I'll be exhibiting with the MARLBOROUGH OPEN STUDIOS  soon, sharing a studio with portrait artist Yvonne Cunnane. The  event runs over four weekends from Sat 23rd June to Sun 24th July.

I'll be there for three weekends but on the 29th June - 2nd July I'm exhibiting in Bradford on Avon  -   with two friends Valérie Pirlot and Bob Childs, we're calling our exhibition  THREE WESSEX SKETCHERS.
All welcome to drop by these events if you can.

Apple Blossom at Great Chalfield

I was asked to paint an apple tree at Great Chalfield Manor  

There was quite a delay before I could get there but I think I made it just in time and found the trees with flowering blossom. This little tree caught my eye and appropriately it is seen against a backdrop of the Apple Store, building on the left, and some of the cottages on the Estate. Amazingly it was a beautiful fresh day after the dire wet cold month we've been  having ( yes I know the rain is much needed) so I really enjoyed the sun on my back, getting quite hot at times.

 Bach's Chaconne for solo Violin played Hilary Hahn.1/2
(good music to paint to) 

Joshua Bell playing the Chaconne in Washington Metro subway

Painting the Rapeseed, near Marden.

It's odd how subjects select you. I was going to paint an adjacent row of trees, see in the video,  but this field in bloom insisted I painted it; so,  how to use a half a tube of yellow without really trying.(I got a dose of nasty spring hayfever too!:(

 

Learning some basic editing ....  three takes in a 3min video, at a 'blocking in' stage: quickly working at blank areas, of the painting. It can be interesting watching other painters at work but  actually quite alarming to see oneself painting - normally the brain is in freeflow and one is oblivious of much else and  has little sense of time.   

Captured without looking through the viewfinder, so not seeing the framing hence dipping to the mixing palette, camera in my right hand. This is  in real time though I did discard a few seconds of  mixing on the palette and another short clip in the sequence which was badly framed. Also I should have set camera to a wider image format.

Music: Var. no.2 of The Goldberg Variations, JS Bach courtesy of  a great facility I discovered recently-  www.musopen.com - I thought that better than adding dialogue here.

Hooray! I just sold three of these late evening sky paintings, they'll be framed together and hung one above the other.
Just looking at this batch of 8 I did almost a year ago. I'm trying to devise  a catalog system, an inventory to  keep track of my paintings so each is numbered and  named. i.e. these are "Lavington skies with Jet Trails" (no's 1- 8) but 81-88 in the  main list. Does anyone recommend a good system of cataloging?

And it was whilst doing this series , some differ slightly in size, that I realized I had to make a better effort at standardizing sizes so bought  a big batch of ready cut board, all primed now and ready to go.

Plein Air Painting at Urchfont Manor

I'm doing a Plein Air teaching day on Saturday 14th April  at Urchfont Manor, in Wiltshire.

 Some experience with oils is helpful but not essential. Starting with a short introduction and discussion on methods, the idea is to work outside in the garden, painting en plein air, where spontaneity often produces surprising and rewarding results.  Hopefully the weather will be kind.

 Emphasis will be on working quickly to produce several pieces.  A short equipment list will be available to applicants, but bring any of your own equipment as well.

  Limited places left (last time I checked) so  book soon so not to be disappointed. If they are fully booked you can contact me via my website as I'll be organizing more painting days in the summer .

Making Sun-Thickened Linseed Oil.

Spring is here, time to make a new  batch of sun thickened oil - a very useful medium for plein air painting - when used in small amounts in painting media acts as a siccative drier.

Using a purified cold pressed, linseed oil, pour the oil into a shallow plate (about 5mm deep),  then this needs to be covered with a sheet of glass to keep dust out . The process works by oxidation  so the glass needs to be raised somehow to allow air in. Put on  a sunny windowsill, the more sun it gets the better. Air on the surface of the oil  and ultraviolet rays from the sun start a slow drying and thickening process. It is important to remember to stir the oil every day to prevent  a skin forming. After two or three weeks  the oil will be thicker and more viscous. Decant into  an appropriate air tight storage bottle This is  a great medium for plein air painting as it is half oxidized so dries quickly allowing  the painting to be worked on in thicker layers without it getting too oily and slippery. The oil yellows slightly in the process and dries with some shine. As with all new medium, it  needs  a little  practice to understand its  properties, and the viscous flow should  be adjusted by adding turpentine,  (or Zest-it!) to suit your painting process. ( a recipe from  "The Materials of the Artist" by Max Doerner.  - quote: Cennini calls it the best of all oils "I could not give you anything better")

Stourhead revisited

I need to go back once more to do minor finishing touches to this. It has been a struggle getting the right light. Despite favorable weather reports, I got rained, sleeted and hailed off at least twice (almost like a rogue weather system was waiting for me to arrive). There were some nice fat sheep, steadily  munching their way into the scene from the right on the last visit, Probably too late to add them, maybe they'll be there for the final sitting.

THE PANTHEON

This one looks  a little staged in it's composition. The lake was half frozen on the left side that day, but  a brilliant sunny day and I became fascinated by the light catching every branch and twig of the tree on the island.

Sketchbook drawings of the Apollo Temple on the hill.

Exploring the subject by making a pale water colour image, then scribble over it with a  water soluble  drawing stick. An enjoyable technique somewhat aided by bad weather and enhanced by the accidental effects.

Stourhead

My latest project for the New Year has been to start some painting at Stourhead House and Gardens...... I was really wowed at the scale of the place, the lake, temples, grottos and wonderful woods etc.  The first day was fabulously sunny, then three subsequent days I got rained/hailed/snowed off. It is  a bit of a battle with the weather, trying not to make it personal!

  ABOVE  A rather 'zoomed in' view of the Pantheon Temple, catching the afternoon sun, I was painting from the steps of the Apollo Temple, then got rained off. There is a great view of the lake from the heights.

.... painting of the house ...... unfinished  ..... after two cold cloudy sessions. I'm just waiting for the sun to arrive again so I can introduce shadows and highlights to add interest to what could be  a flat looking winter scene. 

unfinished  ......  still in progress .... some sun please

View from behind the easel  - just trying to build a base of paint for when better light arrives  - will it work?

A quick sketch with a bright sun casting shadows on a very frosty beautiful  Monday morning.

 

Below: SUN OVER FROME  

Painted on the way home after being soaked by a heavy shower 

A painting of Great Chalfield Manor, capturing the winter afternoon light from the south lower moat - painted in preparation for having a stall at their Christmas Fair. . (The fair was a nice experience, in the Great Hall hung with 18th tapestries and the adjacent panelled room where I was designated a heavy old carved oak table to display my wares.)

The little C15th church can be seen on the RH side, and a glimpse of the Tropnell Chapel Window mullions, for which I made  a stained glass window "The Seed and the Sower"  (2nd row, 1st on left). The choice of subject was  good reason to  put in a lot of  the Estate's 'Flora and fauna' .The interpretation arose from suggestions of a member of the donor family, his ideas as a farmer/land manager and conservationist. The window reflects his love of the natural world and countryside around his home, where the family have lived for two  generations. His father was also a keen naturalist and the founder of the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust in the early1960's

UK Plein Air Society meet in Salisbury

WE were blessed with a fantastic sunny day when the UK Plein Air Society met in Salisbury  on 27th Nov. The group is the brain-child of Anthony Bridge, the idea being we meet up on the last Sunday of the Month in a prearranged town/city. If anyone would like to know future venues and dates don't hesitate to ask.
Moonlighting ---- instead of settling down to paint like everyone else, for a while I was captivated by the river in Salisbury meadows behind the Cathedral, shallow clear running water; so took a few snippets of video of  leaves coursing along in the current. Eventually I did a quick painting of a tree reflecting in the river.

 Video: The secret Lives of Leaves