Brighton Pier

Painting piers is every painter's dream. It offers challenges like the sea, sky, people, buildings and ships. Perspective also plays an important part of it. Am I ready for it? I Just gave it a go. My first wash of the sky was lighter than I wanted but I went over it a second time. It was risky but paid off. The beach area was actually shingles but I simplified it by making it sandy. I enjoyed doing this one. Hope you do the same looking at it.

 Here is the referene photo:
 

 Here is the painting: 52 cm x 31cm Saunders Wateford 640 gms Not surface

Comments welcome!
Thanks for looking.

Painting Workshop by Joe Francis Dowden

Yesterday (7 Oct 09) I made a long (lonely) journey in pouring rain to Sompting, West Sussex with only the  amiable satellite navigator for company, to attend a painting workshop by Joe Francis Dowden. Here are some of the photos of the workshop, the empty table on the second photo is mine.

 

The first painting was the demo done by Joe.

  

 This one is my output in the workshop.

  

Not satisfied I tried to redo the painting at home this morning, trying to recollect the steps we went through yesterday but alas I could not attain the mastery of Joe!

 

He was magical!  A great teacher and a fantastic person. Came back home again in torrential rain which stopped only as I entered London. However a day well spent, learnt a trick or two! Thanks for looking!

Jack and Jill: Twin Windmills near Brighton

Last week we were in Brighton and surroundings. It was a Sunday and may be the 'last of the summer days' for this year, sunny barbecue weather like no other seen so far. We chanced upon a picnic spot on top of a small hill with two windmills next to each other! It made a lovely sight what with farms full of sheep and a few horses not to mention cows. I managed to do a sketch or two on the spot of the windmills and the animals. I hope you will like the paintings I made later, using the reference photos I took, all of them are here for you to see and comment. Thanks for looking!
The first one:(Photo)

The Painting:
70cm x 40 cm
Bockingford 420g/m Rough



The second one:(The Photo)


The painting:
51cm x 36cm Arches 300g/m Rough


Cheers!

Autumn Years

Yes, it is not an autumn painting! The title refers to the the people who are the focal point in this painting. The background foliage is still green at the Green Park, the scene of action here. May be a week or so they will be in 'flames'. May be I can repeat the scene with autumn foliage then! The painting is done on Saunders Waterford 645gms Not surface measuring 50cm x 34cm. Thanks for looking!

Of horses and cows

Before I pushed off for a weekend painting workshop, I had started a painting of two horses in a West Yorkshire farm which I had photographed on a visit in August. We were returning from a guided tour of 'The Last of the Summer wine Locations' in the quaint village of Holmefirth. When we saw the horses in the field, I was reminded of ' the White Horse Pub' which had featured in the longest running comedy serial! I took many photos, this one stood out asking to be painted. Here is the photo and the painting. Used Bockingford 425 gsm Extra rough surface, 51 cm x 34 cm, with SAA Artist paints.





This was done on the first day of the painting workshop. The Saturday weather was so good, we did not want to keep indoors painting the sketches we did in the forenoon, so we pulled out our tables and chairs and sat outside the Newbiggin in Teesdale village hall and started painting the glorious scene in front of us after a brief stint of sketching them. Made a few compositional changes, herding the cows to the right. Same materials as above. The size of the painting is 49 cm x 32 cm.
Comments and criticism welcome!

One from my hometown!

Falls at Thirumoorthy Hills, Coimbatore District (Tamil Nadu, India)


This is a very nostalgic painting. This is a small waterfalls very close to my town where many a Sunday afternoons were spent in college days. Just stand under the falls and the thudding water gives you a very good massage to your whole body, it has medicinal values too. It is real heaven sent on a very hot day(which usually is), you just do not feel like leaving the water! I thought I should revive the memories of yore!Have a look at the reference photo above.

Here is my version in painting, followed closely to the reference, without any composition changes.
Half sheet of Bockingford 425gms rough surface (good for the rock texture). Used a credit card to scrape out the rocks when the paint was wet. SAA artist paints used. As always, comments and criticisms welcome! Thanks for looking!

Sunday in Hyde Park

Usually I add people in my landscapes to give some scale and some life, this time I am adding landscape elements (foliage etc) to people, yes the focus this time is on human activity on a Sunday in my favourite spot in London, Hyde Park! I also tried to capture some sunlight in this glorious summer which is fast giving way! Here is the painting, done on Arches half sheet (rough surface).


Thanks for viewing, comments welcome, as always!

Townscape: Puy leVeque, on the river Lot, France

Puy l'Evêque is a town on the banks of the river Lot(France). The townscape with the mountain backdrop gives a great panoramic view especially from the other bank of the river from where the photo was taken. I was inspired by the view at first sight, but after doing a sketch I realised how complicated it is as a subject. So many buildings, trees, bushes, the river and the reflection, you name it. So I went in for a grand scale simplification, confined to fewer colours, one small area at a time, took long to complete, just when I thought it is done, realized I forgot the two top left hand trees and the backdrop mountains! It is done now and I am happy!
52cm x 48 cm Bockingboard 200gms rough and SAA paints.

C&C welcome!

Here is the panoramic photo I took:


Here is the painting:

The Valentre Bridge is a landmark bridge of Cahors, the capital of the region which is also famous for its Cahors wines. This bridge is supposed to be the only 'fortified bridge' in all of Europe! I visited this town in July this year and this is my 6th painting from that trip! Am I not inspired! Here is the reference photo taken by me which I faithfully followed in the painting.


Here is the painting. I made this painting on Bockingboard 200lb rough paper, 52cm x 31cm. Used SAA artist tubes.


I made special effort to portray the grass in the right hand side, using masking fluid, toothbrush to spray the paint in many layers waiting for one layer to dry before the next spray. I like the result, though it was hard work! Thanks for viewing and comments and criticisms welcome!

St Martin le Redon, Lot region, France, 2 paintings with one subject

The focal point is the same building but one is from the front and the other is from behind. I like both the angles, so decided to make two different paintings.
The first one is done using half sheet of Lanaquarelle 300gms Rough and the second one with Arches 300gms Rough as I finished with Lanaquarelle stock! SAA artist tubes of raw sienna, rose madder, burnt umber, burnt sienna, sap green, cobalt blue and french ultramarine made up my palette. Comments and criticism welcome, as always!
First painting:





Second painting:

Village Scene: Belaye, Lot valley, France

Got down to do some painting, after a long interval! There were too many things to paint, after the visit to France and the 3 days at the Art event 'All About Art' in London. This is done on a half sheet which has become my usual paper size these days. Rough Lanaquarelle paper 300 gms, much to my liking. I added the figures from some other photo taken from the same village. Here is the reference photo and the painting.

Lot Valley Plein aire paintings

Spent a fantastic week at the Lot Valley, France. I carried my painting kit, just a palette, no tube paints since I just carried a cabin baggage in the budget airlines, a watercolour block and 6 basic brushes. The place I stayed in was Frayess Haute, a self catering establishment. It has 3 units, Bread House, Barn and the Tower. I stayed in the Tower, which has fantastic views of the sky, hills and the whole of the property. I made 4 pleine aire paintings, one of which-the Bread House- I gifted to the Landlady. I had a barbeque table to sit comfortably and paint this one. Here it is:


The next one is a church from a nearby village, called St Martin le Redon. I did this when my friend went to play tennis for an hour and a half. I had a nice place to sit opposite the church.No discomfort at all. There was hardly anyone that evening, totally deserted. It is a very small village.



This painting took lots of my energy. I walked one evening some 8 kms to this village called Montcabrier, and this site looked like medieval remains of a castle, I had to sit on the grass with lots of insects flying about, I had to hurry it up but enjoyed every bit of doing it. It was totally fresh and transparent. Here it is:


While returning back, I saw this location with vineyards and farm houses at a distance and haystacks. I came back to this spot the next day and I had to sit at a distance from the scene on a slope across the road. I liked the perspective of the vast scene in front of me. Here is the painting.


On the whole it was fun all the way, I could see the light and atmosphere one could capture while doing painting outdoors. I should more of this in London!

A view from Agra Fort,

This view from the Agra Fort overlooking the river is fantastic, but I was interested in the possibilities of a great sky and the areal perspective that offered. Made the sky to give a peaceful feeling, the magnificence of the building and the architecture being the focal point I could capture the atmosphere of the evening sunlight. Another one for the forthcoming exhibition!

Shore Temple, Maamallapuram, Tamilnadu,India

The first one I painted as a study on A4 size. Spent lot of time sketching before that to improve the composition, adding the sea was an after thought and it seemed to have worked well.


The painting below is the finished bigger version.
Your comments are welcome!

Paintings from Grasmere(Lake District)

Spent a wonderful weekend in Lake District, doing a workshop with Peter Woolley. Made 2 paintings from the workshop! Here they are. The first one was based on the sketch made outside Grasmere and the second one was done just sitting outside the village hall of Grasmere.





They will be on view in the forthcoming exhibition!