Escapes #6

Number 6 in the 'Escapes series - see this post to learn more about them.


40cm x 30cm, oil on box canvas £195 post free in the UK or a little extra for abroad - contact me for availability

Escapes#5

40cm x 30cm, oil on box canvas £195 post free in the UK or a little extra for abroad - contact me for availability

Escapes#4 SOLD

About the Escape Paintings

40cm x 30cm, oil on box canvas SOLD

Escapes #3

Escapes #3

Escapes #3

40cm x 50cm, oil on box canvas £195 post free in the UK or a little extra for abroad - contact me for availability
About the Escapes Series

Escapes#2

The second in the series of 'Escapes'

40cm x 50cm, oil on box canvas £195 post free in the UK or a little extra for abroad - contact me for availability

Escapes#1 SOLD

The first in the series of 'Escapes'

SOLD

Escapes

Been away for a few weeks due to a family bereavement but now it's the New Year, I am starting a new daily series called 'Escapes'

About The 'Escapes' series

I have been painting seascapes, landscapes, skyscapes and waterscapes in a semi abstract form since the early 1990's often in quite large formats for the gallery and latterly have been painting 'daily' in a small format. This series of oil paintings will be un-named but I am calling them 'Escapes'

This seems a good collective name for the subject matter and by not naming them specifically, the viewer can imbue their own interpretation or memory into the painting. Who has not taken a coastal country walk and viewed the sunset and waves with amazement or strolled through misty woods with sunlight sparkling on fallen rain water. These peripheral sensations are what I am trying to capture in the oil painting and indeed I have often been told that a particular painting reminds the viewer of one of their own experiences. So read in to them what you will!

They are a little smaller than I would paint for a gallery and therefore a good size for smaller spaces and rooms, but not as small as the regular 6" square daily paintings. They are on deep box (2") canvas frames with the edges painted so ready to hang!

White Roses and Orange Silk

OK its time to try out these roses in a bigger format. I got some beautiful white roses and put them in my brass pitcher and painted them larger than life. The challenge here is to look at the myriad different whites within the petals. This canvas is 100cm square and can be hung unframed...

It is for sale at the gallery or through me for £950 including free P&p within the UK

White Roses in a Silver Tankard

Its been a while but heres the latest painting of roses - I started with quite a dark bluey-grey for the flowers using Prussian Blue and a little Burnt Sienna and added the highlights at the end with a palette knife to keep things more abstract than literal.

I just delivered a collection of paintings across The Irish Sea 'The Cafe Collection at Rolf's Country House' in south west Cork, a small exhibition of small paintings here at a wonderful place for a holiday...Rolf's Country House

Snow White and Rose Red

Gorgeous red apples straight out of Sleeping Beauty. oil on linen, 30cm x 30cm

Strawberries & Cream (jug)

Just getting all I can from these strawberries before I blitz them into some ice-cream, plus the cherry season is almost finished...

Strawberries & Cream (roses)

Those two roses are just opening up nicely now and I am happy with the loose brushwork here, I draped a blue cloth around the bowl to give some complementary colour to the fruit. 30cm x 30cm oil on linen

Red Fruit & Wedgwood Blue

Another of these long panoramics - luscious red fruits and my favourite Wedgwood cream jug. Its all set out on a piece of glass with black cloth underneath so I can get the reflections. Again oil on linen at 20cm x 50cm

The Stockpot

New format, new support and new(ish) subject. Experimenting more with some still lifes, I've chosen this panoramic format - 20 x 50 cm and a natural linen support so I can allow it to show through here and there. It has a lovely weave too. This was all done from life but I'm pondering about how to do bigger works over several sessions with perishable food - I think I have a solution though...

Colour mixing experiment!

There are some apples that are neither quite red or yellow but sort of reddish orange. This is an experiment in colour mixing rather than being about the apple as such. Surprisingly I got just the right rich glaze colour by mixing pure magenta with lemon yellow - of course it helps to sit the fruit on its complementary colour!

Cherries SOLD

I've got the chance to do some large 'foodie' paintings but I want to practice with some smaller paintings first. These cherries started to go dull quite quickly - so I sprayed them with artists re-touching varnish which had the added bonus of 'sticking' them in place

Still Life With Carnations

Just having a try at a really old fashioned feel to this still life using lots of glazes of various translucent red and yellow oxides to build up the warmth of the colours

Fading Roses

I love the way that as the rosebuds start to fade, they go 'blowsey' and really soft. I cut all the buds short and crammed them in to the little tin bucket.

White Rose Spray

All my white roses have been sold now so I'm painting some more small ones for the Bath gallery - practicing for doing a larger painting of a bouquet, this one is about 15 x 20cm, and is a bit more defined than the previous one (even though its the same rose)

Rose Study

Well, its been a hectic time, helping to manage a long exhibition in The Octagon in Bath, but back into the studio now with a series of flower studies.

'Springtime'

Another water painting of one square meter, oil on canvas. I use Spectrum Alkaflow when I'm mixing the deep green water (mixed with Prussian Blue, Cadmium Yellow, Light and some Ultramarine) - it retains the gloss even when the painting is dry so it still has a wet look.

Blossom Time - Bath

Getting ready to exhibit in Bath at the end of the month - so I took a walk through the Botanical Gardens last week. The pond is under the magnolia trees whose blossom was just opening. This painting is a metre square, oil on canvas.

The View from Rolf's Country House

This is the front entrance to Rolfs Country House & Restaurant, the view goes on for miles and this was unusual warm afternoon sun in March. I painted plein-air on a ground of pale orange to pick up the warmth.

Horseshoe Bay - Sherkin Island

Who wants to go and sit here?

I do!

The Baltimore Beacon from Sherkin Island SOLD

You can see the beacon from the island and we had the best weather imaginable! 15cm x 20cm

Here I am painting the beacon from the pub car park - a pint of Murphy's was wending its way over from the bar from the person that bought it. (The painting that is!)

Sherkin Friary from Baltimore Harbour

Sherkin Friary from Baltimore Harbour - 10cm x 15cm, oil on linen panel

Painting from the same place in the harbour is this view of the ruined Friary on Sherkin Island which is a 10 minute ferry ride across the harbour from Baltimore - this is the first time I used these little linen panels, letting some of the natural fabric show through the paint.

Internet access at last!

Mt Gabriel from Baltimore Harbour - 10cm x 15cm, oil on linen panel


So, its been glorious weather down here in West Cork, and I went out and about doing some plein-air painting. I have only jus got access to the internet so couldn't post any sooner...

Painting in Baltimore Harbour

Spring Tulips in Milk Jug.

White milk jug on a white background - just makes those colours glow!

Spring Tulip Study

I set the glass jar against a white background, and the tones are set by the greenness of the glass and leaves etc, but the vivid yellow and red of the petals are a lovely contrast here.

Heading off to Ireland soon

The Baltimore Beacon overlooking Sherkin Island in West Cork (the Fastnet Rock is in the distance), We're off to do some painting for a week soon! It'll be St Patricks Day while we are over - I wonder how much that will interrupt getting any work done?

Here's one of the first paintings I ever did of Ireland - a view of The Baltimore Beacon looking back to the mainland from Sherkin Island

Time to change the colours!

I've been doing everything on dark colours recently so its time to change tack a bit, I may be painting in front of people in Ireland next month and so I thought 'what would be a tricky subject ?' I need to practice the different tones of white too, so I arranged a rose on white linen with this little perfume bottle. I tried to paint the bottle using only shapes - no edges as such. The ground was pale warm orange. The painting is 5" x 7

Rose Study

I'm trying to use more 'blocky' brush strokes here and also I'm trying a new red - Winsor Red Deep - its really hard not to overwork the flowers.

Another Daily Paintworks Challenge

I put the rose I just painted last week in to this weeks challenge so it's pictured below last weeks 10 minute challenge post (if that makes sense). I had no idea the new challenge would be a red Valentine Rose - still it's that time of year...