Painting local churches...

I'm not terribly clued up on the way the Church of England organises itself, but there are three churches in our local group. There's St Mary's (Kingsclere), St Paul's (Ashford Hill) and St Peter's (Headley)

It sounds a bit like a 60s folk trio.

But these are the churches. Norman St. Mary's, squat and sturdy; Victorian St. Pauls, elegantly be-spired; and miniscule St. Peter's, also a Victorian building, represented here by a pair of sketches.

On Saturday, I was at a charity event at St. Paul's, and I was there to demonstrate my knife-painting techniques. I had a gazebo, which was fortunate, as it rained quite a lot.

I had my acrylics...

40 x 40 cm, painted in the morning, when
there was a glimmer of blue sky and sunshine

 ... and I had my oils ...

41 x 33 cm, painted in the afternoon, when
the sun had disapeared but the roof was shiny

Both paintings were auctioned for charity on the day.

St Leonard's in Oakley

It was raining, so I sat under the lych gate to make this sketch.

Curious about the unusual name of this church (many a church is named for saintly Peters, Pauls, and Marys - although I'm not aware of any dedicated to Puff the Magic Dragon), I discovered that Leonard was a sixth century frenchman known for freeing prisoners.

Given the dedication, I was assuming that I would find a definite assertion that the church building was (underneath all the additions and alterations) of Norman origin, but there seems to be no such statement to be found online. It is, however, believed that a Norman chuch stood on the same site.

The history of the building seems vague until the 16th Century, so it seems reasonable to state that the church is medieval with distinctive Victorian additions. It is, however, charmingly quirky.

Hove, Roofs

Yesterday, I went to Brighton with my children. But I parked in Hove (actually), as part of a plan that was largely scuppered by a derailment outside Brighton station.

This is the view from the top of the multistorey car park in Hove.

Lanuishing in Langrish

Langrish (sepia ink)

My car broke down on the A272 yesterday. It developed a coolant leak...

Portsmouth

Today was spent in Portsmouth; with the two paintings duly delivered to the Guildhall (see them in the basement from the 28th January), we couldn't resist wandering down to the seafront to sketch...

Peacock Turmoil and other leftover paint

Peacock Turmoil
26 x 20 cm, oil on box canvas

I've been thinking more about abstract art of late (while trying not to think too hard - abstract art does not seem to repay intellectual efforts on the part of the viewer, being better approached via the emotions, I suspect). However, I cannot tell you what emotions are reflected here - no, really, I can't, because I do not know. Mostly I was trying to make the colours and the shapes work together well, and that is neither emotional nor intellectual. I think it must be instinctive.

While Peacock Turmoil did start off as a home for the paint leftover from Linear (there was a lot), I added more paint (mostly blues) from the tubes.

The bicycle, however, was just an opportunistic sketch. (The yellow bit is the inside of the lid of my box of oil paints.)

Oil sketch of (part of) the bicycle lurking in my studio

Winsor Violet on the Kennet and Avon

painted on 300gsm cold pressed cotton rag
(24 x 18 cm)

I have a metal watercolour sketcher's box, made by Winsor and Newton. It's an earlier version of this one. I've had it around 30 years, but I've never actually replaced one of the half-pans until today (watercolour pans last a long while, especially if you don't use watercolour very much).

I bought a number of replacement half-pans more than a decade ago. I had evidently mislaid the card that listed the colours, because there was a whole lot of guessing going on. Some of the "replacements" don't seem to tie in with the originals, and there is at least one duplication.

Original colour card, with my paint swatches

#MoveMay

A selection of images posted to Twitter for the art theme #MoveMay (related to transport).

Some are from life, some are from photographs, and some are from memory or imagination. All bar one are complete works inspired by the theme. One or two no longer exist.

 

Four-Pastel Sketches

It rained for most of today, but the evening was delightful. My generous husband suggested I get out on the hills for an hour or so after tea; how could I refuse?

'Scuse me while I paint the sky

Dipping into Watercolour Sketching

Above: Tadley Common, with and without cattle. Both ~ 20 minute lunchtime sketches.
Below: 15 minute sketch of fields near Kingsclere.

Watercolour is a dashed tricky medium.

Praa Sands - sketches

The day before we went to Marazion (Mount's Bay), the weather was dull but we were itching to visit the beach. The kids took their bodyboards; I took my sketchbook.

Barnacle

Meet Barnacle, the Lifeboat bear. He usually sits on my car dashboard, but yesterday, during my son's guitar lesson, I let him sit on the steering wheel.

Derwent Drawing, cropped from A4