PASTEL ARCADIA

I have put this title up as a warning to myself not to stray too far away from the subject matter. I don’t want my landscapes looking like they are made out of pink candy floss. These current paintings are an abstracted and idealised interpretation of the actual landscape but I want there to be a tautness about them. By that I mean that the essential topography is maintained, along with the connected rhythms and tensions within the landscape.

I am pleased with the way this is progressing, this is the closest I have got to the type of landscapes I am trying to make.

Across a valley, Northumberland. Day 4.

MUST TRY HARDER

That is the first thought that springs to mind and its in disappointing contrast to the last entry. Its the getting started that I find the hardest and I never learn my lesson. All I need to do is to sit down and start mixing colour, as soon as I do that I am back in the zone. Luckily I realize that these new landscapes are a worthwhile project and hopefully my enthusiasm will gather momentum as the world drags itself out of the current gloom.

A half hearted dabble this afternoon turned into a productive few hours which has moved the painting forward.

Across a valley, Northumberland. Day 3.

A MEDITATION

It’s almost as if I was stood at the top of the hill watching the fog clear. This is a meditation in the art of painting. It’s a slow concentrated process and the painting slowly reveals itself. This has been an enjoyable, relaxed morning in the studio, the kind of morning that Matisse would have enjoyed.

Across a valley, Northumberland. Day 2

ACROSS A VALLEY, NORTHUMBERLAND

This is going to be a slightly different painting. Looking out across a valley, higher up and I’ve also tipped up the perspective. Its almost an aerial shot. You can see the rhythms in the landscape and how lines are connected across the picture plane in every direction. Its almost like looking at a skeleton, or the bones of the landscape.

Across a valley, Northumberland. Day 1

FINISHED

Not so gloomy? I have just stayed the right side of it. I think this painting is more successful than the previous one in that I have captured the sense of place and atmosphere that I felt when I was there. This ‘sentimental’ attachment is important in landscape painting as it conveys to the viewer the particular character and feel of the place. Everything has been highly simplified and a lot of detail has been emptied out and yet there is still enough left in the painting to make it work. I am finding this editing process quite revealing about the paintings I am trying to make. The painting is now finished.

A gloomy April, Northumberland. Finished

TOWARDS NATURALISM

There was a decision to be made, keep the yellow tree or move more towards naturalism. The yellow tree is now grey, as in the real landscape. I think that’s the direction I want to head in, and actually the painting looks slightly better for it. I think I’ve pushed the gloomy theme as far as I want to, anymore and it will start looking bleak and cold.

A gloomy April, Northumberland. Day 3.

TONAL MODULATIONS ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON

Painting can be a form of meditation when things are going well.

There are some photos of Rothko sat in his studio contemplating a painting. I always imagined this inactivity would stretch across days of drowsing, sleep deprivation and hunger.

My day has been slightly more productive but I believe the success of these paintings partly rests with careful consideration of tonal modulations to capture the feeling of the place.

I need to understand the particularity of light and how it shifts across the landscape. Not easy when painting from photos, that’s a potential dilemma that may need to be solved.

More effort required? This afternoon has not been wasted, the painting is progressing nicely. I have decided on a title change. I am becoming more interested in capturing the particularity of place and weather, and so my titles should reflect this.

A gloomy April, Northumberland. Day 2

WIND BLASTED HILL

Unsure of the titles but more sure of what I am trying to do which is the important thing. The side of the hill in the foreground is in a striking light, hopefully this will become more apparent as the painting progresses. I took these photos on a cold gloomy day and I wasn’t sure what kind of paintings these would lead to. However it seems to suit the bleak and desolate landscape.

I think I am going to have a bright yellow tree! My friends advice on the previous painting is turning into a theme, and it is working in the paintings, more importantly.

Wind blasted hill. Day 1

AN ACT OF DESPERATION

I thought I would continue with the dramatic titles during the Easter period. The act of desperation refers to the use of ‘the big brush’. After an age of fiddling the frustration was getting too much to bare. I was messing around where the tree line meets the horizon and getting nowhere. I just could not get the subtlety I was after and so I got a big dry brush and just blended everything together, and it worked.

I think this painting is finished, I may tweak it after a couple of days of contemplation but no big changes are expected. I am happy with it and also excited about what is to come. This is a bit of a turn around, at last.

High plateau. Finished

MENTAL EXHAUSTION

The title is a bit theatrical, but I thought by painting small and infrequently I would be able to avoid any unnecessary fatigue. This is not the case. It seems to me that the smaller the painting the higher the level of concentration is required. Any tiny misjudgement with the brush seems to be multiplied ten fold in terms of the unsightly impact it has on your painting. It is now the afternoon and I have wisely called it a day.

The painting has progressed nicely and I am pleased to report the bright green tree is going to remain as is. Now the other areas of green underpainting have disappeared the tree itself seems more convincing. I think this is because the colour seems more particular and intentional.

High plateau. Day 4

A 2ND OPINION

I got a text two days ago from a friend telling me that my current painting was already finished. This thought hadn’t even crossed my mind, and when I went back to the painting I could see his point. My main objection to this comment was that I hadn’t planned on leaving the tree on the left in its present state, ie bright green. However I am not opposed to this idea and even though I have continued the painting the tree is untouched.

I will keep an open mind as I don’t pretend to have all the answers. I am liking the stone wall, and got a bit carried away with it. I am not wanting to turn it into our local Hadrian’s Wall.

Hight plateau, Day 3

ENJOYMENT RETURNS

Suddenly everything is so much easier now my source material is much closer to the paintings I want to make. I have a good feeling about the landscape I am now working from, I think I always knew where I should be going. Note to self: don’t be so lazy and act on your instincts.

Certain aspects of this painting have an Edward Burra oddness and tonality and I have no objections to that.

High plateau, Day 2

THE PROPER LANDSCAPE

I took a trip into the windswept wilds of Northumberland and it was worth the effort. There are several high plateaus in the area which give you great views down into the valleys. With just a couple of miles of walking I have enough source material to last me 2 years. I expect I will go again soon as at the moment it still has the look of winter, being so high up.

At last I am now spoilt for choice in terms of compositional ideas and with an area I can keep going back to. Now I have found somewhere with such potential I expect to see some good progress.

High plateau, Day 1

TIME TO MOVE ON

I have been labouring with this painting and for some reason cannot make it the painting I want it to be. Its probably a case of I didn’t know what I wanted in the first place. I think the strong bands of colour of the field have become too much of a mannerism and they may have frozen the development of the painting. Although I don’t regard it as a failure, its not a success either. I am hoping to return to it in the future, that’s why its has avoided an untimely death.

Corner of the field

UNFAIR REWARDS

By unfair I mean too few. You would think that after many years of doing something you would have accumulated a vast library of skills and knowledge that could be quickly applied to any problem. This doesn’t seemed to have happened with my painting. Had I given the same amount of time to playing the piano I would now be giving classical recitals to an adoring public.
Anyway, too late to change course, this painting has improved and for that I am grateful.

Corner of the field, Day 5

LOOKING SHARPER

The cotton wool landscape is gradually giving way to some more defined forms. Its a painting that is not giving itself up easily and that is partly due to the fact that my photographs are too far removed from the paintings I want to make. This is all good, its part of the learning curve. The light has taken on a greater subtlety and even though the pace is snail like I am pleased with stage 4 of this painting.

Corner of the field, Day 4

PROBLEMS OF A PERSONAL STYLE

I was going to use ‘vision’ instead of ‘style’ but this would be far too pretentious even for me. The problem of a personal style is that your image of the world doesn’t exist. You have to wrestle it into existence. This requires an almost mindless persistence that is at times painful. Frank Auerbach spends most of his time scraping paint off rather than putting it on. Luckily I don’t suffer from this affliction.
Your only guide is a vague notion that something is either right or not quite right. It’s your ability to suffer through every correction that will determine whether you have a painting that will eventually satisfy you.
I am at the mid-point of this suffering. And the balance is beginning to tip in favour of satisfaction.
I will need a period of contemplation and a stiff drink to see if I can progress further.

Corner of the field, Day 3

CHAISING RAINBOWS ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON

I am not sure I am going to make sense of this title but it seems to sum up my current pursuit of trying to capture the fleeting magic of landscape using coloured mud. It seems such an impossible task, and it often proves to be so. I am quite encouraged by my inept daubs this afternoon. If I can plot a way forward with some degree of understanding and subtlety then this promises to be a worthwhile painting.

As I paint more landscapes I can see the influence of Soutine emerging. This is no surprise, he has haunted my work for decades. If I end up a competent pasticher of his style I will settle for that.

Corner of the field, Day 2

LAST OF THE MANICURED LANDSCAPES

The manicured landscape of my local golf course was always going to have a limited appeal. I knew that I wanted to venture into the wild and blasted Northumberland landscape. A place where Turner would have strapped himself to a tree and painted through a snowstorm. I much prefer the centrally heated comfort of my home studio. Still, I want to paint the landscape that Turner would have sought out.

This brings me to this current new painting. It has been bashed about in a good way and has lost some of that manicured elegance that I don’t like so much. It is slowly emerging and I like the promise that it shows. Apologies for the unimaginative title, this may get changed.

Corner of the field, Day 1.

A RAINY DAY

It took a rainy day for me to return to painting. Bad weather for me is the opportunity to finish a painting, there are far fewer excuses to be found.

As is often the case when nearing the end of a painting, the final solutions are not obvious. You are often lead by the painting rather than the source material. In this case it was the right side of the painting that was letting things down. I think it has improved and the painting is now finished.

An Autumn Day, finished.