Boxing day paintings

Boxing day paintings - and Happy New year though it is just into February already.

On Boxing Day I managed to get the family's permission to escape to paint whilst they went for a long walk on the Malvern Hills.
Wiltshire,  where I live, has a dearth of Silver Birch, trees which I often long to paint but there are some around Malvern and on the hills, so at last I got to paint some against a backdrop of colourful rocks in an old quarry.

I'd started the painting above then needing a break, leaving the easel and gear in situ I drove off for 10mins to warm up and recharge my phone battery. When I got back an elderly man and child (about 10yrs old)  were standing at my easel, more of their family waiting nearby.   "She wants to know how to paint trees." he said, so I gladly gave a 3 minute or so an explanation on 'How to best paint trees', feeling at the same time my example on the easel wasn't  quite good enough.   However, the girl listened so attentively I sensed that she really wanted to learn. 

Who knows she may even become a painter one day :)

SLOVENIA

Had a great trip visiting friends, painting

First morning out, it was wonderful to sit and  absorb the view for a while before starting.

The View                                                                       Tonal study

Oil sketch (10" x 12")

Below: The valley at Trenta, National park

View of the mountain range from Ponikve Church

Wide angle

The glorious blue River Soča

Oil sketch  - Capturing the blue of the River Soča  

(Below) Mountains at Trenta

Barcelona

A visit to Barcelona with  the Bath Bach Choir last October  -  I went  3 days early and managed to paint a little, though not nearly as much as I had planned.  I just needed to keep exploring and looking with hungry eyes. I couldn't seem to make myself stop and paint. By the time I'd seen enough, sung in 3 concerts and spent time with friends, I was ready to commit to  painting, but ... it was time to return to much cooler UK.

View from Tibidabo, the high  hill above Barcelona

Another painting done immediately after

And painted on an absurdly small board (it should have been twice as wide), the view from Parc Montjuic, a South West position.

Video of my recent plein air paintings

The video starts with a  short 1-minute demo, after which the slide show starts.

(Some of the paintings are still for sale so  please get in touch if you want to discuss buying one, or print of any etc.)

or Click here to watch on YouTube 

Painting Tintern Abbey

Yesterday the day felt different and I took myself off to the Wye Valley.  I've probably not been there for 10 years or more and a sudden yearning to do so has been popping insistently into my head for a couple of weeks, since I saw the program, "A great Welsh adventure" with Gryff Rees Jones, recently shown on TV.
It is very hard to find a clear view of the Abbey from this north side (despite it's size). This was painted from the fenced in footpath above the  field.across the river.  I eventually found  a gap  in the foliage growing up the wire fence.  Several people stopped to talk, and it was a very pleasant 2 hours spent there

As finished  on site .........

With  a bit more finishing once I got home .......

Showing start to end, development of the painting. ....

in progress

And a second visit the following week.

This was larger, on canvas and finished in more detail

Recent Concert in Malmesbury

As well as painting, music makes the world go round,
The Bath Bach Choir preformed their summer concert in Malmesbury Abbey. We did a set of Tchaikovsky Vespers and the Requiem by Gabriel faure, which  we'd sung the previous week, jointly with members of Darius Millaud Choir from Aix-en-Provence who had paid us a return visit after our trip to sing with them Aix in 2013.

This is a rendering of  a short  encore piece. Otche Nash (The Lords Prayer) by Nikolai Kedrov which  we sang in Russian and were required to memorize by heart, (a very difficult task!).

CORNWALL REVISITED

Two weeks later I had to  return to Cornwall so grabbed the opportunity to  paint when I could.
I did two studies of the  harbour at Portscatho near Falmouth.  It was a wonderful breezy day with  sharp clear light. The sea in  so many blues and full of energy in the sunlight.

The second speedy oil-sketch above, attempt to  catch something of the scene


... and below a view from my friend's veranda on the estuary of the River Fowey, looking across towards a china clay loading factory where huge ships arrive to take the clay. There  is a ship docked there,  the green prow can just be seen on the RH side past the trees, and dull red above the waterline. The tide was out but also my supply of white paint so I could't render the foreground as well as I'd have liked.

All Cannings, Vale of Pewsey, Wiltshire

This  was  a small commission for someone who had lived in All Cannings. Looking towards the Village in the  Vale of  Pewsey, Wiltshire . This is  a spectacular and beautiful part of the county, wheat farming land, where crop circles often appear,  and the hills stretch for some miles. I should paint more of that area.    20" x 10"Oil on gesso board

"Boat under blue Tarpaulin"

A recent trip to Cornwall, helping a friend with  glass-work installation but I managed to grab time off to paint as well.

Whilst painting this boat, I popped back  into their  house,( yards away, on the waters edge) for a quick chat and coffee, but when I came out 15mins later the tide had gone out,  passed the boat, so missed painting the lovely water reflectins here but I just caught a bit to the RH of the boat.   

Lesson of the day: The tide waits for no-one!

10" x 12"  Oil on board.

The next morning I had a lift on a small motor dinghy, to  the town of Fowey (pronounced 'Foy') across the river. It was a dull, cold drizzly start - very people were about,  feeling conspicuous, very overburdened with  easels and paint gear I eventually found somewhere quiet to  paint, on the quay for a boat tour to  Mevagissey, The town perched precariously above a cliff of complex layers of rock strata, with  ancient rusting hanging ladders, but beautiful moving water,  I settled to paint, probably for a good hour till the tide went out ...........  at the time feeling the cold, hungry, lack of sunlight, etc the painting seemed  drab and a total disaster -  but now it somehow looks OK.

A few yards behind me was a shelter and seats overlooking the view of the river meeting the sea,, a memorial gift from American Forces who'd been there in  WWII. Apparently the  harbour was full of landing barges, preparing for the great invasion, the  'D' Day Landing. "You could  cross the wide river by climbing over the closely packed barges" so the notice read. Then one morning they were suddenly all gone -'D' Day had arrived".

12" x 10" oil on board

Another view of the the  blue tarpaulin boat from my friends Veranda, Tide was out again, but a spray of white Blackthorn blossom and lots of early Spring growth catching sunlight on the wooded slopes behind. 

Oil on canvas 16" x 20"

Touches of the cooler seasons - Autumn and Winter

(Needing  to catch up here). This is an Autumn painting from last November. I nearly got blown away in the process.    6" x 8" oil on gesso board.

And I nearly got frostbite doing this one below, early in the New Year when we had  freezing tempreatures for  a couple of weeks. The trees still need more branches and some  stalks of  foliage would help - will do that when my fingers warm up, hopefully  by midsummer:).

20" x 10" Oil on gesso board