Nice weather in the Alps

When we arrived last week it was a bit English, in terms of grey, cool and damp, but the weather has taken a turn for the better and I have been able to get out with my paints,  As we came in our motorhome and didn't bring bikes I have been using one from my next door neighbour.  I think blokes have seat bones in different places to us girls, and my painting gear just puts extra weight on the old bones.

We live in a residential area, but the chalets are well spaced and most have delightful backdrops of mountains and lots of conifers.  Here is one just down the road from us.

I am standing next to the public bins, so it could be called 'view from the Poubelles', but I think I need to find a more apposite title.

The giant rock on the right will have fallen from the steep mountainside, out of shot.  Glad I wasn't there when it landed!  That is Pointe de Villeneuve in the background.  it has crept into quite a lot of my local views.  You will see that they have a parasol and garden chairs out.  Thats always a good portent.

10x12" Oils on canvas board
No proper title as yet.

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

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.

Tuscan Tree Studies

Trees are something that painters love or hate.  All that green, all those shapes, in watercolour I have devised my own method of approach, but in oils ???  I am more accustomed to painting light clours first, then darks, but to work totally in reverse really gave me brain ache. (Or maybe it was the wine at lunch)
So today was a day of tree studies.  Sessile oaks, Pines of every description, Olive groves. So much to choose from. And it rained. Very hard.
My first choice was a huge Sessile Oak. It was hard enough to get a clear view from ar away enough to fit onto a small piece of paper.

After lunch the sun made a brief appearance and I chose a tree perched precariously on the top of a cliff that I could paint from the cover of a nearby shelter in case the rain came back with a vengeance.

Sessile Oak Study

Wooded Cliff

Oils on paper 20x20cms

My paintings are always for sale.  If you are interested please email me.

Time for an oil change

I spent a week in Tuscany lately, with Maddine Insalaco and Joe Vinson of Etruscan Places.  It was a pretty intensive week of Plein Air oil painting, which is not something I normally do, but I really enjoyed it.  Here are a selection of my paintings, (after I had reviewed them and make some small modifications - mainly adjusting the contrast and intensifying a few darks.  There are some more - but I will post those when I have had chance to finish them off.

This is the first - a view from the terrace of our accommodation (which I can really recommend - more of that later).  The umbrella pines and tall spiky Lombardy pines are so typical of the area.  These line the approach road to the farm and stand proudly silhoutted on the hillside.  The olive groves below provided problems of their own due to their regular patterns and softly stated colourings.
This is still a work in progress.  Seeing it on screen really shows up what I need to alter!! I will re-post when it is adjusted.


Umbrellas and Lombardys - Armena
Oils on paper 20x20cms
My paintings are always for sale.  If you are interested please email me.