Time seems to have gone by so quickly this year. It’s now only just over a week until the Closer to the Art show at Stone Railway Station in Stone, Staffordshire on 25th October. Around ten artists from various disciplines will be exhibiting including sculpture painting, illustration, photography and ceramics. A great opportunity to pick up a unique Christmas gift.
Ade Turner – Closer to the Art
And over the past weeks I’ve been busy painting, framing and generally getting everything ready. That’s me over there, posing for a publicity photo and frankly feeling a little uncomfortable – physically and psychologically! My wife too has been working on some beading and needlecrafts, but more of those in a future post.
This is my first show as an exhibitor, so with no previous experience to fall back on I’m going to be relying on educated guesswork. How much packing do I need? How do I display the work to best advantage? What is the worst thing I could forget to take on the day?
It’s all very exciting, and as with anything new, just a little scary too.
So, here we’re back in what always feels like our second home, Seaton in East Devon and about to start the second week of our holiday.
Sadly, this year, we’re here following a very recent and very close family bereavement. Needless to say our thoughts have been mixed, and of all things our minds haven’t been focussed on making paintings.
However, there have been opportunities to sketch, and I think making the effort has been mentally beneficial for both of us. The weather has been very kind too. So here is a collection of my plein air sketches in watercolour, gouache and pencil. Hope you like them. I’ll update this post with any new sketches after next week.
Plein air sketches from East Devon and Dorset
A series of plein air sketches in pencil, watercolour and gouache from Devon and Dorset.
During the last week of our June holiday the weather settled down, becoming bright, sunny and pleasantly warm. On one gorgeous early evening, the light was magical over the cliffs of Housel Bay looking west towards the Lizard lighthouse in Cornwall. I had to paint it.
Back home I decided to take my watercolour sketch and work it up into a finished painting. While I am pleased with the original, I don’t think it really captured the quality of the light. However just sitting in front of it, painting it en plein air, the scene etched into my mind, and if I shut my eyes I can still take myself back there.
Housel Bay, The Lizard, Cornwall
Besides the sketch I also took a photo the next day for reference. For me it felt important to get the proportions within the painting correct. My original sketch made the cliffs a little too deep.
Scaling up Housel Bay
I gridded up the photo and transferred the basic outline in pencil onto a piece of 60cm by 20 cm MDF. I primed this with Golden 100 acrylic resin to prevent any potential staining from the board seeping up into the paint layer over time. Over this I painted three coats of Winsor and Newton’s white acrylic gesso primer. I didn’t sand this as I wanted the brush marks to contribute to the finished painting.
Drawing Housel Bay
Once the pencil drawing was complete I reinforced the line using Ultramarine Blue. If any portion of the line remained visible in the finished painting it would sink back and not jar.
Under painting
For the under painting I wanted to intensify the warmth. As you can see from the foreground this bordered on cadmium orange in places.
Intermediate Housel Bay
The background cliffs, sea and sky fell into place quite quickly, which is more than can be said for the foreground… Unfortunately I went a bit OTT with the ‘grassiness’. I knew it was both too busy and too light in tone, so I decided to completely over paint it.
Evening at Housel Bay
This was the right decision. I worked with broader strokes from a flat brush to establish the form and the general run of the grasses. Once dry I darkened and unified the foreground using several alternating glazes of Alizarin Crimson and Ultramarine Blue. This intensified the brightness of the evening light. For me this highlights one of the real advantages of acrylic over oils. In a warm room I managed to lay down several layers of glaze all in the space of an hour. This could have taken days or weeks if I’d been working in oils.
Very pleased with the final result. The exciting thing for me is that this is one of the first paintings I’ve produced ready for Andy Bill’s ‘Closer to the Art 2’ event on October 25th in Stone in Staffordshire. It will be framed and up for sale with several other works. This will be my first appearance at any show. Ooh, scary! Watch this space.
You know, I didn’t realise it had been so long since my last post. Rather been letting things slip a bit haven’t I? I had intended to blog during my last week of holiday but, well, you know what it’s like…
To be honest, between getting back to work and navigating some rather challenging bits of ‘real’ life lately I’ve been feeling a bit drained, like my rubber band’s broke. And sadly I don’t always have the luxury of time to devote myself completely to my art.
The holiday was wonderful, such gorgeous weather. The Lizard Peninsular is one of my favourite places in Cornwall and really feels like a second home. It’s unfairly picturesque with a potential painting around each corner and over every rise. I really had to resist the temptation to paint all the time though; it was meant to be a family holiday after all…
Lizard lighthouse
Even so, I’ve still managed to bring back a fair bit of reference material, both sketches and paintings which will no doubt will appear on here in due course. And I’ve taken loads of photos too which I intend to use through the year, but with the usual caveat against becoming slavishly fixated. Photos can be a mixed blessing. Great for prodding the memory where it’s lacking, but they can also be flat and deceiving in so many ways, and they sucker you into the details.
Nothing beats sitting outdoors in front of a subject and letting it fill your mind. Observation always pays dividends. Not only does it reflect in the work created on site, regardless of its perceived quality, more importantly it reinforces the memory of a place and time for future reference.
In the week which followed my last post about painting at Church Cove I started to relax and find my feet. By the end of that week I was pretty pleased with my efforts. Besides working up some plein air sketches in both watercolour and acrylic, I also took the plunge and tried gouache.
I’d previously only used gouache in black and white many years ago for some professional illustration work. To keep things simple I decided to use just a handful of colours from Winsor and Newton’s Designer’s Gouache range: Primary Blue, Red and Yellow along with Ivory Black and Permanent White.
Thrift wall
For my first attempt I painted a section of a Cornish ‘hedge’ covered in wildflowers including Thrift. It took a bit of experimenting – too much water at first, then too little – but after a while I started to get the hang of it. Working light over dark, letting each layer dry thoroughly before working quickly and lightly over the top. I was impressed by the covering power. While the sketch may have many problems, it was a useful exercise.
View towards Lloyd’s Signal Station
For my second attempt I sat in our cottage and quickly sketched the view over the back garden. I kept the paint creamier than my first attempt and started to get the knack of laying paint without disturbing the underlying layer. This contributed towards a more graphic feel to the sketch, and a particular flatness. Although I have to admit that I quite like the poster-like effect, I can see why some artists don’t and avoid gouache. because it can appear ‘dead’ and chalky.
Chun Quoit
I was determined to push things a bit for my third outing and at Chun Quoit, a stunning Megalithic tomb, I deliberately painted both looser and on a larger scale, 60cm wide, on the ever excellent Saunders Waterford watercolour paper. This time I used a mixture of thick and thin washes. Sometimes I’d let the washes dry, other times I blended and pushed the paint about before scumbling drier paint over the top to catch on the texture of the paper. I was very pleased with the result. Sadly the limitations of the photo don’t reveal the more subtle colour modulations or hue the juicy intensity of the stronger passages, but trust me they are in there.
After making this painting I seriously started to reconsider my plein air approach. I use both watercolours and acrylics, but gouache seems to offer a great, easily portable halfway house without the irreversible drying qualities of acrylics. And, while I can make pure watercolours which use and reserve the white paper, gouache fits more easily with the way I like to work; it still feels a bit like cheating though.
Kew Rambler
For one more test I added French Ultramarine Blue, Lemon Yellow and Flame Red to my limited palette and spent about three quarters of an hour making this painting from my studio window. I think my gamble might be paying off. I’m going to chuck a few earth colours into the kit and see what happens. Watch this space…
Well, after a wobbly start I think I’m starting to settle back into painting en plein air. I really am out of practice.
With me, much depends on being in the right frame of mind. So I took the opportunity to go AWOL and snuck off painting this evening. It was calm, warm and overcast, and I walked down to Church Cove to set up on the wee spit of land overlooking the inlet.
I was determined to work more loosely today and I gave myself an hour limit. I’ve found that having a limited time focusses the mind and, for me, drives better results. I also resolved to use only a couple of flat brushes, 1.5cm and 1cm (ignore the fan in the photo, I didn’t use it).
Once I’d set up my pochade box I laid out my basic acrylic palette:
Titanium White
Mixing White
Ultramarine Blue
Cobalt Blue
Yellow Light Hansa
Quinacridone Red
Permanent Alizarin Crimson
In addition I added a couple of cooler blues and three earth colours:
Cerulean Blue
Indanthrene Blue
Yellow Ochre
Raw Umber
Burnt Umber
Plein air pochade Church Cove
On my 20cm by 30cm linen covered mdf panel from Jacksons I drew out the basic shapes and quickly blocked in all the features roughly before more carefully noting the passages of light and dark.
As usual I kept the acrylics open by occasionally spraying the palette with water – not too much though, I didn’t want to make colourful puddles!
Plein air acrylic sketch – evening mist at Church Cove
I’m pretty pleased with the result, but what do you think? Why not leave me a message?
So, here’s the thing, I’ve been thinking; a dangerous pursuit, and one which I usually try to avoid because it often leads to ‘consequences’. For a while now I’ve been considering how I’d like to move forward with my painting. Until now, all bar a few personal commissions, I have painted pretty much for my own satisfaction.
However, I think the time has come for me to consider offering my paintings for sale. It’s been in my mind for a while, but the time now seems right, and a few events have helped fix the idea.
March sky over the backs Acrylic
First, I had a very good reception for the paintings I submitted, albeit unsuccessfully, to the Staffordshire Open Art exhibition. And thanks to that interest I recently sold my acrylic ‘March sky over the backs’. Really encouraging.
Andy Bill’s Henham Serpent
Second, and for me this is important, I’ve been invited by friend and colleague Andy Bill to exhibit at ‘Closer to the Art 2’ which will be held on Saturday October 25th in Stone, Staffordshire. Andy, a scarily talented sculptor of magnificent dragons, is once again bringing together a range of fine artists and craftspeople. Small, but perfectly formed – be sure to make a note now in your calendar.
Third, and finally, I’m getting a wee bit excited about my annual pilgrimage back to the Lizard in Cornwall next week. It’s such an inspirational part of the world, and never fails to get the creative juices going. The bottom line is I want to come back with a selection of new paintings, some of which I hope to offer for sale here.
Blimey, a whole new scary world…
Right, I’d better get organised then. First it would be nice to see if there’s wider interest ‘out there’, which is where you come in.
If you’d like me to email you whenever I post a painting for sale, please submit this form and I’ll place you on my shiny new mailing list. Thank you.
Well, that’s all done and dusted, the die are cast. I made my first submission of three entries to the Staffordshire Open Art exhibition this morning. Now all I can do now is wait.
Posing with my Staffs Open Art entries
It’s odd, but to be honest how I feel has taken me by surprise. A touch of the butterflies is usual of course when trying anything new, but running underneath there’s something different too.
For me this feels like I’m laying down a direct challenge to the selection panel and in someway exposing my soul: “Here’s my work; go on then, judge me!” Now, I post up my paintings for the world to see on Twitter all the time, so it’s not just the idea of presenting work at play here. I think the physical hand-over has made it feel a lot more personal, and now I’m ridiculously nervous.
Ah well, deep breath and a glass of something soothing served as a double will set it right. At least I don’t have long to wait for the decision – sometime next week. Fingers crossed.
Apologies for not posting for a week or three. A few things are behind it really. First, I’ve just been sooo tired – most evenings I’ve been putting my black belt in chair-dozing to good use. Second, my mojo got up, blew me a raspberry and ran off. Finally, I’ve been trying to finish and prepare three paintings to submit to the Staffordshire Open Art exhibition – difficult enough without constantly dropping off and feeling generally ‘meh’.
For me this feels like a big step, I’ve never submitted work for consideration to any exhibition before. It’s a little intimidating if I’m honest as I’ve always been very impressed by the high standard of entries. Nothing ventured as they say, and so I decided to enter the maximum of three works.
My choice for two contributions was guided by a favourable reaction to a pair of recent acrylic paintings on Twitter. I framed up a couple from the #skymarch challenge using bespoke black frames from Jacksons Art supplies:
Open Art entries
The Jackson’s frames came as ready cut components and fitted together seamlessly with nothing more than an hour-glass shaped plastic fillet tapped into a precision routed slot. Very accurately cut – I was impressed.
My third is the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight inspired acrylic painting I’ve been working on for a while. I’ve called it ‘A fox for Sir Gawain’. It’s taken a while, but I’ve got it to a stage now where anything else would just be fiddling.
A fox for Sir Gawain
Honestly? The photo really doesn’t do it justice (it’s 18″ by 24″). The sunny area of the sky doesn’t resemble a fried egg (honest), it’s a lot more subtle. The camera has distorted the subtlety of the colours to leave a rough approximation.
This is currently placed with a local framer. I’ve chosen a white, 45mm flat faced frame to set it off. Going to be ready for pick up on Wednesday morning – I’ll post it again.
So, that’s it, all ready for next Friday’s submission. Wish me luck 🙂
Since starting my Sir Gawain series, things have slowed a little. Other things have either needed attention (real life things) or wanted attention (fun things which have distracted me). OK, more of the latter if I’m honest… However, I have continued work on a related, but separate, acrylic painting by way of a ‘dry run’ based on this quick sketch:
Gawain’s wildwood journey
I’m becoming more familiar with acrylics now. Following some rubbish acrylic experiences several years ago, (most down to operator error and poor quality pigments), they’ve only recently found a proper place in my tool kit.
And I’m finding their properties better suit my temperament (ever impatient…) that I’m starting to use them as a default where once I’d have picked up alkyds or oils. I can work quickly, and their fast drying means I can apply repeated glazes in a single sitting. The bonus too is that they clean up easily without solvents.
There are downsides though. A lot of paint gets wasted as it inevitably cures on the palette, and I’m finding fine blending is trickier than when using oils. I’ve tried the slow-dry gels, but for me the paint texture seems to become oddly ‘tacky’.
Originally I started using Winsor and Newton Artists acrylics, but after making comparisons with Liquitex Heavy Body acrylics I think I may switch to Liquitex for most colours. They’re generally more economical and in my opinion compare favourably with the W&N offering in terms of viscosity, texture, ‘open’ time and stability of colour/tonal shift from wet to dry.
So here’s another ‘in-progress’ shot. There’s a long way to go, and the photo really doesn’t reproduce any of the subtle colour shifts going on in the shadows (click a couple of times to enlarge):
Sir Gawain’s wildwood journey progress
The eponymous Sir Gawain is nowhere in sight, but that’s OK, but the inspiration from the poem is in there.
I’ve introduced a warmer sky to increase both the tonal and temperature contrast when compared to the deep, dark, cool shadows. The gold and red also mirrors the colours associated with Gawain.
The wild-wood setting echoes the bleakness of his journey while the fox, so slyly skulking in the seeping shadows, foretells of Gawain’s deception later in the story.
I hope I’ve started to capture an underlying feeling of unease here, but what do you think?
Well, the wooden panels for my Sir Gawain and the Green Knight series came from Jacksons the other day, and very nice they are too. Smooth, well framed and surprisingly light for their size. I’m now the proud owner of two 12″ square and four 12″ by 16″.
But before I crack on and get smothered in acrylic gesso, I’m painting a related 18″ by 24″ canvas in acrylics as a trial to inform my approach to the main panels. At the moment it’s all still too tight and pernickety – the small study on the left is closer to the feeling I want to get.
Sir Gawain’s wildwood journeyStudy for Gawain’s wildwood journey
Rubbish photo by the way – I’ll post a better one at some point when I can actually get to see it in daylight.
There’s a long way to go yet. See that cunning fox? Well it won’t be so easy to spot once I’m done with it.
Sir Gawain journey end panelSir Gawain journey start panel
I have made a start on rough sketches for the two 12″ by 12″ end panels representing the start and end point of Sir Gawain’s journey to the Green Chapel. These will be linked by three or four 12″ by 16″ panels. The intention is that each panel should both work on its own and together as part of a greater whole.
Sir Gawain’s journey is not a comfortable one, and I thought that my painting journey should likewise take me out of my comfort zone. Not into flesh-flensing, tooth and claw battles with wolves and woodwoses you understand; no, I was thinking more stylistically (besides, all that fighting malarkey sounds far too much like hard work!)
I have considered a few options, and the panels would really lend themselves to a stylised narrative aesthetic as seen in paintings by Dee Nickerson and Sarah Birdie Fincham. I really love the work of these excellent artists and find both sublime, but sadly I don’t think I yet have the sensibility to work in a similar manner.
Recently I came across the multi-media work of Lisa Henderson. Her rich landscapes are gorgeous, and I could see a similar treatment working really well with Sir Gawain’s journey. You can currently see her exhibition ‘Staffordshire Landscapes, a personal view’ at the Shire Hall Gallery in Stafford until 9th March.
Despite these tempting options I continue to be drawn to a heavily textured expressive approach bordering on the abstract. Kurt Jackson’s work has always been a great inspiration to me – he squeezes so much soul into his sea and landscapes. They’re achingly beautiful, and the style’s far enough out of my comfort zone to make me sweat, so maybe I’ll head down that route, maybe…
