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"