Be patient and don’t give up hope, normal service has resumed today. There is only so much time I can squander to photography and whale watching ( 2 spotted so far, not a great return on my efforts). Was wondering what to do to get me started and then I thought just start, I’ve got the big Mexican mountains behind our apartment, what more do I need?
EVERY DEADLINE MET
The secret is to set your own deadlines and make them easy. Painting is as good as finished I may tweak it a little tomorrow but tomorrow is a packing suitcases day for my flight to Mexico on Thursday. Twelve prepared boards to carry on the good work, what is going on them I don’t know but there is no lack of subject matter out there. Last year in terms of painting style was a little bit experimental, I don’t expect that to be the case this time.
Bend in the river, Northumberland
CAVALIER APPROACH TO DEADLINES
What deadline? I thought I had 25 years left?. It would be nice to get this painting finished and I have 2 days left which includes packing suitcases. Its quite surprising but with this painting the unpainted white board was really killing this painting and damping my enthusiasm to continue. Now I have got it filled in I can see this painting has potential. Two days might be enough but even if its unfinished I think it looks quite decent in its current state. Really liking this marshmallow confection of a landscape.
Bend in the river, Northumberland. Day 5
IMPROVING
Thats all that you can hope for really isn’t it? You can have wacky skies but there must be an underlying structure and logic and the space must work, that is beginning to happen. I like the richness and variation of colour in this painting, its better than the previous one. Clock is ticking but the aim is to do a bit each day before I fly off.
Bend in the river, Northumberland. Day 4
ON TRACK DESPITE DESTRACTIONS
Another good chunk of the painting put down. The left side of the painting is the darkest but there is a lot of light coming through this area making it quite animated. This hasn’t come through yet but I like the effect of this. Wacky sky, which I like, needs quite a bit more work though.
Bend in the river, Northumberland. Day 3
NO TIME TO WASTE
If I don’t finish this by the 7th January then there will be a 3 month gap before I can resume again. Last time, in March 2025 after painting in Mexico for about 10 weeks I came back with a much more bolder style, especially colour. Not only has this stayed with me I have sought to boost it further. This painting has started very well and what is interesting is the left side which is in deep shadow in the photo, but I have given it a mid tone shadow and a mid tone across the painting. I like the effect and boldness of colour. Painting again in Mexico and I have still got to cut and prime all the boards!
Bend in the river, Northumberland. Day 2
OBSCURE TITLES
Finally I have taken my opportunity to pay homage to Edward Burra and at the same time frustrate art historians and art sleuths, with my newly titled work ‘Bend in the river, Northumberland’. Edward Burras similarly titled ‘Valley and river, Northumberland’ has frustrated all of his admirers and no one knows its precise location. My only concession is to say if you stand in the precise place that I took the photo you will recognise the scene. Despite Xmas festivities I have managed to sneak away for a couple of hours without anyone noticing, that says a lot about me. New deadline to finish this January 7th, the following day I fly to Mexico for 3 months.
Bend in the river, Northumberland. Day 1
XMAS DEADLINE MET
Nothing like an Xmas deadline to get things done. Wasn’t expecting to finish this today but with a little extra effort it wasn’t that difficult. Definitely the last finished painting of the year and it fills me with optimism for the coming year. Interesting to see that my treatment of the skies does vary from soft volumes to the more graphic treatment, not sure where this is going but not a concern. The adoption of a much stronger colour palette is here to stay as I am enjoying that. Roll on 2026.
Big clouds, sun setting
A STORMING FINISH
Not with quantity because that’s never been my style, but more with quality, and that’s never been my style until the last few years. Liking the look of this painting, I have continued to bash the sky around and I’m happy with it now. The landscape is really appearing and I am pleased with the way it is shaping up. This wont be finished by Xmas, I have only got some of tomorrow for that, but hopefully by the end of the year.
Big clouds, sun setting. Day 5
DONT MAKE PREDICTIONS
I will continue to make predictions about what direction I think I am heading in just because I liked to be proved wrong. That’s one thing I like about painting is that you cannot predict where things are going. Nearly always, things work out better than expected although it can be painful getting there. Despite the inevitable xmas slow down this painting is going well, reworked the sky a little and it has improved. Will probably get a bit more time on this before Xmas proper but then about a 7 day pause.
Big clouds, sun setting. Day 4
A BEGUILING SPACE
I think the sky is almost finished. I like the space in it which is not easy to pin down and seems to shift around. My initial idea to really tone down the land and trees will be abandoned. I like the mirroring effect of land and sky and will go this route instead.
Big clouds, sun setting. Day 3
APPLE GREEN SKIES
I love it when I pick up a pure apple green colour and start painting the sky. I know I am in for an interesting painting. Its always a bit tricky to then follow it with more unnatural sky tones and create a language for the sky that makes sense spatially and in terms of creating the ‘mood’ for the picture. In this case a late winter sunset and the clouds are really big, dark and dense. I think it is making sense and it looks like a good start, there is also the right light in the hill and tree area to suggest it is evening and not the middle of the day.
Big clouds, sun setting. Day 2
BIG CLOUDS
Some of the biggest recorded clouds have been found in Northumberland. Some of them are over 1000 years old. We have some of them on the edge of our village and they sleep in the valley. The photo I have used for this painting is quite impressive. The clouds recede in banks of different colours. It is a sunset shot and all the warmth is in the sky, the land is in shadow and quite cool. This is the effect I want to get in the painting. Maybe the last of 2025?
Big clouds, sun setting. Day 1
THE LATE GUSTON PHASE
I am entering my late Guston phase, I know it sounds a bit ridiculous but with another 25 years of painting ahead of me its better I start now. I am reducing these trees to lollipop and jelly baby forms in my efforts to simplify them, and I am enjoying the process. At the same time I am trying to be very particular about the characteristics of the trees so that the landscape looks observed and my simplification does not appear lazy or random. Liking this strength of colour, even though this has been ramped up and exaggerated I feel there is a lot of subtlety and there is a real sense of space in the painting. The painting is finished.
The doctors tower
STILL EVOLVING
I like this painting but not all the areas are painted consistently, its only subtle but it is there. I don’t mind that because it means that things are still in transition and I’ve always believed this is a good state for your painting to be in. I need that curiosity of what does this all mean to keep me going. The sky has improved, it has drama but serves more as a backdrop for the rest of the painting. It is painted tonally and in a softer and looser style which for me is an interesting contrast.
The doctors tower. Day 8
THE BEAUTY OF PAINTING
Blowing my own trumpet (because nobody else will) a good painter is always better than a good photographer because with painting the technical and imaginative possibilities are endless. A good painter can create from nothing where as a photographer is mostly reliant on what is in front of them. What’s my point, well the foreground in the photo was quite ordinary and I knew I had to do something with it. I had a hunch that if I threw in an almost pure orange field that would create a strong dynamic from which to transform the foreground. The line of hedges is in the photo. I like the way the landscape is working, this whole area just needs a little fine tuning, as does the sky, still.
The doctors tower. Day 7
EMPTY SPACES
Empty spaces to me, are featureless fields and blue skies, which I absolutely loathe. I think I have got enough going on in the foreground fields to say they actually add something to the painting in terms of suggesting the underlying landscape and a pleasing abstract combination of shape and colour. I like the circular sweep on the left from foreground to distance. What I wanted also with the foreground and the sky is not to detract from the main subject which is the tower and surrounding trees. I think this is working well.
The doctors tower. Day 6
THE SKY AINT THAT BAD
I’m ignoring doing anymore to the sky for the moment because its not that far off. If something was really annoying me Id go back and sort it. What I don’t want is a dark and menacing sky, that is not the mood of the painting. I think things are improving quite rapidly overall in the last 3 or 4 paintings, not sure why that is, I think it has to do with more certainty as to how I want these paintings to look. I keep thinking of Guston when I am simplifying all the elements.
The doctors tower. Day 5
A CONVENTIONAL SKY
That’s almost middle of the road dull, that’s not like me. I like the sky but its only half way there. In the photo its a few tones darker and acts as a quiet backdrop for the rest of the scene. I think thats what I am aiming for in this painting. What I like about this painting is that the subject is exactly in the middle of the composition but you would miss it if you hadn’t read the title. Progressing well, and back on track in terms of a consistent stylistic approach which the previous painting did not share.
The doctors tower. Day4
ITS THE BIG LANDSCAPE
I think the previous painting was a success but it was a bit experimental. I am realizing its the big landscape I like the most. This allows me to explore space, play around with scale and more recently take a greater interest in more dramatic lighting and its affect on the landscape. This painting is going well and I think contains all those elements.
The doctors tower. Day 3