Got my groove on today!!!

It was difficult to motivate myself today as the weather was so wet and cold, and I KNEW that my studio space would be absolutely freezing!  However, I managed with an extra cup of coffee to finally extract myself from the settee and get off to the studio.

Yes, when I got there the front gate was surrounded by what looked like 3ft deep puddles and there was more mud than you could shake a muddy damp stick at.  And yes, when with trembling hands I manged to unlock my studio door I was hit in the face by a rush of even colder air.  I whacked the heater on, poured myself a lovely cup of coffee and waited for my hands to warm up before making a start.

I was in the zone today, belting through my list of "to do's" on the painting and with only a quick break for a Crunchie, I finished with a lot more done than I had anticipated.

It was time to start painting the ground and I decided on a bright and rather garish pink, in-keeping with the notion behind the work.  I painted it with smooth strokes before deciding that it just didn't look right, so used a combination of palette knife and rough strokes.

Then it was onto the front facade of the central beach hut  more masking tape but now I've got my technique down I was onto the painting before long.

And so by the time I made a quick exit before it got too dark, I left it at a stage where i can say the painting is very nearly finished....the oil painting at least.  Next it the spray painting and adding the metallics and gold leaf.  I'm really looking forward to that.  More photo's to follow next week when the fun stuff starts to get added!!

Another late night so......

Perhaps the quickest of all posts.  After a busy evening it's gone 11pm already and Piers Morgans "sob stories" is on in the background, I've got an early start for work tomorrow and I wanted to get this post out tonight to show today's work on my most recent piece.

Think I've managed to make a hash of downloading the photo's off of my phone, so if they are not of good quality I'll upload better images in the week.

Really pleased with how this is continuing to go, although the number of straight lines is knackering!!  Still working on the underpainting, my focus today was on the beach huts on the right (blue) and left (green).

Here they are, I'm off to make a cuppa tea....and so to bed.  Night night.

No sketchbook!

I'm sorry it's been a bit quiet on here over the last couple of weeks, unfortunately my day job has somewhat taken over my entire life it seems.  Evenings have been spent doing extra work and so my opportunities to get on here and hammer out a post have been non-existant.

Anyway....I'm here now.  So this weekend was spent down in Weymouth, visiting family.  It was a great weekend and it really is a very beautiful part of the world, especially with it's Jurassic coastline.  The weather was meant to be grim, however, apart from a few small showers, we were treated to some moments of glorious sunshine and dramatic skies. 

I had intended to take my sketchbook, but in the whirl of getting home from work on Friday, getting everything into the car and getting on our way - I left my sketchbook behind.  No sketchbook certainly does not mean no inspiration.  With the cameras on phones now being what they are, the fact that I also left my camera behind (I know, I know!) proved to be no problem either.

I managed to get some great shots, a couple of which I've included here, and some walks along the coastline have certainly given me some great ideas for work.  I think that as a landscape painter it's really important not to just observe or record or place, but to stand and just absorb it.  Experience the moment you are there, the quality of the light, the effects of the weather. 

Standing on a very windy Portland just as a weather front was moving in, gave some wonderful colours in the sky, but to look down at the rocks beneath your feet and see the remenants of prehistoric sealife, frozen in the rock for millions of years certainly adds to the sense of being very small standing out there.....very small indeed.  I have had some great ideas for the next series of works once I've finished my "Essex" series.  So it seems that to be an artist in a great landscape without a sketchbook, isn't such a problem as I'm sure it once used to be.

Only thing is.....I might need to make quite a few more trips back down to Weymouth!!