Getting started

Good morning and welcome to my Monday Blog

The studio door is open and a few paintings are drying.

It is a good feeling and I have got into a flow of work.

Small square canvases 8 x 8 inches.

Saturation   Oils on canvas  8 x 8 inches

A textured piece with saturated hues and highlights

Texture and Tone   Oils on canvas  8 x 8 inches

Low tide on the saltmarshes.  A chilly day.

                                               

Brief Interlude  Oils on canvas  8 x 8 inches

Light on the sandmarsh at low tide

Hidden Stream  Oils on canvas  8 x 8 inches

Tangled undergrowth and a hidden stream 

All these paintings have a common theme...texture.

Thick, luscious oils were brushed and knifed onto the canvas.
Parts were scraped back and the oils were 'sculpted' to add interest.

No fixed plan, just free abstracted expression and imagination.

It is my preferred way to paint. 

 I like to think of these pieces like sketchbooks.

A diary of working practice although they are little paintings in their own right.

They might be kept aside for some exhibitions later in the year.

Up close and personal...

A detail from another work in progress

More detail.  Thick juicy oils.

These close-ups are so intriguing. 

 I am tempted to use them for a larger abstract.

Abstract painting is sometimes mistaken for painting about 'nothing'.

In fact most realist paintings have parts which could be classed as abstract.
The painting below reveals the source of the two small sections.

Work in progress...

This 10 x 12 piece has the first layers of paint.

It began with a warm, thin underpainting of Burnt Sienna.

Then I painted a 'landscape' with thick oils leftover from the previous work.

  I added some Indian Red, Sap Green, Yellow Ochre and Naples Yellow.

The two close-up details shown above were taken from mid right and lower left.

The painting will have a few changes before completion.

It will evolve from this part-painted stage.

Maybe a moorland or another seashore.

Until next Monday...

Thank you for visiting.