Before We Went Away.

Just before we went away I went out out painting again. I didn't get rained on this time, which was good, but struggled with the painting, which is not so good. The day was quite dull, which is reflected in the painting I think. I decided to work back into it a little back at home, to try to brighten it up a little.
Here it is:

 A little dull.

Brightened up.

Linton Woods Lane.

Rained Off!

We've just got back from our annual holiday (Languedoc Herault this year, more of that later), and this painting was done before we went. I didn't get the chance to post it before we went away, so I'm adding it now.
I  took the paints out to do a small oil study of a hidden pond that I found on Google Earth. It is just off a cycle track a few miles from where we live, and I have run/cycled past it loads of times without ever realising that it was there. In fact me and Archie had cycled past it twice a couple of days before on our 17 mile flip flop trip! Anyway, having seen it on Google Earth, I went down with my paints to explore. I don't think that I should have been there, but there was no one about, so no harm done. Unfortunately as soon as I set up my easel up the sky turned black and it started to rain. I had to abort, pack away, and go home. Fortunately I had taken some photos before I set up, and decided to paint the scene anyway, once I got home.
This is the result.

 The pond

 Setting up..

 ....Hmmm. That sky looks a bit ominous.

 Back home, and painting the scene anyway....from my phone.

The finished painting, painted on a small piece of cannibalized swing seat canvas.

Hewick Bridge, and ...Hewick Bridge.

I haven't posted, or painted, since the Open Studios in June. There are various reasons for this. Talking to Tim Murgatroyd at school shortly before we broke up, he said that he was not surprised; he also goes through periods when he doesn't write, because he doesn't have anything to say. This makes sense. I suppose you just run out of steam every now and again. I am starting to build up a head of steam again at the moment, and am preparing for our holiday in France. I always take my paints away, and I always paint when we are there, but we are usually in the car so taking the paints and easel is not a problem. This time we are flying so I am having to think carefully about how to manage the paints and equipment. When I paint outside I use either a French easel, if I am not going too far, or a pochade if I need to travel lighter (The term ‘Pochade’ is derived from the nineteenth century French verb Pocher meaning to sketch- more useless information. I read too much (is that even possible?)). They are both too big to go in my luggage, so I am making a smaller pochade, and have been scouring ebay for cigar boxes. They are too small, but I have bought an art box for £3, so I think I am now sorted...after I have tinkered with it a bit.

Anyway, the following paintings were done on days out at Hewick Bridge, just outside Ripon. Sara and I took Archie to swim in the river with a couple of his pals for the two weekends leading up to breaking up. It was good to break my 'fast', after not painting for so long, and good to play in the river. 

The bridge, just next to the racecourse and the gateway to Ripon.

 Early stages. Unusually for me I am painting straight onto a white surface. I usually lay a ground down.

This is where I realised that I find bridges difficult, that the hot weather is drying the paint too quickly, and the board isn't primed very well.

The finished painting. Probably destined to sit in a cupboard for eternity, but fun to do, and good to sweep away a few cobwebs!

Hewick Bridge (named after Copt Hewick....probably).

The following weekend we went back to Hewick Bridge, again to swim in the river, and again with the paints. This time I worked up a much smaller canvas (I don't usually do small), and given that I didn't want to leave Sara and the boys at the river, I again painted the bridge. The canvas in question is a small piece of cannibalized canvas off our old swing seat (see post: 2nd Sept' 2012).

It was a fantastic day, and the (already low) river level had dropped. I managed to catch a crayfish this time, though I dropped it when it nipped me, and nearly caught a couple of eels.

Here's the painting:

 Starting off.

 Blocking in.

 On-going.

 ..getting there.

In situ. 

The finished painting.

Hewick Bridge (still named after Copt Hewick...probably).

Waiting To Be Painted: Saltburn

There are some scenes that jump right out at you, and you paint them straight away. Others, you know you will paint, but they have to wait for you to do it, or until the time is right. This painting is one of the latter. We drove to Saltburn a couple of years ago, in glorious sunshine, only to find a sea fret. It was chilly on the beach, virtually deserted, and very picturesque. I knew that I would do a painting from the photos that I took that day, but just didn't know when.
When we left Saltburn we drove back into glorious sunshine about half a mile in-land from the beach, and it stayed with us all the way home.
It's a long way to go for a bit of mist.

Saltburn: Sea Fret.

Looking Back At The Sky

I started running again at Easter. It's hard work getting going again, but it soon becomes quite addictive. Truth be told it's hard work every time for the first three miles, and then I seem to find my rhythm. Talking to other people they seem to feel the same - first three miles are hard, and then you are okay. I've even managed to drag myself out after school several times each week, and as a consequence have lost a bit of weight and feel a lot more positive.
It's good to get back outside. It's good to see spring develop; it's the best time of the year. A friend once told me that spring makes it's way up the country at walking pace, and I absolutely love that idea. It once formed the basis of a very long story that I made up for Archie, who went through a stage of preferring us to make up stories for him, to reading them to him. This story featured a boy, who's name I forget, who escaped from the Sunnyside Home For Wayward Boys, and embarked on an adventure where he had to get to the very north of Scotland before spring got there. He met all manner of creatures and had lots of escapades on the way. I made up installments everyday for about a month, and boy was it hard work! I eventually passed the baton to Sara. As I recall I dropped it in her lap as we drove to France, "Your mum wants to tell you a story now" (-"Thanks, darling!").
Being outside more, running, has found me looking at the sky again. The Vale of York has big skies, as does anywhere flat, and some of them are amazing. It's little wonder that they feature so prominently in so many of my paintings..

Alne.

oil on canvas

Having Really Bad Hair Days That No One Else Can See.

Do we ever see ourselves, or our own performance objectively? I doubt it.
I've spent the best part of this week invigilating the Y11 GCSE Art Exam. After getting the room (and students) ready, getting all the basic equipment out, trawling through y10 data, getting additional equipment out, as and when they ask for it, catching up on email issues raised at Parents' Evening, getting even more equipment out that the students decide that they also need, I was able to do some painting. I have to confess, sitting with them in their exam is something that I enjoy.
At the end of the final session, I said to G*****, a lovely, talented but under-confident student, "Well done. I'm really pleased with what you've done". She blew out her cheeks and said "Oh thank you for saying that. I've been so worried that this isn't very good". I looked at her painting, a beautiful picture of highly decorative, semi abstract carp, that I couldn't have done at her age, and thought..Why?...Why would you worry about that? I told her her work was beautiful.

It was good to do some painting, but it was great to see G****** leave with a real smile on her face.

This is one of the pieces that I managed to do this week. It is from a photograph taken from my Kayak on the river Ure a couple of summers ago. I love it when the sky gets darker than the land...always very dramatic!

Arboreal Magic

After reading Dark Sister by Graham Joyce, not to mention Some Kind Of Fairytale, Tales For a Dark Evening, Silent Land and The Tooth Fairy, by the same author, I wanted to go back to painting landscapes, especially woodland. What I really want to do is to suggest something of the magic that you feel in the woods at certain times of the day, when you are alone. I don't know if I am having a great deal of success with this, but I am enjoying leaving the built-up areas alone for a while. It's also getting me out of the house more, which is exactly what I need.
This painting is smaller than I have worked on for some time, and just as scaling-up presents challenges, so does scaling down. I have struggled with this, and interestingly I found myself tightening back up, adding details that on reflection I'm not sure I needed to add. I'm tempted to redo this painting, but on a bigger scale, and much looser in style.
We'll see..

The Path, Yearsley Woods.

Oil on Board