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Fort Saint Elme, Collioure

Sketch of Fort Saint Elme, Collioure, France

Getting back into the swing

It’s been too long since I posted anything on this blog. No excuses and sometimes a break from something like painting can be a good thing; you come back to it with a fresh outlook I think and a desire to try different things. My enthusiasm continues to focus on landscapes rather than anything else and I have spent a lot of time out and about doing the odd watercolour sketch here and there.

I enjoy plein air painting as it encourages me to work quickly. I did a couple of quick studies while walking along the Icknield Way near Therfield. Simple open countryside with fields that have subtle rises and dips.

Therfield from the Icknield Way, Herts

After Christmas, I used some of my spare time to work on finding a technique for my art. I tend to do a lot of wet in wet painting and sometimes overdo it. I visited the Lee Valley and tried to do a little bit of wet in wet with some dry brush work and a bit of splatter. Some of this worked but some of it didn’t. I find splatter hard which is funny really asI can do it when I don’t want to!

Lee Valley Farmland.

I’m a big fan of Adrian Homersham who produces some amazing work with a rapid yet precise technique that I would love to take and create something similar. This painting tries to pay homage to the man and although it misses the mark, I like it a lot.

Rosehips at Rainham

Adrian Homersham’s work.

Flower power

Can’t believe I haven’t picked a brush in earnest since the end of March. I guess sometimes if you break a routine it can be difficult to get back into it. So this weekend I tried to make up for that. I set myself the task of doing flower studies from photos and from life.

Grass Meadow

I love the abstract nature of wild meadows. Nature itself has an amazing ability to create complex tapestries from randomly placed grasses and flowers, that when you look closely, really are very well designed and well balanced.

Nature has an amazing eye for flower arranging!

Still life in blue

My wife has had some flowers in a vase for a while and I think it is fair to say they are on their last stalks. They do however gain a different quality as they dry out and begin to wither. Their colours drain and become faint and opaque and there is an overall opaque quality that requires soft colour mixes.

The antithesis of this are her Orchids. We have numerous displays of these beautiful flowers in the house and I took the opportunity to study them straight after painting the dying arrangement above.

Orchids

These have a deep and powerful colouring and hang heavy on their stems. I used just 3 colours – purple madder, lemon yellow and colbalt blue.

Street in Collioure

A recent holiday to Carcassonne and surrounding area has given me a number of interesting references for watercolours. Most will be street scenes a bit like this one taken from a photo in Collioure.

Collioure street and old man

The light was amazing on this day and a real treat to paint.

Eilean Donan Castle

Love my new No.20 Round brush. It holds paint well and is a beautiful weight. Most of the sky and mountainside was painted with it. It is very versatile and as well as delivering great washes, it can cope with slighter detail too.

Eilean Donan Castle

Bye bye Blackbird

Had quite a time with this work. Sometimes it is a struggle when you bring different references to one picture. The sky, the blackbird and the hedgerow are all separate references and quite difficult to bring together to make a believable work.

This work was for a very lovely person who is mad about the Beatles. She first asked me to do a picture 18 months ago and to my shame, it was only on the cusp of her departure from the agency that I finally got on with it. Now it has a good home and that’s all that matters.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night