Two small paintings

What do you do when it all goes wrong? It's a tricky one because there is no right answer. Today I found myself in just such a position and for a while I wasn't very happy with the world.

I left the flat just after 9am and walked my easel through town and back to where I had had my first painting adventure a couple of weeks ago. Since last there, I'd had a look at a local map and it is shown as an old deer park (insert joke of your choice). I had it in mind to paint a rather nice oak tree - it has had a few knocks and has a certain character; it was also on a raised bank which had very little grass growing on it and the bare earth gave a nice contrast to the overall greenness.

I started work on my 10 x 8 inch canvas and managed to swiftly pass through all the regular stages of painting. I could paint; I could fix the problem; I could not fix the problem; I wondered why I ever bothered picking up a brush?! So after an hour or so I hated it! I had good reason; it was a poor little thing, without life and so what to do?

Sometimes it is best to walk away... but I decided not to - partly out of the fear of having to go back through town so soon after leaving it because, let's be honest, everybody who lives here watches my every move! Instead I took out the trusty palette knife and took off all the paint that I'd put on. For those who don't paint with oils I have to tell you that this does not destroy the image; it just blurs it a bit but allows for fresh paint to be placed over the top. I set to work for a second time and within ten minutes, all was well. The picture started to come together and I was happy! By 12.30 it was as finished as I wanted it to be and so a swift break for lunch (insert chocolate bar of your choice) was taken...

I moved about 100 metres to find the second view. An easier subject for me as it was more of an open landscape. I put it together rather rapidly and it's not bad; so nice to have the Autumn colours making all the trees look so different. Both pictures will require a little extra work but not much. So the day ended on a positive note and I was back home by 3pm...

Painting 'en plein air' part 3

Once more into my breeches dear friends! Another nice sunny day, so off I went... Today would be 'painting in public' day because I had decided to go down to Hambleden Lock. It's about two and a half miles downstream and usually with a steady flow of traffic passing through it. My journey there is always enjoyable because I'm required to do nothing more than walk along the side of the river. So even carrying all of the painting things it's not a chore.

It's not much of an exaggeration to suggest that you could set the easel up in any direction and find a suitable subject at Hambleden Lock but I felt that it was important to keep things simple, so I chose a view just beyond the lock itself. The painting went well enough; the morning light restricting the colour range. For the first hour or so I used only white, sap green and a couple of blues. Then, as the sun rose, the scene rapidly changed and I found that I was increasingly painting an image that no longer existed! By 10.30am, the picture was finished as far as I wanted, so I broke for a Mars bar only to find it had been sitting in the sun and was partially melted. Despite licking the wrapper I must report that some chocolate was lost!

So what to do for the second picture? Well the scene had changed and moving the easel is a pain, so I stayed where I was. Looking back I should have changed or taken a longer break because I rapidly slipped into painting on autopilot. I literally woke up after half an hour without any real memory of what I'd been doing. It's an easy enough thing to do but doesn't make for good practice. Because of the change in light a greater range of colours was called for: Naples yellow and a hint of red. The picture's not bad - it'll have a finish back home. I find I'm becoming increasingly aware of how you could pass a lifetime just painting the same view again and again; the light changes so rapidly and if you throw the seasons into the mix, there is endless variation.

By 12.30pm I'd done enough for the day. I packed up and started the walk back. I shall say a little about the walk because it was as near perfect as you might wish: warm, with a gentle breeze; the sun low enough to cast respectable shadows; the light was wonderful - everything was a painting!

And then the Thames!

When I was a child it was almost dead as it passed through London. Pollution had choked it and little lived in it. But today - well, upstream I grant you - I could see clear water down to at least 3 feet. I can't name the many different plants that are growing in it but they're there and in and around them are fish! I've seen the tiny fry before but today larger fish of 4 -5 inches and in their hundreds. My guess is they're trout... butI could be wrong!

Thank you!

Painting 'en plein air' part 2

So, here we go again! Off for more painting in the great outdoors! I decided for my second trip out to go to my beloved river Thames. Going downstream from Henley, there are public footpaths on both sides of the river but one side is far more heavily used than the other. I took the quiet side. My destination was a series of large, very low lying meadows, which are sometimes used for grazing sheep or cattle. One field in particular had always suggested itself; it contained several dead trees, their trunks stripped of bark - they would stand out, almost white against the green of the living trees.

I collected my things together and off I went.

The trees had been cut down!

Not only that but the field had been recently mown and now looked a million other fields.

I decided to stay!

It started raining!

I shouldn't have been surprised; the signs had been there. The forecast was for good weather and I had set off in strong sunshine only wearing a shirt. I was in England!

I decided to stay!

The painting went OK. There were sheep, which always add something and there were still some stacked tree trunks in the middle of the field.

It rained some more and I started to get cold!

I had been wise enough to place myself under a few trees in the corner of the field, so I was under some cover. The sheep realised this and began to move closer... Would they try to claim the trees for their own? Should I embrace one for bodily warmth? What would my father say when confronted with the news 'son found dead clutching sheep'?!

'I'll just get his mother, I'm sure she'd like to have a word with you!'

The rain stopped and on I went. I finished after about two hours - the canvases are only small, 10 x 8 inches - so I packed up and started back. But the day was still young and I had another canvas with me, so I found a view across the river and did a second picture. I include both here for you to see as well as the fully worked up picture from the last blog.

Now what's the forecast for Thursday?

Painting 'en plein air' part 1

I don't paint outside very much. I am, by my own, admission what is generally termed a 'studio artist'. This strikes many people as odd because I paint nothing but landscapes but you see, despite all the years that I've been painting, I still don't have much confidence about it. I can still see all the faults and the idea of people watching me while I actually make them is not very inspiring... so I stay indoors. But then... every now and again, I feel the need to get out there and give it another try.

So over the last few weeks I've acquired all the bits and bobs that I needed to launch myself out into the world. New paints, some small canvases, etc - this put it off by at least two weeks! Then I had to find somewhere; ideally not far away, but quiet... another week or so! But finally, this morning dawned and off I set. I had my easel - nice but heavy, with a drawer into which went the paints, brushes, canvas, end of a toilet roll, double dibber (look it up), bounty bar, mars bar... I think that was all. I slung my little tripod stool thing over one shoulder and a tramping I did go.

I got through town without mishap; found the public footpath and went 'off road' up a hill, through a wood and emerged into a very large open area. I think it must have been formal parkland at some time in the past. It has a lot of reasonable sized oak trees; there are sometimes sheep grazing and down towards one end of it: my target. Two oaks trees with a large rusting oil tank between them - rural but with a touch of human intervention... perfect!

I started painting. It was cool and breezy but pleasant enough and to my relief I got through the first hour without seeing anyone. Somebody eventually passed by with a nod and a 'morning'. Later a dog walker who kept going and then another who stopped for a chat. A small lady, perhaps in her 70's, with a Labrador. I had met her before when out looking for somewhere to paint and she remembered me. She told me that the tank had been put there many years earlier by a pig farmer as there was no water up there at the time. The pigs have long since gone.

And then I was left to myself again. The painting came along rather well I thought. The weather remained coolish and a bit windy but I was enjoying it. Perhaps, I thought, this painting outside lark is not so bad after all. Finally after a couple of hours I'd just about got there. A reasonable little sketch sat before me. Should I do any more? I thought about it... distance was needed. I stepped back... two feet... six feet... ten feet... it actually looked quite good!

And then - from nowhere - a gust of wind! The easel pitched forward and like some ancient catapult, fired it's contents! Paints, brushes, toilet roll end, mars bar - all into the air! A tube of titanium white almost took an eye out! The canvas detached itself from the easel and turned gently once, twice, and then came to rest with a 'flup' into the long grass... butter side down!

I decided it was time to go home.

The canvas survived surprisingly well although a considerable part of the sky remained in the grass and now I have grass in the sky...

Shall I venture out again?

I think I will!