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.

The Long Slog - Pen-y-Ghent

Looking towards the hill (mountain to us Yorkshire folk), of Pen-y-Ghent or Hill of the winds from the Pennine Way track. This is the approach view for any long-distance walker along the pennine way or any day hill-bagger who has parked along the Silverdale Road at Dale Head.

The Long Slog - Pen-y-Ghent. 20" x 8" Oil on Board

First proper panorama for some time. This is the sixth time I have painting this particular massif, and I think finally I may have nailed it with respect to aerial perspective recession and overall composition. Its been a long road - and at each turn I am learning more and more techniques about capturing the subtleties of painting the yorkshire dales. Todays lesson was not using any form of mixed green whatsoever, as in previous paintings the saturation seems to have overtaken the image and imposed a false distance to the work. Its a lovely thing to be able to learn new things after nearly 10 years of painting, and I guess thats what keeping my interest in the subject.

Sheep on t'road, Newby Head

This is the farm at Newby Head which was once an old coaching inn on the Lancaster to Richmond Turnpike and the distinctive outline of Ingleborough provides the scene with a sense of place. Odd to think that this farm and its neighbouring farms - at Gearstones and again at Widdale Head were also once pubs / inns at one stage in their lives; at that rate it looks like there were more pubs than houses along this route! You have probably guessed, the title comes from the road sign rather than the actual lack of sheep on the road, any anyone who knows this road understands its a biking favourite, as sheep, not being the brightest of creatures have a pretty slow reaction time when faced with a 1300bhp bike blazing along at 60+ mph.

Sheep on t'road - Newby Head: Oil on Board 10" x 8"

Having taken some advice and read some other posts I avoided the use of mixed greens (the thuggish pthalo green and sap green) and settled for a mix of lemon yellow and paynes grey / cobalt for pretty much all of the greens. Again I am still learning, and over the base ground of raw sienna, the lemon yellow provides a wonderful greenish yellow, perfect for these upland areas at this time of year. Problem is now I am retrospectively looking at past works thinking I wished I had used used my own mix rather than these handy tubed greens previously.

Regardless, its been a fruitful couple of weeks as some previous posts had sold, Knight Stainforth, The Escapist had both sold to passers-by at The Little Gallery and also Spring Greens - Smearsett had also left the walls of the studio / gallery.

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.