sketching

Wow wow wow!!!All I can say is amazing perspective.Im insane with jealousy at your talent.
CArry on the good work.

I love them. Whne you did the paintings, what did you start with first?

thanks material girl

mmm - I don't really know what I start with! I sort of establish where the horizon is and the top of the hill nearest, before it drops away, then think about the fields and the shape of the land and then go in with more colour everywhere. The lovely thing about oils is that you can change things quickly if the light suddenly gets really interesting - like the gorgeous cloud shadows that kept drifting across the land, changing it entirely. You can see how the light and the colours changed between paintings - they were done in 3-4 hours maximum one afternoon.

I work all over a painting, never finishing one piece off first so that it 'gels'.

It was mainly done with a painting knife and occasionally a brush. I find that easiest as you can quickly clean it on a rag and not have to worry about taking much turps.

For the first one I put in just a couple of pencil lines to guide me - not a complete drawing, just the top of the hills and bits, it is completely covered by the paint, the next two I didn't draw at all, just painted.

It's ages since I did a view out over a large area like this and I really enjoyed it, I plan to do some more but larger and maybe straight onto canvas next time. I've got some 16x20 inch canvasses I could use.

I like the light at this time of year - summer light is boring to paint - blue skies and no interesting shadows. Now there are long shadows as the sun is lower and the clouds show the shapes of the hills and create pools of shadow against bright sunshine - I love it.

Excellent color blending and usage! Outstanding work!

thank you

thank you

do you paint?

I do, though not nearly as often as I'd like. I got a bfa in Art (emphasis in Graphic Design) but was 2 classes away from also attaining the same bfa in art with an emphasis in painting.

I focused most of my time playing with colors on diverse media more than realism. I can always appreciate someone with the skill to paint a good landscape.

love the skies and the patches of light , it even feels like a breezy day. Did you use indigo in the second to last sky?

Questionner I like to paint abstracts as well, though their foundation is usually my landscapes.

I am attempting to work out how to do one that expresses 'slapstick' for a project I've promised to take part in. - I didn't want to do a figurative image but try to express it in a totally abstract way. It's for an exhibition linked to the Comedy Festival here.

Farmer it was a mixture of ultramarine, permanent rose and burnt umber as I remember - I take my Griffin Alkyds when I paint plein air as they are smaller tubes and dry faster, so it's easier to remember! The burnt umber cools the colour a bit and takes away the pretty floweriness of the ultramarine+permanent rose. Ideal for the lovely autumn skies, (today it's blue blue blue though and I'm wondering whether to nip out with my camera and catch the autumn trees). Indigo is a gorgeous colour and I hve it in my watercolours but for some reason don't have it in oil.

I love the spontaneous feel of these little paintings, Vivien!

Sounds intriguing. I'd love to see pictures when you have it all figured out.

thanks msolga - they were done very quickly.


Questionner - mmm - it's at a standstill at the moment as other projects are interesting me much more, I have to get back to it though.



this is a working around sketchy idea on the computer(done with the touch pad on a laptop) - very basic but I was trying to think about the constant movement and repetition of slapstick. I find the computer useful for working out thoughts like this sometimes and then in paint it can develop and change.

Interesting. When I think of slapstick I think controlled chaos with a somewhat hidden but obvious intention.

So much is happening, but it's all happening to set up a certain situation, it's directed.

I like your concept. Thanks for sharing it!

thanks for those thoughts - I'm adding them to my list of thoughts around the subject

msolga thanks

I'm crazy about those sketches/paintings, Vivien...

thanks Osso!

the light is just wonderful at this time of year, changing by the second.

I went out again yesterday with the same friend to another hilltop - one minute the trees the other side of the stone wall were bright light orange against darkness, then darkness lost in darkness behind, then dark against a light field behind, far off fields would suddenly be a flash of brightness while the surrounding area was in deep shadow from a passing cloud - it was beautiful but so COLD! sitting on a hilltop in autumn isn't comfortable. I was painting with gloves on and as I'm a messy painter it means digging out some ancient (odd) gloves as they ended up multicoloured.