I spent a week drawing in Cornwall, which was the most fantastic experience. The weather was perfect (except for strong winds) and I did four days of drawings. emailFacebookTwitterPrint

At the Summer Exhibition there was a wonderful painting by Barbara Rae, entitled Inlet. The painting is strongly evocative of the sea, with underlying images of boats and seagulls, perhaps a quay. The painting is made up of large areas of paint, textured, varied and interesting. There is lots of space for you as the […]

I’ve finished my red Thorpe Cloud painting after various revisions. The first stage was like this: The second stage was like this: The final stage was like this: I like the red, warm theme. It was difficult to keep enough red without the painting becoming dark, which is why I changed the second stage to […]

I’ve been a couple of times to draw Thorpe Cloud from a new view point. It’s a wonderful view, almost directly opposite the valley of Dovedale, with the sweeping hillside of Bunster on the left and a small collection of buildings in front of the hills, as well as the drama of Thorpe Cloud itself. […]

An art auction was held at Mappleton Manor on Sunday, to raise money to support children in Sri Lanka through the Isabella Peatfield Fund. Works by well known regional artists were displayed in some of the beautiful rooms of the Manor, and the garden. Louise Dunning from Derby Museums curated the event. The sun was […]

I went to Buttemere this week to do some drawing. I arrived on Tuesday night in torrential rain and left on Thursday morning in torrential rain. The intervening Wednesday was a sunny, clear day and everything looked absolutely beautiful under a perfect blue sky. In the late afternoon the autumn colours glowed with rich browns, […]

Beautiful colours, often with one predominant colour supported by a couple of others. For example in “Landscape” pink, with a little green and ochre. Her thinned down paints allow her to make expressive marks using large brushes, giving a wonderful soft, modulated effect. I think what attracts me to her work most of all is […]

Day one on the painting shows how I focused on the stepping stones and middle bits of the painting. Day two I carried on working outwards. Day three I worked intensively on the broader landscape, working fast to keep it loose. I like the overall dark blue-ness that the painting retains in its finished state. […]

I’ve got my Dovedale picture drawn out on canvas ready to paint. It looks quite eirie with the blue ground and the pale drawing. I haven’t used the dark blue ground before, so I’m not sure how the paints will look on top of it, but I’m excited to see how it goes. emailFacebookTwitterPrint