Blooming Heather

The heather is coming into bloom on the North Yorkshire Moors above where we live. Bransdale is the start of a large expanse of wild and exposed moorland.  This is the last house, beyond here the trees are sparse and only thrive in the sheltered hollows.

The last time I painted here, in February, on my birthday, the phone rang just as I was putting the sketch onto my board.  I had to rush home to take my poor husband to hospital, so I was hopeful that it wouldn't ring this time.  Happily it remained silent.  It was warm everywhere else, but a little chilly up on the moors.

I am continuing in my quest to apply more paint to the canvas, and consciously to brighten my paintings.  I suffer in the bright light from producing dark paintings.  Hopefully the awareness of that tendency will enable me to adjust my colours to make them brighter when I get home into a less harsh light.

Moorend Bransdale 30x24cms oils on canvas

I took advice from a Facebook colleague about photographing my finished paintings.  I was having issues with light reflecting off the raised parts of the thick paint.
She suggested putting the painting on the floor outside, but not in direct sunlight, then standing facing the direction of the sun, aim the camera straight down, and shoot. The gamma did need adjusting afterwards, but there are no random highlights bouncing of the tops of the paint strokes.  Thanks Annemarie (find her here:  http://www.artannemarie.com )



Post posting note:  I have fiddled endlessly with the foreground patch of heather. 
My issues: not to make it too dark (my nemesis); to give it more colour rather than overmixed mud; to keep the strokes simple and unfussy.  Normally when I add the signature that is a mental stop point for me, but this time I had to keep going. I hope now I have acheived my objective.  Time to move on.....

I

Spring tree in the Autumn of its life

I couldn't resist this tree, having seen better days, but the sun caught shafts of light on the bare trunks, giving a sad poignancy, not to mention an interesting profile.  It will be interesting to see how it fares over the coming years, probably last longer than I will!
As the days are getting (slightly) warmer it's nice to get out again and not be frozen solid, although I seem to be susceptible to the cold and wear thick socks, a vest and wrist warmers unless it gets very warm.

'Seen better days'
oils on canvas board
8x10"

Grey days and moorland farms

Doesn't sound like a promising combination for painting, but after a long spell not getting out a tiny promise of sun was all that it needed.  Sadly it waas no more than a promise.
I headed up a road I hadn't travelled before, albeit only a couple of miles from where we live.  10 miles further up the road, past villages full of weekend homes and idyllic pubs I came out onto the North Yorkshire Moors proper at Bransdale.

This old farmstead had a SOLD sign on the ground so perhaps it will suffer the fate of many others and undergo a makeover only to be lived in  occasionally, or maybe some hardy souls will gird their loins to live at the mercy of the unfettered winds and rain, and the slim pickings of the moorland farmer.

My set up on location

The promise of sunshine did not materialise.  The light was very flat but in the far distance appeared a sliver of golden light just above the horizon.  Perhaps the sun was shining in Manchester (or Middlesborough - I am not sure which direction I was facing, but as it was afternoon I assume it would be westish)

To make the painting a little more interesting I enhanced the light and shade on the buildings.
Winter trees are my current bete noir.  How to best portray the massed bare branches is a constant mystery.  Looking at the work of many painters I admire it seems the consensus is an area of lighter tone than the main trunks, similar to the watercolour method, rather than trying to paint every twig.  I definitely need more practice.  I figure as it is still February I have another 3 months before the buds burst in May.  Much more drawings of trees and tree studies coming my way.

Here is the finished painting (there is some glare from the surface of the oil paint.  I am still juggling with light to get good colour representation on my photographs.)  I have gone back to using my DSLR camera as the colours are truer than on my compact.

Grey Day Bransdale Moor
Oils on board
12x10"

Mud and floods

I love painting outside (Plein Air in technically arty terms) I am attracted to woodland, although I find it the most challenging of subjects.  I also love painting water, although in this case it looked more like liquid chocolate, running down from the peat moors of the North Yorkshire Moors.  I think this one begs a repeat visit, or maybe a studio version.  Now it is up on a screen in-front of me I can see lots of things to change.  In the true spirit of a Plein Air artist I don't like to alter painting much when I get home (although I will correct glaring errors and unfinished bits).

This ford crosses the road below the church where my daughter was married last October so it has special significance for me.  A few cars approached, mostly tentative, then reversed back up the hill.  Some bold locals came at speed and ploughed through in spectacular fashion.  I was in our Smart Car so resisted the temptation and drove round to the other side where I had identified my vantage point.

I have had real problems photographing my work recently.  My compact camera doesnt pick up the subtleties of colour so I have gone back to my DSLR.  It is hard to find the right spot without the light bouncing off the wet oil paint, but I have nailed it with this one. 

The sun is coming out, so I am going back this afternoon.  Bye for now.

Kirkdale ford in flood
10x12"
oils on board
plein air

Online study

I have been doing an online study course recently, led by American artist Larry Seiler.  Other than a few issues finding my way round the site used (ArtistsNetworkUniversity) the content has been really valuable.
We have been doing exercises concentrating on getting good value contrasts.  This is an area that has proved difficult for me in the past, and together with the discipline of working small and fast I think the long term results will be beneficial.  I just hope I can translate what I have learnt when I revert to my normal, undirected, plein air work.

These are the three pieces I submitted for week three, they are all oil on gessoed paper (a new substrate for me - I will blog about that later) 5x7" (another 'new for me') done with a very limited palette and three pre-mixed tones of each colour.

I will go back and do bigger paintings of some of these.  I look forward to what we have to do for the final week.

Scarecrow festival Thornton le Dale

This week sees a scarecrow festival in our village.  They are very popular in this area, some places being very much better than others.  I suspect that those who have been doing it longer have evolved   a greater level of Worzel Gummaging than others.
I think this is the first one here, but the standard was pretty high, and certainly provided much interest for the hundreds of ice-cream licking tourists who wander the streets of the village looking for something more to look at.
I bravely took to the main street to paint it.  For such an attractive village there aren't all that many 'ready made' painting locations,  indeed even the postcards on sale in the shops only have a limited choice of views, mainly centered on the thatched cottage that I posted about recently.
The structure of the cottages was really complicated to sort out, and I abandoned my first attempt as I had strayed away from the initial sketch I did in my sketchbook, and it was already starting to get more formal that I wanted.  The careful approach is my fall back position when I am struggling with a difficulty (in this case getting the drawing right), but for my second attempt I had sorted out in my mind what went where so I made better progress.
On reflection I think I have got some way towards the simple statement in the painting of the cottages.  I think it might look better overall if I crop down the left and bottom by a few centimetres.  As it is painted on a board that I made myself at least I know that the canvas will be firmly adhered and it won't suffer unduly from the attentions of a stanley knife.

Scarecrow Festival Thornton le Dale

oils on canvas board

10x8"

Still on the chocolate box trail

Hutton le Hole this time, a favourite North Yorkshire haunt of tourists, for good reason, a really pretty village and the gateway to the open moors.
The streets are narrow so no parking, which means quite a walk with kit from the official car park, and with rain threatening to boot I had to take my brolly just in case.
In some places it is useful to shade the painting from the glare of the sun, but on this occasion it was essential to protect the painting (and the artist) from the frequent downpours.

Nonetheless I had a good day, and the net effect of no sun is that the light remains fairly constant so you can work a bit longer without chasing shadows.

The stream at Hutton le Hole
oils on canvas on board
8x10"

Chocolate anyone?

I am not a natural blogger so I constantly have to remind myself to update here.  I sometimes feel it is a waste of time because I have only three followers, but I hope others do occasionally come across it.  In reality it is more for a permanent record of my progress, or lack of it, currently in the plein air field, but more generally of my artistic journey.

We have lived in Thornton le Dale for four years now, almost next door to the most painted cottage in all of North Yorkshire.
The path where you need to stand to get a good view is swarming with people, admiring the view and enjoying the delightful quintessential cottage garden in front of the cottage, but it makes it a hard task to concentrate on making a painting.

I got the initial drawing badly wrong; never a good start, but the light soon disappeared behind the wall so I had to retreat, armed with a photograph.  As soon as I got home I could see the error of my ways and was able to correct, and finish the painting quite quickly, but it is much harder in a studio situation to be generous with the brush strokes.
The limitations of time are removed and everything becomes much more considered.  I prefer being surrounded by lots of fresh air and little time to consider, even if one does have to take on board the onlookers and the facile comments (although I am sure most are well intentioned, I don't think people realise how much you need to concentrate)

Beck Cottage, Thornton le Dale

oil on board

10x8"

Another fine day

This is the second day painting with Robert Brindley. I have found his oil painting book 'Painting landscapes in oils' to be a great help, particularly his advice on using a limited palette, makes the paintbox much lighter to carry!

This is the same subject as yesterday but from further across the bay. It needs a couple of adjustment, and I think the addition of some figures would help too. Fortunately as I was painting a man and a little girl were playing at the waters edge so I took a reference photo which I will use to add them later.

Runswick Bay
10x8"
Oils on board



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Runswick Bay, Cleveland

Veg patch overlooking the sea, won't need added salt.

I spent a great day in Runswick Bay, north of Whitby, today. I had always thought it was Yorkshire but the satnav said Cleveland. So I looked it up. Cleveland was a non metropolitan county set up in 1974 and set down in 1996 so my satnav is seriously out of date. Anyhow I got there without problems.

After having coffee with my fellow group members and watching a splendid watercolour demo by Robert Brindley, my eye was taken by a small potager overlooking the sea. That was my subject for the day. Luckily the rain held off and the light remained bright although the sun was very fleeting but at least it meant I didn't spend the day chasing shadows.

My task was to paint with a limited palette, using a warm and a cool version of each primary plus white (I will own up to the occasional addition of some Permanent Mauve primarily for the buddleia in front of the house but also echoed in the fruit of the palm tree). My second objective was to simplify my strokes and not let the detail become overwhelming.
It is still wet so is sitting in my wet panel carrier - hence the wooden surround, but I think it will look good in a plain wooden frame.
I will leave it up to you to decide how successful I have been!

Veg patch Runswick Bay
Oils on canvas on board
10 x 8"






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Runswick Bay, North Yorkshire

Blazing Poppies

This subject has a particular fondness for me, the lane in the distance leads up to our old house,  I always used to feel when I turned off the main road up towards home that I was heading to my own bit of paradise.

I was taken by the vivid redness of the poppies massed in the fields, I went very early in the morning to try to catch the raking light but it was so windy it was me who was raking. My second visit was a little easier but the light wasn't so bright, however the memory remained with me.

I was initially a bit disappointed when I got back home with my finished painting, it didn't seems as vivid as when I was on the spot, despite me being aware now that I tend to minimise the contrasts. I am trying really hard to remedy that, but when I look at it against the photograph I took at the time the impression is pretty close to the reality.

This is part of my big push to say more with less (fewer marks that is, less fussy). In that respect I think this painting is going in the right direction.

Poppies below Wydale
oils on canvas
15 x 25 cm
all my paintings are for sale, please email me if you are interested.

Plein air here we come

I finally sorted myself out with the where-withall to paint outdoor in oils. In October last when I went to Tuscany to paint with Maddine Insalaco of Etruscan Places, I had a blast with a great group of American painters, but more importantly it gave me the confidence to try the great outdoors myself. Sorting out the ideal kit isn't always straightforward and can be expensive but I managed to buy a second hand pochade box through painters-online.co.uk, so now I had no more excuses. My first sortie was about 500 metres from home, an alternative view of a much painted cottage in our village of Thornton le Dale,  North Yorkshire.
This tidy, representational style is a leftover from my days as a graphic designer, and is my fall back position when I am out of my comfort zone, in this case working outside in a relatively new medium.  As I do more I will work to be looser, but I know a lot of people who buy my work like this style.  Quandry..... but I must move on to progress.

Thornton Beck
oils on canvas
24 x 18.5 cms

All my paintings are for sale.  If you are interested please email me.