Paint in the Freezer

Yesterday was freezing but the rain had passed by so keeping a little promise I made to myself I packed the pochade and headed down the coast. I had to work quickly, as keeping the hands warm enough to hold the brush was something of a problem. I've got gloves that should do the job but once the finger ends seize up there's little control. You'll have guessed by now that I'm winding up the excuses for the failings of this week's effort. On the positive side I'm getting better control of the recession in these studies. The painting is not as finished as I would like, but it is what I completed at the scene. I'll probably make a few adjustments to call it finished, some blending and edge work could improve it.

Seaham - Oil on canvas board 12" x 10"

Fresh Air

Yesterday provided the first bit of excitement for a while - a promising weather forecast. The gales were predicted to die and the sun was to emerge for those of us who like to get outside with our paints. True to their word the Met Office got it right, today dawned as foretold.

It took no time to pack the trusty pochade box, a few tubes of paint and head up the coast to one of my favourite stacks. Whilst a little bit rusty with the hog bristle and palette knife it was good to start working the oil paint for the first time in some months.

Now that the tubes have been squeezed I'm hoping that there are going to be a few more days like today so I can start to get my technique into shape.

Marsden - Oil on canvas board 12" x 10"

Another Sea Stack

Recent works in watercolour have interrupted my trips to the beach, but true to form I found time to head out and select one of the many stacks along our coast as a subject. The result is below.

Returning to the same subject matter is providing me with a wealth of material from which I can make judgements about any development that is taking place in my painting and this latest example has given me lots to think about. There is a better range of values in this piece and areas like the sky and the foreground read much better than in some earlier works. I put this down to taking a greater degree of care in blocking in prior to beginning the main painting. It was particularly helpful in establishing the value range and foreground detail. Clearly another set of lessons learned.


Sea Stack, Souter - Oil on canvas board 12" x 10"

Back to the Beach

Didn't have time to load this prior to spending a week away. Went off to the beach again and carried on with my knife experimentation. There are aspects of this that I like a lot and others that still need refinement, in particular the precise tonal relationships between different promontories and the intensity of hue in the sea. Nevertheless many of the values read true so I'd have to consider it a step in the right direction.


Seaham Stack - Oil on canvas board 12" x 10"

Sea Stack

The coast round these parts has a lot of stacks that stand like sentinels facing the North Sea. They have all sorts of interesting shapes and this one has a hole right through it creating an arch. As regular followers will have noticed, it is to the coast that I go most often when I get time to paint and I am very fortunate that there is such good subject material close at hand. The challenge, of course, is doing the wonderful sights some sort of painterly justice. Once again the visit coincided with dull, flat light, for me a painter's nightmare as I try to develop my work on colour, values and knife technique.

I am discovering that the knife is a great tool for rendering rocks and am delighted that it is starting to fit with one of my favourite subjects. Don't know if I'll get out again this week, but I'm going to have to get my watercolour kit in shape as I've got a place on a course starting on September 6th, but more of that in a later post.

Sea Stack - Oil on canvas board 12" x 10"