Underfoot.

Tread Gently on the Shore   Oils on board   14 x 9 inches  

A study of the shore at low tide.

Studio Musings...

I used an underpainted board for this study.

Transparent colours were used to scrub shapes and patterns.

Parts of this have been left to depict the texture and colours of the shoreline.

The image looks as if thick paint has been used but the board feels quite smooth.

It is an illusion which gives a hint of mystery.

Hill walking.

High Peak Morning   Oils on canvas board   8 x 8 inches   £ 70   $ 100

A moody view across the hills.

Studio Musings...

I painted this study from memories of my walking holiday in Derbyshire.

Late September brought morning mists and days with sudden weather changes.

My aim was to create atmosphere and a sense of place.

Fell walking.

Pool on the Fell   Oils on board   7 x 5 inches   £ 53   $ 75

A freshwater pool on the fells with light from the sky.

Studio Musings...

There is no sky horizon line in this study.  

This pool acts as a 'sky' mirror.

An abstracted painting using shapes and colour to depict the scene.

Up high.

Moor Walking   Oils on canvas board  7 x 5 inches   £ 53   $ 75

An unexpected pool on the moors...a reflection and nature's mirror.

Studio Musings...

A high skyline gives this little study room to show terrain and water.

Although it is quite a dark painting, there is light from the sky in the pool.

Layered.

Marsh at Noon   Oils on canvas board  8 x 12 inches  

Layers of texture on the beach and marsh.

Studio Musings...

This painting was created using a canvas board with an underpainting.

I used transparent colours and scrubbed the paint in several directions 

with a brush to make the marks.  After it dried I began teasing out a composition.

The scene is about the many layers of a marsh coastline with sun on the sandbank.

I left the lower foreground underpainting visible with just a few touches of green.

Scraping back the oils reveals more of the underpaint to give another interest.

Here is the underpainting as it was drying...

This image shows the marks left by scrubbing the paint around the board.

Coppery glow.

Warm Night   Oils on board   7 x 10 inches   (On Hold)

A warm glow in late evening across the land and sky.

Studio Musings...

There are times when all goes well. 

 No frustration, no wiping over.

This piece had it all.

Again, I had prepared my white board with an underpainting.

  I used warmer hues and left the board to dry.

There was no initial plan or sketch...I let the marks of the underpainting guide me.

It evolved into this scene, maybe a coastline, or a lake.  I let the viewer decide.

For me, the delight of moving paint around and making marks was nearly enough.

The finished picture was the icing on the cake. 

By the light...

White Night   Oils on board   6 x 9 inches   

Across the shore by the light of the moon.

Studio Musings...

This piece is an example of my underpainting being used as part of the work.

The textural image gives an impression of stones and seaweed but is smooth to touch.

I like the way my eye is led up the shore to the horizon where the focus is on the light.

In contrast to my Heathland painting where a large grass foreground had been smoothed down, this piece needed to depict the roughness of the place.

It is possible to create this impression without actually piling on lots of paint.

 The transparent colours scrubbed on and left to dry does the work in advance. 

Looking cool.

Seafrost   Oils on board   6 x 10 inches   

The shore in winter.  

Studio Musings...

Here is the other half of my 12 x 10 inch painting.

The colours are the same but there is more energy in this piece.

They could be framed and hung together as a diptych.

Streaming down.

Blue Stream   Oils on board   10 x 6 inches   

Over land and sea...an abstracted view.

Studio Musings...

This painting began life as a 12 x 10 piece.  

I left it to dry and when I looked again I decided to cut the board in half.

Tomorrow I will post the other side.

They are very different scenes but have a shared colour palette.

Good evening.

Evening Coastline   Oils on board   7 x 9 inches   £ 70   $100

A warm view of the coast in summer.

Studio Musings...

This week I have been painting an undercoat of oils onto my white gessoed boards.

I used transparent colours, Ultramarine blue, Burnt Sienna, Permanent Rose and Burnt Umber with a little Liquin medium and scrubbed the paint vigorously with a brush.

When dry this gives a base for either covering or leaving exposed to add interest.

Many of my abstract paintings begin in this way.  The piece evolves as I paint.

Sometimes the whole underpainting is covered if I feel it doesn't work.

The uncertainty of the process makes my painting session challenging and exciting.

Expanse of land.

Across the Heath   Oils on board  10 x 13 inches   

(Available on Artfinder.com/anne-wood)

A wide part of heathland looking up towards the hedgerow on the horizon.

The end of a warm summer day.

Studio Musings...

There can be a temptation to fill the foreground of a painting with detail.

I resisted this urge and gave the impression of silky grasses glowing in the summer sun.

Gently smoothing down the oils with a soft paper towel removes detail and brush strokes.

The foreground occupies the greatest part of the painting with this high horizon line.

I am happy with the finished work...the small piece of track leads the viewer's eye into the distance with a suggestion of intrigue beyond the trees. 

A damp day.

Wet Shore   Oils on canvas board   8 x 12 inches   

The tide is out and water stands in pools over the beach.

Studio Musings...

Laying the oils on the board loosely with a brush I scrubbed 

the colours  into shapes to resemble sandbanks and seawater. 

 Then I scraped back to reveal some of the underpainting.

  More paint was added and pulled down with a brush and knife to create the reflections.

I chose not to render this in fine detail wishing to give a simple impression.

First light.

Early Start   Oils on board   5 x 12 inches   

A glimpse of the sea and light over the dunes.

Studio Musings...

Using a wide format can give a feeling of the expanse of the coastline.

Another free abstraction of a familiar place.  Loose brushstrokes give a windswept view.

Up high.

High Peak Walking   Oils on board   10 x 8 inches   

Memories of a walking holiday in Derbyshire.

Studio Musings...

I like to paint as loose as I can to see if the shapes and colours

 retain something of reality yet not depicting it directly.

In this piece there was no photo reference, just my recollection of the day.

Even though it was several years ago I still remember the essence of the place.

Intrigue.

Wild Night   Oils on board   10 x 10 inches   

A suggestion of a wild night's weather across the lake.

Studio Musings...

Using a limited palette and abstraction, this study is purely fictional.

It was fun to push the imagination and create something almost real.

Picnic time.

Turn of the Bay   Oils on board   5 x 5 inches  £53  $75

Summer comes to the coast.

Studio Musings...

This is the second painting cut from a 'redundant' board.

It hasn't changed a lot...just a touch more colour and a highlight or two.

Bay watch.

Secluded Bay   Oils on board   5 x 7 inches

Calm weather, an empty beach and sun.

Studio Musings...

This was painted a few months ago.

  It was part of a larger painting which I was not happy with.

 I decided to crop this part to make a new piece and I really like it.

There is another square of the same painting so I shall have two for the price of one.

This shows how something new can be made from something old.

Hazy days.

Salt Marsh   Oils on board   16 x 12 inches

A long look across the marsh at low tide.

Studio Musings...

I like a vertical format for a seascape.  It gives space for the foreground.

The wet marsh and mud glisten with the hazy light.

A long view.

Far Out   Oils on board   14.5 x 9 inches  

Tide's out and a long view across the beach reveals texture and colour.

Studio Musings...

A wider format gave this painting room to grow.

It took a few hours to reach the stage where I felt it had 'come together'.

I have taught myself to be fearless when it means 

scraping down, wiping over and beginning again.

This work had plenty of that.

Panorama.

Creek at Ebb Tide   Oils on board   9 x 14 inches

A taste of salt water and a fresh breeze.  

The creek is full as the tide goes out.

Studio Musings...

Parts of thick paint have been scraped back to reveal other colours.

The foreground occupies most of the painting with a narrow stretch of beach.

There is a sense of space as the horizon is blurred where sea and land meet sky.

Mist and mystery.

Moor Light   Oils on board   12 x 10 inches 

Intrigue and atmosphere.  Moorland shrouded in mist on the horizon.

Studio Musings...

A white gessoed board and a rub out technique create the misty look.

Paint has been applied and some has been rubbed away with soft paper.

The loose effect gives a gentle feeling to the scene.

Marsh Mallow.

East Coast Marsh   Oils on board   16 x 12 inches

Low tide reveals creeks and pools, mud and texture

Studio Musings...

I have several pieces of gessoed board cut to size for some frames

 which have been in my studio for several years. 

There has been a flurry of work.

 I have painted quickly, mostly from memory or inspired by other paintings around my easel.

All are atmospheric works depicting a 'sense of place'.

Overcast.

Downpour   Oils on canvas board   7 x 5 inches

Wet,wet,wet.  Definitely a day for wellies.

Studio Musings...

I like a painting to challenge me and usually I am not disappointed.

This one is really fictional as I was home and dry in my studio.

Sunstreak.

Near Gradbach, Peak District   Oils on board   11 x 8 inches

Walking on the hills I saw the sun streak

 across  the grass when the clouds cleared.

Studio Musings...

I stood at my easel with a white board and wondered what I would paint.

Looking around my studio, a small painting caught my eye.

  It was a study of this scene.  I walked here in 2002 for the first time and still remember the wonderful light effects during the passing showers.  An enjoyable re-visit today.

Lighting up time.

Light Pool   Oils on canvas board  5 x 7 inches

Evening comes to the lakes in a nature reserve.

Studio Musings...

Abstracted view of the twilight at the lakeside.

Using only 3 colours plus white.