NEVER RIGHT FIRST TIME

This used to be a real frustration for me years ago, I still don’t get it right first time, but now it has turned into a real positive. There is something about the slow build up and search that shows in the paint (not appreciated on the mobile phone!). It creates a richness of colour and form and it also creates an intensity of looking. I would call it an intensity of intention, a dogged determination not to settle for unsatisfactory solutions. I keep thinking of Georges Rouault, partly due to the odd sky but also the crusty accumulation and intensity, and dare I say it, spirituality, of the painting.

Edge of the village. Day 5

A BUCOLIC SCENE

Its in the balance, I started off with the idea of a very dark left side with a much brighter right side. I seemed to have evened up both sides and gone for a mid tone. I am going to be adding in more contrast in the foreground with the trees so it should have a bit more punch. As mad as the sky is I like the way it is appearing but its not finished yet.

Edge of the village. Day 4

DAY 3

A glimpse of promise? one of those starts where the painting is being difficult. Sky is starting to improve and I think the structure is now there but it needs pushing further. Once that contrast between the brightly lit right side and dark left side is more apparent then the painting will start to work.

Edge of the village. Day 3

A LANDSCAPE OF TWO HALVES

The heavy clouds on the left have cast a heavy dark shadow across the left side of the landscape and I really like this affect so that is what I am aiming for. No magic in the sky happening yet but I want to exaggerate the darker greys of the heavy clouds on the left with the brighter illuminated clouds on the right, ditto with the landscape.

Edge of the village. Day 2

A TUSCAN PARADISE IN NORTHUMBERLAND

For some reason this landscape reminds me of Tuscany. I think it is due to two things, the rolling landscape with small hills with peaks and the very dry conditions turning the grass yellow. I also think it is due to the mass of trees dotting the landscape. There is a lot of trees on the left side of the drawing which I haven’t indicated. They look like a mass of sepia brush strokes and I think that is how I am going to put them in. Like the cloud formation, intending to make a lot of that.

Edge of the village. Day 1

A MAX BECKMANN MUSCULARITY

Beckmann has long been a favourite of mine for his bold graphic use of black line, as well as his dark and dramatic imagery. I can detect a certain Beckmann like strength in the lower left area of the painting I have been working on for the last 2 sessions. I really like the bold definition in this area, the colour and the energy. I think this exists in the rest of the painting as well. Will this be best in show or a turnip?, by leaving the giant red cabbage in the centre of the painting I am hedging my bets. Just need to frame it now.

The road to Scotland

A CRUSTY DETERMINATION

In my early days as a painter I used to look at artists like Roualt and Auerbach and wonder why their paintings were so crusty and built up with thick coagulated layers of paint. I use to think it was just an affectation to create a recognisable style. Now I know it was a sustained search to find the forms and colours from a less obvious route. That is why I am always suspicious of the immediate solution, and it shows in the painting. The lower left side has been worked over. It is now closer to what I wanted and I like the simplified blocks that are emerging. Hopefully just another session will see the painting finished.

The road to Scotland. Day 9

ITS NOT THE WINNING

but the taking part that counts. This painting and the previous one are going to be entered into our village annual summer show. With a top prize of £3 and £5 if I can scoop both first and second prize, I could potentially fund a return bus trip to Newcastle. There is every chance of not being in the prize money and the winner being a watercolour of one of the committee members grand daughters. Happy with the way the right side of the painting is looking. The bottom left needs a lot more work. I hope the judges don’t think I am taking this too seriously.

The road to Scotland. Day 8

A PSYCHEDELIC EVENING

If this is the way I see my local landscape its no wonder I wanted to move here. The thing is its hardly exaggerated. The autumn colours in the bottom left corner are blocked in, but in terms of colour its quite close to what is there and I like how it looks in the painting. There is also a giant red cabbage in the centre of the painting that is correct in shape but not colour but I find it intriguing, I may leave it as is.

The road to Scotland. Day 7

A DELIGHTFUL SATURDAY MORNING

A morning of fulfilled expectations and serene calmness when every brushstroke brings untold joy. I may be over egging it but it was a good mornings painting, mostly focusing on finishing the top left area. I have pushed the warm tones as far as I can knowing they have to make sense within the rest of the picture. This is one of my favourite views in Northumberland, with the high vantage point it acts like a gateway to the best landscape of the county. I was hoping the painting was going to do it justice, so far it has.

The road to Scotland. Day 6

A LENS DISTORTION

I am sure Francis Bacon would have approved. In the distant hill on the right only the lower half has recorded the detail fully the area above and to the left has disappeared in a mist of light blue. It must have been the low angle of the sun in the evening but I like the effect. There is also a bit of reflection off the wet paint, I don’t like that. I am beginning to appreciate the value of illustration in that it reflects the specific detail of the place in terms of the stone walls across the landscape and the placing and shapes of the trees, etc.

The road to Scotland. Day 5

THATS AN EVENING SKY

and no one can tell me otherwise. I think I may be able to convince that this is an evening scene, although if it seems mid day summer to someone that’s fine, it makes no difference and I am no Impressionist. I am liking the sense of space and recession that the tree lined road gives and the light and shadow cast on the road also emphasizes this. The painting is coming together well. I find once you reach a tipping point in terms of painting in most of the white canvas then the painting starts to tell me what needs doing. I think the previous painting is too much the ‘tourist scene’ and making the ordinary more than ordinary is what I should focus on.

The road to Scotland. Day 4

THE ROAD TO SCOTLAND CONTINUES

I just pulled over briefly to rest my weary head. I do not have a boundless enthusiasm to paint day after day, nor an enthusiasm to do anything relentlessly apart from eat. This painting started off as an evening scene with a fading sky. The sky has remained as is but the rest is rapidly moving towards mid day. This is quite intentional, my love for stronger colour cannot be resisted I just hope I can keep the whole painting in balance. I like the graphic quality it has and the repeated pattern of stacked horizontals receding towards the horizon.

The road to Scotland. Day 3

LAST HOUR OF SUNLIGHT

I was running out of time in the evening to get this photo and I thought I wouldn’t have enough light to work with. However, I like the fading evening sky and I was lucky enough to get a single car heading towards me. It only makes itself known by its headlights but I think I am going to include it.

The road to Scotland. Day 2

ROLLING NORTHUMBERLAND

For this photo I am stood at the top of a steep hill, looking down into the valley which then rises steeply again to the horizon. The road is tree lined either side and disappears out of view on the horizon as the road turns left. Nearer to view is a tunnel of trees that touch so the road goes from bright sun into darkness. Its quite a spectacular viewpoint and one I see regularly on my travels around the countryside.

The road to Scotland. Day 1

BETTER THAN THE REAL THING

I had to compare the photo to the finished painting before making such a bold statement, but having no qualms about blowing my own trumpet, I believe it to be true. It has only been recently that I have started to believe this, and more importantly started to understand why. I am beginning to bend nature to my will, and by that I mean imposing a sense of design onto the subject. Nothing revelatory about that, but as anyone who paints knows, its not easy to do, and to do consistently. This painting is finished, next stop Scotland.

Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland

A MERMAIDS TAIL

I have substituted the crashing wave on the right with a mermaids tail. Obviously, or hopefully, still recognisable as a wave but I thought I needed to carry through with the overall stylisation. I also didn’t want the obvious big white spuming wave that is in the photograph. I think that in some ways I have made the wave almost silent and it just adds to the poetic mood of the whole scene, that’s my take on it. I thought it was finished but it may benefit from a bit more detail in the mid ground sea.

Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland. Day 6

A RETURN TO FORM

I can’t do browns and greys, I’ve spent so much money on high quality colours, why do I have to reduce them to such drab puddles of mud? Spent a few hours this afternoon knocking things around and trying to fill the painting to at least get myself to a good mid way point. Now I can start to see some new possibilities and am more encouraged to see some purer greens, reds and blues.

Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland. Day 5

A HANDSOME SCENE

The castle is able to retain a sense of nobility and decorum even when the aged man is visibly falling to pieces, a lesson to us all. The sky is a bit more sorted, I like the main body of the castle but it could do with a bit more shadow in the centre to give it a bit more mystery. I think the dark muted colours suit the subject, to me this is not a pretty scene but one of fading grandeur, a bit like Venice. A useful pre-breakfast painting session, these things are possible with a bit of motivation.

Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland. Day 4

WELCOME TO NORTHUMBERLAND

Surely this painting would not go on a postcard to promote tourism?, more likely as a deterrent. I have decided to stick fairly closely to the grey/brown colour palette of the photo as its not my usual choice just to see whether you can still make an appealing painting. I think it is working quite well. Next several days are interrupted, mother is staying, so any painting will have to be early morning alternated with cycling. A testing period.

Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland. Day 3