Off Into The Waves

6x8" oil on canvas board. $45. Available here

So, this unquestionably turned out a bit cheesy, which isn't really my thing. I prefer landscapes that you can project your own mood onto. But I guess flipping through all those old photos made me a little nostalgic! I questioned myself the whole way through about whether to paint out or leave the figure. I left it, deciding I was happy with how it was painted. Even without it, the painting has a similar mood - that 'memory of a happy summer holiday'  feeling. I think the colour palette is what does it! I might try another version sometime that's a bit more toned-down.

I'm happy with this painting - but I definitely surprised myself with how it turned out, because as I say, it's not the kind of image I'd usually seek to create. Still, I hope it strikes a chord with people!

St Michael's Mount From Long Rock

6x8" oil on canvas board. $45. Available here 

As the weather gets warmer, I always feel more like painting seascapes. However, living in a landlocked county, there's no conveniently-close beach for plein air work. So I dig in my archive of photos for ones I haven't used yet...

This was painted from a photo I took quite a few years ago during a family holiday to Cornwall. I really like how the seaweed on the beach came out!

Crossing the Meadow

6x8" oil on canvas board. $45. Available here

Another May plein air, this one in a different meadow near home! I was determined to try and capture the warmth of the day. But that warmth meant I had to work quite quickly, because I was becoming exhausted from sitting in the sun!

The windows were easily the hardest detail to get right; I think I had to wipe them and re-paint a few times. I've found a better technique for doing windows now, which you'll see in a newer painting I'll upload soon. In the mean time, though, I'm satisfied with how they came out here.

I also challenged myself to add a figure, one of those things I rarely do - but whenever I do, people tell me I should do it more! So it must work out all right. I hope it did this time.(Also, again with the bright buttercups - I love when they're in bloom and I'm so glad I caught them in some paintings this year!)

Gospel Oak

6x6" oil on canvas board. $40. Available here

I'm finally starting to feel up to painting city scenes again! I went through a bit of a block for a while, and they just weren't working out - but I'm hoping that's clearing up now. The other night I was feeling brave and decided to do a painting from a photo taken in London last summer. The composition made me a little nervous - the railings, the placement of bridges - I was worried they'd confuse the focus. But I stuck with my instincts and painted the scene anyway, and I'm actually really pleased with how it came out!

Red Onions Aren't Actually Red

6x6" oil on canvas board. $40. Available here

I loved this week's challenge, all about using limited colours in a composition. I really wanted to do a painting based around the colour of a red onion, which is not red at all, but a dark purple-brown. I decided to introduce the little green Haworthia plant as my 'one small thing' that isn't. The colours got a little bit more varied than I intended as I worked on it, and then I added a green marble, so it got away from the theme a bit - but I'm still happy with it. Please note that at the time of posting (6th April) this painting is still wet; I would not be comfortable shipping it for a week or two, until I'm happy it's completely dry. However I'm putting it up early so I can submit it to the Weekly Challenge page.

Back To My Roots

6x6" oil on canvas board. $40. Available here 

I like painting root vegetables! For my first college painting assignment, my composition was a still life including two onions - one brown, one red. They're always fun, trying to capture their shine and the way their skin peels off in layers. This was my first time painting a parsnip, though!

Old St Lawrence Church, Ayot

6x6" acrylic on canvas board. $40. Available here

Here's a painting of an old church on the Ayot Estate. We were taking a walk past, and luckily I got a chance to stop and do some sketches. It was a very atmospheric location! I also took some photos, knowing I'd want to paint it, and I did! It was very interesting to try and convey the texture of the stone.

Piglet

6x8" oil on canvas board. $45. Available here

Just up the road from our house is a farm. A while back, I went along to do some sketches of the animals for a college project. I took some photos as well, and this is painted from my favourite one; the piglets were absolutely adorable! Noisy, but cute. This was a really enjoyable painting to do, quite a change of subject matter for me, I learned a lot. Maybe I'll go along again this spring and take some more photos to paint from in future!

Before Dinner

6x8" oil on canvas board. $45. Available here

I went downstairs one day and found these lovely leafy cabbages sitting on the counter. I can never resist painting them, but I had to paint quickly, before mum came downstairs to cook dinner and needed them back! I'm really happy with how this turned out, the veins on the leaves were great fun to capture.

Hornsey Road, North London

5x7" acrylic on canvas board. $40. Available here

Another London scene- I'm really enjoying painting the city at the moment! This one's of Hornsey Road in North London, just around the corner from the Emirates Stadium. I really enjoyed this colourful little scene- those shutters took ages to get right, but they were worth the struggle!

Commuters at King's Cross

5x7" acrylic on canvas board. $40. Available here

A little scene of commuters in King's Cross station in London, checking timetables and phone messages while they wait for the train to arrive. In the background, you can see the crowd gathered outside Harry Potter Shop at Platform 9 3/4.

I like this part of the station- there are always people to watch, but it's quiet and open enough that no one bumps into you as they pass. I spent a long time tweaking this painting- crowd scenes are tough! I learned a lot, though.... so I may have to do some more station scenes at some point in the future.

Late Autumn Leaves 2

6x6" acrylic on canvas board, $40. Available here

Quieter residential streets are building up a good collection of autumn leaves for scuffling through! This one had a particularly thick covering and I had to do a little painting to celebrate it before they all get blown away...

Sitting by the Fountains

6x8" oil on canvas board. $45. Available here!

I've done a few plein air paintings in the town centre lately. It can be intimidating to work with people passing by all the time, and there are a lot more distractions. But it offers a whole new array of subjects to explore, and that's been a lot of fun. This was a real challenge to paint; I wasn't entirely happy with what I produced on location, so I touched it up a bit when I got home. I'm satisfied now!

A fun fact; the people sitting on the bench were one of the first elements I painted- a good thing I did, because they left about five minutes later!

Hidden Pond

6x8" oil on canvas board. $45. Available here 

Here's a plein air which I forgot to post a couple months back- a little overgrown pond, tucked away on our local nature reserve up a tiny side-path. It's a very quiet spot, mostly filled with the buzzing of insects and the rustle of wind in the trees- a pleasant place to sit and paint.

Last Autumn Leaves

6x8" oil on canvas board. On sale, $25! Available here

Well, perhaps not the very last, but with the winds we're getting lately, they won't last much longer! I painted this one on location, and VERY fast, as I was sure it was going to start raining while I worked... luckily it stayed dry. I'm going to have to start carrying my fingerless gloves again though... my hands got pretty cold!

Misty October

10x12" Acrylic on Canvas Board. On sale, $50! Available here

Have you ever been plein-air painting and had the weather change completely as you worked? That's what happened in this piece. I settled on the view becuase the clear, crisp autumnal colours were really exciting me. And halfway through, the mist rolled in, thick and grey! I had to choose between painting from memory or "chasing the weather" and I went with the latter... I'm so glad I did! The soft, muted colours really appeal to me.

Bookstore Alley

6x8" oil on canvas board. On sale, $25! Available here

I don't know what this alley is called, but I do remember that there were several bookstores along it! Including one second-hand one I could have spent hours browsing. I'm trying to do more urban landscapes recently, they're an excellent challenge; in this case the hardest part was getting those bicycles right, leaning against the railings. A small detail, but it doesn't look like Cambridge without them!

Autumn in High-Key

6x6" acrylic on canvas board. On sale- $22! Available here

Following on from the last painting I posted, here's the high-key study! I really struggled with the leaves while painting this, they seemed to be changing position. I realised as I was deconstructing the arrangement they'd been curling up as I painted... no wonder I was confused!

Autumn in Low-Key

6x6" acrylic on canvas board. On sale- $22! Available here

After reading a new book on painting, I decided that I need to dedicate some time to studying tonal keys. I tend to paint tone exactly as I see it, and have never really 'taken control' of it; learning to tweak values to create a particular mood will really help me to progress to a new level.

I decided to do two studies of an arrangement, one low key and the other high, to see if I understood the concept properly. Here's the low key, with dominant darks. I love the dramatic feeling this has, the way that the light shines off the leaves, and the dark background accentuating the rich, saturated colour.

The Phone Box

6x8" acrylic on canvas board. On sale, $25! Available here

A little study of Highgate, based on a photo I took there recently. I really liked the lighting! And I quite enjoy painting phone boxes; it must be the bright colour and the interesting patterns of light and dark seen through the windows. The parked cars were the biggest challenge here; figuring out how to simplify the reflections of trees in their windscreens took me ages.