Mile and a Quarter Lane. Watercolour.

Getting into the swing of things again. Mile and a Quarter Lane, Forty Hall, Enfield 8 x 6 inches.

What to do?

So many distractions so little time. Is blogging the way anymore? Is it time to face up to FaceBook? Do I start Twittering? At the moment there is a mixed up soup of options to get the message out. Seems like none of them hit the spot any more. Confused as to what one should do now. Your thoughts?

David Hockney Landscape Exhibition.

I'm looking forward to seeing David Hockney's Landscape Exhibition at the Royal Academy. I'm really pleased he is re-popularising landscape painting. There is a lot of beauty in the English landscape which needs to be captured for the generations to come.

Here are a couple of my latest landscape paintings. You may be able to detect some of the influence that David has picked up on. I really must have a word with him if I see him at the exhibition.

Low Lying Mist. Watercolour 7 x 5 inches.

Woodland Track after the Rain. Watercolour 7 x 5 inches.

London 2012 Paintings.

These are my first paintings since the beginning of 2012. I've been mulling over a new marketing tactic over the last few weeks. I still have a little work to do but have got most of the groundwork sorted in my head. I don't want to say what it entails just yet in case I find I am unable to do it for legal reasons.

The only clue I can give is that London will be hosting the 2012 Olympics and I want to build up a substantial body of work for when the city is invaded by tourists who may want to take a little bit of England home with them. Also  I've been looking into getting a Peddlars Licence. Could be fun.

However I need to build up my stock of paintings and these are my first this year. Hopefully I can ramp-up production once I've shaken off this lingering cold. They are all 7 x 5 inch watercolours, just a nice size which will not take up any room in a travellers luggage allowance.

All I got for Christmas

was a streaming cold, so I just shut myself away and did some painting. Bah Humbug!

Looking for JMW

Because last Monday was the anniversary of Turner's death in 1851, I painted a small tribute to the Master.

Looking for JMW.   Watercolour 7 x 5 inches.

Back in the woods again.

Back in the woods again. I've thrown myself back into my work again and it's only the thought of getting back into the woods again that's been keeping me happy. It's been a very challenging time in these last few months. I lost my youngest brother in the last month and my little cat Woger in October who was a sheer delight to be with for the last sixteen years. It's been a very hard heartbroken few months.

I have been able to paint though (just). Some of the images are just too painful and personal to put on my blog but the actual task of making them has helped me to exorcise the demons of the past. My life will never be the same again but over the last few days I've been able to paint the types of scenes which gave me so much pleasure in the past when things were ticking over nicely.

They are all Watercolour 7 x 5 inches. 

Spectroscopic Therapy.

Spectroscopic Therapy. Gouache 11 x 7 inches.

As artists we can count our blessings. We are only really happy when we are creating, although at times it can drive us mad when the image in our head dilutes by the time it gets to the end of our brush. Even so, the act of creating is important when life throws it's shit at us. We can console ourselves and express ourselves in ways that many can't. We can get comfort and briefly escape reality by turning our attention to the thing we love doing.

This painting portrays (for me) darkness pre-birth, darkness at death and a narrow band of spectroscopic gaiety in between. It's our job to make that band of light and colour as wide as we can.

This is my therapy. This is what I feel I should do as an artist when words fall short of how I feel.

NPN Junction.

It's amazing isn't it? I went through a short period where I was able to empty my head and paint from the gut. I know they weren't masterpieces but they had a certain something that made me happy. I try not to think too deeply and analytically about these things because it will tie me in knots.

However, I painted a few trials which I wanted to work up into a finished painting but the moment I started to think about how I was going to do it on a real nice piece of paper and bang! I can't do it. It seems impossible to preplan these things. I can't do everything spontaneously. I need a bit of order.

Anyway, this is the results of one of those sessions. It's about 10% of what I wanted and 90% of visual padding and fluff.

NPN Junction 7.5 x 10.5 inches Watercolour and Gouache.

Detail

Hmmm! This detail in a square format looks like it may have legs. More grist for the mill.

When Stupidity Trumps Intellect.

When Stupidity Trumps Intellect.
Watercolour and Gouache. 11 x 11 inches.