Spring Garden

#15 'Spring Garden' oil on canvas 8 x 8"

I had a spare hour but couldn't leave the house so I dashed outside and painted this corner of the garden, an area I'd been wanting to capture for a while.  I'd prepared this canvas with a deep pinky purply ground some time before so used that which gave a nice contrast to the light areas of leaves and foliage.  My favourite area is the herb garden with the orange bricks so I might revisit this again later in the summer.

The Eyebrook in Spring

#14 The Eyebrook in Spring oil on canvas 8x8"

I thought I'd return to the Eyebrook and paint the same spot from the week before when it had been raining. The colours were so much more vibrant this time and the sky was reflecting off the water beautifully. I used a smaller canvas this time and I prefer the composition with the water leading your eye in, across the canvas and the back across the tree line.

I used burnt umber to mark out the initial shapes and to get the dark tonal values down. Then I mixed the main colours and got a bit of each in place so I could see how the colours would work together. I spent longer than I wanted to on the painting so next time I want to concentrate on working more quickly and not overworking areas.

Slawston Hill from Welham

#13 Slawston Hill from Welham oil on board 12x10"

I haven't been very good at posting in the last month. I've got a bit to update so there will be a bit of a flurry of posts now.

It was a lovely sunny morning when I painted this view across the Welland Valley in Leicestershire.  When I started the sky was completely clear but the clouds came over half way through which I was pleased about as I've been wanting to get more practice painting clouds 'en plein air'.

I set my easel on the side of a quiet single track road and I had quite a few cyclists and farmers stop to see what I was painting. It's lovely when people take a real interest and often they like to talk about their own experiences with painting which is nice.