OPEN HOUSE PREP 1

We have a very active artists' community in Putney and every year the local council, Wandsworth run an Open House for artists working in the area to show their work from their homes or studios. The borough is divided into 5 areas of which Putney is one. I am one of 4 local reps helping to get our area's work publicised. This year we have launched a website at www.putneyartists.org. The event takes place on the first 2 weekends of October.

Consequently I have only produced a modest amount of work in the past few days, what with painting frames and carrying out other pre-exhibition tasks.

In the two landscape paintings I concentrated on the colour in shadows. Quite an interesting exercise, because as soon as too much colour enters, it can be mis-interpreted by the eye as light, but if there is none, the shadows are dull and lifeless.

Barnes Common - oil on canvas 24 x 30cm

Path from Waterman's green - Putney - oil on board 35 x 35cm

In the to still lifes below I have been developing a more subtle method of representation, particularly working on soft and hard edges. Also, thinking about less conventional compositions.

Red Lollypop - oil on canvas 24 x 30cm

Corn - oil on canvas 24 x 30cm

LOW ACHIEVEMENT WEEK

Being a bank holiday week and having to do a few other bits and pieces I didn't get much done this week. I produced a painting from a photo I took in the rain at the weekend. I thought the woman with the yellow coat, red accessories and colour co-ordinated dog would make a great picture, and indeed it did. Some nice fresh brushwork and successful reflections.


34 x 45 oil on canvas

On Thursday evening I went to the private view of the Plein Air Brotherhood. A very nice bunch of guys and some absolutely superb paintings. Had a chat with Adebanji, David, Karl, Roy and Anthony. I hope to paint with them in the future. Also in attendance was 'The Botticelli of Backlit Barbie Dolls'... as he seemed quite relaxed about being described by an art critic recently.


I was obviously inspired into action to go out today, Friday and hit the riverbed. There was a rather beautiful limpid hazy light in the morning which I tried to capture. Quite tricky, almost pulled it off. To make my task more difficult I painted the hotch-potch of boats under the footbridge and didn't do enough work on simplifying them and throwing out the irrelevant stuff.


24x 30cm oil on canvas 

In the afternoon I headed to the boathouses, with a low but rising tide.  I caught the sunny atmosphere reasonably well.

24x 30cm oil on canvas

AN EXPERIMENTAL WEEK

As the weather was so appalling after Monday (see the riverbed plein air painting I did on Monday in my last blog) I decided to knock about in the studio painting from some photos. I started having a go at a 'sparkle on water' picture. This concept has been rather over done by many painters and I certainly don't think I added anything of my own to the genre. However, it's an interesting exercise to do, just to understand exactly how the key tones should be spread to make it work.


Bird sanctuary sparkle - Oil on board 25 x 25cm

Then I painted the ornate Victorian Teddington lock, trying hard to avoid too many sharp edges, which I think was the problem with my previous attempts at this subject.


Teddington Lock shadows - Oil on board 35 x 35cm

Next I painted a view along the boathouses in Putney. I've tried painting this scene on a few occasions in the past year, but found it too complex to produce a convincing painting. I'm not terribly happy with the outcome. I lost control of some areas completely (near left side of the picture for instance), but certainly it's my best attempt so far. I have captured the hectic nature of the area and the white boat in the distance being carried across the road, a common feature of the scene, works well, so not a complete waste of time!


The boathouses - Oil on canvas 45 x 55cm

I visited Norfolk about a year ago and was impressed by the beauty of its skies. I took several photos. I've looked at them many times since. This week I finally plucked up the courage to have a go at one. The foliage in the foreground, which should really be the easiest bit, is not too convincing, whereas the rest of the scene sits comfortably in space. Will have another go at a similar picture in the future.


Norfolk clouds - Oil on canvas 45 x 55cm

On Friday I moved back to familiar territory. I have painted the two houseboats at the end of Putney pier about 20 times in the past 18 months. They always end up looking like... well a couple of boats at the end of a pier. By portraying one of them in a shaft of light, the viewer has to do a lot more work. I think I've finally made it a more satisfying subject.


Light shaft - Putney pier - Oil on canvas 35 x 45cm

MORE WATER

Mmm... what is it with me and water. It seems to creep into my life in every way! The week started badly, the sun was out first thing Monday morning so I headed off to Hammersmith Bridge for some plein air. Within 30 mins it clouded over and in under an hour it was pouring with rain. I headed back to the studio and completed the top five pictures below in the studio, before venturing out to Barnes common to capture a very beautiful London Plane tree on Friday. Today I went down onto the riverbed and painted a subtle sky and my favourite bridge, the combined District Line tube and footbridge. Water in 6 out of 7 pictures!

The runner - Oil on canvas 30 x 40cm 

The cloud - Oil on canvas 30 x 40cm 

Six bows - Oil on canvas 30 x 40cm 

Hammersmith Bridge sunset - Oil on board 35 x 35cm 

Conversations - Oil on canvas 35 x 45cm 

The tree on Barnes Pond - Oil on canvas 24 x 30cm 

Union jack - Oil on canvas 24 x 30cm 

WATER WEEK

The weather was all over the place this week so I stayed in the studio, painting frames for an upcoming show at a local restaurant. I started the week with a dull still life painting, then some lads carrying a boat and next started experimenting with some new subject matter. I recently came across the yachting action shots of the American artist Willard Bond and decided to have a look at similar subject matter. My goal is to combine his subject matter with the 'wave handling' of Gary Long and the painterly strokes of Paul Lemon. Mmmm maybe plein air isn't so difficult after all!!

TWO WEEK'S WORK

Have been painting away for the past two weeks. To follow is a chronological pictorial diary! All external pictures are plein air:

Costa take away - Oil on board 20 x 20cm

Brown carrier bag - Oil on board 20 x 20cm

Blush pink nail varnish - Oil on canvas 40 x 30cm

Four white roses - Oil on canvas 24 x 30cm

Apple treeo - Oil on canvas 24 x 30cm

Homage to Joni - Oil on canvas 24 x 30cm

Barnes common - Oil on canvas 24 x 30cm

Barnes pond - Oil on canvas 24 x 30cm

Self portrait - Oil on canvas 45 x 60cm

Mirrored flowers - Oil on canvas 40 x 40cm

Homage to Mr Buckley - Oil on board 35 x 35cm

Putney pier and posts - Oil on canvas 24 x 30cm

Bishop's Palace picknickers - Oil on canvas 24 x 30cm

Not quite sure what I'm going to do with all these pictures! The studio is getting a bit crowded. Maybe sand over them and start again!

THREE BRIDGES

Another lovely day and a chance to get out on the road. First stop, the riverbed near Mortlake railway bridge, a monument to Victorian steel work. While I was painting, a steam train puffed across it. No I hadn't been eating magic mushrooms! I guess it was one of those heritage trains. I would have caught the billowing steam trailing in its wake, but there wasn't any! Obviously burning some kind of smokeless coal ;-( First picture 8.00 - 9.30 captures the mood well. Rather poor paint strokes though. Second picture 10.00 - 11.30 has some nicer strokes, but some of the tones are a bit jumpy. Around lunchtime I cycled further on, to Strand on the green and captured a pretty scene looking down river. My first serious stab at using cobalt blue, rather than ultramarine. Boy have I been missing something!