Still Here!

Goodness me how time flies when you're having fun! It's been many months since I posted but I haven't been idle. True to say though that I'm unlikely to share the fruits of several months' worth of experimenting and rethinking of various aspects. However all this work did somewhat 'free' my mind from certain approaches and so I find that I went back to rework a painting from the end of last year. I have to say that I think it went quite well, so without much more to say, here it is:

Masked Ball II

More new work

It takes more time these days to make decisions about finishing - the inevitable battle not to overwork (which I may have done slightly). Another larger format work (for me) 26in x 22in on linen. I have another painting related to this one which needs a lot more work, and three others currently on the go, with a further 8 paintings already planned... so lots to keep me busy. Watch this space!

Masked Ball

A New Painting

Fishermen I

Just the one this time. As I've mentioned before, I've been busy working away and as a result, much is changing in termsof my ideas and aims in painting. Much of what I felt was 'worth' publishing here is going to now remain on the studio walls until it's either sold or repainted. In the meantime, this new painting is something I'm pleased with. I seem to have had the presence of mind, as the painting emerged from what began as an underpainting, to not impose myself on it too far and instead allow the painting to develop more of its own accord. I'm finding much in both the process and this painting to interest me and spur me on. Anyway, enough waffle from me. Here it is.

I've also had the great good fortune to be able to paint on properly supported oil-primed canvas - the very best medium (IMO) available and I do believe this contributes substantially to the qualities to be found in the painting.

I hope you enjoy it.

At last!

It feels like such a long time since I last posted any work on here, but I haven't been idle in the interim. True that there have been a few issues commanding my time but not such that I have't kept at the painting almost constantly.

La Croix

When it came time to post some more images I did begin to feel that in fact, despite the fairly large amount of work I have produced these past weeks, I didn't want or need to show it all. I am posting three images here and there are certainly more to come but I think an amount of what I have produced has been largely to prepare a way forward and as such the work isn't really for posting here.

Enough of my rambling already. The first image is another of the reworkings of earlier work that had suggested itself as a candidate due to seeming "dull" and ineffective. It is quite a small little painting - about 8 inches x 5 (I'll dig out a tape measure) and was something I used to see every day. It has been repainted not just from memory but from a desire to get more umm.. "life" into the painting.

November Vines

The next image is also a reworking. I have a few doubts about this image in the sense that it doesn't now feel entirely "believable" to me, but I'm glad that I was able to approach closer to my feelings on the bright but chilly November morning two years ago when I produced it. Thanks to the lovely people at the vineyard who allowed us to work there.

Late August in the Tarn

The final image in this post is, finally, some new work ie something that is not a revisiting of earlier ideas but a new painting that has come from what I feel is an improved and more developed understanding of things. It is a view from the end of my drive - lovely place that southern France is. I waited until the sunflowers had faded and begun to droop and the fields had been harvested. I find the colours and textures of the earth far more compelling to paint than an endless sea of green. Now that autumn is approaching I will spend more time outdoors looking at the reds, pale ochres and whites of the fields and wait as the leaves turn from green to brown, red and orange. The air is very clear here through the winter and I enjoy painting outdoors on a fine day.

Comments on blog colours

Would any of you please be kind enough to comment on whether you feel the original black background or this white one is better for viewing the images. I've received comments that the black makes it harder to 'see' the paintings so throwing it open to discussion....

Anyone?

Collioure 2010 pt 3

And so

View to Argelès I

Like all good things our time in Collioure came to an end. The weather was on the turn and besides, the days of painting under the hot sun were exhausting. On what turned out to be our last two days in Collioure we went out in the late light to paint. This first painting was a new spot we found just above the camp site and was a good open space offering a variety of views. For some reason I decided to paint the one that seemed most challenging.I left some of the areas with the rough sketching because I felt I'd done enough to capture the scene and at that time of day the light starts to change quickly.

View to Argelès II

The next two paintings were done on what turned out to be our final afternoon in Collioure. When we awoke the next morning, grey clouds were threatening and in fact it was a weather front moving in bringing a week's rain. Anyway, that afternoon we returned to the beach to take up another favourite view.

View to Argelès III

The third painting was another view that I attempted last year. I wanted to see if my approach was much (or any) different. I'm not sure it was but I was pleased with the result, even though I feel this painting may need more time and a few more small adjustments: