A PAINTER’S PROGRESS
It keeps me interested, and as the pictures are slowly improving over time it does make me think that all I have to do is work and the rest will take care of itself. It is proving to be that way and with each passing month as the list of must do house renovations diminishes painting is taking priority. Now I am coming to a clear run of 20 years of painting, probably not enough time. Its never enough. Bit more to go with this painting.
View, Northumberland. Day 4
The foreground is quite detailed and as patience is not my forte I was hoping that some kind of impressionistic solution would suffice. Looking afresh at it today I knew that would be a half baked attempt at a painting, and I don’t do half baked, especially if I know what the proper solution is. I have moved it forward today and it has improved again. It still needs a lot more on the foreground but I know it will be worthwhile. I am liking the three banded effect of the trees in the foreground and I could probably improve this, the painting will be better for it.
View, Northumberland. Day 3
A thunderstorm is imminent, the clouds were heavy but were a palette of muted purples and greys. I have got the forms of the clouds but have ramped up the colour. The landscape is pretty much as is. Interesting differences stylistically between the foreground and the rest of the painting, don’t know if I will change it much, I do like it. There is a lot of brightly highlighted leaves in the foreground and I still think I will add all these in.
View, Northumberland. Day 2
The plan this afternoon was to do an hour of painting and then go cycling, knowing all the time that if I start painting I wouldn’t be able to stop. So it turned out. What attracted me to this scene is the lower third, there are three distinct bands of trees. In the foreground the tops have caught the sun and so its a pattern of oranges and bright greens. The mid band all the trees are dark olive and the top band the trees are a mid blue/green. There are heavy clouds and no direct sunlight so everything is in a mid tone, but I think I want to create a bit more contrast in the sky.
View, Northumberland. Day 1
I am dedicating this painting to Edward Burra, whose only landscape in Northumberland is called Valley and river, Northumberland. There are several rivers in Northumberland and as he has given no information as to the paintings location, this scene will remain a mystery forever. I have titled mine ‘View, Northumberland’ and as there is no river, scholars and historians only have fields to work with. With my wobbly draughtsmanship and generous use of artistic license only I will know its location.
View, Northumberland. Day 1
Maybe for some, but there is a consistency to the manic paint application and mark making throughout the painting which I like. The hedge as a subject seems quite ordinary and its in the struggle to make it more than this that I find interesting. I remember a tutor telling me don’t put mountains or sunsets in your landscapes, I would add cows and sheep to that, but for different reasons. Its the transformation of the ordinary, that is the challenge, but its also the most difficult thing to do. For me this is the direction that I should be following. The painting is finished.
Old hedge
28C in the studio, I was using the wife’s fan that she uses in the leisure centres when teaching Zumba. The lowest setting was too much and with the highest setting I think I could have flown to Paris. I had a choice, use the fan and not listen to my Spencer Davis cd that I have been listening to on repeat for the last 6 weeks, or listen to the cd and melt. I chose to use the fan. Ironically when I finished at 7pm it was cooler outside than in the studio. Painting going well though its not quite finished yet. I think the cloud is stolen from Chagall, but not intentionally.
Old hedge. Day 3
My way of saying that the garden is a long term source of painting inspiration. This is no surprise as there are many examples of artists using it. I can now see a case for taking more of an interest in the garden and planning longer term with this in mind. I am also aware that my focus is now zooming in and the expansive skies and horizon line are not so important. This is not permanent, I have already seen a local landscape view that may be the next painting.
Old hedge. Day 2
This garden and property is a bit like Venice, there is an old decaying splendour to everything. Old parts are not straight, the stonework of the cottage has been battered over the centuries. This corner of the garden in particular is past its prime. The hedge was overshadowed by two one hundred year old apple trees which came down in a storm in 2018. I had the pleasure of removing both stumps, which took quite an effort. Its in the oldest parts of the garden where all the interest lies, like this hedge.
Old hedge. Day 1
As eccentric as it is, I actually prefer my multi coloured painted lawn as opposed to the rather dull and now partially dead lawn that we have. This lawn looks like it has been designed by Dali or Miro and has the aspect of coloured marquetry. I could replicate this and would probably use coloured broken pots to create shapes. If this is how the rest of my garden paintings are going to play out then there is a great deal of scope for some interesting paintings. This painting is finished.
The manicured garden
Even my best attempts with a few litres of Weedol would not produce a lawn that looked like a Jimi Hendrix album cover. If it were true I would be quite proud of myself and I would make no attempt to return it to its natural colour. I am not sure how my title of ‘The manicured garden’ sits with how the painting has turned out. I shouldn’t worry, Picasso did far worse to his sitters. Heading towards a finish.
The manicured garden. Day 4
Due to my efforts with litres of Weedol the lawn has a paper cut out pattern of various shades of browns and greens. Only an artist could find beauty in such a lawn, if anything it could do with some more browns to balance things out. It has created a lawn which is quite interesting. Hopefully that will be evident as the painting progresses.
The manicured garden. Day 3
Have I got over my loathing of blue skies?, I think so, I am liking the way this sky is appearing and I don’t think its going to change much. It seems like a sky suitable for a manicured garden, sharp, crisp and a bit artificial.
The manicured garden. Day 2
Just like my intervention with the beech hedge, having to give it a severe pruning, my attempts at achieving a manicured garden are doomed to failure. I have inherited this garden 50 years too late, certain areas have gone out of control, or died off through neglect and can’t be turned around. I have to work with what I have got. What creates the interest for me is this struggle between my attempts at creating the perfect garden and the reality, plus my pigheadedness, which means I will never give up. As well as all of this, this painting will highlight my disastrous attempts at killing the dandelions leaving discoloured patches all over the lawn and the general imperfections of the rest of the garden.
The manicured garden. Day 1
This painting has turned out much better than expected. The subject was a confusing mass of tiny tangled branches which I had no interest in. I knew there would have to be a lot of invention in order to make this painting work. These last 3 paintings have been a consistent departure in terms of a style and I am enjoying this free style approach to painting, it creates surprises and interesting solutions. I feel like I have taken a new direction and there is still a long way to go. This painting is finished.
The pruned beech
Its not often that my manual labouring in the garden is called off due to the heat, but that is what has happened today and tomorrow looks the same. Extended days painting in the studio and the temperatures were bearable. Good progress, I think the painting is going in the intended direction.
The pruned beach. Day 4
Silly attention grabbing headline, but that seems to be what I am now doing. I have no idea where this is going but it has been a gradual transition for some time. Its a simplification of what I am seeing with the emphasis on colour, shape, rhythm and design yet still retaining most of the characteristics of the subject. I could never go fully abstract, tried that before and I just lose interest. I like the tension between the subject and how I translate it. Its really this process that creates the interest for me.
The pruned beech. Day 3
Come to St Tropez, this painting is starting to look like one of those travel posters from the 1930s. The beech trees substituting for the Mediterranean pine. It has a flowing graphic quality and I like it. I also like the beech hedge in shadow and the acid green grass and drought afflicted soil, which I have turned pink. One thing it doesn’t have, which I was expecting, was the unsettling quality of the hedge being butchered. My aim is to make the bright stumps a decorative feature rather than a Goya horrors of war.
The pruned beech. Day 2
A view from the garden, but not the view to show visitors. This is the ugly side of the hedge, at the back, where I have given the hedge a severe pruning. I have also taken about two feet from its base as it was grown along the ground and it branches were acting as a ladder for lots of ivy to grow through its centre. Now it looks like a manicured poodle, a bit like the rest of the garden.
The pruned beech. Day 1
It would be a major fail on my part if the tree was recognisable as anything else. I made sure at least that the silhouette against the sky could not be mistaken. Some artistic license within the body of the tree but I was responding to the mad shapes that existed. I don’t know if I have crossed the line stylistically, I seem to have been pushing in this direction for some time so there is no going back. Next painting is from the garden but the subject contains so much information I needed a bigger board to paint on. Not sure if it is going to be dry enough to start tomorrow.
Yew tree