THE HAND OF TITIAN

Is upon the landscape, but sadly not upon my brushes. I seem to be going off on a tangent, which is quite normal and something I always encourage. The sky has been lifted up several notches on the tonal range. The dark grey/purples have been replaced by warmer purples and ditto for the dark bands of blue. The overall effect is quite pleasing and whether there is any similarity to a Titian sky is debatable. I had to get out a very rarely used tube of Manganese Blue for the occasion, Ultramarine Blue being my default choice. I will not change the title, as I am not a million miles away from the original. The brilliance of the sky is close to the horizon and this has not been painted yet.

A Titian sky, Eglingham. Day 2

TITIAN AND EGLINGHAM

Titian has never been to Eglingham, I am pretty sure of that. Its around 3 miles from any main road and even I was unaware of it until a friend told me of its existence. A brooding silvery sky on the horizon, with a line of pure blue. I am hoping I can get some sense of the tonal values which make this sky quite unusual. The single road that takes you to Eglingham is winding and meandering and gives great views across a valley to the hills in the distant north.

A Titian sky, Eglingham. Day 1

EMBRACE THE STRUGGLE

This is a tricky concept for me. I always looked to art as a refuge and a comfort blanket from the crazy world we live in. My studio was supposed to be a sanctuary from troubled thoughts and the stresses and strains of life. Now in my comfortable retirement I am finding that the biggest struggles and challenges are coming from my painting. All self inflicted of course. Now I need to reset my mindset. The longer I am prepared to struggle with these paintings the better they become. This one has turned out much better than expected, but like I said in the previous post, I’m not sure what I am expecting to find any more. Painting must continue, this one is finished.

Nature and order

A CONVOLUTED JOURNEY

Its curious, you would expect that someone who has painted for four decades would know exactly what they were doing and would arrive to a finished painting in double quick time. Seems to me, that I don’t know what I am doing and my paintings are taking longer but I eventually do arrive at a point that I consider finished. Its certainly testing my patience, but these paintings are getting better so there is the reward at the end of the rainbow. Still not finished with this one.

Nature and order. Day 7

SUFFERING IS MANDATORY

I would much prefer that painting provided only pleasure, after all that’s why I got into it, little did I know. It has taken a long time to get to what I would call the tipping point of this painting. That’s when the right decisions outweigh the wrong decisions and it becomes more likely that more right decisions will follow. The lower right quarter for me is starting to work well, other areas need bringing up to that level of clarity. Enthusiasm restored though I suspect its not going to get any easier.

Nature and order. Day 6

KEEP THE FAITH

An autumnal mood has fallen over me, it has nothing to do with the painting, that’s not the problem. I am sure I will snap out of it but this mornings painting session was an uninspired grind. There are some isolated bits of painting I can see appearing that I really like and I can see a lot of potential in this painting, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with it, hopefully a small personal reset is all that is required.

Nature and order. Day 5

BASHED IN

I may have destroyed a couple of brushes in the process but fine tips and detail were not required today. My idea was just to get the placement of trees and tonal values more or less where I wanted them. I don’t believe that detailed illustration has ever been a real consideration for me. Pleased with the way it is progressing and I like the warmth of the colour coming through. My aim to avoid painting landscapes in various shades of green is looking successful in this painting.

Nature and order. Day 4

PAINTING WINS EVERY TIME

In a world that is flooded with billions of photos everything appears too familiar. I am trying to push away from what would be regarded as a familiar contemporary approach to landscape that I see, which is often semi abstract and gestural. I am more drawn towards the surreal or dreamlike re-imaging of a scene, or even an entirely invented scene. How or if I get there only time will tell. Starting to like what is appearing here.

Nature and order. Day 3

JUST A START

A very leisurely start to this painting, 1 hour on a Sunday morning but I just wanted to get things kicked off. My simple aim with these paintings going forward is not to present a room full of green landscapes, I seem to have a brown landscape appearing, that is also not an aim.

Nature and order. Day 2

A MODERN INTERPRETATION

I liked this landscape photo I took for its order and balance. When I think of order and balance I always think of Piero della Francesca. I have always admired the landscape depicted in his Nativity, its squeezed off to the side but it is a masterpiece of landscape painting in its own right. This is my starting point for my painting. I have no doubt it will go off in an entirely different direction, as it should.

Nature and order. Day 1

WHERES THE CORNFIELD?

In the foreground space was a cornfield, but it never made it into my painting. I do think whether I should have given this cornfield a chance, I think it was the amount of time it might have taken to paint, but I have spent just as much time on the alternative. I don’t think the cornfield would have been any less interesting, there were lots of patterns in it that I thought had a great deal of potential. What I have in its place is an area in shadow, the colour is more muted, but its broken up by the sky reflecting pools of water. Why I chose this, I don’t know, but I like the effect, the painting is finished.

Into the landscape

USE THE FORCE LUKE

I took the advice and switched off my TV monitor. Truth is I didn’t even switch it on. I started off in my customary manner by just fiddling with a small area whilst trying to decide if I wanted to do a mornings painting. This is how my sessions often start and its a good way to overcome the problem of waiting for divine inspiration, which never comes. I think I am happier with this version, although looking at yesterdays I wish I had two versions of this painting to work on. Almost there, foreground still needs a little bit more.

Into the landscape. Day 8

GOING OFF ON A TANGENT

The foreground to this painting is supposed to be an area of brown and pink tall grasses. I knew before I started I had no interest in replicating what was there. How I was going to re-imagine this space I didn’t know but it started off going in the direction of John Nash’s WW1 war paintings with mud and bare trees, I think I have steered away from that. I like the left foreground and now its the mid to right foreground that needs some more work.

Into the landscape. Day 7

MAKING LIFE DIFFICULT

Why do some people chose the more difficult path? I’m one of them. I cycle up steep hills rather than along our flat coastline. I am also on some unknown painting journey that is certainly yielding the results I had hoped for but each painting is a struggle. I suppose that is how it should be if you keep raising the bar. Dissatisfaction with your own work is often a key driver for many artists, myself included. I don’t know why but just recently Roualt has entered my pantheon of artists. I think it is the way he carves the images out of the paint, but they only emerge after much reworking. That’s how these paintings are forming and I have to go through a transition from agony to ecstasy in order to achieve it. This painting is heading towards a finish.

Into the landscape. Day 6

A MORNING OF FINGER PAINTING

This was fun, mostly working on the sky, I think it would be entirely possible to paint the whole picture using your fingers. I think this technique works especially well for clouds. I am not sure where I am getting this colour palette for the sky, or the rest of the landscape, its not coming from the photo, I think its a soup of all my favourite artists. I feel I need to transfer the freedom of the skies colour and technique into the rest of the painting. Happy with how this is all progressing.

Into the landscape. Day 5

MUCH BETTER

I used to put a green ground on a prepared board in order to get rid of all the white. I stopped doing that because I had the habit of leaving large areas of the original green when it should have been adjusted to the colour I really should use when the painting had started. The problem in not having a coloured ground is that the white kills the colour and also creates too much contrast with the rest of the painting and messes with the space. Now I have wrestled with the sky today, it is half way there and getting rid of the white has really advanced the painting. I am liking how it looks.

Into the landscape. Day 4

IS THIS A SURREALIST INTERPRETATION

Not in my opinion. I’ve seen this view expressed about other landscape painters who emphasize shape, when the shapes are already there. The word surrealism is overused, for me its the coming together of unexpected objects. I don’t know why there aren’t more artists around who have this fascination with shape and pattern. Either they go for the gestural slashing approach or its a soft focus mood (and some are good). I’m ignoring the ‘traditional academic’ approach because that’s just plain dull. Anyway, rant over. This painting is coming together quite quickly, maybe I will come unstuck with the clouds, but so far its going to plan. I really must take another look at this area, it has an extended valley and high rolling hills.

Into the landscape. Day 3

A PINK CORNFIELD

Even though I can’t remember back to the summer of 2021 when I took this photo I am pretty sure the cornfield was not a strong salmon pink. I think its me fiddling excessively with the buttons in photoshop that has produced this result. However it does not look out of place in the photo and I prefer it so pink it will be. Good start, I am going for a more saturated colour in this painting and it is something I will probably try for more in the future.

Into the landscape. Day 2

A SHIFT IN FOCUS

The poetic journey is beginning, place names are no longer significant, the character of the place is very important and I can see a shift in my painting. I think it has more to do with the fact that technically I can translate the image more successfully to where I want it to be. I notice that specific weather conditions are more important than location but my immediate surroundings matter. I need a lot more new material (photos) as the emphasis has changed. Saying that, the photo for this painting is from 2021.

Into the landscape. Day 1

A NEW CONTENDER

I have often found that the image on the mobile phone looks better than the painting itself. Partly because the photo has been through Photoshop and been given a helping boost with colour saturation and contrast. But also I think its because the image has been reduced and concentrated into a small photo. Its like having a shot of tequila rather than a pint of beer. So I spent the first half hour painting from the mobile phone image, in repainting the sky. I am very tempted to submit this painting instead of Dunstanburgh Castle for the annual village show. My ‘Road to Scotland’ will be the safe bet with the giant red cabbage in the centre?. I can submit 2 paintings. I am looking forward to cementing my reputation as the demented village artist, worth foregoing the 1st prize for. Painting is finished.

Edge of the village