy beach, and that's a good thing!

Last visit here was in November, and I did a similar format painting looking exactly in the same direction...

No snow in November!

Looking very serious... or cold.. or thinking about chips and mushy peas...

Galley hill allotments in the snow

Galley hill allotments in snow

Here's a better look at my painting from Tuesday, at the allotments. In the actual painting there is more in the way of subtle colour variation - for example on this photo the brightest white snow looks all the same when in fact there's a subtle variation of added lemon yellow and/or magenta. Hopefully I'll learn how to take better photos this year!

It's not too bad though, it gives you the general idea. I'm really happy I had an opportunity to paint some shadows on snow. Much of our snow has melted away now - anybody got a lovely snowman photo to send me?

Here is Cameron and Katie's - he's a beauty! Thank you!

Have a great weekend everyone :-)

Lily's gift

I've a few bits and bobs for you today. I've had a really good day getting on with some of the work I've fallen behind with due to my snow obsession! I've also been taking photos of my snow paintings so I'll be able to show you better images of those.

Yesterday I went out with the intention of painting but only managed this drawing of a horse beside it's ramshackle stable and I just love the snowman. He looks as though he is surrendering! I've always wanted to paint snowmen.

Anyway, I've started a large-ish studio painting on the basis of this sketch which I'm quite excited about at the moment. The tricky thing will be keeping up the momentum, as you know I really need to get outside to paint from life, it's my passion.

I'd like to try more studio work based on my plein air studies, it's an avenue I want to explore. I really like this quote from Kevin Macpherson - "Indoor and outdoor painting are complementary experiences. As memories of nature breathe life into your studio work, the disciplined approaches and principles you practice indoors will enable you to attack the canvas outdoors in new ways"

This is the lovely photo of Ken Howard that I took at his exhibition last week. As I was sitting talking to him a lady came along and pulled out a painting from her bag wrapped in a little bubble wrap. It was a self portrait that he'd painted when he was 22 years old! It had obviously been in the lady's family for a very long time and was wonderful to see. Ken is hoping to exhibit it at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters exhibition alongside a current self portrait, aged 80.

I had a very nice surprise in the post yesterday! My youngest blog subscriber is Lily, a little girl who lives in Normandy in France and she has made me this wonderful keyring! Isn't that just so adorable and kind? 

Merci beaucoup Lily! Ça me plaît énormément! Gros bisous à toi :-)

Today I discovered that my painting (Ice cream shed) is on the front cover of the next issue of The Artist magazine, and my article on how to find your own style is now featured online on the website www.painters-online.co.uk so you can have a sneak peek before the magazine hits the shops!

Finally, I spotted this snow family in my village! Please email me a picture if you've spotted any fun snowman or snowlady- I never tire of seeing them!

Allotments in the snow

The painting on the easel a few minutes before I left

I am happy to tell you we still have snow and I'm finding time to get out amongst it and paint as often as I can. I've had eight painting trips in the last eight days so I have a few things to show you when I get around to taking photos of them! Everything else in my house and work is going a bit to pot but I just want to get as much out of it as I can while it's here :-)

This is today's! I had an unscheduled trip to Sleaford and not a lot of time to spare before an appointment (an hour and a half in all) so of course I headed to the allotments. What a heavenly scene! When I arrived, the sun was bright in the sky casting cool crisp shadows around. I didn't know where to look at first but then this scene really grabbed me. I loved the contrast between the sunlit snow on the shed roofs and the dark of the buildings behind. My secondary motivation was the cool blue shadows on the snow cast by the fence and sheds in contrast with the large clean bright area of snow. 

I couldn't wait to get started and knew I would have to be quick, and I would have to be bold...

No time for drawing with the brush, I started straight away to mass in the dark shapes of the sheds.

The sun was in my eyes when I was taking these photos and I wasn't sure if they would work or not but luckily they did!

The darks of the red brick terraced houses were the next to go in. I didn't have time to be careful about chimney pots or anything, just blocked it all in with a big brush, trying to leave shapes for windows. 

The next most important thing about my subject was the shadows on the snow so I started to block those in quickly, and the snow on the roofs behind. I knew I would have to get this snow dark enough or the whole idea would fall flat. This painting is all about the contrast.

Although it looks here as though my board was white to start with, it was actually undercoated with a light-mid warm grey.

I do confess though, at this stage I did panic a little - was that snow too blue? too dark? Were the houses too red? (Was it all a bit ghastly?!)

I knew all would be revealed as I continued to cover areas of the board with colour, and consoled myself that I could mute all these colours down later if need be.

Time to bring some more definition into the dark areas. I don't know what those black shapes are hidden in the snow but I thought they looked great with their snow blankets. 

By now the sun had gone behind thick cloud. Good job I had all those shadows in place.

The joy I felt at this stage! I started to apply the brightest snow and it was as if somebody had switched on a light! It was then that I knew all those dark tones had paid off, this was exactly the effect I was after.

I didn't use pure white, but enhanced it with a little lemon yellow for brightness, particularly on the surfaces nearer the sun. Much of the white in the foreground had a touch of magenta added.

I only spent an hour and a half here including setting up and packing away. I'm pleased that I managed to say what I wanted to say about my subject today. All this snow is getting me so excited!