By Water Newton Mill

 

                  Watercolour 9.75 x 10.5 inches

 

Another attempt at this wonderful, delicate medium!

So difficult to handle the paint, and so difficult to paint trees, and so difficult to paint water – used a ghost wash of colours, keeping the paint wet as it drifted down the paper, changing the washes every second or two to reflect the buildings and trees, then working back in when the initial wash was dry – phew, new respect for watercolourists!

Teasels and Bales over the Welland Valley

Watercolour, 7 x 10 inches

Still dabbling with the liquid medium…just a smaller one this time on Arches paper, which is a joy to work on – seems to have more size on the surface than the Waterford paper of my previous couple of paintings.

Going to try Canson paper next…

 

Farmstead, Great Langdale

                   Watercolour, 7.75 x 11 inches

 

Playing around with the watercolours again – just fancied doing a Lakeland subject, with a white cottage and some gorgeous Herdwick Sheep. I love this breed with their stout legs, built for the fells.

Hay Bales at Preston

                                      Watercolour 7.75 x 11.5 inches

 Another watercolour effort - such a different discipline to oil or pastel painting, like painting upside down, reserving the lights at the start,rather than working from dark to light. Quite enjoyed it though!

A View of Semerwater, Yorkshire Dales

                                          Oil on board, 12 x 17 inches. 

I painted this one from a reference photo. What's not to like about this view - beautiful, lone Oak tree on left mid-ground, rolling hills, dramatic sky, sunlight on the distant fields above the lake, the lake itself, and some foreground sheep (artistic licence).

Across the Chater Valley, Lyndon

                                  Oil 7.75 x 14 inches. 

Driving home the scenic route from golf last Friday, my eye was caught by the gorgeous blue/mauve of the distant trees on the road from Lyndon. I was starving, so raced home, grabbed a quick sandwich, then shot back with my kit, parked up and walked back to get the optimum view and quickly got started using a slightly more letterbox-shaped board. It was difficult to get a good composition, because the downhill road was going straight out of the picture plane, so I positioned myself looking through a gap in the avenue of trees. Purely by accident, my car was in the perfect position to stop the eye and poke it back into the picture.

'Bea'

 

                      Pastel 11.5 x 10 inches

A recent commissioned portrait.

The Winding Welland

                      Pastel 13 x 19 inches. 

This started life as a demo sometime last year. I had forgotten about it after stacking it in my custom pastel storage boxes, so I completed it in the studio yesterday.

Summer Breeze, near Elton Mill

               Oil on Board, 18.5 x 24.5 inches.

I just fancied doing a larger painting for this gorgeous subject - hogweed amongst the foreground vegetation, swaying Poplars, scudding clouds and the breeze-ruffled river Nene - what was there not to paint!

Summer Evening, near Waternewton

Oil on Board 12 x 17 inches. 

I rearranged the trees on the opposite bank, just for composition purposes. The glinting sun reflecting in the water between the swaying reeds and Purple Loosestrife bottom right was the real hook for this painting of a warm, Summer evening down by the river.

The Nene from Wansford Bridge

Oil on board 12 x 17 inches. 

Wansford Bridge near Peterborough was built in 1577, is a listed building and consists of 12 arches. Only one car can pass at any time and there are several triangular pedestrian passes along it, from one of which I took this view. I started painting this very lossely, then tightened up as the painting went on, reverting to my tried and tested methos of painting trees, which works for me

The River Windrush by Widford Bridge

 Oil on Board, 10 x 14 inches

A commissioned painting by me, off to enjoy its new home, owned by a fly-fisherman who angles by this very bridge.

River Windrush, near Widford

Oil on Board, 10 x 14 inches. 

I've reverted to type with this one, using my old method of painting trees, which is fast, but gives a very realistic look.Work in progress...

Swan near Elton

 Oil on Board, 9 x 12 inches

Finally finished the 9 x 12 inch plein air oil painting I did last week, after days of hand-finishing frames. Must get out more in this glorious, hazy sunshine we've had between the deluges!

Early Morning Light, Portree

Pastel on Pastelmat, 19 x 27 inches.

Another possible entry for the RSMA exhibition. I just felt Pastel was a good medium for this subject, and so it proved. I just love trying to capture that intense glare on water and surrounds when looking straight into the sun. Perhaps the most enjoyable passage of this painting was the hill backdrop on the left, directly above the pure, reflected sunlight on the water. So much subtle colour and diffusion there - scrummy! And if you paint the sky the same, intense white, like a photo often captures, the effect is lost - only the sun itself is that light, so that was reserved for the reflection on the water.