Last orders.

Remains of the day  Oils on 140lb gessoed watercolour paper  6 x 6 inches

Bold and bright...the sun makes a dramatic exit.

Studio Musings...

I love abstraction. 

 Fine details are not a part of my process.

Process...is making marks.

 Placing warm against cool, and light against dark.

My aim is to give a sense of place with enough detail to give the viewer

something to 'read' but leaving something to explore. A little mystery.

Available from Artfinder.com/anne-wood

Winter warm.

Lighting up time   Oils on 140lb gessoed watercolour paper  7 x 5 inches

Lincolnshire Wolds and setting sun over winter fields.

Studio Musings...

A memory of winter snow.

The sun is reflected on the foreground.

I like the warm and cool together 

and the vertical format gives a view up the hillside.  

Available from Artfinder.com/anne-wood

Impressions

Finale   Oils on 140lb gessoed watercolour paper  5 x 7 inches

Light on the lakes in this nature reserve.

Studio Musings...

I really enjoy painting on gessoed watercolour paper.

The paper has strength from the acrylic gesso which allows me to

scrape back the oils leaving traces of paint in the paper's dimples.

This piece has a warm underpainting of Burnt Sienna and Permanent Rose.

Parts of this peep through the finished piece. 

 It gives a warm light behind the treeline and on the water.

Available to buy from Artfinder.com/anne-wood

Far out.

East Coast   Oils on canvas board  12 x 8 inches 

Across the saltmarsh...the tide is out.

Studio Musings...

Using this format the eye moves in a zig-zag way up the picture.

There is still a sense of space and it is a change from a landscape shape.

Something to share...

The Canadian artist Robert Genn (1936 - 2014) formed an artists' community website

called Painter's Keys which offered ideas, information and inspiration. 

After his death in 2014 his daughter agreed to continue the weekly newsletters.

   

I subscribe to 'The Painter's Keys'...twice weekly artist newsletters online.

A recent post about 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' (Stephen R Covey 1989)

was particularly relevant for me and my journey along the road of 'daily painting'. 

For anyone interested in reading them

visit painterskeys.com

Wide approach.

Summer Weather   Oils on board  8 x 16 inches 

Sunshine and showers. 

Studio Musings...

Not the easiest of paintings but I got somewhere in the end.

It began several days ago...lots of rubbing off, scraping back and general rubbish.

I decided to let it dry and after two days I returned, determined not to let it get away.

More marks and more obliterating. 

Eventually something started to take shape...I could 'see' a place.

When I mention 'seeing', it is an internal 'seeing', not just  'looking'.

To me, internal seeing is more a 'feeling'...a flicker of pleasure.

As if I am standing there in the landscape, alone and breathing it in.

This is what drives me to make paintings, placing marks, shapes

 and colours to form a landscape I can walk into.

Each piece is a new experience. 

 Another painting, another place.

(Available from Artfinder.com/anne-wood)

Fresh light.

Estuary   Oils on board  11 x 8 inches

Light comes over the Estuary at low tide.

The shore is exposed and the water shimmers.

Studio Musings...

When I finished this piece I wondered whether to cut it in half.

Occasionally a painting lends itself to being a vertical format.

After leaving it for several weeks I decided to leave it as a landscape format.

Lesson learned...not to be too hasty.

I am happy to have it like this.

Here it is on a little easel...

It will be available online at Artfinder.com/anne-wood

for anyone wishing to own it.

Just a reminder...

There is still time to visit Harding House, Steep Hill, Lincoln

to see this show about the landscape of Lincolnshire.

Daily until 15th July 2017.

Mud and other things.

June Estuary   Oils on canvas board  5 x 7 inches  

Low tide exposes very interesting shores.

Studio Musings...

Another reclaimed painting and re-worked into this study.

I have a bundle of small canvas boards which can be used for this.

My painting process is much about pushing oils around.

I have become very relaxed about this now I am painting so much.

I am convinced this way of working has made a huge difference to my

confidence as a painter.  I treat my work seriously but also remember

it is only paint on a piece of board.  It isn't going to change the world.

Work in progress.

June Studio work  Oils on board  

An afternoon's work drying on trays.

Studio Musings...

A peep into my routine.

  After a painting session I lay my work onto trays

and let them dry in a warm, light place.

It was a productive afternoon and I managed to finish four pieces.

Another long one on the right was more of a battle and I decided

 to let it dry before I consider where to go with it.  

There are days when nothing goes right and there is more scraping off than laying on.

Then, when I think everything is lost, a glimmer of hope emerges and off I go again.

I have been painting for over twenty years and 'daily painting' since 2014.

Painting daily has certainly moved my work forward and the discipline

 of regularly setting aside time for my art has now become second nature.

How it all began...

Several years ago I came across a Daily Painter in USA named Carol Marine

and began following her blog and videos along with a few more artists I found online.

I studied what they all had in common... 

 They were disciplined, treated their work seriously

 and shared their process with others.

Carol recommended painting small so a piece of work could be finished quickly.

She often paints on 6 x 6 inch boards and uploads them for sale online.

Larger pieces would naturally take longer than a few hours.

However, to get the ball rolling a small piece was the way to begin.

Each evening I read their stories and the seed was sown. 

I would become a Daily Painter.

Quick studies...

Set Aside  Oils on board  8 x 8 inches

A useful exercise is re-working.

This was a small redundant board in my cupboard.

Using the existing paint as an underpainting I scrubbed some oils

roughly over the surface.  Marks resembled trees, a hedgerow and 

a field.  Left-over oils on the palette are useful for this process.

It doesn't really matter what the work becomes.

The act of mark making and a casual approach gives the piece a relaxed feeling.

I like this small landscape and have titled it 'Set Aside'; farmland taking a year out.

If you would like to buy one of my paintings...

Please visit my online gallery at Artfinder.com/anne-wood

Commuting.

The road to work...

The little path to my garden studio

My studio...

A timber cabin in our garden

View from the studio door...

Part of our wild garden.

Studio Musings...

My journey to work is a few steps from the house.

I am very fortunate to have this beautiful place to make my art.

Lincolnshire is my home and birthplace.

I grew up near the East Coast and spent many happy hours

exploring the sand dunes and salt marshes.

Now I live inland surrounded by fields and a river winds its way to the canal.

I walk each day with my whippet Brodie, taking in the changing seasons along the way.

  I store up images in my mind noticing how weather affects the land and sky.

I think my paintings come from this.  

An abstraction of the landscape rather than fine detail.

My aim is creating a 'sense of place', atmosphere and a hint of mystery.

If you would like to buy one of my paintings,

please visit my online gallery at Artfinder.com/anne-wood

Moody blues.

Moody and Brooding  Oils on board  8.5 x 5.5 inches

Approaching storm.

Studio Musings...

I am preparing work for a show which opens on Monday.

Most of my day has been doing art 'housekeeping jobs'.

Things like labels, pricing etc. Packing ready for off.

My daily painting was reduced to 30 minutes just before dark.

This small piece was a very quick study using up oils on my palette.

Actually, my palette is getting very bumpy with piles of dried oils.

Perhaps I should start a new one but I like adding fresh oil to the mounds.

To throw this one out would be like ending a friendship.

Anyway...enough of my ramblings. 

'Moody and  Brooding'.

This is a very rough and ready piece which resembles a stormy scene.

  Oils were literally pushed around on a previously painted surface.

Yesterday I wrote about producing work without becoming too precious.

It doesn't matter if the resulting painting is only fit for the bin.

What matters is making something... 

anything which keeps my creativity muscle exercised.

Many of my paintings are available to buy from my online gallery...

If you would like to own one, please visit Artfinder.com/anne-wood

Wild.

Scrub   Oils on gessoed 140lb paper  4 x 6 inches 

Scrubby and rough..the dunes along the East Coast.

(Available by email)

Studio Musings...

The paintings on the DailyPaintworks.com site will be transferred 

to my other web gallery Artfinder.com from 21st June 2017.

*As an assurance for my followers....this blog will continue as usual*

Barren  Oils on gessoed 140lb watercolour paper  6 x 4 inches

Daily painting is a valuable lesson in the 'non-preciousness' of art.

It doesn't matter how many 'duds' are scrapped...

Working steadily and daily I am more likely to make creative gains.

This little study might look scrappy and a little boring but it

 just shows how something can be made from almost nothing.

Using the left-over colours on the palette, I loosely scrubbed the shapes 

onto the paper without too much thinking.  Thinking can slow creativity.

I can think about the piece later.

Hot Day  Oils on gessoed 140lb watercolour paper  6 x 6 inches 

It was very hot in the studio when I painted this study.

I had to paint quickly so I could pack up and find a cooler place.

Maybe the speed of work was an advantage.

No time to get into too much detail.

I will be back tomorrow.

Offshore.

Glow  Oils on canvas board  5 x 7 inches  £ 50

A glow in the evening sky is reflected on the shore.

Studio Musings...

Using the same colours I continue my journey along the shore.

Scrubbed in quickly the shapes of a suggested shoreline appear.

I began with dark hues in the foreground and lightened the land in the centre.

The lighter parts resemble mudbanks and streaks of light are the final effects.

Playtime...

Here is a tiny study.

It just shows how a wide landscape can be made from a small format.

Countryside  Oils on gessoed 140lb paper  2 x 6 inches

On the easel to show the size

I might get it framed and choose a large moulding to give it 'presence'.