Thursday 29 March 2012

Cannon Heath Down (8)

This is a near reprise of the first Cannon Heath Down painting, except that it's 6 months later (and so a different season), smaller, relatively longer (which helped me avoid the awkward foreground detail), and, I think, more accomplished. I guess that all that practice has helped me improve!

Wednesday 28 March 2012

Cannon Heath Down (7)

It would have been a shame to waste the unexpectedly glorious weather, so I packed up my kit and revisited an old haunt... this time with a long, narrow canvas that has been awaiting the subject since last autumn. The trees are rather less colourful than they were in September - it's too early for the spring foliage to have come in, even - but the view is still stunning. And using a long canvas means that I can get the whole hill in, without succumbing to the temptation to squash it in or being forced to include too much foreground.

Thursday 22 March 2012

Watership Down in the Snow - SOLD

This is another work from a photograph. It was a bit cold to sit and paint in the snow, so I took a camera out on my walk - to the same position that I painted Watership Down (1) from - and took a series of shots. I was slightly disappointed that we didn't get much snow this winter - unlike the last two years, which were, as it happens, exceptionally snowy. This, from February, was the snowiest picture that I could manage; as you can see the hill is satisfyingly covered, but you can see vegetation on the valley floor.

Friday 9 March 2012

Vinho Verde


The fourth colour of wine is, of course, green. By which the Portuguese mean "young". I'm not going to go on about the style of wine, except to say that vinho verde is very nice indeed.

This painting differs from the previous wine paintings in that it's on canvas, and is a bit bigger. As it happens, I'd run out of the boards, but  I did have several of these 30 x 40 canvases, which offer a better aspect ratio - and a little more room to suggest the curly "V" on the label.

Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm

Saturday 3 March 2012

South African Sauvignon Blanc-Rose

Guess what we had a glass of last night? There's one colour of wine (that I can think of) that I haven't painted yet. Maybe next Friday...

Edit:  I think the names of these vinous paintings are getting longer!

Oil on board, 12 x 10"
The board is a commercially prepared canvas board.
SOLD