Yew tree and sun

Yew tree and sun
8" x 10"

March 14th

Mainly sun

4.30 - 5.30

On this late afternoon the sun was lighting up the stone wall of the cottage opposite and the distant trees with beautiful gold hues. Can you just make out the bird box on the right hand side, on the shadow side of the tree?

Yew tree and drizzle

Yew tree, March, drizzle
8" x 10"

March 12th

Dull and drizzly

11.30 - 12.30

A little series of paintings from my front garden last month. I love the way this small scene changes in different light conditions. I used an old board for this which I'd covered in muslin cloth, something that I hadn't been doing in recent years. I enjoyed the texture so much that I ordered some new muslin and made a huge batch of cloth covered boards.

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

Summer greens

Summer greens and blowsy clouds
SOLD

Here are a couple of fresh and green allotment paintings that sold at my exhibition in Putney, both plein air paintings from different allotments. The variety of greens on show is one of the many reasons I love painting at the allotments so much. I'm not much of a gardener myself, but I do so appreciate the efforts of others. And of course as painting subjects go, you can't beat the light reflecting off the greenhouse glass. 

Inham Nook allotments
SOLD

Evening street study, Seville

Evening street scene, Seville
Oils 8" x 12"

Talk about a rush! When you attempt a subject like this you know that time is short. Most of the street was in shadow and the warm evening light was still hitting the tops of the buildings, mainly on the left hand side but some coming across the sides of the buildings on the right too. It was one of those 'nothing to lose, just bash on with it' moments. Again I knew I had no time to be finickety with the drawing or details in those buildings - an effort to catch the light and atmosphere being order of the day.

Horse and carriage

Horse and carriage
Oils 8" x 10"

My first painting from the Seville trip was this study of a horse and carriage. I was really taken by these horses lining the streets ready for tourists to take a scenic ride. When this one arrived in front of me I noticed the light along the horse's back and around the ears. Captivating. Of course I didn't know how long I would have but decided it was worth the risk. It could have been that that five minutes later I was wiping the board down because the subject had gone, but actually I had probably forty-five minutes or more before the horse moved. I think the horse in my painting is perhaps not anatomically correct but this kind of quick study is much more about capturing an impression of the light for me. I'm pleased with the atmosphere and the palette of colours captured so am tempted to make a studio painting based on this - in which case I would be able to take more care with the drawing. The light in Seville was nothing short of marvellous, such a contrast from the winter light in the UK.

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!

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

Poppies everywhere!

Flaming June
8" x 16"
Buy it now

They are here for only a short while and when you come across a field of poppies in June they are so magical. This seems to be a good year for poppies in Lincolnshire, and these ones are only about a mile from where I live so I simply couldn't resist. 

This was one of those that almost painted itself, tripping off the brush so fluently, and in under an hour and a half my work here was done.

By the way the sky looks a much more subtle blue in the real painting than it looks in this version on my screen, and possibly on your screen too. Looks better in the progress shots below.

I took a couple of photos as I went along, as I know that many of you like to see the stages.

Sketched in with the brush, then placing of greens

A touch of red so I could see it in situ, then blocked the sky in 

Great studio for the morning :-)

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

Fred's paddock in snow

Click to bid
Fred's paddock in snow

I loved the long deep shadows and the pinky warmth from the setting sun, the patterns of the stone wall broken up by snow and the way the trees seem to huddle together, bracing themselves for more snow to come...
Oils on canvas board, 24 x 18 cms

Last snow in the lane

Last snow in the lane

I have been having a ball getting out and about painting the snow! Mind you, it took me about four hours to warm up after painting this one! Sorry to the Fulbeck ladies that I didn't make it back to the hall but I didn't get this finished until after 1pm! I went in search of remaining snow and as you can see in the background we still have the fog hanging around! I loved the character of this ivy clad tree and think I will return here in another season.
Oils on canvas panel 24 x 30 cms