Ronnie & Reggie - Inglebro

Sometimes inspiration nudges you in strange ways. I have had this photo of Ingleborough for some time, not knowing what to do or how to proceed with it, the composition is lacking, the tones don't work - but for a basis of a painting I think it has something, but it needs a little more. So I used the photo for a watercolour sketch to play around with different 'moods', the watercolour sketch, although quite muddy made up my mind about how to proceed.

'Inspirational' photo

Rather messy compositional w/c with notes and sheep

Following sketching out the main components (incorrectly I may add), the entire painting was blocked in using my most favourite acrylics to define the tones and final colours... at this point (unlike most times) I paused, and left the painting on the easel for a couple of days while figuring out what to do next as the acrylic dried darker, gaudier, and more primitive than I envisaged (or planned).

The fun was to start with the oils, they allowed me to change the composition - rectifying where I had fouled up with the original pre-acrylic sketch  -you might see this in the sky above the left hand side of the hill - the original skyline was much higher which in retrospect didn't look right so was altered during the oiling in stage (actually half-way through!)

The sheep, I have christened Ronnie and Reggie have a passing similarity to their more infamous alter-egos in my warped subconscious - hence the title.

Ronnie and Reggie - Inglebro Oil on Board 12" x 10"

Smearsett Sheep

Oops, missed this one out. Fortunately for me this one sold, and I felt it necessary to include this into the blog, although it was painted int he spring of 2017. An inversion, an appetite for a painting, some sheep and Smearsett Scar were the ingredients for this one. The low lying mist in North Ribblesdale was the main inspiration for this although its not perfectly captured here, I hope the atmosphere of the cloudy sky and the appearance of the mist toward the left of the painting give some impression to the meteorological phenomenon that was most impressive when I painted this. The trio of Dalesbreds are more of an afterthought bringing a little bit of interest (if that floats your boat!) to the composition.

Smearsett Sheep, Oil on Board 10" x 8"

En Plein-air

Having become a member (one of 2000-or so) of Facebook's UK en-plein air society, it has given me further encouragement and inspiration to get out there and paint rather than being stuck in the studio (with constant interruptions and vying for space with my framer - and wife - who's working practice involves watching Desperate Housewives on her iPad). So an agreement has been made whereby I get out and do more in the open air. Although this year has been fantastic for the weather, dry hot, sunny blue skies almost daily, a constantly blue sky can be a bit boring after a while, and one yearns for a change - well I certainly received the change yesterday when I went out to paint at Malham Tarn; the light changed every 15 seconds sometimes for the worse but often for the better where I found myself going over what I had already painted, darkening the sky and highlighting the hills, pretty much constantly through the 2 hours I allotted myself for this painting.

Malham Tarn 10" x 12" Linen Canvas - Unfinished!

The constantly changing weather is reflected in the clothing of the two protagonists, one wearing shorts and a vest top, the other wearing full rain gear. I thought I was being clever - more than likely I'll just upset someone. The painting is certainly not finished and as it was painted on my own (wife-made) linen stretched-canvas will require a certain amount of further work to make it one which I am happy with. However for a first pass I am happy with it, but I am rather looking forward to fettling with it.

Pen-y-Gent 8" x 6" MDF panel

This one of Pen-y-Ghent and Upper Ribblesdale was painted during one of them 'Scorchio' days on my little pochade box (8" x 6"). I love this little box, although I have tried mounting it to a tripod twice with both times ending in disaster... still I can work with it on my lap and knacker my back for the effort - being constantly hunched over.

Field Laithe - Stainforth 8" x 6" MDF

Halton Gill 8" x 6" MDF

It is educational and it is a completely different discipline, most of which is preparation! I must be the most unprepared plein-air painter I know, normally packing everything I don't need and forgetting fairly critical things like brushes, white spirit, certain paints etc. etc. The other main difference for me is being completely absorbed by the subject, in the studio I find I do a lot of procrastinating during a painting, dithering between drinking coffee and washing brushes, cleaning my pallet, googling stuff, staring at old paintings and so on ad-infinitum; however outside it's just observation and painting, with the occasional chat to inquisitive passers' by and of course the obligatory coffee while stepping back to judge the scene, although I do find I step further back than is necessary to make the painting look half decent!

Three Peaks Panorama

Oil on Panel: 6" x 24" On the tops above Langcliffe and Stainforth are the twin farms of Upper and Lower Winskill, and from that vantage is this view of Yorkshire's famous three peaks. Some choose to run the 26-odd miles in something under 4 hours, but in order to qualify for the 'club' it has to be completed in under 11 hours, personally I have taken 17 years at a much more leisurely pace. From left to right there are Ingleborough (2376ft), Whernside (2416ft) and Pen-y-ghent (2278ft) - important figures indeed, often questioned at pub quizzes through the district.

Three Peaks Panorama - 6" x 24"

Into Langcliffe

Back to Autumn!! One of them long Autumn days with low shadows and painting into the light, is something I am not used to, although with this Naples Yellow sky, the contrast and the colour tones work and I am rather pleased with the composition. This is the entry into the pretty village of Langcliffe from the green lane that connects this village with the farms at Winskill. I erroneously painted a board in quite a disturbing crimzon which I decided (as a trial) to use as the ground for this piece. I have to admit I am rather pleased with the overall effect with the crimson seeping through in places to bring a touch of unexpected warmth to the painting.

Into Langcliffe; Oil on Board 8" x 10"

Just reading a book by David Curtis who points out when the colour and tones are stripped away from the painting, all that's left is the composition; which acts basically as a skeleton for the painting. If the skeleton doesn't work, it doesn't matter how good the tones and colours are - the painting still will not work.  I think I got the bones in the right place in this one!

Malham Cove, Spring 18

No one can miss the natural spectacle of this huge amphitheatre of limestone that sits about a half a mile north of the pretty little village of Malham. This massive curve of rock was carved out at the end of the last ice age when the melting glacial waters exploited natural weaknesses in the limestone bedrock (in this case the middle Craven Fault) forming what was once a cataract that rivalled Niagara. Once in a blue moon, following periods of intense rainfall does water flow over this cliff down an unbroken drop of around 80m; this last happened in December 2015 for the first time in around 200 years.

Malham Cove, Spring 18; Oil on Board 10" x 8"

I painted this over  a couple of days from sketches and photos while 'minding the shop', and strangely enough its only the second image of this fantastic feature. Word to the wise, if you're staying locally this is best visited in the evening when the hubbub of the day visitors have departed.

Beggars' Stile, Crummackdale

To the west of us lies the beautiful, secluded valley of Crummackdale whose river is fed from the southern flanks of Ingleborough and it is another one of the Western Dales' hidden gems. This was painted from sketches and photos, although I had to imagine what the place looked like with an evening sky.

Beggars Stile, Crummackdale. Oil on Panel 6" x 11"

The stile at the centre of attention is known as the Beggars Stile, and allows access to the karst of the Moughton uplands from Crummackdale. Beyond Beggars Stile is a natural amphitheatre called Thieves Moss, which does leave one's imagination soaring as the old Lancaster to Newcastle turnpike ran alongside these two features.

Gooseker Spring

The gallery was starting to look a bit, well, wintery, so I thought it needed a bit of a freshen up with some fresh green paint and what better than some spring landscapes of the scenery in this part of the Dales. Gooseker or Goat Scar or indeed Gorse Scar (but known locally as Gooseker!) is that ancient trackway that appears in quite a lot of my paintings (and indeed some paintings of artists much better and more famous than I) fortunately it is on my doorstep so the inspiration is literally outside. The initial climb out of Stainforth literally takes your breath away, but the view back towards the village and Ribblesdale beyond is well worth it, along the path towards Catrigg (another of my favourite haunts) you may (or may not) notice there are 3 or 4 tunnels under the roadway, each one with a vaulted roof, these were built to last and allow livestock to pass safely beneath the track between pastures.

Gooseker Spring. Oil on Panel 12" x 12"

The view is what I like to call 'the ubiquitous one' down the lane towards the Hogget house with the mass of Smearsett to the left in the distance. Now this one was painted from photos alone - I did this while 'minding the shop' waiting for foot traffic to pop into the gallery and all the while practising my sales patter (not working though!)...

Winter - Catrigg Force

It must be spring soon...? Even though the crocuses are out, and the daffodils are giving it their best to burst we are still gripped in the firm clasp of winter up here. I have been meaning to paint this view again for such a long time, in fact a number of passers-by pop their heads in to the gallery with this view in mind, and having given (!) the last painting of Catrigg away I thought it high time I renewed this. This was painted after a stroll to my favourite place during what was known as the 'Beast from the East', not so great for the motorist, but excellent for the Landscape painter looking for a new twist on an old scene.

Winter - Catrigg Force - Oil on Board 10" x 8"

I painted this on a black ground, something I have never done before, but something I will repeat, as the results in my opinion, are great. Prior to putting paint to board (doesn't sound the same as 'canvas'), I did a few tonal sketches for this one, and used very little photographic reference.

Pencil sketch

Sepia Sketch - on board

The Beast at Gooseker

Although the recent spate of bad weather entitled 'The Beast from the East' brought traffic disruptions countrywide  and if the media is to be believed 'massive chaos', it brought a welcome change for the landscape artist. I enjoy these winter lanes and snowdrifts, primarily because of the general absence of green that tends to dominate. I am moving away from the security blanket of mixed greens and opting to utilise various yellows as a substitute, but some yellows mixed with a variety of blues / greys / blacks can also prove as thuggish as a spattering of pthalo green (yellow shade). When I look at the Dales, in normal (cloudy) weather, all I see is varying shades of grey with a greenish tinge, why therefore do I resort to hurling vast quantities of sap green and viridian in to emulate what I think I see. Maybe this is the part of the brain that says 'paint what IS there' rather than 'paint how you ACTUALLY See it', maybe if I had ever had an art class these questions could be answered and rectified... regardless, as I have always thought, the snow comes like a clean sheet...

Although when the snow goes, there's just a muddy mess!

Snowdrifts-Gooseker: Oil on Board, 10" x 8"

Stroll through Fountains

Oil on Board 12" x 6": Painted from sketches and photos in the studio from an afternoon stroll at Fountains Abbey. Probably one of the best preserved ruined (oxymoron?) monasteries in Northern England. Some beautiful light finally emerged from behind the clouds illuminating the western side of the church tower enthused me to scribble down a quick sketch, and snapshot on a phone camera - so pretty useless as a photo but great as an aide memoir. The two people which add a little life to the scene and aid the composition were chucked in from some other sketches from elsewhere in the abbey.

Oil on Board 12" x 6"

Where the Flock's at...?

Painted following a walk during the previous batch of snowfall at the beginning of February this year, this little flock decided I had some food and followed me for some time until they became bored and disillusioned. As it was way too cold to even consider painting, this was painted from photos and subsequent sketches. The Farm in the distance is Westside house, off the Stainforth to Malham road. Apologies for the title, I thought it was quite funny at the time... not sure if I should incorporate this one on to the painting itself.

Where the Flock's at...? Oil on Panel 25" x 12"

In Littondale

A nice quick piece, developed from a watercolour sketch painted on location of one of the many ruined barns in Littondale. The sunlight backlit the barn tremendously and at the time ticked the composition boxes, although in retrospect I am thinking that yet again there is too much colour saturation and regardless I am happy with it. The little figure was thrown in to provide a focal point, a touch of life and develop a little story around the piece.

In Littondale: Oil on Board 7" x 7" Framed

New Barns, Arnside

Finished version of one of the paintings from and earlier post, painted en plein-air at the beginning of February, and touched-up back in the studio. The houses at New Barns Bay near Arnside ticked the boxes compositionally although my first attempt at capturing these houses on canvas were interrupted by the rising tide during the super-blue moon early last month. This tide being higher than usual so much so that the pochade box and tripod was moved several times before giving up altogether.

New Barns Bay, Arnisde. Oil on Board 8" x 6"

This second view was painted at the highest part of the tide fortunately well above the high water mark, looking towards the houses and café at New Barns (the café was artistically omitted!).

Feb Light, Langcliffe Scar

After dropping my youngest at school the other morning, before the Beast from the East hit these shores, this view of Langcliffe Scar stood out as the morning rays were just hitting the cliff face. It is amazing how inspiration can hit you full on, even just a passing glimpse enthused me to rush back home, grab a sketchbook and pencils and return to the scene. Although the light had changed a little I sketched the scene rapidly adding notes as I had done pre-digital camera era with a view to painting this as I has seen it and not how the camera sees it. In this I failed miserably as the temptation of taking a couple of snaps on the phone camera was too great. This painting was the result, although not slavishly copying a photo, the distortion of the photo and the saturation of the green does show up, especially in the bottom quarter of the painting.

Feb Light, Langcliffe Scar. Oil on Canvas Board 10" x 14"

I read recently that using a photo on a backlit monitor is counterproductive as false light shows up, and I am wanting to get away from this, I guess this is my first big step in moving away from basing paintings on photos and going back to using sketches as my primary reference for completed paintings. Although I am happy with the sky and the tones, I am not too pleased with the over-saturated greens of the foreground and middle-distance, and just exemplifies what a thug green can be, even my sparing use of Oxide of Chromium permeates the lower quarter of the painting, even though only the tiniest drop was applied on the palette. For this over saturation, I blame the camera, and not my mixing! 

Inglebro

The massif of Ingleborough is probably the most recognisable hill in the Yorkshire Dales, visible and recognisable from as far away as Leeds and Morecambe - its flat gritstone cap was supposedly the site of an ancient hillfort dating back to the times of the Roman invasion, and an outpost of the Brigantian leader Venutius who rebelled against not only the might of Rome, but rose up against his wife - the pro Roman Cartimandua. The hill has been also linked with some drunken vandalism, when the circular hospice was partly demolished by inebriated revellers on the day of opening in 1830.

I painted this en plein-air during the first few days of February with a rather minimalist setup, hoping to get the painting done rapidly before frostbite set in. In the end having produced what Alwyn Crawshaw would describe as a "atmosphere sketch" I gave up and resorted to fine tuning the sketch back in the warmth of the studio. When I say 'touching up' I really mean 'completely re-jigging the sky' as the originally-painted mackerel sky was a hard-one to pull off.

Inglebro, Oil on Panel 10" x 6"

Out and About - Pochades in Arnside

There has been some fantastic bright sunlight recently which prompted me after a couple of days refurbishing the studio to get out of the house and do some real painting. When I say real painting I actually mean en-plein air, although I don’t want to sound too snobbish saying it. I was reading a blog extolling the virtues about painting small, and how the amount of kit you carry can impact on your ability to paint ‘on the spot’, now I desperately try to limit the amount of kit I carry, and I know I carry way too much; flask of coffee, sandwiches, tripod, camera, sketchbook, backup sketchbook, sepia pens, black pens, a whole host of pencils, charcoal, watercolours, water,  pochade box c/w 12 paints of varying colours and about 4 spare boards, white spirit, rags, backup rags, knife, kitchen sink, etc etc...? Hang on have I missed ought? Oh yeah - brushes... On more than one occasion my painting trip has been curtailed due to lack of one or more of these ‘essential’ implements.

Pochade Setup at New Barns.

Recently my wife bought me a little knapsack - I say ‘little’ in comparison to the 50litre bergen I have been hauling my gear in previously, and this little knapsack has proved its worth in  forcing me to cut down the amount  I carry, begging the question is ‘that’ really necessary... and its worked! So now, on a pochading trip I carry the 5 (carefully selected) brushes (in a roll), the pocahde box and tripod c/w 2 boards and about 6 colours, white spirit and rags, one sketchbook and pens (for thumbnails), charcoal and pencil (in the brush roll) and thats it! except for the coffee, and even that seems a little too much sometimes.

So Arnside, yes I know its not in the Dales, but it is still painting and therefore by my rules permissible in this blog.

Arnside - Chilly February

A couple of beautiful crisp days at the beginning of the month heralded a new start to the en plein-air year, cold enough to keep the painting loose (i.e. wanting to get it finished quickly to move on and warm up) and sunny enough to provide light for the subject. If you don’t know it Arnside is one of the hidden gems of the Lancashire / Cumbria coast, relatively unspoiled the entire mass of Silverdale affords numerous boxes to tick for the landscape painter, coastal, estuary, hills, woods, moor, ruins; it has been a place I have often wanted to paint in but never managed to get there with pochade box and have a crack at it. However on days like these it can be a popular little place, and there are oodles of dogwalkers c/w their canine companions so it is very difficult to avoid the critical gaze of passers-by, which by now I have taken for granted and for this reason I can make the excuse it takes more than the self-allotted one hour to knock out a half reasonable pochade due to the fact I am chatting for a good proportion of the time. As a relative newcomer to the en-plein-air lark I find these distractions welcoming, and don’t at all mind breaking off for a natter, after all it gives me time to glimpse (rather than focus) at the work rather than focus on it.

Pochade - Beechwood House, Arnside - Oil on Board 8"x6"

One thing that did catch me out was the turn of the tide, now as a sailor I understand the tides, but even still I was caught out by the speed of the tide at Arnside, as I was painting on the day after this years Super Blue Moon, I forgot about the exceedingly high tide and for one view the tripod was moved four times, eventually giving up. Arnside has its own tidal bore, not someone who chunters endlessly about the moon and the height of the sea, but a tidal wave which hurtles up an estuary. Now when I say hurtles, that could be applied to the Severn Bore which attracts surfers, the Kent Bore is a lot less ‘spectacular’ but still worth while to watch if only to understand the power of the tide and still attracts some hardy kayakers.

New Barns Bay - 8" x 6"

I don’t usually sell these pochades; they are after all sketches, aide memoirs to some future masterpiece or more likely to be stored in the sea chest under my worktable in the studio which is already brimming with views yet to be painted. Alwyn Crawshaw has a lot to answer for with his ‘atmosphere sketches and ‘enjoyment sketches’, I just enjoy painting them too much.

Arnside - 8" x 6"

New Barns, Arnside - 8" x 6"

Hogget House, Gooseker

There is an ubiquitous view of the dale from the other side of this small barn which has appeared in countless calendars typifying the Limestone scenery hereabouts; I however have chosen the alternative view - looking up Goat Scar Lane (locally known as Gooseker) maybe one day I will paint ‘The View’ but this is not the day. Gooseker was once part of an important thoroughfare, now bypassed, which probably linked Stainforth to Grassington, connecting with the ancient Mastiles Lane on Malham Moor.

Ubiquitous view of the Hogg House

Hogg House, Gooseker: Oil on Board 8" x 6"

The small laithe or barn could have been a Hogget house, hence the title of the piece, a Hogget is a sheep who has been left out on the fells over winter, generally between one and two years of age and this structure possibly provided shelter for them on the long cold winters. It doesn’t have a name, although the OS calls it unromantically ‘sheepfold’, but it has been sketched, photographed and painted so many times that a name is warranted, hence my title. The image was painted after a Sunday morning stroll up to Catrigg Foss and beyond, just as the snow came down and covered the track, the flash of red from the rucksack provides the tiniest splash of colour on what was a very muted, almost monochrome day.

Batty Moss

The Ribblehead Viaduct or more correctly Batty Moss Viaduct, built in the last phase of the great railway building period in the 1870’s. It doesn't take me to say what an impressive structure it is and how lucky we are to have it on our doorstep. I painted this from sketches and photos I made while having an amble around the platforms and lumps and bumps of the remains of the shanty town that for a while turned this remote location into the most populous ‘city’ in Ribblesdale. Around this viaduct there is a lovely little (2.5miles) walk which is not too taxing, and takes in the views of this landmark from all aspects, including two farms of which Winterscales will be the subject of a further painting as this hamlet is too pretty not to miss. 

Cold and Frosty January Morning

I have got to admit though this painting was a bit of a struggle, ideally the aim was to capture the light and shadows of the viaduct over the undulating sedges of Batty Moss, together with spoil heap from railway construction to the right of the painting, but no matter how much I refined it, the painting just didn’t work. so despite a couple of days ‘dabbling’ at it to no purpose - refining the foreground grasses and playing more and more with the shadows - it still wasn’t working, an element was missing. I needed life and focus and then it hit me, but not literally - so I resorted to the old dales adage, “if in doubt - chuck in a sheep or two”, or three and within minutes the painting was transformed from a fairly cold lifeless daub to a fairly cold daub with life.

Batty Moss, Oil on Canvas Panel: 16" x 12"

Disappointment

Following a 7 mile walk in the drizzle of the southern Pennines, what could be more welcoming than a pint, a bowl of soup and a nice roaring fire? The title is the feeling you get when you find that the target of your quest is shut, and only open in the evening! The pub is the Packhorse Inn on the Widdop-Heptonstall road, and on trip advisor it has excellent reviews although I wished I had read them more clearly as it does state that it's shut at lunchtime! Schoolboy mistake - Next time I plan a walk I will double check the opening times of hostelries...

Disappointment - Oil on Board 10" x 8"

Again there are parallels to one of my all-time favourite artists, Peter Brook, and again although I am not trying to emulate him, unfortunately the landscapes of the south Pennines have his mark all over them and it is difficult to avoid the similarities. A friend of mine told me recently that I do dreary and bleak really well, so onward and upward, I just hope it doesn't reflect my demeanour.

Chaos on the B6479

A combination of snow and sheep bring Upper Ribblesdale to a standstill. These are Salt Lake cottages, some railway houses on the Gauber Road, the B6479 near Ribblehead. I know its a bit of tongue-in-cheek embellishing the news reports of how Britain comes to a standstill the moment a little bit of snow falls, which I have emphasised by the use of a caption (not to everyone's taste). While painting this I was reminded of watching BBC's Breakfast time last winter and the producer had an outside reporter standing at a crossroads in some suburb reporting about a heavy snowfall which hadn't really happened. The poor chap was desperately finding something newsworthy about the pityful amount of snow that had fallen; so much so that the cameraman had focussed on a word that was written in what was left of the snow - the viewer could just make out the word 'help'  on the grass - no doubt scribed by the reporter himself.

Chaos on the B6479 - Oil on Board 17 1/2" x 12"

I honestly am trying to avoid the parallels with Peter Brook, however its very difficult to get a non-Brookish look to a painting of the Pennines in Winter without echoes of his skill; so here I embraced it yet again and added the title, which I think in this case adds another element to this painting. The use of a raw umber ground also helps here in bringing the various tones out. The good thing about these winter scenes is it forces the use of a very limited pallette, and focus more on the tones, the red of the sign returns it from the monochrome.