Match fitness

Painting can be a little like football; if you don't do it reguarly it becomes a little more difficult. Today was the first time that I have been able to pick up my brushes for a week or two. I am still interested in painting cityscapes, and this one is of Goodramgate in York. It is bigger than my recent paintings and is the first piece that I have done on canvas for a while.

This was an old abandoned canvas from school. After giving it a burnt umber/indian red ground I blocked in the main tonal areas. I didn't take a picture of that stage, so this one is when I start to refine the main shapes.

More refining of shapes and details. The photo that I used for reference (taken on Saturday), was against the light, so the colours are limited.

Finished.

The Cross Keys, Goodramgate.

Gillygate again

This is the second in a series of paintings of cities, mostly York, that I plan to do. It is also from one of the photographs that I took last Saturday.
Again it is oil on board, 30x30cm.

Stage 1: After an initial thumbnail sketch in my book to work out the composition, I map out the main shapes. 

....next step is blocking in the big shapes. there is not much drawing in my paintings - I find it too restrictive.

 ...mapping out the main tones...

...starting to pick oput a few details...

....a few more details and it's starting to come together...

That'll do.

'Gillygate'

York

I went into York on Saturday, whilst Sara took Archie and Joey to Waterworld. The light was great and I managed to get a few reasonable photos, mostly looking into the sun. I intend to make a series of paintings of York, and will use some of these for reference.
I did the first of them today, as an oil sketch. It is of Gillygate, and is painted contre-jour (against the light).
Here it is in three stages:

Blocking in on a burnt umber ground.

...most of the main tones and shapes mapped out..

Gillygate, ContreJour

When Saturday Comes.

After tiling for the last two week ends, it was good to have saturday free day to pick up my paints again. The day was beautiful, but rather than go out (very tempting), I decided to stay in and paint. I worked from a photo taken last year in Topsham when we visited Matt and Gilly. That day was overcast, with a low hanging cloud.....just like sunday, when I did go out.

Wet Thursday

Rotten weather again. Stuck in the house again. So, after digging through some photos that I took from the coach window on the Paris trip last year, I painted this.

Productive weekend.

This saturday was the last of the decent weather for a while (months?), so it was good to get into the garden and make a hedgehog house out of an old pallet, and a bug house with Archie. Also did a couple of quick paintings.

The hedgehog house.

Hedgehog des' res' in situ at the bottom of the garden.

Sara putting the bedding in.

Archie's bug house.

Archie, placing the bug house next to the compost heap.

Painting number one; 'Scarborough', oil on board.

Painting number two; 'Last light, Wet Sand (Scarborough)' oil on board.

Dog Days

With Seth taking his French exchange pal to Lightwater, Archie playing in the park and Sara working I decided to spend the day on the river. Sara dropped me off in Ripon at Hewick Bridge; numerous kingfishers, one heron, several buzzards, one sparrowhawk, a kestrel, one perch and eleven pike later, she picked me up at Aldwark bridge.

Autumn winds.

No sign of an indian summer. It was far too wild to go out on the river today, so I painted the river instead.

One week in.

There's never enough time. Not to do all the things that you want to do, be with the people that you want to be with, see the people that you haven't seen for too long.....
First week back at school and it's like we have never been away.

 Painted last sunday

 ..ditto

The river ouse today at Poppleton.

Mobile pics

I use my phone more as a camera than anything else...er...possible more for emails and surfing the net. Anyway I have been messing around with some of my pics. I don't usually like filtered photos, but some of these have been manipulated in that way, along with adjusting the contrast, saturation, hues, blah..