October Challenge

The latest in the monthly challenge series that I share with Peter Ward (watercolourfanatic.blogspot.com). I set this one, a photograph from a recent trip to Norfolk largely because it would give an opportunity to have a go at a boat shape which I often find difficult. It would also have the challenge of capturing a feeling of light.

Old Boat - Photograph

I attempted to simplify the image, cutting out much of the impedimenta and boat fragments. My next choice was to make the buildings indicative rather than detailed. The last decision was taken after a break in the painting process. Returning after lunch with the intention of using the white of the paper on the boat deck to add other bits of detail I was struck by the way that the white looked okay in contrast with the other colours and thought that it might be an idea to leave well enough alone. I may return after  a day or two but for now I'm calling it done. What do you think?

Old Boat - Watercolour on Rough paper 16" x 12"

Scolt Head

One of my favourite places to visit is the North Norfolk Coast, an area much loved by all sorts of artist. I've just recently returned from a short break in that part of the world and as usual taking an opportunity to paint was part of the plan.

I first became familiar with this part of the world when I decided to learn a little about oil painting and enrolled on a course at the Norfolk Painting School run by the estimable Martin Kinnear. Martin is expert in the wide range of techniques used by the Masters as well as being a fine painter. I can thoroughly recommend taking a course there or just a visit to see Martin's work. Alternatively have a look at the websites,  www.norfolkpaintingschool.com and www.makinnear.com .

One of the delights of the area is the ever changing sky and this is emphasised by the relatively flat landscape. The picture here was made at a place I've painted in the past, Barrow Common. One of the few hills in the area it gives a great view down to Brancaster Staithe and across to Scolt Head. I've employed a little licence here by exaggerating the size of Scolt Head and reducing the number of buildings visible from my chosen spot in the hope of making a better image.

Scolt Head from Barrow Common - Oil on canvas board 12" x 10"

First Public Outing

I've been talking for some weeks about the fact that I had decided to exhibit at a local Art Fair and have related tales of the tasks involved. Well Sunday was the appointed day and I duly arrived with a car packed to the gunwales with paintings and various bits of impedimenta to support and display the work. An hour to set up prior to the arrival of the public and dismal weather conditions outside guaranteed to put off any but the real afficianados.

View down the hall prior to opening

The Carney Collection

What an interesting day. Numerous conversations with other artists and passers by were a fund of information about the prospects and the likes and dislikes of the public. There did seem to a general consensus that one off events are not the best way to attract sales, people seem to enjoy a number of browsing opportunities prior to making decisions about picture purchase.

Trying to second guess the taste of visitors was responsible for me loading the front of my display with watercolours, largely flowers and a couple of local scenes. However, I was to proved wrong on this occasion as there was more interest in the oils than there was in the watercolours.

Well there was a steady stream of people braving the elements and showing a real enthusiasm for the efforts of the exhibiting artists, but there was little evidence of purchases being made. In fact at the end of the day most were reporting 'no sales made'. So for me it was an even greater surprise to find that I had bucked this trend by selling four of my oil paintings. The paintings leaving me are the ones pictured below.

It will take a few days to process all of the feedback and reasoning why these rather than other pictures were the ones to move people sufficiently that they put up their hard earned cash to acquire them. A big thanks to them for the way they have appreciated my work and more than covered the not insignificant outlay in preparing for the show.

Wingate Quarry - 12" x 10" Oil on canvas board

Chemical Beach, Seaham - 12" x 10" Oil on canvas board

Gun Hill - 20" x 16" Oil on canvas board

Canyon Light - 16" x 12" Oil on stretched linen

Gun Hill - Tweaked

I drummed up the courage to tweak this after helpful comments here and on Wet Canvas. What I did was to work on the foreground land first of all. I added rough strokes of Naples Yellow, Burnt Sienna and Raw Umber and then blended them in with a rag to soften most of the edges. I then turned my attention to the water. Here I used mixes of Indanthrone Blue, a touch of Alizarin Crimson, touch of Raw Umber and Titanium White to produce a variety of tones that would give a better range of contrast as well as get rid of the highlight up the left bank. Having just finished painting I'm not sure whether it's done but my first thought is that it's about finished. Any comments?


Gun Hill - Oil on canvas board 20" x 16"

Gun Hill - Clearing Storm

This is my first stab at producing a painting from the source material brought back from Norfolk. The inspiration was the board sketch posted on June 30th. As you can see there are significant changes that were designed to produce an image with more drama than the original scene. The design was arrived at after a process of producing sketches and notans prior to deciding on the final composition. At the moment it is standing on the easel where it will stay until I can decide what additions might improve it. Any suggestions would be welcome.





Gun Hill - Clearing Storm - Oil on canvas 20" x 16"

Brain and Back Dead

The exertions of the two days with Martin Kinnear left me exhausted and the constant standing at an easel had my fragile back screaming for relief. But I was in Norfolk to paint and paint I would. The solution for me was to dig out my trusty watercolour box and armed with it, a couple of sable brushes and a Fabriano block I took up position on the sensibly located benches overlooking the harbour at Burnham Overy Staithe. This picture is the result.

Burnham Overy Staithe - Watercolour on Fabriano Rough 12" x 9"

Tan or Notan

After a couple of days scouting around the North Norfolk coast it was off to the Norfolk Painting School for two days of the most intense thinking and practice that I've ever had. The title of the course was 'On Location' and was to be a mixture of working both outside and in the studio.

As is usual with Martin's courses there was to be a healthy mix of theory, demonstration and practice. We began by looking at a variety of works by masters and asking ourselves how they worked as paintings. Then on to look at ways of recording for the purposes of preparation for studio painting, using sketches by people like Turner and Constable as exemplars. Here we were urged to see the difference between Mass and Line and asking ourselves where and when each technique is appropriate. The end of this session was to grasp the usefulness of the Notan as the basis of ensuring that we had an arrangement of elements that would produce a coherent composition. We all produced a series of notans in response to a picture of a cathedral depicting how we would select a method of presenting the basic elements in light and dark to make a pleasing picture. Below are a set produced by Martin, showing a range of options in terms of lighting and shadow.

Notans - Martin Kinnear

Our next task was to give some thought to rendering scenes by applying paint in a simplified way but using the same underlying principle - outline the way the final image will be presented.

The next two pictures show different approaches to another cathedral picture.

Durham - M. Kinnear

Durham - M. Carney

Martin then demonstrated how the most complex scenes could be reduced to simple working sketches, but more of this later. It was now time to head outdoors. The venue for our afternoon session was Burnham Overy Staithe, a fascinating small village on the coast with typical Norfolk creeks, rapidly changing water levels and lots of boats. A place that would test us in terms of simplifying the scene in front of us. Our object was to produce working studies for future use. The group was small, three students, and we all produced at least four oil sketches that could be used as the basis for further paintings. Interested passers-by stopped regularly to comment on the mounting body of work being produced and laid on the grass at our feet. An intense session with lots to think about and criticise.

The two panels below are indicative of the work that I did. They show a similar view but the second demonstrates a different degree of decision making in terms of how I saw potential in the scene before me. The second will be the source sketch for a studio painting, hopefully started soon. Hopefully there is a greater feeling of light in this interpretation.

Burnham Overy Staithe 1 - Oil on MDF panel 11"x 9"

Burnham Overy Staithe 2 - Oil on MDF panel 11" x 9"

New beginnings and old favourite

Another mixed bunch. Sheila and I went over to the Lake District for a few days respite from family weddings, baptisms and other events. I managed to sneak in the painting tackle and even got out to apply brush to paper or canvas. Unfortunately the paint time that I managed coincided with the worst light conditions so these are a little flat but do provide the basis, along with photographs, for further paintings. The first is a page from my watercolour sketch book and the second a small canvas panel. Both of these completed en plein air.



Aira Force - Watercolour on Not paper 12"x 10"



Eagle Crag - Oil on canvas panel 10" x 8"

Back home to my Norfolk piece that is starting to grow on me. It has been the source of much learning, particularly about the use of mediums to layer paint and produce luminosity. In the flesh there are some interesting passages where lower layers of colour seem to glow through the upper layer. I think that the piece is about finished, certainly for the time being and I will put it aside for a while.



Norfolk Creeks - Oil on stretched canvas 40" x 30"

Striking oil

Determined to sample painting in a medium other than watercolour I began to look at acrylics and oils. Cost convinced me to give acrylics a try first but I wasn't too happy with my initial attempts largely due to my own ignorance and impatience. I found it difficult to come to terms with the way that they dried. I wasn't seeing that flexibility that I had seen with the users on the life course in summer.

So oils were next on the agenda. Luckily I spotted an advert for a course in oils where all the materials would be provided and the web site of the provider convinced me that the artist teaching the course was someone from whom I could learn a lot. His landscapes are stunning. The worst I could look forward to would be first hand access to his work and his methods as well as some initial experience of using a medium that was totally unfamiliar.

October arrived and I headed off to Norfolk. The course was a revelation. Beautiful facilities, wonderful hospitality and first rate tuition from a man who really understands the technique and subtleties of fine oil painting. His name, Martin Kinnear and his atelier is called Norfolk Painting School. Martin produces his work building layers of glazed colour that are luminous in their intensity and his aim is to share those methods with his students. Each student left the course with a 40" x 30" canvas on which they had had the opportunity to realise some of the techniques that they had been taught.

The painting below is the canvas that I produced on this course. I left Norfolk decided upon the investment in all of the paraphernalia to commence working in oil in the landscape.

Martin also made the suggestion that a web site called Wet Canvas was worth visiting and could be a good source of feedback on any paintings that we made. So the next steps were mapped out, a move to oils and a search for developmental criticism.