The Big Book of Landscape Paintings

I've just "published" another book. It's a BIG book, and is loosely based around Places That I Have Lived In and (made paintings of). Those of you missing the Cornish landscapes will, I am afraid, have to wait until I have enough suitable paintings for a second book of landscapes.

North Hampshir...

Adventures with a ...

By Amanda Bates

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Dinghies @ Gillan - SOLD

Location: Gillan Creek, Helford River, Cornwall

I like the idea of boats better than the reality of (being in) them. The photograph that this painting was based on was taken on the same day that I painted "From the Herra" en plein air in oils. The painting was made on Friday; it was the first time for a while that I have tried to make a whole knife painting in acrylics (rather than adding foreground detail to a brushed background) - although I did sign it with a brush.

I was expecting to be able to make cleaner contrasts more easily - which is one of the reasons that I chose this image - and it was, indeed, so. I think it worked fairly well. My next experiment with knives and acrylics will be to attempt a subject more similar to the ones that I favour in oils.

Acrylic on canvas, 41 x 33 cm
30 November 2012
SOLD

Skyline 2: green field, May

This is bigger and less yellow than the first Skyline painting, and the trees are both barer and clearer. It's also from a different viewpoint - further along the path, higher up the hill, and closer to the trees.

Yellow 7x5

This painting resulted from an attempt to use up a big blob of yellow (and sundry other colours) on my palette after completing Skyline 2 and Misty Nuthangar. Of course, it didn't work that well, because I had to add a few other colours to finish this - so I painted Godrevy 7x5, too.


By which time, it was definitely time to stop.

Godrevy 7x5 - SOLD

I went back to my photographs for this, a small, quick, using-up-the paint rendition of New Year's day 2012 at Gwithian (with a view of Godrevy lighthouse).

Misty Nuthanger

Nuthangar Down is the slope coming down to the west of Watership Down. The road winds up through the pass between that hill and the one that becomes Ladle Hill in a remarkably picturesque fashion. I've often admired the wooded slopes, and, one misty morning in late September, I stopped my car to grab a few photographs.

This is a rather small rendition of one of those shots in paint.

Oil on canvas, 7 x 5"
27 November 2012
For Sale

New Forest Heather 5 - Blasted Tree

Blasted TreeFinished
(daylight)

I started off by telling myself that I was just going to do the sky... but then there was too much blue left, so I made it into green ... and purple ... and before I knew it the painting had progressed to this stage and it was way past bedtime.

In progress
(artificial light)

Oops.

It took a couple of days before I was able to find the time to work on it again, but eventually I did, and this is the result. The photography, of course, took even longer; domestic artificial light doesn't work very well with my rudimentary set-up, so I had to wait for the weekend. 


Oil on canvas, 55 x 46 cm
26 November 2012