A PAINTER’S PROGRESS
Slow progress, but progress, and that’s what I am interested in, what’s the hurry? For someone who has always claimed never to like painting trees I have got myself in a right mess here. I think I may even turn things full circle and start to seek them out, there are landscape painters who don’t paint them, they tend to be very much non figurative painters. As a landscape painter I think you have to take it all on, and that’s what I am doing in this picture.
Springtime in Edlingham. Day 2
This is quite an extraordinary area. Its a hamlet situated on a steep hill. The trees are not native, they are ornamental, planted by some of the residents many years ago. They are unlike all the surrounding native trees, and they dwarf some of the small stone houses and cottages. This is springtime, its a Bonnardesque scene, hopefully that will come through in time.
Springtime in Edlingham. Day 1
I am looking for a clear direction forward, ideally I need more work to review, only one way to solve that. I am trying to identify which paintings are working for me, well this is one of them. It is more or less finished. It still surprises me what I leave out in terms of the original subject. I can’t be that radical though, its a long way from pure abstraction.
Bridge over a river
Old houses need work, currently digging a long trench in the mud, its not quite as enjoyable as painting but its not raining so no excuses. Anyway, the prospect of digging again today was too much, time for a days painting. This is progressing well and is nearing a finish. I had wanted to do more with the sky but it seems to work quite well at the moment.
Bridge over a river. Day 3
Still testing the waters stylistically. Felt that the previous painting had gone too far over to an expressionistic style. This one is more naturalistic and quieter. Want to make this more about observing the detail that is in the landscape. Need to open up the sky so that it has more information, I am not a lover of big blank blue skies.
Bridge over a river. Day 2
Weekend away, just an hour on this Sunday evening to quickly input some stronger pure colours.
Bridge over a river
No place names this time, is that significant? I don’t know, I am keeping an open mind. The water itself is unpainted and I like the shape and quality of it. I have played around with the ideas of having and not having a focal point, it seems to me the paintings with them have a stronger sense of composition, no surprise there.
Bridge over a river. Day 1
The only thing that is clear to me is that I like the vast panoramics when it comes to landscape painting, and the shifting light, very Dutch. I am still searching and it is too early to tell which direction I am heading. This painting is finished, although the sky is interesting it is a bit out of keeping with the rest of the painting. Also, I thought the dark foreground was unfinished, but what is does is create a strong light contrast and the emptiness is intriguing. Time to learn a little more and move on.
Towards Edlingham
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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