Dog Bore?

We got Hector back in late September (23rd?), and I'm quite smitten by him..we all are. I have Hector as my phone wallpaper and as my profile picture on FaceBook. He is pampered, walked over 7 miles per day, 4 days out of 7 (I walked 24 miles with him in the first three days of the Christmas holiday), and bathed every other day (medicinal and a bit of a chore. He's not keen). I drew him as a demo for one of my sixth formers, and experimented with varnish on the drawing ready for my year 10 class (the first picture). I have now painted him (second picture) in wax from the drawing. I did this as an exercise in trying to paint figuratively in wax.....and because I like the drawing. I think he looks quite noble. Funny really; he's a handsome dog, but when he runs I'd swear that he's a cross between a short haired pointer and Scooby Doo.

Hector.

Small Study

A lot of the abstract painting that I have been doing is suggestive of landscape. I think in part I tend to read that into them during the painting. They often start out with no fixed destination, and I react to what is happening on the board, tweaking, refining and steering as I work. I do like this way of working because it's exciting. I also like the suggestion of something more. Some interesting conversations with Sara and Seth about what they see in them.
I'm really taken with encaustic (did I say that in a previous post?) because I love the material fact of paint. Encaustic is direct, immediate, and slightly out of my control.
I also love the smell of beeswax.

Recent Encaustic Landscapes.

This was drawn and painted after taking Hector for a walk. Although the rain had stopped we were wet through, and I decided to go home over the hill and around the road, rather than back through the field (which was a quagmire). As we dropped down to the bottom of Claypenny the sun came out briefly and shone from above and behind a house. There was a lot of glare with the sun reflecting off the road and it created a beautiful scene - blue/black shadows, reflections and sparkles of light. When I got home I drew the scene (first picture) and painted it the following weekend.

The sketch.

Subsequent painting.

 Winter River Scene?

 The Path Home? Boroughbridge Weir? Minarets Calling The Faithful To Prayer?

Not sure that this 'landsape' doesn't work better upside down.

Figures in Landscapes.

I've been interested in figure in landscapes for some time. Here are a few very recent encaustic paintings of nebulous figures as part of the landscape.

This one has got me thinking about taking the camera down to the allotments where we sometimes walk Hector. I love the way the individual allotments make up a patchwork of spaces, marked out with an assortment of homemade fences and gates using old wood, corrugated sheets and string.

Encaustic 9

Untitled.

Encaustic 8. Landscape.

A slightly larger scale this time. I'm really taken by encaustic. I love the effects you can create, but more than that it is forcing me to work in a different way, and to think in a different way. I'm far less concerned with representation and thinking more about design. My consideration of composition is less intuitive and much more explicit. I look at the image differently, trying it upside-down and from the side, and I'm thinking far more about what affect each shape and mark will make to the overall image than whether the mark is describing what I want it to describe. I have no real idea of how each piece will look until I'm well into it when the shapes and colours start to suggest something that I like.

Encaustic 7: Abstract Landscape

This is a small painting, but probably my favourite encaustic to date. 

Encaustic 6; Red Heads.

Small scale on panel.

Encaustic 5

encaustic 4

This is painted on the back of a wooden box for holding cassettes. Since we no longer have any cassettes it was destined for the tip, but was ideal for painting on. Encaustic needs a rigid substrate, usually wood. Apparently it will cause canvas to sag because of the weight, and could crack and break. It goes on much thicker than oil paint. It hardens immediately, so there is no blending and you have to fuse each layer with a heat gun. You have far less control over it than oil paint. 

Encaustic 3

It doesn't always work out quite how you expect.
We decided that this looks like a scene from the walking dead. Still, at least that means that Archie is keen to have it on his wall.

Encaustic 2

This is day 2 of my experimenting with encaustic, working on a small piece of plywood. I have been trying different using materials with the wax, in this case oil paint and then attaching a photograph. It started off as a very painterly landscape, and developed into an abstract piece. Oil paint reacts quite interestingly with the wax, with a lot less control than I'm used to, especially when I fuse it with the heat gun. 

Looking at it now I probably should have stopped with the first image, although I quite like the abstract, but the real purpose here is to build up my experience with it and see what it will do.

Part of me wonders if I should have stopped here, but this is about me learning, not producing.

Jeez, I'm coming over all growth mindset!

The end result.

First Encounter With Encaustic

Hot Wax.
I've been interested in this technique for some time. I'd see paintings on the web with the most beautiful luminosity and transparency, and wondered how they were done, so I did a bit of research into encaustic, and got some equipment for my birthday.
From the name I thought the technique would involve some unpleasant chemicals, but far from it. The name comes from the Greek, meaning To burn in, and the only chemical involved is actually beeswax. It needs different kit to my oil painting; hotplates and heat guns, and is is completely different to use. I'm learning it from scratch, which is quite exciting.
This is my first attempt at encaustic. It is a rook drawn in biro, mounted on board, and them worked into with the hot wax. Fun to do, but not even scratching the surface of what I think the encaustic can do..

Rook.
Encaustic.

Old Work, New Space

Well, after the move we are finally out of boxes ...mostly, but we still have to get rid of a load of stuff. I suppose that's the next job before we try to get the planners on board and start knocking the house about. One of the jobs that will need to be done is to bring the studio up to a living standard. Until that happens I have cleared a bit of space in it and have managed to do some work this weekend (to be posted later). This is how the studio currently looks;

Whilst unpacking my painting stuff I took a few photos of old paintings that I have never posted, and hadn't seen for years. Whilst packing, moving and unpacking might be a pain in the rear, I do like pottering in my studio. These are 15+ years old. I think  they were painted after Seth was born, but I could be wrong.

 Sara's Granny

 Abstract Landscape

 Abstract

 View From Crayke

 Abstract

 The Field

 Tholthorpe Tracks

 Sandy Lane

 Abstract

Sunflower

The Old Rocking Horse

A painting from the old old house.

This rocking horse has been in my family for generations and is in a beautifully distressed state. It really ought to be restored, but I like the peeling paint and gesso. It's probably about a 100 years old, give or take, although if you believe what the family says, it is old enough to have been made from fragments of the true cross.
I painted it about 17 years ago, when we lived in York. Seth was a baby, and we had finished renovating the house we were in. It took us months to finish it, coming home from work stripping walls and wood. It was hard work but was worth it; the house looked great. As it turned out, we weren't to stay there for long. As Seth learned to walk, and kept falling over in the back yard, we decided that we needed a garden. We wanted another older house, which more or less took York out of our budget. There was also the issue of schools. We eventually found a house in a village that we had never heard of, in the catchment for a soon to be 'outstanding' primary school, and a decent secondary school. When we went along to have a look, which we nearly didn't do, we were sold, and bought Grenouille (the previous lady of the house liked frogs). We quickly  renamed it Hector's House.
15 years (and Archie) later we have moved again, this time into Burnside, Easingwold, with less garden,  a smaller house that again needs work...but with a potentially great studio. The rocking horse is the with us, the painting of it is still with us and, hopefully, we will be saying in this one.
We are also sticking with the name.

The Old Rocking Horse.

Room With A View

From the old house.

This was painted back in May, whilst the GCSEs were on. 

The back of the old house looks out over a few roof lines with lots of trees; the front onto open fields, with the Pennines in the far distance. Our new house is in the centre of Easingwold so the views are very different. We got lots of wildlife visiting the garden in the last place, particularly birds, with regular woodpeckers, bullfinches,sparrowhawks and different owls. Here not so much. Paradoxically, here we have more walks for the dog, with more, and easier access to open countryside. Thomas the Bakers is seconds away (pies!), there are several pubs just 100 metres away and  plenty of restaurants and shops, ranging from co-ops to more gentrified deli's....and then there's the studio. It might be stuffed to the gills at the moment with bikes, boxes and furniture, but it will be a great space when we get it sorted.

Just don't hold your breath.

View From The Old House.

Last Of The Summer Paintings.

This is a view of the river Nidd at Nidd Gorge in Knaresborough. It's on a fairly small canvas and was painted during the summer, after we had been for a walk in the gorge. Beautiful place.

Nidd Gorge

Peep O'Day.

Before The Summer Holiday.

This was painted before we broke up for the summer. It's just about half a mile from the house that we are moving to in Easingwold next Friday. That was interesting fact number 1. Interesting fact number 2 is that this was the first time that I used my little old lady style shopping trolley to carry my easel. The French easel is a pain to carry so it's worth looking like a bag lady, and to be fair I'm sartorially challenged at weekends anyway so when I'm plodding along in my painting shorts and flip flops it probably just completes the ensemble.

Looking Towards Peep O'Day Woods.

Portrait Of An Old Man

 Portrait Of An Old Man.

Better Out Than In

During the holiday we decided to have a drive out to the coast. We didn't set off until late afternoon. I threw my paints into the car with the intention of painting from the beach. We headed out to Ravenscar, only to find that you can't get to the beach from there - you have to go to Boggle Hole to get onto the beach. It was getting late so I painted this quick sketch (in record time) whilst Sara sat and read. It was a long way to go for such little time. Still, better out than in.