STARTING TO MAKE SENSE

In my view you can take what liberties you like in painting, but its got to make sense. That is in spatial terms through linear perspective where the size and shape of objects have a realistic relationship, and in colour terms, through aerial perspective. Hopefully the liberties I have taken are starting to make sense. The long claw like hard shadows on the left are cast by trees in the evening sunset. That part of the painting is starting to become clear but it needs a bit more work. For me the view looks like a giant blanket has been thrown across the landscape and the evening light is defining the undulating hillside.

Towards Edlingham, Northumberland. Day 4

ITS NOT EASY

If it was everybody would be doing it? Probably not, you have to be willing to fail, which is something I contemplate every time I start painting. Quite often its not the second or third attempt that I feel is right, often I lose count and sometimes it is achieved days later without apparent difficulty. Concentrated on the sky and background today, still needs work but I must focus some attention on the trees next time. All those odd shaped cast shadows on the left are caused by trees, which are not there at the moment! This painting has a mad quality, Kokoschka like, in that every colour and brush mark has been thrown at it and I’m not sure its a direction I want to go in.

Towards Edlingham, Northumberland. Day 3

SLOWLY, SLOWLY

Spent the first two hours this morning not looking at the photo but just making a lot of adjustments to the painting. Despite a fairly long session yesterday I wasn’t that happy with the results. The bare bones were hardly there. Anyway, much improved at the end of today and the real painting is starting to emerge.

Towards Edlingham, Northumberland Day 2

TOWARDS EDLINGHAM

Making a concerted effort to devote more time to painting. This is very early stages but its a decent start.

Towards Edlingham, Northumberland. Day 1

THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS

A bit more consistency, second consecutive day of painting. Trying to unify the painting by treating the sky in the same way as the landscape. I feel I am on the edge of what I know and am constantly learning by working, this is how it should be. It keeps me curious. I think this painting is now finished. It has a chaotic feel, in the sense that there is a fluid intense energy that is running through it. This is the energy I find in the Northumberland landscape. It has a wild, unbound feel, especially when the light is very changeable. An interesting look to this painting which I really like.

Alwinton, Northumberland.

A MORE BALANCED LIFE

What I really mean is I need to spend more time painting!. Several house projects, though necessary, have got in my way. This painting is going well and I am seeing that as I invest more time in the process so the paintings improve. I really want to explore my own personal style, it seems bizarre to say this, but it is still evolving.

Alwinton, Northumberland. Day 3

TIME FOR CONTEMPLATION

Putting up the final? shelf in my studio has allowed me to put together all 5 paintings that have been made at my new home since I finished the studio in June this year. Pleased with the progress so far.

First 5 paintings 2023

THINGS DIDN'T GO TO PLAN

After a long day working on the house the plan was to do an hours painting just to give the trees and unpainted area in the centre of the picture some definition. However, when I’m having a good day I tend to keep going until mental exhaustion takes over. That doesn’t take long, in this case four hours. Made some good progress today, as I had predicted, these pictures are evolving stylistically and so its not always clear which direction I am heading. That is something I like.

Alwinton, Northumberland. Day 2

A BIGGER PICTURE

I wondered if a bigger studio would mean bigger pictures, now I know, it does. This new picture has a square format and the ones I was doing last year with this format looked far too small, 36cm x 33cm. This one is 50cm x 48cm, although small by many peoples standard it feels about right for this painting. I wouldn’t be surprised if I go bigger in the future. Happy with the start, I wanted to create a picture with a focal point to see if it changes the dynamic, the answer is yes.

Alwinton, Northumberland. Day 1

FINISHED AT A CANTER

You cannot account for good and bad days as a painter, why do they happen? I think this is almost finished. On a good day the answers come so much more quickly, even mixing the right colour seems effortless. I will look at this painting again in the hope that I am satisfied with it. As a recent convert to landscape painting I feel I am on a steep upward trajectory and that is quite exciting.

Harbottle, Northumberland

A SNAILS PACE PROGRESS

It feels like I have spent a couple of hours pushing a heavy boulder up a mountain. Gradually this sky is beginning to form but I think it is giving itself up begrudgingly and I will have to patiently bring it into existence. I like how it is evolving and I think that it will gradually tell me how it wants to be painted rather than me imposing my will on it. Besides, I don’t really know what I am doing, I think even the great painters will admit to that at times.

Harbottle, Northumberland. Day 5

USING TECHNOLOGY

I have been working from photographs for a long time, this is something I never did in the analogue years. Digital technology has opened up so many opportunities for artists, especially in post production (is this getting too nerdy?). I have been photographing in RAW format for a long time and processing the photos in Photoshop. The reason for this blog is at the end of yesterdays painting session I thought my solution for unifying the sky was interesting yet not fully resolved. What I did today was to work through a solution for it without having to go around in circles, sacrificing what I had already achieved. It only took 20 minutes. Below is the process I used in Photoshop, creating a ‘mask’ under which I put a photo of some clouds I had taken. It gives an indication for a solution, mostly based around an increase in lighting contrasts and form.

MASK

CLOUDS

FINISHED IDEA

YESTERDAYS PAINTING, DAY 4

STUDIO RESIDENT

Here is a picture of my new friend. He? is a huge moth, about an inch long. He has been in my studio for 2 weeks, never seen him flying but does move around. I was able to set up the tripod and camera right in front of him and he just ignores me. The first thing I do every day is look for him. As he doesn’t disturb me I have allowed him to stay.

TODAY WAS A STRUGGLE

I was really surprised at how quickly this painting had developed. At the end of Day 3 I could almost have called it finished. I knew today things would slow right down and get more difficult, and so it proved. One thing I am acutely aware of is I am no longer fresh out of art school and yet I am still developing an approach to landscape painting. What was I doing for the last 3 decades? Why couldn’t I have gone direct to a developed mature style and now be basking in all the accolades? Luckily I may have another 3 decades, I must not waste them. Anyway, despite a day of trial and error I have managed to push the painting forward. The main aim today was to unify the sky as it was stylistically a sky of two halves. Very happy with it.

Harbottle, Northumberland. Day 4

A TREE PHOBIA?

Is it possible to have a tree phobia?, not the physical thing itself but of painting them? I think the answer should be no, but I have carried it with me for decades. As with all phobias the solution is to tackle them head on, so that is what I have done in this painting. I should have actioned this plan years ago. The foreground trees are starting to appear and they have not proved to be anywhere near as troublesome as I might imagine. This painting is going well, stylistically it seems like a continuation of ‘Cartington, Northumberland’ and I am pleased about that.

Harbottle, Northumberland. Day 3

AN INTRODUCTION TO MILTON AVERY

‘Milton Avery lived and worked as if to avoid biography. He left no significant autobiographical remnants. He wrote virtually nothing, participated in no organizations, and spoke with such reticence that scant oral testimony was recorded. He seemed to have no will to express himself in any way other than painting’.

I find it slightly troubling that I admire such a position, it helps that I have always liked his work.

LATE FINISH

Although I was happy with the previous painting I think it had a fundamental problem in that I had identified a very strong shape within the composition, the ‘orange’ cross and this became a straight jacket around which I had to work. The other paintings, including this, developed from a natural flow of slowly discovering the landscape as they were painted. With this picture I really wanted to make more of the sky and to set the right tonal values which I could build the rest of the painting from. I think I may be heading towards a more naturalistic use of light. I like the way light and deep shadow move across the landscape, this just adds to the drama that already exists in these areas of Northumberland.

Harbottle, Northumberland. Day 2

CEZANNE COUNTRY

I am sure Cezanne would have loved it here. He would just have to get the bus to Thropton and literally have a lifetime of subject matter within walking distance. New painting. The initial intention is to stick a bit closer to the observed colour and see what develops. I think the previous painting took so long because I was a bit more free roaming, though there is no harm in that. Liking the sky already, trees are looming.

Harbottle, Northumberland. Day 1

PAINTING FINISHED

Of the 3 paintings I have done from my new location and studio this has taken the longest. Although it has been a struggle there is a reassuring consistency and quality from these 3 that is a level above last years landscapes. The stylistic approach of these paintings is still new territory, I thought this painting was still unfinished because the trees in the foreground have the aspect of a graffiti tag, but after looking at it for a while I like it. It contrasts well with my hard edged early Italian style that I have always favoured. The next painting is full of trees, not sure how I will handle it, but that is what I want from my painting, a journey of surprises.

Simonside Hills seen from Cartington

MY ENDURING DETERMINATION

Please note there is no question mark on todays title as this is much closer to the truth. I felt that the painting wasn’t bold enough in terms of colour, I thought the underlying structure (drawing) was good but the painting needed a serious overhaul. It has now transformed and there are a lot of interesting elements that have appeared. I need to get to grips with how I want to treat trees in the landscape and my next painting is full of them! This painting still needs work but it is now on a different level to yesterday.

Simonside Hills seen from Cartington. Day 8