Newlyn, July
I was in Cornwall last week teaching my 4 day plein air course at the Newlyn School of Art. I arrived a couple of days early so I could do some of my own work and headed to Mousehole. It was hot and bright, but not sweltering like Bristol. These heat waves are getting quite tedious, I’m not a fan of anything over about 24 centigrade!
I set up on the step at the edge of the harbour with some lovely small boats in front of me and the sun behind. I am fascinated with how reflections and shadows interact in water and there is no better subject matter than small boats to geek-out on this phenomena! I did a couple of 9 × 7” studies, then a vertical 12 × 6”. It was great fun and the only way to get the mast in! The tide went out fast, but I got the water painted first!
I also had the pleasure of meeting a Texan called Baron, who had rented the cottage immediately behind me at my painting spot in Mousehole. He was sketching all day from his table and chair outside the cottage and sketched me painting my boats! He got every detail in; the concrete bollard, the brushwasher, the perfect angle of my painting box and the bandana under my cap to stop my sunburn getting more sunburned! We talked for a couple of hours about painting and drawing, lovely bloke.
It's only when you leave the studio and work outside that these random events occur... one of the best things about painting outside is meeting new people.
The teaching went well - Day 1 was in St Loy woods, out of the sun and surrounded by dappled light and glowing green leaves. There's a lot going on in the woods, detail everywhere and a global, glowing green hue. We focussed on painting transparent, with no titanium white to get that glassy, deep colour and a shortcut to texture and detail.
Day 2 was back to Mousehole, I wanted to do a variety of subject matter over the course, so it was nice to paint some boats with the group along with the woods and a coastal scene. The concrete platform had space for all 10 of us and there was plenty of boats to choose from.
Day 3 we went to Cape Cornwall and had the whole place to ourselves. There was a cool breeze and very consistent light. We focussed on the importance of colour temperature in shadows and leveraging the sandy tone of the board to help describe dry grass. Everyone was locked in, concentrating hard and I don't think any of us wanted to stop painting!
Chine V - Kauai
Chine V is now hanging in it's stunning home in Kauai and I couldn't think of a better place for it.
Steven Spielberg chose Kauai and Oahu as the location for filming the island scenes in Jurassic Park for a reason - it's a wild, dynamic paradise with vibrant colours and incredible flora. The giant Gunnera leaves seen in the painting are sometimes known as "dino-food" ...It was meant to be.
The fact that the Chine series, although British in origin sit so well in this landscape is testament to the diversity and colour that the Victorians cultivated in our many botanical gardens and I'm beyond thrilled to make this connection to the other side of the world. The blue tit sits in the painting as a reminder of its UK origin.
Thanks again to the client for their unwavering belief in the work and for choosing me.
Chelsea Physic Garden & Treasure House Fair
I recently visited the beautiful Chelsea Physic Garden in London to paint and gather reference for future works. The garden’s mission is to demonstrate the medicinal, economic, cultural and environmental importance of plants to the survival and well-being of humankind. They aim to help everyone to understand the value of plants in their lives and have done a wonderful job in nurturing a calm and beautiful place to relax, ponder and learn about the healing power of plants.
The gardens immediately felt like a natural fit for my current painting arc, especially the smoke bush, who’s rainbow colours stopped me in my tracks as I walked past - dappled sunlight creating a neon hum through the uppermost leaves .
I have the honour of showing the four studies made from the Physic Garden at Treasure House Fair - a deeply impressive group of invited galleries showing collections of paintings, sculpture, watches, furniture and more.
I'm showing on the Sculpture Walk stand with Harvey Horswell who has done a fantastic job curating the sculpture walk at Treasure House - a winding trail of 36 sculptures positioned throughout the Fair for visitors to enjoy as they move between stands.
The Fair hosts many top galleries both national and international, exhibiting works from some of the titans of oil painting. It's both humbling and incredibly exciting to be hung in the same space as Rembrandt, Picasso, Hockney, Auerbach and Seago, every one of them an idol.
The private view was yesterday, but general admission runs until 30th June, open every day from 11-8pm
Here’s a collection of some of my favourite pieces from this eclectic fair.
Falmouth, Cornwall.
I’ve had a thoroughly wonderful week in Falmouth with my family, house-sitting for a friend and her 2 cats. It can be hard to fill the 2 week Easter break when you have kids, so this opportunity was jumped upon.
Coming down here was also a perfect opportunity to do some painting, especially since I have multiple 4-day plein air painting workshops coming up at the Newlyn School of Art. I needed to recce the area and re-familiarize myself with the best painting spots.
The first session was on the Falmouth peninsula at Pendennis point, looking across the water to St Anthony Head and the Lighthouse from the awesome 80’s TV show Fraggle Rock. The rain came down just as I finished and quickly turned to hail.
The next day I headed down early to Gyllyngvase Beach and started painting at 8am while recording an episode of Thoughts on Painting on my GoPro for my YouTube channel. I hadn’t done an episode in 21 months, so it was good to get into that frame of mind again and waffle on to camera while I painted. I was really pleased with how it turned out and felt I really got the light of the morning.
The third session was overlooking Watergate Bay from the clifftop while my son had his first ever surfing lesson down below. I could just see his bright red board in the surf. The wind was quite strong up there, but my new tripod can spread its legs super wide so I was stable!
The final painting day was back at Watergate Bay, but this time down on the beach while Louis had another surfing lesson. The weather was a really mixed bag, with scattered showers, some intense wind and sun bursts. It ended again with rain and me trying to shield the painting from getting wet and stop the wind whipping sand onto the surface. I got it done though and the painting survived. I was pleased with the atmosphere in this piece, the lifeguards put the flags up 10 mins before I finished so they had to go in!
I tried one more painting looking back up the beach into the sun, contré jour, but the tide was coming in fast. This meant grabbing my easel in panic and running up the beach three times, leaving my paint box to get swamped. The wind really picked up suddenly and blew my easel over when I was rescuing the paint box and everything slammed into the beach -brushes everywhere, sand in everything and my wet painting face-down on the beach. Arrrrgh! I deemed it unrecoverable and binned it in the cark park on the way out. You win some, you lose some.
The final day of the trip was spent driving West to Penzance and St Michael’s Mount, then Mousehole, Porthcurno (stunning), Sennen and finally the very dramatic Land’s End. How have I got to 46 without ever seeing Land’s End?!
I also visited The National Trust gardens at Glendurgan and Trelissick. Both absolutely stunning and perfect locations for more botanical painting reference. I will be returning!
All in all, a hugely enjoyable and rewarding week, with good company, good food and spectacular views. I love Cornwall and will be back many more times this year if all goes to plan.
Chine III
I finished the final large painting in my Chine series yesterday which feels good. It’s the biggest painting I have done to date at 160 x 120cm but I want to go bigger. I think around 200 x 150cm would be ideal but my studio just isn’t big enough to do it. I got to use Kit Form, the gallery space on the ground floor of Jamaica Street Studios to photograph all three Chine paintings. We’re really lucky to have the space and I couldn’t get decent photos without somewhere big to space the lights out.
Chine III was going to feature a British garden bird but I changed my mind at the last minute and decided on a British butterfly. Can you find the caterpillar and pupa? they are in there somewhere!
I may do a couple of smaller pieces in this series, as I think 5 paintings sounds like more of a collection than 3. We’ll see what January brings.
Have a great Xmas and stay tuned for more news in the new year!
Chine II
I have just finished the second painting in my current series - another view into a botanical garden in one of Bournemouths many chines. A chine is a steep-sided, narrow valley where a stream meets the sea, formed by water eroding soft cliffs and are common in Southern England. I love the fact that these exotic plants can casually exist in the British climate and call it home. The Victorians did a great job in gathering various species from across the globe and curating them in public and private spaces around the country. I will be visiting many of these botanical gardens in the near future and continue to produce paintings celebrating them. I have included a common British garden bird in both Chine paintings to make the point that although tropical in appearance, these are British spaces, with native British animals living in harmony within them.
Portals
I’m currently working on a new body of work called “Portals” It was pointed out to me recently that something that unites everything I do is scale - I’m either painting from way back (a view) or up a bit closer (a scene) or within a room (a space) or right up close where every object is 1:1 scale (a portal)
“Portals” felt like the best way to describe these pieces because when you stand in front of them, that’s how they feel. They’re big - 48 x 36” (or larger) so they fill your vision when up close. They also look quite 3D, due to how I use transparent and opaque oil colour in specific areas to create the illusion of light illuminating from above or simply reflecting of the waxy surface of a leaf and looking flat and opaque.
I want these pieces to feel like doorways to another world, one that’s familiar, but also slightly alien, like a tear has opened up in space-time and you can step through onto another planet and go explore.
There’s also a sense that you’re now small, like one of The Borrowers, looking up into a jungle that stretches up and out before you. Deep, mysterious and exciting.
Puzzle Wood
I’ve recently started visiting Puzzlewood, in the Forest of Dean. It really is one of, if not the most enchanting and spectacular forest I’ve ever been to in the UK. Once a Roman iron mine, the pits and fissures of eroded limestone have long since been reclaimed by nature and completely covered by moss, ferns and fungus. J.R.R. Tolkien was a frequent visitor to the area and is said to have been inspired by Puzzlewood when creating the Old Forests of Mirkwood, Lothlorien, and other places in Middle-earth. It’s so other-worldly that the TV and film industry have also used it's magic to film scenes for Dr Who, Merlin and Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
I recently spent two whole days there, wandering it’s twisting paths, looking, taking reference photos and painting plein air. Access to the woods has been restricted and quite rightly so, to wooden-fenced paths, steps and walkways both up in the trees and down in the pits. This funnelling of human traffic keeps the disturbance to a minimum and stops delicate ferns and plants being trampled and spoiled. What you get then, is a truly magical walking tour of all its twisting, gnarled glory. The area is also a temperate rainforest where oak, beech, ash, lime and yew can all be found, twisting and turning their roots into the gaps in the rocks, making for wonderful organic sculptures.
From a painting perspective, it’s almost overwhelming how many options there are. Do I focus in on something small and close like a root or fern, or go large and wide to take in composition of trees and rocks? I feel there’s such a wealth of possibility that I’m going to be able to produce a really decent body of work from there.
Here’s a selection of paintings and some photos from my recent trip. Something relatively new for me, has been the urge to play with colour. There’s hints of blues, oranges and yellows in the wood that I really wanted to accentuate. There’s a creative freedom in pushing colour that I’m thoroughly enjoying.
I hope you enjoy this set.
The Discerning Eye
I was delighted to find I’ve been selected for this years Discerning Eye competition hosted by The Mall Galleries in London. I have exhibited there 3 times previously and always enjoy the show.
The ING Discerning Eye annual exhibition is a show of small, domestic scale, works independently selected by six prominent figures from different areas of the art world: two artists, two collectors and two critics. The selectors choose both from the publically submitted works and works by personally invited artists. Each selector's choice is theirs own alone and is hung in separate sections to give each its own distinctive identity. The impression emerges of six small exhibitions within the whole. It provides a rare opportunity for works by lesser-known artists to be hung alongside contributions from internationally recognised names. The only restrictions are that the pieces must be for sale, the artists UK based, the size of the work (50cm in any dimension) and that the selectors choose at least 25% of their section from the open submission.
This year’s selectors are... Will Gompertz, Director of the Sir John Soane's Museum; Adebanji Alade, President of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters; Gabrielle Blackman, one of the UK’s leading interior designers; Nina Murdoch, award-winning painter; Paul Carey-Kent, art critic and curator; and Carol Leonard, collector. Selected works will be shown in a group exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London, from 15 to 24 November 2024, and eligible for a wide range of awards, including the prestigious ING Purchase Prize, worth £5,000.
I hope to see you there!
The Woods
I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to paint. This question has raised it’s head a few times over the past year and requires a lot of deep thought. I’m not one of those people that’s just happy painting anything, I really need to be emotionally invested or I can’t muster up that laser focus and tunnel vision that I need and enjoy so much when making the work. It’s got to consume me or I’m not interested.
Apart from painting, my main interest is bikes. Push bikes, not motorbikes. Proper bikes. I love them and have ridden them all my life, whenever I can. When I paint at local spots, it’s almost always accessed by bike. Not having to look for, or pay for parking is an obvious bonus, but it’s more than that. There’s something about having your studio on your back and two wheels under your feet, it’s just so liberating.
Most weekends I get up early while the family sleep and go out into the woods on my mountain bike, either locally in Leigh Woods/Aston Court, or a bit further afield in the Forest of Dean. I’ve been exploring these areas for over 20 years now, but I am still discovering new trails, it’s extraordinary. There’s a distinct thrill I get from turning a corner on a trail and realising I haven’t been there before. It’s a childlike excitement that swells up just as it did when I was 14 and exploring my local woods in Oxfordshire. “I wonder where this goes…?” What a captivating thought. Let’s find out!
What’s bizarre is that I hadn’t, until recently, ever seriously considered painting the woods by bike. I had done it in Wales, painting views in the Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons, but that is a 60-90 minute drive and involves some very serious climbing when you ride up there. Leigh woods is a 15 minute drive from my house and there are other beautiful woodlands just a 5 minute ride from my front door! The thing with plein air painting is it only really makes practical sense if it’s close by. 3 hours in the car to access a spot just doesn’t make sense when you have to pick your kids up from school at 3pm!
So, I put my mountain bike on the roof rack, dropped the kids off at 9am and then drove to Leigh Woods with my painting gear in my back pack and rode to some spots that I knew were beautiful. Good lord… I hadn’t realised how many options there are compositionally when you’re surrounded by trees… Literally every way you look there’s a painting. I’m normally incredibly fussy about my views and spend a lot of time scouting areas out, sometimes without my painting gear as I can cover more ground and save each potential spot to my phone, but the woods was different. It was more abstract. I was seeing shapes, not clearly defined foreground and background planes. This was about positive and negative space. It was about tone and texture. It was new and incredibly exciting.
Another thing… I like being alone. Painting in London, on the streets of the West End for example, is total sensory overload. It’s LOUD, there’s a lot lot of people, they’re right next to you, there’s bus fumes, sirens… well, it’s all a bit much for me these days to be honest. I’m 45 this year and something in me has definitely changed over the last 10. I’m quieter, I seek quiet. I move slower, I think slower, I want solitude, not crowds. Ironically, I feel more “surrounded” in the woods than on the street, but in a natural way. Walking into the woods, off the path is also glorious. Stepping over logs and ducking under branches, again, brings up those childlike feelings of wonder and when the dappled light hit the bluebells all around me, well…
I don’t want to gush too much about the whole experience as I’m not sure how it comes off, but I found it overwhelming in all the right ways. Shapes everywhere, texture everywhere, light pooling, and spring leaves glowing like kryptonite as the sun pushed through them. Wow, why didn’t I do this before…?
Starting the first painting was exhilarating, but daunting. A subject matter this different meant I couldn’t just start on auto-pilot, it was like starting again in many ways, feeling my way through it and just trying to be open enough to let the painting happen without over thinking it. Easier said than done. I was most pleased with this first painting of the day, there was an energy and rawness to it that I loved, something you can’t get if you phone it in, it only comes from being bold and letting go a bit.
I’m going to keep exploring this new realm. I’m at the absolute beginning with it as a subject matter and feel there’s just so much potential here. Scale is the main thing on my mind right now… The abstract nature of these natural compositions lends itself very well to painting large, I feel. This will put me squarely into very new territory but I am absolutely up for the challenge and can’t wait to get stuck in.
Onwards!
Black Mountains by mountain bike
I have been waiting for a “dramatic weather day” to venture back into the Black Mountains, but this time on my mountain bike. I wanted to see that low cloud that literally touches the hills and have mist swirling around me, some real atmosphere! I kept an eye on the weather and picked a day that had a forecast for intermittent rain and set off to South Wales with my bike on the roof rack.
It was raining when I arrived in the Black Mountains, thick grey cloud covered the hills and was worried I wouldn’t be able to see a thing. I took a right after Crickhowell up the A479 which runs right up the valley, but after a few hundred metres it was closed, sod’s law! I managed to take a side road which runs parallel to the main road and zoomed up the single track, past farms and cottages. I got some great reference photos along those roads and managed to get all the way up the valley to the lay-by at the base of Mynyydd Troed and Mynydd Llangorse.
I rode (pushed) my bike up Mynydd Troed and rode along the plateau, taking photos as I went. It was incredibly peaceful up there, alone in the mist with just sheep for company. I really do love being alone in the mountains on my bike, it brings back wonderful childhood memories of walks with my parents on Dartmoor, slightly wet, slightly cold, but totally exhilarated and happy.
I did meet one person up there, a lovely chap collecting mushrooms, or “mountain medicine” as he put it…
After Mynydd Troed I rode back down to the car, stocked up on snacks and pushed up the other side to the top of Mynydd LLangorse. The stormy sky was putting on a real show while I rode alongside a sheep farmer, chatting to him about training sheep dogs. When I got to a good vantage point, I sat down and just watched nature do it’s thing for an hour, before riding back to the car.
Just as I set off, the sun came out (obviously) so I had to keep stopping in lay-bys and jumping out to get some reference shots of the incredible autumn light show that nature was putting on for me. What a treat!
Brecon Beacons by gravel bike
I thought for a while that a bike would probably be better than my just my feet for accessing the Brecon Beacons and Black Mountains in South Wales. You can carry a lot of stuff on a bike and going downhill is an absolute riot. I have a lovely Titanium framed Planet X Tempest gravel bike that is perfect for bridleways and country lanes, so rode down to the station and got the train up to Abergavenny.
There’s a long hill with a spine on the top that sits near LLangorse lake that has a good view of the Beacons and Talybont on Usk. I started there and rode/pushed the bike to the top. It was a glorious day, perfect for sketching, so I found a comfy boulder and did a few pencil sketches.
I then headed down onto the road and pedalled my way to Cantref, which has some stunning views of Pen y Fan.
I got a bunch of photo reference, before heading North to Brecon and up Coed Fenni Fach. I don’t think the trail up there gets used much as it was incredibly overgrown and tough going, it felt like pushing through a bracken jungle at times! All good fun.
After Fenni Fach I went up the very steep Pen y Crug. The trails were far more open and easier to navigate and the views were better from the top! You can see 360 degrees and right across Brecon to the Black Mountains and also back towards Pen y Fan. Lovely.
I was pretty exhausted after all that, so it was back to Abergavenny station and the train to Bristol. A very satisfying day, with loads of new spots discovered for future paintings. Hurrah!