The Chicken's Bridge

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

Well, this was a fun and interesting piece to paint! I took the photo during a trip to Yorkshire a couple of years back - as we were driving past a little farm half-hidden by trees, I noticed a chicken crossing the bridge over the river. It struck me as a great image, and I promised myself I'd try to paint it one day. But it scared me for a long time because it's quite a complex composition, and I wasn't sure how to handle the building in the background. All those windows! Scary... Then I had a brainwave.

I said in a previous painting I'd found a new trick for windows; here it is in action! I've found it's easier to paint the window-area with a dark colour, and then scrape out the lighter lines with a colour shaper. It took a few tries to get right, as I learned to handle the new tools, but I had a lot of fun with them! They were also useful for adding texture to the brick walls, and the highlights on the chicken.

Cloud Shadows

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

Will I ever get tired of painting these skies? I think not! In this one, I particularly tried to focus on the shadows - both those on the undersides of the clouds, and the shadows the clouds cast on the landscape below them.

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!

Fruit & Veg Stall, Whitechapel Market

6x8" acrylic on canvas, $45. Available here

Another I forgot to upload; this is painted from a photo I took at Whitechapel Market on an unusually hot April day. The market was bustling, full of colourful stalls; most seemed to be selling fruit and veg, or scarves. I've said before I love painting markets, and this was no exception. I was happy to catch this pair mid-transaction, a bit of human interaction makes for an interesting challenge. Though I must have re-painted that white shirt a dozen times!

It was a very challenging scene to paint generally, because of the sheer amount of stuff that's everywhere; stacks of boxes, the striped canopy folding and catching the light, the hanging blue bags... And the fact you can see through the back of the stall to the other side of the street! I hope I managed to create a cohesive painting out of it all.
 

Outside the Church, Kimpton

8x10" acrylic on canvas board, $65. Available here

I thought I'd uploaded this already but apparently not, so here it is! For the past two years, I've exhibited work at the Kimpton Art Show. Kimpton itself is a very nice town, with lots of lovely architecture and greenery, and little back lanes which twist and turn behind the houses. This is the lane which leads up to the church - the bunting seen here is the typical store-bought stuff, but further up there is hand-knitted bunting, which I've not seen before! I thought it was quite a nice touch. I wish I'd taken more photos of the town; maybe next year!

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!)

A Return to the Meadow

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

Here's a plein air sketch I completed in late May. It was a lovely warm day, so I went to one of my favourite painting spots. I like returning to the same view each year, to see how differently I approach it this time around. I seem to be going a month earlier each time, though! The original was August 2016, and then I returned in June 2017.

I was very lucky when I arrived; there was a pleasantly shady spot on the path, and the grass was full of colour! There were big swathes of beautiful yellow buttercups catching the sun, and the little shed at the end of the meadow was cast mostly in shadow. The painting came together quite quickly, and I had a lot of fun working on it! It's interesting how it seems to combine the bolder and more confident brushwork of the August piece with the brighter colours of the June one. And how I've shifted the shed to the left this time around.

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!

Bluebells

5x7" watercolour on paper. $40, Available here

This was painted from photos of a trip to Hitch Wood last year. In spring, the woods all around us brighten with a carpet of bluebells. The resulting views are stunning, and I wanted to create a little tribute to the atmosphere you get when walking through them - almost mystical!

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.

Late Autumn Leaves 3

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

Finally back and uploading again! Here's the third of the 'Autumn' series I started last year. This tree caught my attention- it has such a great shape, and the colours were really bold and vibrant, I loved them!

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!

Three Cranes

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

I love these old-fashioned cranes! Complex to paint, but the shapes are so powerful and distinctive. As we were leaving the Docklands, the sun was just beginning to sink, and when I glanced back and saw it behind the cranes, throwing them into strong contrast, I knew I'd be painting the scene. I'm really pleased with how the water came out in this image!

The o2 From The Air

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

This is a view of the o2 at Greenwich Peninsula, London... as seen from the Emirates Air Line, a cable-car route which travels over the docks. It gives a fantastic view out over the city. The day we took it was almost blindingly bright sun, and the buildings cast long shadows over the water. I was entranced by the colours!

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.

November Sunset

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

We've been getting some great sunsets recently! This one was so dramatic and vibrant that I had to paint it. I've found that keeping the brushstrokes very loose is the best way to convey the movement of the clouds, and sometimes I struggle with that because I want to add minute detail to everything. But I think that in this painting, I stopped at just the right point!

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...

Late Autumn Leaves I

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

I'm determined to capture the Autumn colours before they fade! Here's a little view from the town centre, where the pavements are still lined by piles of gold and orange leaves...

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!