Managed to misplace my Blog password so a bigger gap in posts than I would like. I have been painting the spring which has been like no other I recall. Now I am painting regularly every few days I am noticing the changes in the seasons day to day far more than I have in recent years. Another unexpected bonus to the painting lark. My studio work alas is at a standstill. I know I must make a next step but am not sure just what the direction ought to be. The world has enough pretty views and enough gritty urban ones for that matter, indeed adding another work to any genre seem a pretty vain act. I know this is foolish of course, but nonetheless I have always needed to feel there is a new discovery to be made in each work, which is easy in a plein air but harder somehow in a studio work. It is no real use to do a painting that is merely an exhibition of skill, any more than a piece of cabinet making that is just about the joints used and serves no use would be. It must have beautiful craft and also be beautiful in purpose such as a chair. With chairs the purpose is straight forward, but with a painting less so. I might do for example a painting to please another, to adorn their walls. I know several very fine painters who do just that, they paint when there is a commission to do so but not otherwise. For me I have always painted “for myself” as well as commercial work, which when I was working a great deal was almost as a sort of relaxation I could hardly wait for the gaps in my schedule. Now I have mostly eschewed commercial work it is not so easy to create as somehow a reason is needed The answer I feel is that the value has to be in finding myself enriched by the experience of doing a painting. So I have to take on some subjects that are more demanding, not complicated but I think more nuanced… we shall see!
For now here are a few plein air watercolours and a slew of life drawings. I have built a nifty watercolour slash oil painting attachment for my tripod to allow me to paint standing or sitting in either medium and as many different formats as possible… which will be the subject of a very nerdy post all by itself.
Watercolours can be clicked for larger version.
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14in by 10 in. I have decided to paint a little larger in my outdoor watercolours so it was a deep breath and out with the bigger brushes. I used a 1/2in flat a fair bit in this one which is fine as long as you don’t get square edges in places you would prefer not. This was a gorgeous spot on the River Avon in Hampshire.
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The spring is so advanced with everything extremely verdant. Usually I steer clear of brilliant greens but I could really see no alternative. I have tried to add a little red to every sunny green and a little ultramarine to all the shadowed hues. The result is still quieter in hue than reality but not I hope too eye wrenching as painted greens can often be. This path is in Child Okeford Dorset.
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Back home and the day was so beautiful I set off to Kent. It was very windy so I did this which was sheltered under a gazebo. The light was very crisp and clear and the textures of the old and worn hedges fascinating to to try and catch. Again my brush wandered into greens I don’t often touch.
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A quiet road near Westerham Kent. This composition appeared many times along the way but not anywhere where I could paint it without being run over! Eventually I stopped on a wider bit so I could paint protected by my car! The light through the trees was fantastic and I underlaid all the shadow areas with a wash of ultramarine moving to prussian blue for the road.
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A sad story here, I got up at dawn to paint the river and did this in beautiful morning light. But a few days later when doing another in the studio I knocked my water over and swamped this one as it lay on the table. At least I scanned it before its demise. Lastly a few life drawings to finish off.
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I am enjoying life drawing at present. I have reduced the colours used to just black red and white, the traditional trois crayons though I need to use the red more.
