Snow Banks

Oil on Board, 10 x 14 inches

This is another demo painting I did few weeks back, duly finished off in the studio before the memory of cold January days fades away....

As I always say in my demos, we all know snow is white, but it only appears white when it is lit by sunlight, so this painting is a classic case of painting what you see, not what you know, or think you see. And that is the key to painting, aside from drawing skills - observing colours and tones and translating those observations to your board or paper.

The snow here is quite dark, relatively speaking, and the brightest passage of the painting is the flash of yellow/orange in the sky, and everything else, snow included, is darker relative to that.

Ocean Light

Oil on Board, 7 x 10 inches

Last one bound for Cornwall, this one is a view from St.Anthony Head, looking across towards Falmouth, with a couple of container ships leaving port. Of course, the light on the sea was captivating - that blinding light you get when pure sunlight is reflected off the water. Everything is a tone down from that - the clouds hace a creamy highlight to them, and this tone has to be right so that the ocean light is the brightest light in the picture.

 

Over the Gorse to St.Mawes

Oil on Board, 12 x 17 inches

This is another painting destined for the Harbour Gallery in Portscatho, it being of that locale.  

There were several 'hooks' that made me want to paint this one - the changing light every few seconds, so that some trees were lit up, then moments later cast in deep shadow, and similarly the foreground Gorse lit in bright yelling yellow, then cast dark and unobtrusive ochre. 

So, having taken a few photos of the view, I had to take the best of each light effect to make the optimum view available. I used a shaft of light to light up St.Mawes castle itself and the rocks on the end of the promontory, and of course that gorgeous stripe of turquoise sea - yum-my! 

I left the Pines on the nearer jut of land in shadow so as not to compete with the castle and sunlit part, but let the Gorse have it's say, sunlit and shouty to provide a lovely foil of complementary colour to the purple/blue sea. The lighter twiggy bits also stood out well against the darker ocean tone - lots of counterchange abounding, providing interest for the eye, hopefully.