Darkness beckons.  

Winter Moor   Oil study on canvas  5 x 6 inches 

Darkness falls and the moor is quiet.  Ice on the pools and crisp underfoot.

Studio Musings...

I love the challenge of making something new out of something old.  Re-cycled art.

This was a little canvas waiting to be changed.  Underneath is a seascape which is now overgrown with moorland.  I thought I would leave parts exposed but in the end it was covered over.  Somehow the dark blue...a kind of indigo lent itself to becoming a bleak moor.  Abstracted and imaginative, here is the moor in winter.  Don't slip.

(Please forgive me...there is wet paint glare on the photo...I will re-do when dry)

Cornered.

Ebb Corner   Oils on canvas board   5 x 7 inches

Sheltered in the corner by breakwater and rocks the ebb tide reveals pools and drifts of sand.  Violet and peach in the sky and on land for this abstracted sketch.

Studio Musings...

Breakwaters make a sheltered place for sea watching.  Over the years they weather and wear away but these old soldiers remain and sand gets piled up beside them.

  Using up colours on my palette it was a fun study at the end of my painting day.

   Nothing wasted.  

New home.

Empty Barn   Oils on canvas board   5 x 7 inches   

This old barn stands empty on the Wolds.

  Possibly once a home for wintering sheep it now gives 

a welcome to nesting birds and passing rabbits.

Studio Musings...

This painting was nearly abandoned as I struggled to keep it loose and not too detailed.  Many of my paintings are without signs of human presence as I like the image to remain purely landscape or seascape.  When a figure or building is included, the focus changes when the viewer's eye travels directly to this so I placed this building to one side.

 Now there is a way past into the countryside beyond.  I can see the view.

A reprieve.   

 On a roll.

                     Rolling Wolds   Oils on canvas board   5 x 7 inches   

Mist is clearing and the true colours of the wolds unfold.

Studio Musings...

Capturing the essence of distant early mist I needed to make the distance recede but also wanted an ethereal feel to the scene.  I warmed up the foreground field with burnt sienna and gave a sweep of the brush to the left highlighting the patch of sunlight on the grass.

Interlude on a wet day.

After Rain   Oils on canvas board   5 x 7 inches   

A wet day along the East coast but a brief interlude

 brings the  sun out to glisten on the sandbank.

Studio Musings...

            How I love the dullness of winter...a joy for painting with a symphony of greys. 

 I know some people wish for bright sunny days but I welcome stormy skies and find their colours an interesting mix.   This scene is abstracted a lot and much brushwork was employed to give an impression of the day.  I may return to the fields in the morning.

   

Walk on the wild side.

               Wild Side of Winter   Oils on canvas board   8 x 8 inches   

Waterlogged fields and a wintery sky for this impression of Lincolnshire fields.

Studio Musings...

Keeping to my wintery theme I have ventured back to the hedgerows and puddles.  I added two more colours to my palette for this painting.  Raw Sienna and Naples Yellow.  Both have a gentle soft hue for this local landscape and touches in the sky add a little warmth.

Sienna glow.

                    Dune and Drift   Oils on canvas board   8 x 8 inches   ON HOLD

A sienna grey theme in this study of dunes in winter. 

 Snow still lies in small drifts covering the coastal grasses.  

Studio Musings...

I am feeling a definite winter theme in my work this week.  After I painted 'Wild Wolds' I wanted to return to the scene and paint a second piece.  Alas...things didn't quite work as the painting was on a different course as it morphed into a coastal study instead.

Rather than wipe over my work I let the painting evolve into what you see above.  

Mark-making is central to my work along with value.  Colour is also important but I have noticed a strength to my painting when I allow a range of values.  Not too many or the painting will become too close toned.  My darks in this piece are mixed with Phthalo Blue, Burnt Sienna and a touch of Permanent Rose.  I vary the amounts depending on how I want to depict the shadows and depth.  Coloured darks have life whereas black would be too dense.  The transparency of these colours give the luminosity I want.