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.

Skipton Castle

Another painting of a sunny day in Skipton, it doesn't seem possible that 6 weeks ago farmers were digging lambs out of snowdrifts, gritters were out on the roads, glaciers were slowly advancing and our coal bill was huge, but that’s all in the past. Spring has arrived, albeit rather late, to the splendid market town of Skipton, self-titled 'The Gateway to the Dales'.

So while my wife was in town trying to sell her wares (don't get the wrong impression - these are bridal fascinators), I went for a stroll along the Springs Branch of the Leeds / Liverpool canal (previous post) which was, for one day of the year, bathed in glorious sunshine. I managed to capture the view of the previous post and this post within 5 paces, not bad eh? I guess inspiration is like busses, you wait hours for one and two come along at once. Or does it depend on your frame of mind? I mean - glorious sunshine, happy face, snap snap that'd make a great painting.

I have visited Skipton castle regularly over the last 30-odd years, my first recollection was when my sister took me there when I was a wee nipper. It is a superb place to explore, and well worth the entry fee, I won't go its history here, suffice to say it is riddled with the stuff, and although many parts of the castle are a private house, there is much to explore, my kids love it. 

"Skipton Castle" Oil on Board 8x6"

This is the view of the back (north side) of the castle on the crag overlooking the canal and river, it must have been quite a structure in its time, and although most of the castle here is bathed in shadow, I hope it gives some impression as to its splendour.

www.skiptoncastle.co.uk 

Springs Branch - Skipton

Springs Canal - Skipton Oil on Board 8 x 6". 

Yes a miniature! good to get back to these smaller, more detailed paintings. I enjoy painting them and can get one finished (well almost) between dropping the kids off at school and picking them up. Plus I have a surplus of 8 x 6 canvas boards kicking around... and no more canvases... time to order some more!
 
The view is Springs Canal behind the castle at Skipton, a short stubby branch of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, only about 1/2 mile long the canal terminates at a pool behind the castle, built to serve the mills and quarry the view is looking towards Mill Bridge, Skipton with the Castle to the left. It's painted from a photo I took on Friday last week in superb sunshine (two slaps on wrist, one for painting from a photo, and the other from taking the photo at midday). I know all the books say to wait until evening or early morning for the best light - but I wasn't there then was I ?
Honestly some purists!!!

Snipe Snap

Last month I invested in a new lens for the camera, pretty extravagant of me – I know, but it gets me closer to the subject. I’m always torn between the merits of painting wildlife from sketches or painting from photos, I tend to do both – but the paintings from the photos always turn out better... maybe it’s just down to lack of imagination? I have tried sticking previously sketched birds into an already painted landscape such as ‘A Few Ansers’, below, sometimes they look good, but more often (not displayed) the subject and the landscape don’t match – whether this is because of the subtleties of light or lack of reference material I don’t know – but it generally ends up being sanded down and another coat of gesso being applied... This was the result of one of my most recent paintings – of a pair of Snipe in some reeds, which I sketched at Leighton Moss.

 "A few Ansers" Oil on canvas 18"x14"

 The sketches looked perfect, the watercolour mock-up looked good, but when I came to the real deal – it looked ok, but not good. So off I went, back to Leighton Moss, in search of more Snipe... unfortunately I found them, photographed and sketched them, and returned and matched my sketches and my photos to what I had already painted, and there it hit me – what I had imagined was a good likeness of a bird I now know intimately (!) was in fact a hideous lovechild of a duck and a curlew... Out came the sander and the gesso... Although I still wanted a record of the Snipe, I resorted to the use of a photo! I painted this little chap from a photograph; I am ashamed to admit... why do I feel so dirty?

"Snipe" Oil on Board 8" x 10"

 

 At least I have come clean and got that off my chest. If anyone is reading this, the snipe are still there, visible from Tim Jackson’s hide, Leighton Moss RSPB reserve, Silverdale, Lancs; a fantastic place, our family from the youngest to the oldest loves it. And inspiration is always there... Mind you the camouflage of these little blighters is so good, it does take some effort to see them.

Incidentally ‘A Few Ansers’ sold for 2 crates of beer! Both myself and the buyer were very pleased!

http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/l/leightonmoss/

Pochades and Weather

Ok so I haven't been keeping up to date... so what!
I thought its about time to stick in some posts from last year as I have a couple of minutes. I'm currently working out in Uganda, and work has been hectic, hence the lack of posts since November!

As we are aware, last summer was a complete write-off, so much so that I finally relented and took the family away to spain for a week (I travel for work - hence my abhorration of travelling for pleasure). But just to show what a miserable summer we had - here's a couple of pochades, painted from the passenger seat of my car from Ribblehead - and yes I completely omitted painting what Ribblehead is famous for (the viaduct) and concentrated on the view to the south.

The first was painted in about 1 hour, just after it had paused the relentless downpour, a faint light in the distance suggested that the sun may actually breakthrough - it didn't.

Pochade Penyghent from Ribblehead 8x6" oil on board.

And the developed painting. I have thought recently about redoing this, and when I get home I will probably tackle it. Perhaps with the foglights / rear lights blazing away to amplify the misery of the summer of 2012. Granted it wasn't all bad - I managed to build a log cabin in the garden which is my new 'studio'; mine for as long as the wife doesn't move her sewing projects in there...

Summer Ribblehead 2012 - 20"x16" ish - oil on canvas

And another quick pochade (again about an hour), again typifying the miserable summer...

Summer 2012 Ribblehead 8x10" Oil on board.

 

The hill with the cloud obscuring it is Simon Fell, part of the Ingleborough massif. I think I am getting the hang of painting miserable skies... BTW if you have any comments or tips or suggestions, please don't hesitate...

Fountains Abbey

Got a phone call from the mother-in-law on Saturday seeing if we fancied visiting Fountains Abbey on Sunday morning, they said they'd be there at 9.30am... Ha! Getting the kids to school for 9 is bad enough but to load up the car with the various bits of kit required for the terrible twosome is hard graft. Anyway we eventually rolled into the carpark at fountains at 11...

 Neptune, Fountains. Oil on Board 10"x8"

Remarkably the day wasn't wet, it was one of those crisp Autumn days which are ideal for photography, and there were quite a number of visitors with their cameras out. I have to admit the two paintings I did this week are from these photos, as with children whose attention span is like a pair of goldfish, the prospect of sitting and sketching anything for longer than 5 minutes is met with sighs and groans; so out with the camera. OK so it is cheating, but anything for a quiet life...

For both of these I blocked in the colours in the underpainting with acrylics - this was excellent for the job and perfectly formed the base for the oils, and most importantly dried quickly so I could 'get on with it'.  I'm curious though - would a purist call this style of underpainting 'cheating' or shrug it off as a timesaver? Regardless, these two were knocked out in two days as I was 'in the zone' and nothing was putting me off. I really enjoyed painting these and although they are small make an excellent pairing.

Temple of Piety, Fountains; Oil on Board 10"x8"

After a stroll round the water garden the plan was to have lunch at the cafe next to the lake, however as it was the only dry Sunday this year, the place was throng and abhorring queueing with everyone else for an overly-expensive sandwich and pot of coffee, a pub lunch for the family was necessary - anything to avoid queues... A couple of miles from Fountains Abbey is an excellent inn, serving wonderful sunday lunches (NOT a carvery - I can't stand carveries, it's another form of queueing after all), and would highly reccomend the Galphay Inn for a post-stroll lunch.

National Trust : Fountains Abbey
The Galphay Inn

Forging a Path

Last year, when we had a summer, we took a number of photos of the kids at play in the fields around the house. A nice, simple composition which utilises light effects rather than detail, I painted this one on a crimson ground as there is not much of that primary in the painting itself, and I hoped to conteract this by using red as a ground, and occasionally it filters through.

"Forging a path" Oil on canvas 20" x 16"

The light streaming through the trees was a last minute addition, having showed the 'completed' image to the wife, she asked "is it finished?" as the initial composition had a break in the trees through which the sky could be seen, and when this was portrayed on canvas had the resemblence to a very pale sky-blue blob in the middle of the trees (her words, not mine)... I had to agree with her, it looked - well wrong. So I scraped back the blob, darkened it out and slapped in some lime green which I smeared across the canvas, all of this must have taken about 15 minutes, from her appraisal to the finished article. It just shows what can be achieved given the need.