Remus and Fearnot at Brancaster Staithe

Oil on Board, 12 x 14 inches

Another painting for the RSMA exhibition this October. I've painted this boat on numerous occasions, in different light and changing seasons and from different angles. Resting on wet, sparkling mud is always what attracts my eye the most, and oil paint is the most perfect medium to depict it. I love dragging a palette knife across a tacky underpaint to get the effect I'm looking for.

 

Lion Rock, Near Kynance Cove

Oil on Belgian Linen Canvas, 18 x 24 inches

 
Here's my second painting for the RSMA exhibition,  The glorious West Coast Patch is just full of paintable subjects, and on a bright, hazy Summer's day, there's no finer place to be. Looking down from the high cliffs on the surf crashing onto the rocks below makes us, mere human beings, seem very small and insignificant, compared to the power of nature. And what a superb subject to paint, rocks galore, all described with halos of light. I found the best vantage point with some lovely Gorse and Heather in the foreground, and placed a couple of figures on the top of the cliffs in the distance, which gives some scale to the majestic rocky outcrops.

Towards Morton

 Oil on Board, 9 x 12 inches

This one is a commissioned painting, looking down towards Morton, a village near Bourne in Lincolnshire.

From the top of the hill, there was a nice progression into the distance across the fen, with a lovely blue on the horizon line. The strip of bright yellow Rape field provided a stripe of gorgeous colour, and lots of umbellifored Cow Parsley adorned the roadsides for more interest. The sky was a uniform blue when I was there, which was a bit boring, so I used a little artistic licence and conjured up some light clouds for more interest too.   

Leaving St.Mary's

Oil on Board, 11 x 24 inches

This is the first painting that I'm submitting for the Royal Society of Marine Artists annual exhibition this year. Based on a couple of photos I took when we were leaving the glorious Scilly Isles last October. I loved the overall grey tones, punctuated by that flash of yellow light near the horizon. And the lovely orange and blue of the lifeboat provided a gorgeous touch of colour - put your thumb over it and it would have been a very boring seascape!

Painted entirely with Titanium White, Cad.Yellow Light, Permanent Rose and Ultramarine Blue, it was mostly about getting the mixes right, especially for the choppy sea, and changing those subtle variants accordingly.

Beech Spring

Oil on Board, 12 x 17 inches

This is the second in a series of four commissions I am painting for a client, all from the same spot, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, this being the spring version, as if you hadn't guessed!

Beech leaves are a spectacular sight at any time of year. Here, in May, they are fresh acid green, getting a deeper green tone in Summer, before transforming into the orange of Autumn - quite looking forward to painting that one! There is always a bed of composting old leaves at any time of year beneath beech trees, and I suggested these with lots of palette-knife work over a sticky underpaint. the same technique was used for some of the leaves nearer the viewer, too.

Birches and Bluebells

Oil on Board, 6 x 8 inches

The Bluebells are all gone now for another year, but just can't resist painting them each year. These were in Barnsdale Wood on the banks of Rutland Water, a beautiful woodland, carpeted with these glorious flowers. I used a bit of artistic licence, adding the two Silver Birches for interest. 

Most of the painting, aside from the trees themselves, was done with my trusty 1" decorators brush and a large fan brush, which can load sufficient paint on and apply in the right manner to depict foliage and flowers.

Oaks Under an Indigo Sky

Oil on board, 6.5 x 10.5 inches

I was playing golf a couple of weeks ago when a thundery storm was brewing all around us, and looking to my left, there was this magnificently dark sky, with sunlit Oaks and a yellow Rape field set against it. I took a quick snap with my phone, then this fabulous light effect, where the foliage of the trees was lighter than the sky (so rare that it happens) was gone in a few seconds. But I had enough to make a painting from, fortunately, and here it is.
Now SOLD

Beech Trees in Spring

Oil on Board, 9.25 x 13.25 inches

 

This beautiful wood is part of an ancient woodland called Bedford Purlieus in Cambridgeshire. Beech trees are beautiful at any time of year, but in Spring, their acid green leaves are just an emblem of the season. With a few Bluebells on the woodland floor, a painting subject is made.

January Light, Wakerley Wood

Oil on Board, 6 x 8 inches

I did the underpainting for this little oil a while ago, and have another big one on the back-burner of a similar subject - very much looking forward to finishing that one. 

I just love the muted tones of Winter, here with blue frost still in the shadow of the mid-distant field, providing a lovely complement for the orange of the leaves still left on the Beech trees and the russet-toned carpet of leaves on the ground. Lots of impasto dabs to depict the leaf carpet - delicious! The sunlit bright yellow-green headwear of the tree stumps were also a delight to paint.

Daffodil Wood at Manton

Oil on board, 7.5 x 10 inches

I passed this wood a few weeks ago in the car and spotted Daffodils, and thought this might make a painting. So, I popped back when I had more time. Someone had obviously planted them, along with some Fritillaries, neither of which grow wild in woods, but what a sight they looked - cue the oils! There was just a distant haze of Bluebells,which provided a nice foil to the predominant yellows and greens.

Now SOLD.

Sun Reflection

Oil on Board, 10 x 14 inches

Orange and blue are complimentary colours and always sing together, and there are plenty of both in this painting, which again started life as a demo last year. It would have made quite a nice composition without it, but the reflection of the sun glaring full power off the water really was the obvious hook.

 

Teasels by the Welland

 Oil on Board, 9 x 13 inches

 

I'm rattling through all these demo paintings I've had stacked in the studio for months, and here's another one finished off. There's a common theme in nearly all these recent efforts - contre-jour, ie, facing into the sun. This tends to create strong highlights and shadows, so that there is plenty of contrast in the painting, giving it interest and often more impact. I love a Wintry subject for this light effect too - pale blue-greys for the distant trees, getting ever darker and warmer towards the foreground

Winter Grazers near Gretton

Pastel 13x 19 inches

 

Yes, another demo painting I did last year, at Peterborough Art society I think. I finished back in the studio today. I reserved the pure Titanium White Schmincke Pastel stick, the softest, most buttery stick, to knock-in those gleaming jewels of sunlight. I say knock-in, because it is exactly the noise it makes, banging in those spotlights with the edge of the stick, rather like an impasto blob of Oil paint, after brushing off a tiny bit of underlying pigment with a Hog brush. Hmm, a bit more info divulged...I'll have to kill you all.

Rising Sun at Wakerley

 Pastel 13 x 19 inches

 

From the bridge on the Wakerley Road between Barrowden and Wakerley, I've painted this view a few times, and with a little artistic licence, I moved the dawn orb a little to the right of centre. Who can resist painting such a subject? Not me!

To Pastures New

 Pastel 13 x 19 inches

 

Yet another demo I painted last year from a 14 x 20 Oil painting, shown here. I changed a couple of the postures and plumage of the cattle, but otherwise, painted it pretty much as was - interesting to compare the two mediums. It would be even more interesting to compare a Watercolour to the Oil, but I've not had the courage to paint a Watercolour for a goodly while...watch this space!