sketches in paint (1OF 3 SOLD)
— SOLD — Canal walk, Oil on canvas board, 2017. 21 x 29cm, £125.
When I’m planning to work on a large-scale painting, I’ll first make several initial sketches with paint to develop my technique and to jot down the intended ‘feel’ of the final thing. I often end up liking these initial ideas as much as the final pieces, because they contain the energy of a beginning; of starting something new.
MOVING LANDSCAPE (SOLD)
This is a study for a commission of two large landscapes that were to hang in the Hong Kong office of an English CEO, reminding him of his home. I was taking photos on the train back from London because I wanted to do something about a changing, moving landscape; I liked the blurred effect. The finished pieces were large, and this is tiny, but I developed the technique in this sketch. I worked in the colours and textures with a palette knife in layers, using fast strokes. I then brought out a shard of light or an object of interest with a flash of colour.
After the storm, Greece, Oil on canvas board, 2017, £125.
after the storm
This is looking across the Gulf Of Messenia, towards the mountains. The clouds were fantastic; you couldn’t work out which was rock and which was the sky. The sea was still quite choppy, and the colours were great. This was a sketch to see if I’d be able to make a bigger painting using big strokes and a lot of depth. Painting on a big scale demands a very different approach: It’s less about finessing a detail up close. Instead, you work in a big room that enables you to continually step backward to a door, and then looking at the piece from a distance. A brilliant landscape artist - Hannah Woodman - taught me that. You add each brushstroke by standing back; that’s why there’s a need for a subject matter which welcomes big, broad brushstrokes. Water is perfect for that.
Morning Mist - quick sketch, Oil on canvas board, 2017, £125.
morning mist
This is another of my three little imaginary landscapes. It’s inspired by the early morning mist I sat in as a boy, waiting with my dad on the fringes of a marsh on a shooting expedition. We used to go sometimes and try and get a duck. There are hills in the background there, deliberately obscured. This is another little sketch where I’ve experimented to develop a new technique; using the palette knife to draw into the canvas and keep working the paint in. I then use a tissue or cloth to take a little out here or there until the base feels right, and then I pick out little lines and focal points in the distance. It’s a figurative piece; a mood - not a literal translation of what I saw.