September - art windows

This time of year I always exhibit a painting with the Market Harborough Artist Cluster. This year I have been given the shop window of the 'Little big bra shop.'


I had thought about doing a lady in her underwear, but decided against it. The title of this painting is 'Warrior,' not just because she is posing in the 'Warrior yoga pose, and she is doing so whilst heavily pregnant'  but more importantly it is my statement about today's women.

Thunder flies

I had to abandon the plein air painting summer this year. There were so many thunder flies that met their doom by attacking my paintings.  Now autumn has arrived I am beginning to think about plein air painting again, I love being out doors interacting directly with the environment.

A selection of plein air paintings exhibited this summer at Lamport Hall.

Developing the drawing

• ·      Contrast dark trees against light sky.
• ·      Groups of odd number of trees.
• ·      Trees leaning into the picture.
• ·      Ridge and furrow moves the eye to the horizon.
• ·      Bungalow divided in unequal portions.
• ·      Addition of fence gives perspective.

Thinking about composition

Reconsidering ‘Fred’s home’.  What made me want to paint this scene?

Firstly the brilliant blue sky; secondly the bottle green pine trees against the sky. The patterns made by the ridge and furrow, which was emphasized by the snow. Without a doubt Fred’s brick bungalow will be a focal point. The format is 10 x 20 inch, which I feel is restful and peaceful. I have started the sketch on paper, devoting two thirds of the space to the sky (as that was my inspiration), and on third to the land. Now I need to resolve how to make the eye travel across and around the work to make an interesting composition.

Painting from photographs

02.04.18 Weather forecast rain – all day!

Yesterday’s study was a tutored piece and I used ultramarine blue for the sea and sky. If you want natural colours it is not a recommended for English skies.  I was given an old oil painting book for beginners, written by distinguished artist Adrian Hill. He stated,

            ‘Ultramarine should not be used to match the blue of an English sky’. 

There is far too much purple, no matter how much Flake white is added, and he also says the colour clashes with nature’s greens. Adrian recommends the use of Prussian blue.  For paintings done in the Netherlands Impressionist artist Roos Schuring doesn't use ultramarine blue either.

I took the photograph of Holkham beach Norfolk in January and intend to interpret it rather than copy it.

The limited palette I used was: Michael Harding’s Flake white, Old Holland Blue grey, Mussini bluish grey, Mussini brownish grey, Burnt Sienna, Prussian blue, and pale yellow ochre. Definitely no Ultramarine blue.

Sea, sky, reflection practice

East Runton is just a few miles away from Sherringham on the Norfolk coast. When the tide is out a lot of wet sand remains that leaves nice reflections in the puddles of water. No cloud is perfectly white, so I used Warm light yellow, which was also used as reflections on the wet sand. The colours used in the sky were used in the sea. I blended the sea and skyline together to avoid a hard line, as that is a common mistake made by amateur artists.