We have been in our new home for a year now and its not a newbuild, built in 1760. There are going to be jobs that I don’t want to do but need doing. This is one that is now underway, curing a damp problem. Turns out the wrong kind of plaster was used which is why I am taking it all off. Its turned into a restoration project and the wall will be kept bare as a feature in the house. Stage 1 complete, needs repointing with lime mortar which I will do myself. Also replacing the brick in the bottom right corner, cowboys have been around forever.
QUALITY OVER STYLE
I used to worry a lot as a student about the infinite styles and subject matter available. I used to worry a lot about being contemporary and not looking conventional. What I came to realise was that none of that mattered, what mattered was being true to yourself and developing a focused approach, painting awful pictures for years, in my case, in order reach a point where you felt you were on solid ground and was unaffected by all the noise going on around you. This may sound like it was decades ago, its not, its ongoing and I sometimes move forward with trepidation. This painting gives me hope there is a lot more to come. A few more sessions to go with this.
Springtime in Edlingham. Day 7.
MORE RAIN, MORE PAINTING
There has to be an upside to a summer that never arrived, I think autumn started in June. However one activity that the rain can’t stop is my painting. As I live on a big hill the floods can’t get me either. This was an unplanned painting afternoon. Slow start, my mind was on the backlog of outdoor jobs that need doing. Anyway, things gradually started to flow and more progress was made. This painting is still waiting for the fireworks, a lot of small trees in the foreground in white blossom. Day 6, this may go into double figures which would be a record for me.
Springtime in Edlingham. Day 6
SLOW IS OK
I don’t really believe this, because I don’t want things to go slowly. However, with the way I am painting this its really just going to creep along, unless I can find some effortless facility. I am pushing the decorative effect but I don’t want to go too far. Van Gogh and the Impressionists were much braver in this respect. Maybe I will have to adapt it to my own style, but I am happy with progress so far.
Springtime in Edlingham. Day 5
ON COURSE?
This kind of painting is slightly against my nature, because it requires patience and restraint. The temptation is just to block in and many painters work like that. I can’t. I like to see at least something that is defined and has a bit of good painting in it. It offers hope and an insight into what the painting may become. This is going to take a bit of time, but I keep telling myself I have all the time I need, I don’t do the 9-5 any more! I’d like to think this style of painting is the way forward, it follows on from 2-3 paintings I have done this year that I am happy with.
Springtime in Edlingham. Day 4
ALWAYS IMPROVING
I often look at the work in progress and feel disapointed. That’s because my expectations in all things have always been unrealistic, accepting the fact that I am only average in all things is ok with me apart from art. Its always been that way, maybe because it matters. Anyway, the thing that keeps me going is that things can always be improved upon. Today’s session is a case in point, slowly and patiently the painting is improving and I think it will be better than the previous one, though it doesn’t always work that way.
Springtime in Edlingham. Day 3
PROGRESS IS KEY
Slow progress, but progress, and that’s what I am interested in, what’s the hurry? For someone who has always claimed never to like painting trees I have got myself in a right mess here. I think I may even turn things full circle and start to seek them out, there are landscape painters who don’t paint them, they tend to be very much non figurative painters. As a landscape painter I think you have to take it all on, and that’s what I am doing in this picture.
Springtime in Edlingham. Day 2
SPRINGTIME IN EDLINGHAM
This is quite an extraordinary area. Its a hamlet situated on a steep hill. The trees are not native, they are ornamental, planted by some of the residents many years ago. They are unlike all the surrounding native trees, and they dwarf some of the small stone houses and cottages. This is springtime, its a Bonnardesque scene, hopefully that will come through in time.
Springtime in Edlingham. Day 1
A BIT MORE CERTAINTY
I am looking for a clear direction forward, ideally I need more work to review, only one way to solve that. I am trying to identify which paintings are working for me, well this is one of them. It is more or less finished. It still surprises me what I leave out in terms of the original subject. I can’t be that radical though, its a long way from pure abstraction.
Bridge over a river
INTERUPTED PROGRESS
Old houses need work, currently digging a long trench in the mud, its not quite as enjoyable as painting but its not raining so no excuses. Anyway, the prospect of digging again today was too much, time for a days painting. This is progressing well and is nearing a finish. I had wanted to do more with the sky but it seems to work quite well at the moment.
Bridge over a river. Day 3
BRIDGE OVER A RIVER
Still testing the waters stylistically. Felt that the previous painting had gone too far over to an expressionistic style. This one is more naturalistic and quieter. Want to make this more about observing the detail that is in the landscape. Need to open up the sky so that it has more information, I am not a lover of big blank blue skies.
Bridge over a river. Day 2
QUICK CHANGE
Weekend away, just an hour on this Sunday evening to quickly input some stronger pure colours.
Bridge over a river
BRIDGE OVER A RIVER
No place names this time, is that significant? I don’t know, I am keeping an open mind. The water itself is unpainted and I like the shape and quality of it. I have played around with the ideas of having and not having a focal point, it seems to me the paintings with them have a stronger sense of composition, no surprise there.
Bridge over a river. Day 1
STYLISTICALLY SHIFTING
The only thing that is clear to me is that I like the vast panoramics when it comes to landscape painting, and the shifting light, very Dutch. I am still searching and it is too early to tell which direction I am heading. This painting is finished, although the sky is interesting it is a bit out of keeping with the rest of the painting. Also, I thought the dark foreground was unfinished, but what is does is create a strong light contrast and the emptiness is intriguing. Time to learn a little more and move on.
Towards Edlingham
STARTING TO MAKE SENSE
In my view you can take what liberties you like in painting, but its got to make sense. That is in spatial terms through linear perspective where the size and shape of objects have a realistic relationship, and in colour terms, through aerial perspective. Hopefully the liberties I have taken are starting to make sense. The long claw like hard shadows on the left are cast by trees in the evening sunset. That part of the painting is starting to become clear but it needs a bit more work. For me the view looks like a giant blanket has been thrown across the landscape and the evening light is defining the undulating hillside.
Towards Edlingham, Northumberland. Day 4
ITS NOT EASY
If it was everybody would be doing it? Probably not, you have to be willing to fail, which is something I contemplate every time I start painting. Quite often its not the second or third attempt that I feel is right, often I lose count and sometimes it is achieved days later without apparent difficulty. Concentrated on the sky and background today, still needs work but I must focus some attention on the trees next time. All those odd shaped cast shadows on the left are caused by trees, which are not there at the moment! This painting has a mad quality, Kokoschka like, in that every colour and brush mark has been thrown at it and I’m not sure its a direction I want to go in.
Towards Edlingham, Northumberland. Day 3
SLOWLY, SLOWLY
Spent the first two hours this morning not looking at the photo but just making a lot of adjustments to the painting. Despite a fairly long session yesterday I wasn’t that happy with the results. The bare bones were hardly there. Anyway, much improved at the end of today and the real painting is starting to emerge.
Towards Edlingham, Northumberland Day 2
TOWARDS EDLINGHAM
Making a concerted effort to devote more time to painting. This is very early stages but its a decent start.
Towards Edlingham, Northumberland. Day 1
THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS
A bit more consistency, second consecutive day of painting. Trying to unify the painting by treating the sky in the same way as the landscape. I feel I am on the edge of what I know and am constantly learning by working, this is how it should be. It keeps me curious. I think this painting is now finished. It has a chaotic feel, in the sense that there is a fluid intense energy that is running through it. This is the energy I find in the Northumberland landscape. It has a wild, unbound feel, especially when the light is very changeable. An interesting look to this painting which I really like.
Alwinton, Northumberland.
A MORE BALANCED LIFE
What I really mean is I need to spend more time painting!. Several house projects, though necessary, have got in my way. This painting is going well and I am seeing that as I invest more time in the process so the paintings improve. I really want to explore my own personal style, it seems bizarre to say this, but it is still evolving.
Alwinton, Northumberland. Day 3