DRAMA IN THE AFTERNOON

Its amazing what is going on if you just step outside your front door. This very dramatically lit drama was going on just minutes outside my village. A very expansive and dramatically lit sky, dark with bursts of high contrast clouds but curiously the landscape underneath was evenly lit and didn’t relate to the sky above. I’m not sure if I will artificially light up the fields and trees or not. Had to nearly double the size of board I am painting on just to do the sky justice.

Cloudburst over hills. Day 1

BARELY CREDIBLE

These paintings even baffle me, and I am the one producing them. I have abandoned any sense of conveying weather conditions, time of year or even time of day. A few things remain, the importance of space and sense of light falling on the landscape. The forms and shape of the landscape. I like the way the successful paintings operate in terms of space, and that’s a space that is hard to pin down. Shapes, especially in the sky float around and this gives the paintings a sense of life, like objects are actually moving. The painting is finished.

Rain clouds on the horizon

ROSE TINTED GLASSES

I think there are more than roses in my glasses. I have managed to retain two grey clouds on the horizon just so the title makes any sense. However, if the painting ends up bearing no relationship to the original title it does not concern me. It shows the journey that I go on from the original idea, and what changes is always the colour/light, the composition hardly changes at all from the original drawing. You can recognise the actual place from the painting but if you think the colours are the same then you are taking something stronger than Colombian dark roasted coffee.

Rain clouds on the horizon. Day 5

TWO RAINCLOUDS ON THE HORIZON

Almost missed the brief here, but I like the contrast between the serene upper layers of the sky and the grey clouds on the horizon in the centre of the painting. Missed the brief with the monochrome sky but I believe sticking to the brief is the job of carpenters, electricians and plasterers, not the job of the artist. Definitely gone off piste with this one but the road less travelled is the one I often take. Good progress.

Rain clouds on the horizon. Day 4

I'M WRESTLING

with it, trying to steer it away from being a nocturne and keeping it in daylight hours. The foreground becomes brighter and has more saturated colour so I think it will be turned around. I like the way it is developing although the last two paintings have a different feel to the earlier ones painted this year. I think the space is more easy to read. That doesn’t necessarily mean I prefer the more recent ones. I do actually like the more chaotic landscapes where they are slightly more difficult to read, more Soutine than Constable.

Rain clouds on the horizon. Day 3

I CAN'T PAINT

a monochrome sky, as I suggested I might do in the previous post. I actually knew this as I was writing it but I thought maybe this time will be different. Its because, the use of black and white is a missed opportunity to explore the endless possibilities with colour. Are black and white a colour?, not in my book. I still want that sense of an area on the horizon of dark forbidding cloud and high contrast lighting you can get with stormy weather. Good start.

Rain clouds on the horizon. Day 2

RECYCLE YOUR GLASS BOTTLES

and don’t forget your camera. I managed the first one, the second one meant a hurried walk home after spotting a dramatic landscape at the edge of the village. This has happened several times, sometimes I have returned with camera only to find the dramatic lighting has changed. Not this time. The photo has recorded the sky in a grey scale whilst the the rest of the landscape has strong greens and golds. I like this effect and will start the painting with this in mind.

Rain clouds on the horizon. Day 1

JOHN CRAXTON ESQE

This landscape has a hard defined geometry that reminds me of the work of John Craxton. I like his work although I find the hard edged geometric compositions a little awkward. I don’t think they have aged well. This painting has a more subtle and better thought out sense of space than the previous two, I think it is a more successful painting for it. I am liking all the stylised forms, not sure where they are coming from but I like their particularity and peculiarity. The painting is finished.

The landscape is alive

THE LANDSCAPE IS ALIVE

Is this Northumberland?, it looks more like a desert oasis. I can’t even say I have captured the spirit of the place. I’ve gone off on some tangent, maybe that will lead to more interesting ground, I suppose it must do. I’m keeping an open mind about where this all may be going. It has certainly piqued my interest, and that’s the only way I’m going to continue painting. I still like the way it is evolving, just needs a bit more work to finish.

The landscape is alive. Day 4

WHEN THE PAINTING IS GOING WELL

all is well in the world. The problems begin to grow when I am away from painting for too long. Simple solution is to paint more often but for some reason this is a lesson that I have learnt and forgotten a thousand times. To be more positive, this painting reminds me of the late Guston work, I think its because my simplified trees look like the hooded men, and his often use of mixing large quantities of white into all his colours. Much preferring this lighter palette, this is the way forward for me.

The landscape is alive. Day 3

A LIGHTER TOUCH

I was heading into painters block territory again so I made a proper start on the painting this evening. I am aiming for a lighter touch like I have had in some earlier landscapes this year. I prefer the lighter more decorative quality of these paintings, a bit early Italian. I always like the use of their purer light blues and pinks and the clear delineation of shapes. I think this is coming through already. Good start.

The landscape is alive. Day 2

PAINTERS BLOCK

How long is it supposed to last? I think mine lasted 2 weeks, I’ll take that. I can’t afford to squander years. I know why this occurred, and it has nothing to do with the paintings themselves. Anyway, back on track. This is a photo I took a couple of years ago and really didn’t know how to make a painting from it. Now it seems obvious, this has to be progress and that’s encouraging. Good start with the drawing.

The landscape is alive. Day 1

WHERES THE PROGRESS?

Worth an extra posting just to make me feel better about my inexcusable idleness. The painting wasn’t finished, I knew it had been abandoned, and my conscience wouldn’t allow me to walk away. A final session this morning has pushed it on and I’m now satisfied with it. Need to restart the momentum with a new painting.

Hillside somewhere in Northumberland

THE NECESSARY SUFFERING

has been served and the painting has now detached itself from the original subject matter and become a thing in itself. My palette is becoming more chalky, something comparable to the slightly washed out Italian fresco painting that I have always been very attracted to. The painting is a series of accidents, failed attempts at describing forms and unintended tonal values. It somehow all hangs together and this is when a painting becomes interesting. This painting is finished.

Hillside, somewhere in Northumberland

ORANGE TREE SITTING NICELY

Its quite pleasing that I can put an orange tree in the centre of the composition without it disrupting the image in terms of its balance. I think the kaleidoscope colour choices could be boosted further and I think this is the direction the paintings will take. Anything less I would consider dull and timid and I don’t do that. Liking how it is looking now.

Hillside, somewhere in Northumberland. Day 4

BREAK ON THROUGH

to the other side, as recommended by Jim Morrison. Unfortunately he did not leave any instructions on how this is done. My solution is to paint in a manic style hoping something will appear to show me the way. A manic morning of painting has produced something so far that shows potential so there is hope. It is not the psychedelic effect I had in mind but I am pushing in that direction.

Hillside, somewhere in Northumberland. Day 3

ITS STILL GREEN

I am trying to wrestle myself away from green. This is proving more difficult than expected. I think the idea is to use colour in a more emotive way rather than using local colour. I have no problem picking out trees in this way but I want it to be used across the painting. Always complicating my life. Decent start all the same.

Hillside, somewhere in Northumberland. Day 2

NOBODY NOTICES

I think my interest lies in areas of the countryside that most people pay no attention to. I think that generally nobody pays much attention to the landscape. Yes, you look at it from a car window but this is not a fascination for the landscape. This piece of hillside has some very unusual land markings that don’t appear to be natural or from farming. They look like medieval earthworks?. I want to make something of this in the painting. I like the anonymity of this unremarkable view, hence the title.

Hillside, somewhere in Northumberland. Day 1

SCRUBBING UP NICELY

Scrubbing is the technique here, all my brushes have lost their fine point and this seems to be my preferred method of the moment. It reminds me of Roualt in that the painting surface seems to be assaulted and battered and yet somehow despite the ‘crude’ application there is a beauty in the work. This painting is finished.

Evening pond

AS A PROFESSIONAL CYCLIST ONCE SAID

It never gets any easier, the suffering is the same, but you go faster. And so I have resigned myself to the fact that it will never get any easier, I will demand as much of myself as I do now in the hope that the paintings get better. I know there is a transition of ‘pain’ from putting the initial image down, knowing that it will disappoint and then spend a period of time frantically searching through a fog for the image that is buried somewhere. This image is now appearing and there are traces of interest that suggest something better.

Evening pond. Day 3