Cannon Heath Down revisited

The Vale of Kingsclere, oil on canvas, 60 x 30 cm

I have been neglecting this blog recently in favour of building an all-new Web site on another platform. This site will remain as an archive.

However, it only seemed right to post today's work here.

Cannon Heath Down (7): Framed

I'm quite excited; today, I received a large, flattish parcel with four frames in it. They've come all the way from Cornwall (quite fitting, considering that the other three frames are all destined to surround paintings of that glorious county). The frames are all from Moonshine Framing's Driftwood range; this particular one is the clear wax version.

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!

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.

Cannon Heath Down: Prehistory

Modern Cannon Heath Down: a view along the Wayfarer's Walk
and gallops, towards Cottington's Hill. June 2011.

Cannon Heath Down: Background (part one)

This is a rather poorly made panorama of Cannon Heath Down, based on photographs that I took during my painting expedition of the 24th of August, 2011. I assembled it manually using Corel Photobook. You can, no doubt, see a whole host of discrepancies between this and the painting made on that date.

But this post isn't about a painting. It's about a hill.

Cannon Heath Down (6)

The weather today, 28th September 2011, was glorious: hot and sunny, real Indian summer weather. I took up position not far from where I painted the last view, and this time I included some of the foreground foliage (instead of ignoring it, like I did last time).

Oil on canvas, 14 x 18"

Cannon Heath Down (5)

The 23rd of September was a gloriously sunny day, and it yielded this, the fifth of my paintings of Cannon Heath Down. I positioned myself a little lower down the hill I was sitting on this time; this is evident from the fact that you can't see all of the stands of trees that were visible in previous views.

The autumn is setting in now; you can see that in the wonderful colours of the trees. Of course, what you can see isn't the true colours of the painting (let alone those of the trees), because there is so much technology between your eyes and the canvas. First of all, you have to contend with the rather idiosyncratic colour balance of my digital camera (an inexpensive point and shoot model). The camera applied a ghastly blue cast to this image of the painting for some reason known best to itself. It needed fixing. To start with, I applied an auto white balance using Corel Photobook (an Adobe Photoshop analogue). That seemed to overcompensate, making the trees garishly orange. I tried again, fiddling with the colour balance manually, and this is my best attempt. After that, of course, the colours get mashed around by the screen settings of the computer you're using to view the image.

Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm

Cannon Heath Down (4)

Seeking to make amends for the recent bad painting, I returned to my favoured hillside on the 13th of September. The day was a bit blustery, and I had to catch the canvas a few times, but the weather was quite a bit more clement than it had been on my previous expedition. I'd also taken the precaution of wearing an extra layer of clothing, which helped.

Oil on canvas, 14 x 18"
Donated to FKS (local school PTA)

Cannon Heath Down (3)

My third painting of Cannon Heath Down didn't work so well. In fact, I'm not very happy with it at all. The weather that day (the 27th of August, 2011) was cooler, windier, and wetter than on my previous expeditions, and I learnt an important lesson about painting outside: it is very difficult to paint well if you are cold.

I usually start with the sky, and I was feeling cold before that was done. I think I hurried the rest of it, refusing to give up, and consequently botched the image. There are a few passages that I think worked well; the trees, painted light-over-dark in the time-honoured tradition of oil painting, aren't bad. But on the whole, I don't like this one. I'm including it because it is part of the series and to illustrate why it is a bad idea to paint when you are physically uncomfortable.

Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm

Cannon Heath Down (2)

This is my second painting of Cannon Heath Down, a hill in North Hampshire, painted on the 24th of August, 2011, from a more precarious pitch on the patch of access land mentioned previously.

The weather was quite sunny that day, and I don't recall having any trouble with rain, although the wind was a bit gusty and I had to stop the canvas from launching itself onto my lap a few times.

Oil on canvas, 14 x 18"

Cannon Heath Down (1)

This is my first painting of Cannon Heath Down, a hill in North Hampshire. It was painted on the 17th of August, 2011, from the opposite side of the pass that goes through the downs at that point; there is a lovely (and rather steep) patch of access land on White Hill that affords an excellent view of Cannon Heath Down and its intriguing hollows.

The day was a bit grey, and I did endure a light shower - the painting didn't mind (being executed in oils, it is naturally water repellent), and I was dressed for the weather, but I had to cover my cardboard painting carrier with a plastic bag and my tear-off palette pad went a bit wrinkly.

Oil on canvas, 30 x 40cm.
Painted as a gift.