Sketch

This is the third and final painting in the series worked up from plein air sketches of Parys Mountain produced during the Mike Knowles landscape painting week at the beginning of July (see original sketch and reference photo below for comparison).

I decided to really push the contrast of flat colour shapes/planes with the introduction of ‘directional’ mark making in the thick impasto to further suggest space and form.

As a result, the picture surface ended up looking like a tapestry, especially when the light is at the right angle.

This latest painting is based on a plein air sketch from last June’s Landscape Workshop with Tim Iliffe on his beautiful holiday farm, Camarnaint, in Llanfairfechan.

During the workshop Tim encouraged us to ‘respond’ to the landscape, rather than ‘record’ it.

This latest version, then, is based on, both a sketch which was, itself, an abstracted first attempt at ‘responding’, together with memories from the workshop of the striking effect of the strong sunlight raking the cottage and gardens, so it’s more of an impression rather than an accurate representation.

This my latest painting of Four Mile Bridge (Pontrhydybont) and is based on a plein air sketch completed some time ago (see picture below).

It’s one of my favourite painting spots on Anglesey, and one I keep returning to again and again.

Whilst continuing to investigate using flat planes of colour to depict space, I decided to really let rip with the palette knife and see what the effect of texturing those planes would produce. Great fun!

This is my latest painting which is of Holyhead Breakwater Country Park. It’s based on a plein air study from a year or two ago (see below).

It continues my attempts to strike a balance between figuration and abstraction using flat blocks of colour to represent the planes of the forms/scene.

This is my third attempt at reworking this picture. In its earlier versions/states, the colour planes were very smoothly painted but, inspired by my recent palette knife paintings of Parys Mountain, I chose to rework it with thick impasto acrylic so as to ‘animate’ the surface.

This is my latest painting of Parys Mountain which, again, was worked up from a plein air sketch produced during the Mike Knowles landscape painting week at the beginning of July.

It continues the series of paintings investigating the use of flat shapes to represent three dimensional space on a two dimensional surface and is another attempt to visually ‘fold’ or ‘buckle’ the painting surface in order to recreate the sensation of standing within the huge space, trying to make sense of the abstract colours and shapes.

It’s painted in impasto oil on stretched canvas using a palette knife to introduce texture.

This is my latest painting which was worked up from a plein air sketch produced during the Mike Knowles landscape painting week at the beginning of the month.

In it, I am seeking to recreate the memory of the dazzling array of colours on show, as well as the feeling of distance and space in the huge, man-made quarry.

By returning once again to using flat shapes, I’m continuing to investigate and attempting to highlight the contradictions inherent in representing such a vast scene on a flat surface with only the thickness of the paint to differentiate between the ‘figure’ and ‘ground’.

During the workshop, Mike had suggested I look into the work of Nicolas de Stael and so I experimented with laying heavy impasto paint on with a palette knife when reworking this piece.

I’d love to know which you prefer; the finished piece or the original sketch (or neither!), so please drop me a line and tell me which is your preference and why!