1st November, Wharfe

I do like a painting with some narrative to it, especially when you don’t have to think too hard. This lovely little one-up-one-down cottage is captured the morning after Halloween in this pretty little hamlet of Wharfe. Only a little painting (10in x 8in) it sold as it was drying after posting on a very social media platform.

I used the (now normal) procedure of vaguely sketching out the composition with charcoal, then blocking in the basic colours and tones with acrylics – remembering to mute them as they can often dry way too gaudy (for my liking), and then having fun with some fast-drying oils, finessing and fiddling with it on a third sitting. I have to admit I am preferring these 10” x 8” boards to paint on as a very cost effective solution to canvas boards, with a triple coating of gesso and sanded back to a smooth finish, although the tooth of the medium can still be seen as I have used a brush to apply the gesso and not a roller, which in my eye gives the painting more immediacy.

1st November, Wharfe, Oil on board, 10" x 8"