{"id":326,"date":"2011-04-24T14:50:44","date_gmt":"2011-04-24T13:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.treeshark.com\/treeblog\/?p=326"},"modified":"2014-04-15T11:22:20","modified_gmt":"2014-04-15T10:22:20","slug":"unseasonal-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.treeshark.com\/treeblog\/?p=326","title":{"rendered":"Unseasonal Weather"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, Spring is racing towards Summer an an astonishing pace, at this rate Christmas will be in July. Painting wise it has brought some unusual sights. Apple and other fruit blossom in full bloom with the trees so advanced that they are almost in full leaf. Usually the trees would just have a first flush of green, but not this year. Not altogether happy with my painting at present, I seem to be in a transitional stage with my oil painting, not quite sure of my direction. What I want to do is add boldness without losing clarity and good drawing, but alas as with any gain something has to be sacrificed and I just can’t decide what. On the plus side these times of being becalmed in the doldrums some times herald a step forward but I will have to keep bashing away for that to happen. Anyway, here are some of the battles fought to a standstill in the last week or so!<\/p>\n

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\"Spitalfields,<\/a><\/p>\n

This was almost the last of the grey days. Michael Richardson and I traipsed the streets trying to find a good subject on\u00a0a record breakingly flat day. The cloud cover was quite this but entirely uniform which it made it very hard to find anything\u00a0with much tonal interest. On the plus side we spotted several potential painting spots on our travels. This is the doorway\u00a0of \u00a0Christchurch Spitalfields by architect Nicholas Hawksmoor. The area Spitalfields was originaly named Hospital fields\u00a0as\u00a0it was\u00a0the site of a large early hospital founded in 1197AD. This was a tricky one to draw as it would have been nice to sit\u00a0further back but the size of the portico made that impossible. One advantage of the flat light was that I had plenty of time to\u00a0get the drawing as good as I could.<\/p>\n

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\"St<\/p>\n

Back across London to paint this at the end of the day, the steps lead up from the riverside to the new Millennium\u00a0Bridge. This was a very quick sketch. I might return though as the subject might be good with better light.<\/p>\n

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\"penshurst,<\/a><\/p>\n

Here you can see the weather has burst out into an early summer, but seen under an April sun that gave the whole scene an almost other worldly cast.\u00a0I tried to catch the feeling but a lot to do in a complex scene like this. 14 in by 10 in. I still have to put some movement in the sky but that will have to\u00a0wait ’til it’s dry.<\/p>\n

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\"Penshurst<\/a><\/p>\n

After all that architecture I needed some respite so I settled on this. Great fun to paint with it’s subtle greens and deep shadows. I dab in the blossoms with\u00a0white which dries a little as I paint the rest, then a put a touch of fresh colour on top, this keeps the colour clean and brilliant in hue.<\/p>\n

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\"Penshurst<\/a><\/p>\n

A final one, this was a wee 10in by 7 in done very quickly, but I just couldn’t resist another before going home!<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

Another Brass Monkey expedition, the weather again was fantastic. The challenge here was to get the hazy tones right which I did OK but the drawing\u00a0and composition slightly suffered in my haste.<\/p>\n

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\"Michael<\/p>\n

Here is our vantage point. The tide was unusually low which brings great possibilities for unusual views. Michael Richardson, immune to distraction,\u00a0paints away while I flit about taking photos. The terrain means backing away to take stock of your progress could be hazardous!<\/p>\n

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\"Telegraph<\/a><\/p>\n

This was done from a sketch gone wrong. The view is from Telegraph Hill in South London where a large Semaphore tower stood in Napoleonic times.\u00a0The light was gorgeous but due to rushing I messed up the first wash, so I re-did it as soon as I was home while it was still fresh in my memory.\u00a0Off to Dorset next so I hope for some good subjects, but as I am visiting good friends I will I suspect be lured from painting duties by pleasant society.<\/p>\n

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