Blue Twist (Wolverton Blue 3)

Blue Twist (Wolverton Blue 3), oil on linen, 46 x 38 cm

Last Friday, I revisited Wolverton Woods to catch the end of the bluebells. I was attracted by the fantastic contortions of the large beech tree that became the focus of this painting.

Blue Twist
oil on canvas, 46 x 38 cm

£160

Devil's Den, or, The Resting Place - SOLD

Devil's Den, oil on linen canvas, 46 x 38 cm

The Devil's Den is a reconstructed (c. 1921) dolmen (neolithic) near Marlborough in Wiltshire. As far as I can tell, it is the closest such monument to where I live (there seems to be a shortage of suitable stone in Hampshire; certainly the chalk and flint in the immediate vicinity would make very poor building material). Dolmens, which look like stone tables, are actually the structural remains of burial chambers that were once covered in earth. Most have three or more uprights; this has two, but one of them rests on a third, recumbent stone. The stones are sarsens, which are blocks of sandstone created by glacial flow. They are plentiful in that area (which is not far from Avebury and Stonehenge).

I have visited the Devil's Den before, with sketching equipment, but this time I took my painting gear. It was a gloriously, unseasonably, hot and sunny day. I spent maybe two and a half hours on site and completed the picture in the studio, where I empasised the darks (which have a tendency to get lost on site) and the reflected colour on the stones.

Included in the group exhibition, Traces of Prehistory (Artikinesis).

Devil's Den

oil on linen canvas, 46 x 38 cm

£160 - SOLD

Bluebell Stump (Wolverton Blue 2) - SOLD

Wednesday's short painting session in Wolverton Wood gave me enough material (on the canvas and in my head) to refine the image in the studio yesterday.

Bluebell Stump (Wolverton Blue 2)

Oil on natural linen canvas, 30 x 40 cm

£120 SOLD

Bluebelling

... in progress ...

... and mostly finished.

It was a beautiful day for seeking out and painting bluebells. I took a couple of hours out and visited Wolverton Woods. I will probably do a litte bit more to it tomorrow during my Open Studio...

Next blog post:
finished and titled

Windsor Castle en plein ar and a little bit in the studio

I decided that I didn't like the guards in this painting - they were rather hastily put in and they didn't seem to belong to the scene at all, probably because I made them too big for their position.

Windsor Castle en plein air

North Terrace, oil on canvas, 50 x 70 cm

Yesterday (Saturday 16th July), I participated in the Windsor and Eton en plein air event. To celebrate Queen Elizabeth's 90th birthday, 90 artists were invited to paint within the grounds of Windsor Castle. My friend Rose and I were two of those artists.

It was a very hot ad sunny day, and the castle was thronging with visitors. Every now and then, a small group of red-clad soldiers marched smartly along the North Terrace, where we were both positioned. They were difficult to capture, and I very nearly scraped them off at one point, having despaired of seeing them again and fixing in my mind enough detail to make my image of them believable...

I think I only just pulled it off.



Edit: I changed my mind about the soldiers.

Up Swan Street

This is the companion piece to Down Swan Street and was painted just outside of the studio door on Sunday, the final day of Open Studios West Berkshire and North Hampshire, with a few minor adjustments made today.

The sky was ominous for most of Sunday, and, by the time I took the decision to stop, thunder was rolling through the valley. The red kite had been calling most of the afternoon, and made an appearance in the sky at just the right time for it to also appear in the painting.

Oil on canvas, 40 x 60 cm

Down Swan Street

This was painted outside of my Open Studio, yesterday. Just outside the open door of my Open Studio, to be precise.

Oil on box canvas, 40 x 60 cm

De Port's Kitchens

De Port's Kitchens,
oil on canvas, 40 x 50 cm

Yesterday, three fifths of Artikinesis visited Basing House as part of our Basingstoke Project. I have visited this fascinating site several times, but always with children in tow; I have long had a hankering to paint there. Specifically, to paint the kitchen fireplaces in the ruins of the Norman Castle (built in the 12th Century by the de Port family).

Waverley Window

Last Tuesday, Rose and I visited Waverley Abbey in Surrey, and painted en plein air at the ruins. This is my painting (tidied up slightly in the studio).

 Oil on canvas, 41 x 33 cm

Cross-posted with Artikinesis

Barns

Oil on linen canvas, 55 x 46 cm

Tuesday was gloriously sunny; a perfect day for painting pretty, disused barns ... and for getting just a little bit sunburnt in the process. Of course, I should have followed my friend's example and set up in the shade.

Frobury Blue

This is a plein air painting from yesterday that I did a little extra work on this morning, mainly to restate the contrasts between the darks and the lights.

Unusually, I had company on this painting expedition. My friend, Rose, joined me for both the walk and the paint. She worked in acrylics while I stuck to my favoured plein air medium of oils. We were specifically looking for a good display of bluebells and ended up back at the first wood that we passed through, having walked three or four miles to look at an alternative.

It's a good job that we both enjoy walking!

The tall , hollow, tree stump was the focus of both of our paintings. In fact, the bluebells were almost incidental.

Frobury Blue

Oil on canvas, 46 x 55 cm

More bluebells en plein air an be found here: 3 Years of Plein Air Bluebells

Snowdrops Across the River

This year, it seems that my plein-air season (that is, the time of year that I can comfortably paint outdoors) has started early - usually, I try mark it with a bluebell painting. But this year has been good for snowdrops, and these were within such a short walk from my studio that I could carry the finished wet oil painting back without a box.

Oil on Canvas,  30 x 30cm

From One Hill Fort to Another

This was a plein air painting made back in July, just before the schools broke up and summer holiday madness commenced.

Kingsclere Downs - SOLD

This is the view from (almost) the top of The Dell, a road-cum-track that rises out of the village of Kingsclere in north Hampshire.

Cross Path

I had a busy day yesterday, but I had promised myself a walk and a plein air paint.

Hackpen - Commission - SOLD

Today, I went back to Hackpen, parked in the car park near the horse, walked along The Ridgeway a bit and then down to the spot I'd identified on Wednesday (slightly further along the path than the place I made Wednesday's sketch at, so that the Field Barn - as described on the ever-useful Ordnance Survey map - fitted in front of the hill, not to the side. I sat in the field margin and painted the hill.

There was a fellow with a remote control aircraft, or something, just down the path. I didn't see what was making the buzzing mechanical drone, so I'm not sure. It wasn't annoying, though, and when he came to say hello, we had a delightful conversation.

He told me that the three clumps of trees on the hill (the leftmost is partially hidden behind the central one in my picture; I don't think that the clump above the white horse counts) were planted for the purpose of rearing and shooting game.

Coincidentally, I surprised a pheasant on my walk back up to the Ridgeway. It - with its sudden explosion of movement and loud whirring wing strokes - rather surprised me, too.

Oil on canvas, 30 x 60 cm

3 years of plein air bluebells

Left to right, 2011, 2013, 2014

My plein air bluebells are getting brighter...

Wolverton Blue

The plein air season has begun! And what better way to mark it than with a bluebell wood. This one is Brock Copse near Wolverton.

Wayland Smithy: Full Frontal 2002

The last time that I drew Wayland Smithy, it was a warm day in April, 2002, and I sat on the grass in front of the long barrow's entrance with pencil and A5 sketch pad: