Deer at Wakerley Wood

Oil on canvas, 18 x 26 inches. 

Started this one a year ago and put it in the back of the studio, so dug it out and finished it. Woods are always great subjects to paint, and none more so than at the end of Winter, with a touch of frost on the fallen leaves, and arays of sunlight catching the tussocks and old stumps. I added the Deer for a bit of life and focal point, with the logs, sunlit leaves and branches pointing to that point. Almost every time I've been in the wood, I have seen the Deer, usually just their back ends as they scuttle off to safety.
Lots of texture in this painting - had fun painting the leaf carpet with a heavily-laden palette knife.

Hummikngbird Hawk Moth

Just been to the gallery to pick up a painting, and as I walked past the little garden in full bloom, I spotted this little guy - a Hummingbird Hawk Moth, a frequent day-flying Summer visitor to Britain, and a suspected resident now. I didn't have my camera with me, but luckily had my phone in my pocket, so managed to nget these three pics of him, hovering over W
allflowers, and sipping the nectar, never settling on a flower, just using his long proboscis, just like a Hummingbird does, hence the name. Keep your eye out for this beautiful little insect in your garden!

Self Portrait

Oil, 12 x 9 inches

Work in progress. Whenever I've done a self portrait, the result is always a miserable-looking convict! Painting yourself from a mirror is so tricky to pose anything else other than a really concentrating face; you're looking so hard at your visage, observing the shapes, the colours, the tones, the cools, the warms, it's just impossible (for me) to hold a happy-looking face. Strange light I painted in - there were what seemed almost like...grey hairs on my head.

Will have another look at it tomorrow morning in a different light to see if it needs tweaking...

The Windrush at Widford

Oil on Board, 10 x 14 inches. 

This is a commissioned painting for one of my lovely customers, completed in the studio. Spring, about now, when the leaves are shooting out with fresh growth everywhere, which I shall largely miss this year with the wretched virus that has disrupted all our lives.

Herb Robert by the Teign

Oil on Board, 7.5 x 14 inches. 

Still experimenting with methods and brushes in an effort to paint more loosely and painterly. Work in progress...

Near Sundown, by the Pillbox

Oil on Board, 6 x 8 inches

 
A fast oil sketch done in the studio today, using a photo I took a few weeks ago as I was driving home from the gallery - I spotted this glorious light effect at Morcott and thought it might make a painting, so here it is.

Oaks by the Brathay

Oil on Board, 10 x 17 inches

I painted this over the last couple of days, from my trip to the Lakes in November. I had just painted a small oil on site, facing in the other direction, then turned around and here was this most glorious view which just had to be painted. I didn't have the time there and then, so took a couple of photos and made this painting from them, and filmed the painting of the water. Many people who come into the gallery say they admire the way I paint water, because it's so difficult, and I always reply that painting water is the easy bit, it's trees that are difficult! So, I've posted a video of painting water in oils, and if you fancy sitting through 55 minutes of real-time painting, click on this link: https://youtu.be/8n7BgiZPibU

Dayburst

Oil on Board, 6 x 8 inches. 

I'm doing a lot of experimenting with my efforts to become more painterly, ie., getting the final result looking more obviously a painting. This seemed a good subject to try this out some more. I'm quite pleased with the result, especially the cluster of trees on the right, painted with a soft, flat brush, rather than the more spiky household brush I've used since Noah was a boy.

Silver Dawn, Duddington

Oil on board, 12 x 17 inches.


This painting started life as a demo a couple of weeks ago, finished off in the studio today. I love painting frost, and with a low sun again, this was a challenge to portray the brightness of the sun at the top left of the picture. I used a pallette knife to give just that bit more intensity to the pure light.

Snow Sunset

Oil on board, 9 x 12 inches. 

We're waiting for snow here, but when we did get snow in 2018, I took a few photos and this painting is a result of them. Just down the road from my studio, I was driving home when I saw the glorious sun behind some low clouds, creating this fabulous view. When the sun is low and casting strong shadows, snow can appear very blue, and the highlights pink - a tone down from the brightness of the sun itself. The key to a successful painting is noticing the subtle differences in tone. Had I painted the highlights on the snow pure white, the sun's intensity would have been lost. It's raining the eye to paint what you see and not what you know, or think you see.

Winter Tones, Duddington

Oil on Board 6 x 8 inches

 
My first completed painting for ages - running this gallery malarkey takes up a lot of time! I polished this one off with some looser brushstrokes again, in my effort to evolve into a more painterly artist and to capture the essence of the scene. Such a different method I'm using, and it's fun, and I think more painterly, so just hope I'm heading in the right direction...

Clearing Fog

Oil on board, 10 x 14 inches. 

This was demo painting I did recently, completed in the studio. Foggy scenes are tricky to paint - it's getting the receding, close tones light enough, I find. There are no really dark tones when fog pervades, and here, the darkest dark is on the frosted Teasel heads in the right foreground.

Frost Spangles

 Oil on Board, 12 x 17 inches

I painted this as a demonstration painting for Blaby Society of Artists a couple of weeks ago, finishing it off in the studio this morning. I love painting the lovely silvery colour of frosted grass, just before the normal green colour returns as the sun heats up the icing sugar dusting. This painting was largely about the subtle tones looking straight into the sun. The white colour of the bark of a birch tree only appears white if the sun is shining on it, but here, looking directly into the light, it appears quite a dark shade of blue, yet our eyes tell us it's white. See how dark it is next to the sky colour. The spangles of the title are those lovely little jewels of light that twinkle on the leaves and twiggery, spotted in with a palette knife. #silverbirch #woodland #frostedgrass #frostedvegetation

Patrick's Byre

Oil on board 7.5 x 10 inches. 

Jane's been on at me to paint this since we got back from our holiday in the Dordogne, so today, I did it while she was at work in the gallery. Who said I can't do loose?! Painted in 1 and a quarter hours, it was a refreshing change to 'dash one off' with free brushstrokes. #frenchbyre #frenchbarn

Beacon by the Brathay

Oil on board, 10 x 14 inches.

 
This was a fleeting light effect which lasted for all of 5 seconds, never to reappear again. It was by the River Brathay in Langdale, when the sun suddenly came out and shone on that young Oak tree on the mid-distance hill, lighting it and it alone, like a bright orange beacon - hence the title. I managed to get a photo of that moment and painted this from it. #sunlitoak #riverbrathay #langdale #autumncolours #paintingofautumn #fallpainting