Tag Archives: painting

Return to the Jurassic Coast

October 1, 2022 Ade Leave a comment

Hello! I’m now back from exploring the Jurassic Coast. We stayed on a smallholding in Melplash, Dorset and it was absolutely wonderful. Lovely friendly hosts and an extremely comfortable cottage. Utter bliss.

Over our two week stay we hit about 62 miles in walks across the stunning Dorset countryside. Have to say, a great many ups and downs were involved and my poor knees haven’t recovered yet!

So many memories…

I’ve been visiting the Jurassic coast, East Devon and West Dorset, since I was about eight or nine years old. One year I remember my grandparents bought me second-hand issues of X-Men number 1 and Thor’s debut in ‘Tales to Astonish’ from the holiday camp shop to keep me amused while the weather was wet. A real treat as I was only allowed British comics at home. Once I’d read them I threw them away of course… If only I knew then what I know now. Doh!!

To be honest the Jurassic coast is positively stuffed with a lifetime of memories. I can truly say that it has shaped the person I am now. It has a way of seeping into your soul. And even though I have a deep passion for Cornwall, the Jurassic coast will ever remain my spiritual home.

…and one we’d rather not have

And so there we wandered; we looked for fossils, visited museums, and marvelled at the night sky while listening for bats and owls. And I did virtually no painting or sketching. Unfortunately, our second week was marred by the utterly awful news that our beloved British Blue puss Genie had died in the cattery. I can’t describe the sense of loss, and our grief blunted our mood for the rest of our stay.

She was extraordinary cat, and had been our constant companion for 18 wonderful years. That’s a huge age for a pedigree British Blue. Our only consolation is that she died peacefully in her sleep. When they found her they thought she was just that, asleep. I can’t express how much we miss her, the house isn’t the same without her soft pad-padding about. No more warm cuddles.

The holloway

Despite that I have still come away with ideas and inspiration. I’ve loads of photos to jog my memory. One place which is definitely going to feature in future work is a holloway close to the cottage, a bridleway and ancient track. Enclosed by bent and arching trees, exposed roots twist from the earth, plaiting themselves into contorted shapes reaching through the track’s gloomy depths.

That damp dark green place really got my imagination fired up. What will I do with this wealth of material? I do have a few ideas which will firm up as I ponder the material I’ve gathered. Watch this space as they say, or better yet my Facebook and Insta feeds…

Gouache, Paintings

Digitally editing ‘The Coming Home Trees’

July 22, 2022 Ade 1 Comment

Today I started digital editing a scan of a wee 7“x5” gouache painting called ’The Coming Home Trees’. Travelling to Cornwall on the A30 they are a much-loved landmark. They are also called ‘The Nearly There Trees’. This was one of the paintings made when I was painting sets.

Digitally editing 'The Coming Home Trees' a gouache painting — Digitally editing ‘The Coming Home Trees’ a gouache painting

When I ran an Instagram poll months back asking whether people would prefer prints or cards of my paintings. Prints clearly came out on top. Unfortunately at the time I was unable to progress.

Piggy bank willing, I’m now ready to fund a small run of high quality Giclee prints. Giclee prints are made using top-of-the-line inkjet printers which can print onto watercolour paper. While the technology is similar to your home deskjet printer, Giclee printers use 12 or more inks rather than 4. This means they achieve very subtle colour graduations which closely match those in the original painting. It can sometimes be difficult to tell a Giclee print from the original, they are that good.

My process

I scan all my paintings as soon as I complete them so I already had a hi-res 32 bit TIF file. My goal today is to remove some of the unnecessary scanned texture from areas of blank paper while retaining the original raggedy edge left by the masking tape. I‘m also cleaning around the pencil writing.

Digitally editing 'The Coming Home Trees' a gouache painting - detail — Digitally editing ‘The Coming Home Trees’ a gouache painting – detail

Digitally editing 'The Coming Home Trees' a gouache painting - close detail — Digitally editing ‘The Coming Home Trees’ a gouache painting – close detail

Mucking about like this reminds me of being back at work where Photoshop was a constant companion. These days I use the excellent Affinity Photo by Serif who also publish the companion programs Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher. Admittedly the interface can be a little confusing if you’re coming from Photoshop, but with a little time and YouTube videos all becomes clear.

All are very reasonably priced too. Photo does all of what I asked of Photoshop for but at a fraction of the cost. A real biggy for me is that Serif don’t hold you to ransom with a subscription like Adobe.

I’ll composite and position my edited image onto a 10”x8” blank digital master ready for printing. And to ensure the colours and tones remain faithful to the original I’ll be arranging a test print.

When will ‘The Coming Home Trees’ be available?

Soon I hope. I’ve got to source a printer then as long as I’m happy with a test print I’ll list them in my Etsy shop. They will be 10″x8″ total size with the image life-size at around 5″x4″. They will come with a card window mount and there will be an option to have them framed.

Meanwhile, here’s a simulation to whet your appetite (final version might vary):

The Coming Home Trees Giclee print with white mount and frame (composite image)

See you soon,

Ade, 22 July 2022

Gouache, Paintings

Painting sets

January 29, 2019 Ade 1 Comment

What an interesting turn of events. Way back in October I recall saying that I was going to hibernate for the winter. Just chill and take things as they come. No plans for painting, or indeed anything else. It sort of worked…

…but over the past three weeks or so I’ve already painted more than I did through the whole of last year. I must have been thinking about it on some level, but it didn’t seem to be a properly conscious decision.

I think it started when I watched Tiffanie Mang on Instagram making tiny study pieces in gouache, about 2.5” square if I remember right. And they were gorgeous, like little jewels.

Small, but perfectly formed

I paint small when I’m sketching outside, but other than that I’ve never set out with the intention of making series of pure practice pieces. Sure, I’ll knock out quick pencil thumbnail sketches when I’m planning a painting, but nothing beyond that.

So, I rummaged through my stock and fished out a big sheet of 250lb Bockingford NOT watercolour paper. I divided it into eight equal format rectangles each 14cm wide by 9cm high using masking tape.

My ground rules

I wanted to take this opportunity to practice painting fast and, hopefully, pretty loose. I want to make more use of gouache when I paint outdoors. So, I set myself these ground rules:

Timing: each painting session to take no longer than 1 hour (later revised down to 40mins). At the end of which time, brushes down whatever the state of the painting.
Gouache: I specifically wanted to concentrate on this water-based medium.
Big brushes: to force me to paint loose I would use only half inch flats: straight, angled and ‘vegetation’ (that’s a ragged brush, ideal for quickly generating the impression of grass and stems).
My usual gouache palette – Cadmium Red Pale, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue, Indigo Blue, Cobalt Blue, Lemon Yellow and Cadmium Yellow Pale, Permanent White, Ivory Black, Yellow Ochre, and Burnt Umber.
From photos: these were never going to be ‘plein air’ sketches. The photos were chosen ‘at a glance’ they had to appeal to me within a couple of seconds.
Absolutely no tatting! OK, so I broke this a few times…

The paintings

And here are the results. I’ve completed two sets and am about to start a third.

I have to say, the whole exercise has been a bit of a boost. And, the icing on the cake is that they have proved popular, with all but 2 of the first series being snapped up in a couple of days.

Here are my personal favourites so far:

The best place to follow my progress as I produce these sets is on my Facebook or Instagram accounts. A few are currently available in my Etsy shop.

Its already shaping up to be an interesting year.

Musings, Paintings

Time to reflect on the good things

October 31, 2018 Ade 2 Comments

This year was always going to be ‘interesting’ and, as the nights draw rapidly in, I’ve been reflecting on my progress so far. You know what, in general I think it’s all been good.

While I’ve not been very prolific, I sense the quality of my paintings has definitely improved. And when I think back to the mental health issues which dragged me down over the past 3 years or so, I’ll take that as a ‘good thing’.

This year I’ve tried not to put myself under pressure to create. I’ve largely done whatever I fancied, and only when I fancied doing it. And if some things have been left hanging, the lino-printing for instance, then so be it. At the moment I’m fortunate in that this is not my prime income and I also have a ‘proper day job’ to pay the bills.

Ade Turner Artist in Cornwall — On my favourite coast path in Cornwall

So, over winter I may not paint at all now I’ve finished my latest commission. I don’t even know yet whether I’ll pick up the lino cutting either. It’s an easier option than painting as I hate to paint under artificial light, even using my wonderful OTT-Lites.

I won’t be idle of course. The new website is still on the cards but, hey, who really enjoys putting that stuff together; it might go to the back of the queue.

I will sort out those Giclee prints I mentioned last time.

And I’ve plenty of non-painty things on the boil too, including decorating (which I hate by the way…), figuring out how to use my new 8” telescope, a couple of 1/10^th dinosaur sculptures which I want to prepare, modify and paint. Oh, and Red Dead Redemption II for my Xbox – it is gaming season after all, and I can see myself being lost in that for weeks.

Of everything, I’m hoping the dinosaurs will fill my time, and fair warning I will be posting progress. At around 30” in length both are ginormous! In fact they are so big I’m not sure yet where I’ll display them once they’re sorted. Well, what can I say, they looked smaller online…

So, a quiet and hopefully relaxing winter and early New Year coming up. I will still be posting on FaceBook from time to time, so head over there and please Like my page if you want to keep up with any updates.

Alkyds, Paintings

Someday my prints will come…

September 5, 2018 Ade Leave a comment

See what I did there? prints/prince?? Oh, never mind…

Anyway, prints. You will soon be able to buy high quality Giclee prints of a selection of my paintings. First off the mark will be a couple of my latest gouache paintings.

I’ve been working with Sarah at Ironbridge Fine Arts and Framing to colour match the scans of my paintings to be as close as possible to the originals. I’m very impressed! Comparing my paintings and test prints side by side it really is hard to tell at a glance which is the original.

What is a Giclee print?

Kynance Cove: The Bellows - framed original with Giclee print — Kynance Cove: The Bellows – framed original alongside Giclee print

Giclee prints are made using top-of-the-line inkjet printers. While the technology is similar to your home deskjet printer, Giclee printers can use 12 inks rather than 4. This means they can achieve very subtle colour graduations which closely match those in the original painting.

During printing the size of the spray droplets varies which makes for a less ‘mechanical’ finish. And the ink is archival quality so each print will have a long life with less likelihood of fading.

Once printed onto an acid-free, lightly textured watercolour paper the results are brilliant.

Which paintings will be available?

To kick things off I’ll be offering two recent gouache paintings:

Kynance Cove: The Bellows (featured above)
From Pen Olver to Lloyds Signal Station

From Pen Olver to Lloyd’s Signal Station

I will be offering both unframed without a card mount. Besides giving you the freedom to present them exactly how you want, this also means I can keep the price point affordable.

I’ll post up full details of price, size etc. once I’m ready to go, most likely mid to end of October (I have a holiday coming up very soon).

Update: Kynance Cove – The Bellows is now available in my Etsy shop.

Oils, Paintings

Cornwall in September

September 16, 2016 Ade Leave a comment

I always look forward to my visits to Cornwall, it really feels like a second home now. This time we’re celebrating my wife’s ‘big’ birthday, so we’re here for three whole weeks. We’re about to go into our third week.

It’s not meant to be a painting holiday, but I’ve brought my plein air kit anyway! Oils this time rather than my usual acrylics.

To be honest, since we arrived on the Lizard Peninsular from our first week on the Isles of Scilly the weather hasn’t been exactly clement. A succession of storms have passed through, including a spectacular one at three in the morning which was more than biblical in proportion. Thunder and lightning accompanied by the most severe torrential rain I can recall seeing. Not good.

So in between relaxing as a family and dodging the weather, times to set up and concentrate on painting have been relatively few. I have sketched a little, but not very much.

The paintings

Here are my three 8” by 10” efforts in oils to date. The first is a view from our cottage garden. I’ve moved a few things round, but I’m still not that happy with the composition. The second is in one of my favourite spots on the Lizard, Poltesco a long abandoned serpentine works. And the third is a roundhouse from the 16th century on the road to Church Cove.

It’s been very restful using oils again. So much more time to think about colour mixes. Acrylics are very unforgiving. Turn your back and they turn into an immovable solid lump of plastic on the palette and brush. It’s nice to be able to take the generous time which oils allow.

Hopefully I’ll get a chance paint some more in the last week of our holiday. If I can, great, if not, oh well, the holiday comes first.

Remember, my FaceBook page is often updated first with snippets and odds and ends.

Acrylics, Alkyds, Paintings

Of pets and sketches and being unbusy

August 7, 2016 Ade 2 Comments

With my studio still stuffed full with boxes of stuff from my late Dad’s estate, apart from making occasional sketches I’ve not been at all productive over the past 18 months. I completely underestimated the sheer physical amount of personal material I’d have to pick through and the ongoing, negative emotional impact that would have. In truth, I’ve had neither the time nor inclination to get stuck into anything very much.

A new pet portrait commission…

Before I completely filled the studio, early in the year I started a new commission in alkyds, a pet portrait of a gorgeous Italian Spinone dog. As I needed to work from photos I’ve found my iPadPro remarkably useful, being able to zoom in and adjust the lighting to reveal structural detail at will.

At the moment this is on hold with my client’s blessing, but it is close to completion. Unfortunately at 70cm by 100cm it is rather large, and I’ll only be able to finish it once my studio’s clear again.

…and a Cornish break

At least my June holiday gave me time to settle and sketch. Here are a few 6″ by 8″ acrylic sketches from my visit to the Lizard peninsular in Cornwall.

And I’m off again in September. First to the Isles of Scilly for 1 week and then the lizard again for 2 weeks. A three week holiday! I won’t want to come back! My plein air kit will go with me of course.

I’m still undecided whether to take oils instead of my usual acrylics. So many advantages including extended drying time and retention of brush strokes. But after a few trial runs in the garden I really need to brush up. I seem to be very good at making panels of mud!

With things as they are at the moment it’s a lot less of a faff for me to upload a post to Facebook and Instagram than this blog as I can easily do it on the fly from my phone. So, if you’d like to see more frequent updates, please head on over and like my FaceBook page.

Musings, Paintings, Watercolours

Refreshed and buzzing

October 30, 2015 Ade Leave a comment

Hello everyone. I’ve recently returned refreshed from a brilliant two week holiday in East Devon. The weather was phenomenal, sunny and dry with only one day being washed out. And we watched Bottlenose Dolphins for a whole 20 minutes as they swam in the looking- glass sea!! Sorry, just had to get that out now because, well, because… DOLPHINS! YAY!!

It’s been over six months now since my dad died, and given how I’ve been feeling I’d reined back any artistic expectations for the holiday. My life approach at the moment is to take each day as it comes. If I feel like painting or drawing I will, if I don’t, then I won’t. The muse will come back when it’s ready, and judging by this holiday that’s not going to be long.

To keep things simple I just took my 6” by 8” Guerrilla pochade box with a few basic acrylics and my trusty Saunders Waterford watercolour sketchbook and Herring compact palette. I surprised myself by how soon into the holiday I actually wanted to paint – I was positively itching on some days. By the end of the fortnight I’d knocked out four acrylics and a few watercolour sketches. Doesn’t sound like much, but believe me this has been a big step forward.

I’m most pleased with a couple of the watercolour sketches. My wife Carole was painting fossils on Monmouth beach in Lyme Regis in Dorset. The light around her head was wonderful, and I worked quickly to establish her in as few brushstrokes as possible. I think the sense of strong sunlight really comes through don’t you?

My second is a view from Lyme over the bay towards Charmouth, an iconic spot for wonderful Jurassic fossils. I’ve not got the tonal depth quite right to big up the sunlight falling on the cliffs, but it’s sparked a desire to work this into a larger piece. Fortunately I bought a bunch of panoramic canvases while I was in Sidmouth. My thought is to work it completely in oils or alykds. It’s been a while, but I do miss using them and want to start the switch back, at least for some paintings.

So, rather unexpectedly, I seem to have come back with my head full of ideas and with a generally creative buzz. All manner of projects and fancies are popping into my head, and not all are painting related. There’s the painting above of course, but I also rather fancy having a crack at making a moody painting of The Batman. I’m sure some people might raise an eyebrow or two – surely not a ‘proper’ subject for a painter? ‘Tish’ and ‘Phooey’ I say to that – in the nicest possible way of course. It’s the scope for creating a dark brooding atmosphere by playing with the light that attracts – so many levels of black; besides he’s such an iconic character.

I also fancy breaking out the Sculpey this winter to reconstruct another dinosaur, possibly a Scelidosaurus. I sculpted an Allosaurus fragilis a few years ago, something else which I’m determined to paint and finish it in the next month or two. Scelidosaurus is very much a ‘British’ dinosaur with many of its remains being found at Charmouth –now there’s a happy coincidence J

But above all these I’ve just accepted a commission! It’s going to be in alkyds, it will be big at 40″ by 30″ and will feature an Italian Spinone called Jo-Jo – a gorgeous, slobbery hairball of a dog; she’s so lovely.

My immediate issue with all this returning enthusiasm is limited time. I know I can only do so much, and I’ve been putting off clearing my dad’s house for sale, a huge, emotionally draining job. It contains the sole remaining physical traces of the lives of my dad, my mum, nan and grandad. Everything I throw away, recycle or sell dismantles a little more of the fabric of their lives, fraying their memory. It’s truly heart rending.

So, watch keep watching this space, ‘Follow’ me on Twitter or ‘Like’ my Facebook page. Progress may be sporadic, but bear with me.

Acrylics, Paintings

Categorically Acrylic Painting Competition

August 26, 2015 Ade Leave a comment

Hello. Well, it’s been a while since my last post. Although I’m still not really painting at the moment, one of my acrylics from earlier in the year has been ticking along nicely, and has now popped up in a county open exhibition and been short listed in a national competition.

In April my 14″ by 10″ ‘Gnarled trees on Colmers Hill’ was accepted for this year’s Staffordshire Open Arts. It was exhibited from May to July at the Shire Hall Gallery in Stafford alongside very stiff competition. The standard, as usual, was high and unfortunately, I didn’t win anything, but having the painting accepted was a very welcome boost.

A couple of weeks ago I also entered it into Jackson’s Art Supplies ‘Categorically Acrylic Painting Competition’. I was chuffed when I found out it has been shortlisted.

In addition to the chance of it being judged by a panel within it’s category (landscape), it’s also open to a public vote. My fingers are well and truly crossed. Do visit the page and check out all the wonderful entries (mine is on page 2).

And if you fancy it for your wall it’s framed and for sale at £140 to UK addresses only (sorry rest of world). See my notes on sales and email me if you’re interested.

Musings, Paintings, Sketches

Creativity Crash

June 26, 2015 Ade 6 Comments

Kennack sands acrylic painting — Kennack Sands 10″ by 8″ acrylic

Well, that’s it then, I’ve definitely had a big creativity crash. I find it difficult to understand how I can go on holiday to the Lizard peninsular in Cornwall with great weather, drop-dead gorgeous coastline, and so much to inspire and enthuse and come back with virtually nothing; just a couple of ill-judged watercolour sketches and a forced plein air beachscape.

I wrote about how much I was looking forward to this holiday in my last post, and I’d packed loads of plein air gear and panels along with high hopes of knocking out a painting or six. The reality is, once I was there, I simply couldn’t get enthused. I tried to force myself, thinking that simply pitching in would break the deadlock, but no. Don’t get me wrong, the holiday itself was a very welcome break away from everything, and yes I did enjoy the time with my wife Carole, all the walking, the wildlife and in particular the long periods of staring aimlessly out to sea on my evening walks. I got quite good at that.

Alice Hole and Ade Turner — Great to meet talented painter Alice Hole

There was one special highlight too: meeting talented Helston based artist Alice Hole. I’ve known Alice as a digital friend on Twitter for quite some time, and it was so nice to actually meet up over a real life coffee. You can visit Alice’s Facebook page here. Besides reinforcing my long held desire to move to Cornwall, Alice also encouraged me to start actively using my dormant Facebook account. She told me that as a professional artist she finds Facebook a very useful tool, and more effective than Twitter for encouraging sales.

Although I’m very familiar with Twitter, this was new territory for me. So, over one rainy day in our cottage I did my research and went live. You can see, and ‘Like’, my ‘Ade Turner: Artist’ page here. I have to say, Facebook really isn’t as intuitive as it could be, and there are many areas of confusion and potential for privacy slips.

For me, the main difficulty was getting my head around the relationship and differences between my personal account, and my artist ‘Page’. Naturally I would like to encourage people to ‘Follow’ my page, but you can only add a ‘Follow’ button onto your personal page.

Now, my personal timeline is filling up with the usual banter between friends, which will be of little interest to anyone looking for my artwork. So I thought, not unreasonably, I’d start a new Facebook account specifically for Ade the artist. Nope, can’t do that. Apparently it’s a big Facebook no-no, and they will challenge and close multiple accounts held by one person. That is so dumb.

The ‘business me’ is a very different entity to the ‘private me’ with distinct needs and expectations. Why shouldn’t I be able to separate and manage both while retaining useful Facebook functions across both? As long as I can prove I’m a genuine individual responsible for the content of each account, where’s the problem? I can run as many Twitter accounts as I like. Facebook really needs to sort this, as it sounds like it’s a common gripe on forums.

While I’m talking of online things, I succumbed to a spot of art-based retail therapy while I was away and bought this Guerrilla Thumbox2 pochade from Dick Blick art supplies. There’s nothing like the anticipation of new kit to cheer me up, and I’d had my eye on one of these for a while.

The American art market seems spoiled for choice when it comes to plein air gear, and their service was brilliant. We ordered on a Sunday, had an email to confirm the shipping cost was OK on the Thursday and it arrived on the following Monday morning. Just over a week from order to delivery. I’ve had longer waits from some UK suppliers!

Guerrilla packaging — Pristine in packaging

It arrived well packed, and the quality is what you’d expect of a mass produced item. The finish is a little rough here and there, and I’ve a few little gripes like the palette extension doesn’t sit flat at 90 degrees as described and the nuts holding the tripod plate are a little intrusive in the box cavity, but these really are minor things and I love it.

Of course, now it’s arrived, I can’t summon up the enthusiasm to get out and use it…

You know, I’m pretty sure this creativity crash is all part of my grieving. It’s only just been over a couple of months since my dad died. Odd thing is, if you ask me how I’m coping I’ll probably say OK. In truth, deep down, all is not as well as it would seem on the surface. There’s an underlying numbness and disassociation which I just can’t shake. Some days even getting out of bed is a struggle.

And now here I am, back home, trying to reignite the spark. These pages may be painting free for a while, please bear with me.

So many memories…

…and one we’d rather not have

The holloway

My process

When will ‘The Coming Home Trees’ be available?

Small, but perfectly formed

My ground rules

The paintings

What is a Giclee print?

Which paintings will be available?

The paintings

A new pet portrait commission…

…and a Cornish break

British Landscape Painter