The Grass is Always Greener?

I had this old board kicking around, primed, painted and coloured with a grey emulsion mixed with gesso subsequently sanded down and left. The gallery was looking a little bare and without a massive push to paint anything in particular the fallback of sheep and walls was the decided option. The view is loosely North Ribblesdale upon the track known as Goat Scar Lane leading down to Stainforth. I have painted and photographed this track numerous times in the past so I wasn’t deficient of reference material, although I was probably (rather worryingly) overawed by the amount of sheep photographs in my collection.

There is a case for narrative in this painting, I have walked  up this track and come across some escapees from the adjacent fields, these three depict the sheep from my recollections of that walk and their need for better pastures on the other side of the wall, but really are they any better off? I don’t know and I suspect neither do the sheep. As so often happens the title develops with the painting. I’m just wondering if art critics of the future depict the painting as allegorical, I suppose it is, but it wasn’t painted as such, I’m not that clever. This was painted as the standard view of the dales - sheep and walls…

The Grass is Always Greener? 12in x 12in - Oil on Panel

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!

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"

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"

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! 

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.

Knight Stainforth

Looking downhill from the west towards Knight Stainforth (Little Stainforth) and Stainforth beyond. Knight Stainforth Hall is the white building in the middle ground and now home to a caravan park. Although the date stone above the hall has the building aged from 1707, the building (or parts of it) is far older. It was a miserable day, no bright sunlight, no strong shadows and for that I was quite grateful, more often than not the strong shadows dominate the painting, however I'm pleased to portray this scene in the all-too often 'a bit overcast'.

Knight Stainforth, Oil on Panel 8" x 10"

Sometimes while painting, the feeling just flows and the painting looks right from the start to the finish... this was not one of them, there were a couple of u-bends and a couple of times I got the feeling to bin the lot. I am glad I persevered with this however, and there lieth the lesson... I have had a similar issue with books or watching a film its that mid part, when nothing seems to be happening, nothing clicks and its at that point, perserverence must kick in; subsequently something drops into place and it all works out, but that 'wall' exists in whatever I am doing. That question 'can I be bothered to finish what I started?' is always there, and I have dozens of unfinished paintings which have hit the wall and no further progress has been made, indeed I have with books and films that I started watching / reading, but gave up for something else / better.

In essence I am glad I continued the momentum, and not produced a half-arsed, half worked piece but completed it as I had already seen in my minds eye. Hope this works for you as it has for me.

Out of fun I have posted some photos of the work in progress, the painting was completed in a matter of hours (such is working on smallish panels). As I have had no formal training or lessons, everything I learned about painting is from the net, books and trial and error; my style, techniques and materials are flexible and evolutionary, perhaps they may be old hat to some but I feel that I am treading on new ground every time I adopt one (for instance the use of turps rather than white spirit!!!)

Stage 1 - the outline and 'underpainting' using promarkers

Stage 2. Blocking in using dilute / thinned oil paint - although some areas its quite thick and opaque.

Stage 3. Addition of detail.

Spring Greens, Smearsett

This started as a commission, however I managed to get the viewpoint all wrong and this was the result. Painted in the height of spring the seasonal touch is reflected in the greenery of the vegetation in this boggy pasture overlooking the village of Stainforth. The view to the west is of Smearsett Scar, a lovely knobble of a hill which is a focal point on the limestone massif to the west of Stainforth, although not particularly high (enough for me!) it certainly has character and is fairly recognisable to those who know the dale. The photo below shows the prominence of Smearsett above the clouds durng a wonderful inversion earlier this year.

Sett is a Norse name and is used frequently in these western dales in a variety of forms, below the knoll of Smearsett there are traces of an iron age / romano-british settlement which can be quite clearly seen as a load of lumps and bumps in the fields.

Spring Greens, Smearsett, 8" x 10" Oil on Panel

The painting is painted on a precut 8" x 10" mdf panel, gessoed up (3 coats) and sanded down. I have used a number of different grounds with linen canvas, canvas boards and wooden panels, so far (at this point in time) this is the most appealing ground to use partly because I am lazy, and partly because I am tight.

Autumn Light Stainforth

Bright highlights and strong long shadows make a perfect combination for a 'townscape' or even 'villagescape'. This is Riston Barn in Stainforth with the village's only post box, depicted here with a flash of windsor red. Once again this is painted on a burnt sienna ground (mdf panel), and following peniclling in the rough outline of the buildings I used some promarkers to build up the underlying tones. I've used these a couple of times and for a quick tonal underpainting these seem to be ok, although they do tend to remove some of the acrylic base wash.

Autumn Light, Stainforth. Oil on panel 8" x 6"

Again I'm trying to be looser in style and purposely avoided overdetailing the background houses, infact theres only two layers there and together they make for enough detail, but a new addition (for me) is the depiction of a car. Now I have previously avoided putting the trappings of modern-day into these paintings, however I am getting to feel that they are so prevalent they cannot be omitted and indeed provides a sense of time and place with these paintings. I did avoid putting in the wheelie bin as that would be a step too far.

The Escapist

Never seen the film, neither (I suspect) has this sheep. Looking up one of our little green lanes near Stainforth in the Dales, the sheep hadn't escaped but I needed some subject matter and although an autumnal lane is a pretty subject - I felt it needed more, so in went the rear end of a sheep and out came a nice catchy title.

The Escapist, Oil on Panel. 8" x 6"

This was mostly painted with a big (1") decorators brush (certainly half of the picture was at least) using a limited pallette on a sienna-stained MDF panel, which I think works well here. I am trying to get a more looser style to these small 8" x 6" boards, and I am chuffed with the way the composition works out, all designed (by luck rather than judgement) to take you on a journey up the lane to whether or not there is a gate at the top.

The title on the painting is a nod to one of my favourite artists, Peter Brook, and its a little focus using one of the colours not employed in the painting itself. I rather like it, and will probably be employing its use in the future.

Most (!) of the works are available, check out the website and drop me a mail if anything catches your eye.

Furry Coo

Furry Coo, Oil on Board 8" x 10"

Oil on Board 8" x 10". Highland cattle seem to be the order of the day recently on the lower fells of Ribblesdale. A small herd inhabit the fells above Stainforth and their shaggy exteriors provide great subject matter, and as well as these another herd of Belties (Belted Galloways) have made their presence felt in the field across from these chaps. The steely-grey sky is typical of these dales, and its a feature I think I should replicate more in my paintings; having just picked the kids up, as I was driving home I noticed this very same coloured sky and the thought hit me to paint more of this.

Stainforth Foss

T'Foss (Stainforth) - Oil on Board 19" x 12"

Incorrectly called Stainforth 'Force' by the OS, the Foss is a series of waterfalls over which the Ribble flows, in summer it's the watery playground of a plethora of 'youth', in late Autumn its one of the gathering point for fishwatchers as the salmon struggle their way upstream to the headwaters of the river for the purpose of procreation (this I can never understand). It is an iconic place and a fairly iconic image, as it has been painted and sketched a number of times. But I can safely say this is the first painting since the bridge has been fixed (this time). The packhorse bridge is only 6foot wide at the parapet, and despite warning signs to the effect, it still doesn't stop people attempting to cross it in their Chelsea tractors.

Langcliffe Scar

Langliffe Scar - Oil on Board 8" x 10"

Last Sunday I managed to prise the various gadgets from the hands of the children and force them on a routemarch out of the house and down to Settle, a massive distance of about 3 1/2 miles of total non-stop moaning and whinging, and for a few brief moments, enjoyment. The bribe was, tea and cake at the Naked Man Cafe in Settle, followed by a lift home. It was an absolute stunning morning, the path from the farm at Winskill down to Langcliffe was throng with runners, students, old-time ramblers and the all-too-common furry coo. Of course I wasn't allowed to sit and paint, that would be too much, so I managed to capture this image of the Scar in the last throes of summer from the footpath down towards the pretty little village of Langcliffe.

T'Gate t'foss

T'Gate t'foss - Oil on Board 8" x 6"

Not really much to say about this, it's a gate through which a footpath winds its way through woodland down to Catrigg Foss (Foss - a local term for waterfall, from the Norse, roughly translated to and incorrectly written as Force by the Ordnance Survey). The canopy of trees gives the whole area an ethereal quality as you descend the steps to the waterfall at the bottom, which is surely one of Ribblesdale's must-sees. Unfortunately there is no 'proper' circular path and you must return through this gate, this is where the light hits you, and on a sunny summers day it takes a few seconds for your eyes to adjust to the glare. I didn't go out of my way to capture this moment, but hopefully there is a feeling of it here in this painting.

Top of Goat Scar Lane

Top of Goat Scar Lane -  Oil on Board 8" x 6"

I have been suffering of late, from a bit of 'painters block' with my aerial perspective... I don't know why - all of a sudden it feels like the recession in the paintings just doesn't work right. I know all the facts, I generally adhere to the rules, but aerial perspective has been a bit of an 'issue' - hence the reason there are a few pochades recently with little distance, this one however has - in order to get out of my comfort zones of water and bridges! This one - I have manned-up and gone for it albeit in a very simplistic way and stuck to the rules. The view is at the top of Goat Scar Lane, looking towards the west and the Ribble valley, beyond the gate to the right is the path down to Catrigg Foss, one of the many 'not to miss' sights of this part of the world.

HSE gone mad...

HSE Gone Mad, Oil on Board 8" x 6"

Aye, its even spread to the relatively quiet outpost of the Yorkshire Dales. Large, red, yellow and white warning signs appearing on delapidated barns highlighting the dangers that might befall should anyone stray too close or let the curiousity get the better of them. I painted this from the relative saftey of 50m away, just in case the barn should collapse, I didn't want to take any chances.

Strangely enough in the 45minutes it took me to paint this pochade, no part of the barn collapsed, no slate dropped off,  no beam fell crashing to the floor despite the warning signs emblazoned on its gable. Is it me or is this absolutely ridiculous? I know farmers have got to CYA, but to plaster warning signs around the countryside to mitigate against litigation - is that a justified response?
Whatever the reason - the sign does add a splash of colour to the image, and I didn't have to add the obligatory colourful figure walking up the track.

Catrigg Foss

Finally I have been back at the easel. After a mixture of work and moving house, I managed a couple of days to myself to get something done, to be honest I had more than a couple of days as I was sick as a dog for about a week, but I could not face anyone or anything then.

As always this painting was a stop-start affair, I walked out of the house on Wednesday morning full of the best intentions to paint the waterfall en-plein air, but as it was drizzling (you know the stuff that goes right through you) I wavered a little and then backed into the house.
After another cup of coffee and a root through my rucksack, I pulled on my waterproof and had another go at this, I left the house, crossed the stepping stones and made it as far as the track which leads to this waterfall before turning back as I had remembered I had taken out the small paint kettle in which I put my water... Attempt number 3 got me as far as the waterfall itself, and following sliding, slipping and ending up in the river I sat myself down, mid-stream on a wet rock and waiting for a dry spell in which to whip out the pochade box, and get painting.

Alas the dry spell never materialised and prior to contracting pneumonia whilst waiting motionlessly, I said to myself 'bugger it', dug out the camera, snap, snap, waded back through the torrent, climbed the unclimbable, and slipped all the way down the track home, pausing only to do a passable impression of Bambi on the ice as I crossed the stepping stones.

Catrigg Foss Oil on Board 10" x 8"

Once home, the photos were loaded onto the computer, and I painted this from one of them.
The waterfall is Catrigg Foss, just out of Stainforth, north of Settle, an absolutely wonderful place (when dry), and a great place for a dip in the plunge pool on a warm summers day. Thankfully this place is often overlooked as it is off the main drag, and to see it you really have to want to see it.