PERPETUAL SUMMER

I have finally surrendered to saturated colour. The photo for this painting was taken in early April but you would think it was high summer although possibly autumn under intense sunlight producing red and orange trees? Also a big blue tree, a bit of a fantasy landscape. I think I was always heading towards this but was never quite capable of pulling it off. Despite the intensely unnaturalistic palette of sherbet colours I think it is working quite well, primarily because the landscape forms are convincing and so is the space. The painting is finished.

Too many trees

A HANDSOME DEPARTURE

Once again I have failed to stick to the brief, but at least I am learning more about the kind of paintings I like to make. The foreground trees are bare and the colours range from blue/purple to silver. I was going to try, once again to stick to that range but I always find myself reaching for the pure colour. Not to worry, this version is better than the original so I have no regrets. Like the way this is looking its heading for a finish.

Too many trees. Day 3

A BETTER ATTEMPT

The foreground group of trees is predominantly muted darks and silvers. My last attempt of this scene morphed into a kaleidoscope of rainbow colours. This time I am trying to stick closer to the original subject as it has plenty of potential. Good start.

Too many trees. Day 2

TOO MANY TREES

Just to emphasize the point that I don’t appreciate the landscape in a traditional, academic way my titles have also shifted over the last few years. I think the slightly cartoon like treatment of the landscape and the titles are now properly aligned. This is a close up version of the recent painting ‘Trees in the valley, early Spring’. I liked the foreground band of trees which were greys and muted purples but once again I strayed off my early intention of depicting this. Second attempt, and if I stray again its because I want to.

Too many trees. Day 1

THINGS ARE GETTING INTERESTING

Is interesting enough? yes, because I feel that I am at the start of a much longer path. I like the surrealism of the simplified shapes. I think I could push the colour more and the idiosyncratic shapes could be pushed further. Its always a wrestling match but I am at a consistent point where if I am prepared to walk through the treacle I am getting good results. This painting is now finished

Another day in the valley

SUITABLY LIVELY

This painting has all the bluster and freshness that I saw in that Spring day. It has the odd shapes in the landscape that I find quite appealing and because I insist on shape being so important I have to find my own shapes with the trees etc just to create some clarity. Going well at the moment, I do think there are many areas that still need more definition.

Another day in the valley. Day 5

TIPPING POINT REACHED

Now I can see the painting is emerging and it usually gets easier the further you get into a painting. Now I feel I’ve got a bit more control and its beginning to cooperate. Didn’t need to abandon the blue in the sky its just that white cotton wool cloud and piercing blue sky combo that I really dislike.

Another day in the valley, Day 4

BROWN SKIES

Have I mentioned before that I loathe blue skies? As Francis Bacon would say its the boredom of familiarity that is so disappointing. I felt this straight away when viewing the painting this morning. Introduced my favoured palette of browns and purples, turned the clear blues into greens and now I am back on familiar ground. For me it just opens up surprising colour possibilities. Only a short session this morning but now the painting is showing some potential.

Another day in the valley. Day 3

ITS A START

Another way of saying, its not quite as intended, but you have got to put something down and get far enough into the painting before you can start steering it in the right direction. Its not far off, but as always the idea is just a fuzzy notion in my head at the moment and getting it onto the canvas is an entirely different matter. Good start though.

Another day in the valley. Day 2

ANOTHER DAY IN THE VALLEY

I am beginning to run out of original titles, I fear they will become more detached from the subject. Still I will try anything apart from ‘untitled’. The sky reminds me of The Simpsons, I quite like that though I think I will temper it down a little. High hopes for this one, there are some odd looking trees in this painting, a result of extreme simplification and disregard for academic drawing.

Another day in the valley. Day 1

WHAT BETTER WAY

To escape the bank holiday heat than sitting in a sweltering painting studio wearing your overall onesie. For some reason it was only 2C cooler inside, a not very pleasant 25C and barely comfortable. Anyway, the afternoon passed well, streaming 1970’s rock classics while the painting was progressing nicely. I think it is finished, and I will review it tomorrow. Always a relief to get the result I had in mind, pleased with how it has turned out. The next one will be easier, or not.

Yellow field, rain imminent

WHY THE STRUGGLE

Anyone who wants to struggle their entire life without achieving mastery should choose painting. I do think had I tried something else like pottery I would have given up decades ago thinking it was all too easy. Maybe I don’t understand pottery? Another terrific struggle this morning, pig headed determination got me through and out the other side so now the painting is beginning to look like the initial idea. Happy with the way it is looking, now the end goal is more obvious.

Yellow field, rain imminent. Day 5

RAIN IS MORE LIKELY

Which isn’t as certain as imminent, but I am getting there. Pink clouds retained, which was the priority. The sky does need some more work but I am happy with the pink curtain of cloud which is pressing down on the landscape. The whole landscape still needs that El Greco charged lighting, maybe I will take a look at my books, but it has moved on significantly since yesterday.

Yellow field, rain imminent. Day 4

PINK STORM CLOUDS

Given myself an uphill task here, pink storm clouds with imminent rain?. I think I can pull it off but I will have to build a bit more menace into the sky and surrounding landscape. There is that dramatic light to dark contrast within the landscape that you often get before a storm so I will have to focus on that. Short session again due to other commitments but hopefully a longer session tomorrow.

Yellow field, rain imminent. Day 3

JUST START

There’s a lesson in there somewhere but whatever it is telling me I fail to learn. Its been going on for decades now, so there is no turning the corner on that one. I seem to have covered the painting fairly rapidly given that it was only a short afternoon session. I thought the bright yellow field would dominate the painting too much but the other vibrant colours are helping to balance things. Enthusiasm is back, and the whole thing looks quite promising.

Yellow field, rain imminent. Day 2

ITS THE WEATHER

High hopes for this painting. A big yellow field has appeared in the valley that hadn’t been there in previous years. Heavy clouds and dramatic lighting across the field and foreground trees. Behind these acid green trees is a band of mauve trees, I suspect from me playing around with contrasts in the editing process, but I will take that. I think my painting has moved into a rich vein of form, which is a constant, more hits than misses as I understand more what I want to do with my painting.

Yellow field, rain imminent. Day 1

STICKING TO THE BRIEF

This isn’t something I do very often. Not because I can’t take instructions, its because I often find something more interesting as the painting develops. However, whilst not exactly pink there is a strong reddish cast to the whole painting, and something that can’t be mistaken for a natural phenomena. Probably could have pushed the pink idea a little further but it has turned out as I had hoped. The painting is finished.

Pink evening

LESS TREES MORE SPEED

I used to hate painting trees, so much so, that it played a major part in me painting still lives most of my life. However, in the last 5 years I’ve painted more trees than I’ve had hot dinners, that might be factually inaccurate. But they are still tricky buggers to pin down and if I fill my painting with them it can sometimes prove quite tedious. Good progress with this painting, I think its going really well and is 75% there.

Pink evening. Day 3

PINK TURNS RED

Well, I went for it and it is working in the way I had hoped. I was going to keep it almost a palette of pinks, purples and greys but when the painting started to appear I realised it was going to be a sickly, gooey mess. Its a bit raw at the moment it I like how it is looking.

Pink evening. Day 2

THINGS ARE EVOLVING

I knew I was never a provincial landscape painter where place names and faithful representation to place was important. I have consciously dropped any reference to a particular place. Now it is moving much more to a mood, a time of year, a certain light. I might have called this painting pink clouds, because they are the only objects that are pink. However, the intention is to give everything a pink cast. Lets see how that goes.

Pink evening. Day 1