uphill

uphill, 2016;15x15cm; pastel on canvas board
uphill, 2016;15x15cm; pastel on canvas board

‘uphill’ iscurrently at the framer’s in readiness for the RBSA Prize exhibition in Birmingham, from 4th May until 4th June, 2016. I’m very pleased to have had it accepted. I love working in pastel. It’s such a fresh and direct medium. For me, it’s a great complement to my printmaking, which is just about as indirect as you can get.

This little painting started as a quick sketch of a West Shropshire hillside near the cottage of a friend. The track winds uphill to their house and beyond. The landscape is a  working one of low rolling green hills and meandering valleys, with open views to the south and east towards the wildness of the Shropshire Hills, Long Mynd and the Stiperstones.

hillside near Westbury, Shropshire
hillside near Westbury, Shropshire

Resisting a strong tendency to try to draw everything, I focussed on what had originally attracted my eye, the double-curve of the track and the hawthorn tree and shadow just to the right. I worked the composition lines in later. They helped incorporate a sense of the lay of the land in the finished painting; I kept the square format, worked well into the canvas board for the colour and texture but omitted the sheep. I’ve been thinking in green for a while now. Must do some more.

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sketchbook page, watercolour, wax and conte crayon.

 

fieldwork

I have just finished these three small reduction linocuts, based on some quick watercolour and pastel sketches I did in Wiltshire last year. The open landscape there is one of rolling downs, long bare ridges dotted with copses of trees (‘hedgehogs’), slow rivers, ancient market towns and stunning neolithic and medieval monuments.

The soil is chalk-based, providing glimmers of white to pewter shining through the crops and grasses; the cloud shadows and sunlight fold across the contours of the land adding subtleties of colour and tone. Endlessly changing but eternal.

I printed them on my much-longed-for, brand-new etching press from gunning arts. There’s no stopping me now.

Prints:

Fieldwork 1, 10x10cm, 2016, multi-layer reduction linocut
Fieldwork 1, 10x10cm, 2016, multi-layer reduction linocut
Fieldwork 2, 10x10cm, 2016, multi-layer reduction linocut
Fieldwork 2, 10x10cm, 2016, multi-layer reduction linocut
Fieldwork 3, 10x10cm, 2016, multi-layer reduction linocut
Fieldwork 3, 10x10cm, 2016, multi-layer reduction linocut

Sketches:

watercolour and pastel sketch
watercolour and pastel sketch 1
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watercolour and pastel sketch 2
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watercolour and pastel sketch 3

Two of the prints have been accepted for the Seacourt International Mini-print Biennial at the Centre for Contemporary Printmaking in Bangor, Co. Down, Northern Ireland, showing from 7th April to 20th May 2016. I hope to get over to see this exhibition, very much looking forward to seeing the work of all the participating artists.

the pathless wood

‘the pathless wood’.

The title is a reference to a line from ‘Birches’, a poem by Robert Frost.

..when I’m weary of considerations,
And life is too much like a pathless wood..
When life feels like that, I go for a walk, usually in the woods nearby. This painting started as a watercolour sketch in one of my sketchbooks that I developed as a woodcut print. I then revisited it last year as a large pastel. I kept the 2:1 height to width format throughout.
'the pathless wood', 2015, 75cm x 37cm, pastel
‘the pathless wood’, 2015, 75cm x 37cm, pastel

From sketchbook to finished pastel painting:

 

 

 

 

 

Sketching en plein air

A cool May here, but the combination of fresh air, intense colour in the landscape and the ever-changing light is not to be missed. Sketching outside is at the same time challenging and rewarding, frustrating and calming, intense and relaxing. There’s no middle way. The sketchbook work lingers in the mind long afterwards.

I’m also trying to remember to take photos of my sketches with the subject, urban-sketcher-style. Today I forgot, and then went back, this time with camera…

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Baggeridge, Staffordshire, A4 sketchbook, 13th May; ink, watercolour, conte crayon

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Himley, Dudley, A4; charcoal & watercolour
Himley, Dudley, A4 sketchbook, 22nd May; charcoal & watercolour

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Silver birch, Highgate Common, Staffordshire, A4; ink & watercolour
Silver birch, Highgate Common, Staffordshire, A4 sketchbook, 28th May; ink & watercolour

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House as Hide

I’ve not been able to get out very much this winter, but I have still managed to do some sketching, using my house as a ‘hide’.

I live on a fairly busy bus route; a long road that connects different parts of the city. There are houses, schools, shops, dentists, doctors, churches, parks etc nearby. So there is a steady stream of people walking up and down the road, all absorbed in their own business.

I’ve become fascinated by the body shapes, the apparel, the differing gait, the concentration and energy, the purpose. All drawings are sketched using pastel pencils and watercolour.

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pink backpack

 

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multi-tasking

 

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blue hat
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orange headscarf

 

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sheepskin coat
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workboots