Plein Air Painting

This morning I got together an acrylic plein air kit in a small bag, grabbed a primed canvas and a travel easel and packed my car to go painting. Being my first plein air trip out this year and about my 4th plein air trip with acrylics ever...I decided I shouldn't go far in case I had forgotten something, so I drove to Benwick and set up in the old graveyard there by the river.
I took a limited palette and just one square brush.
I left the house at 11.30 am and was back in it with numb hands and a full bladder by 1.30pm!

This is the result of my wonderful 90 minutes, under a tree, painting the world away.
Lots I'd change about both my kit and how I approach the painting next time, lots to learn, but I finally got out with my easel, it's a start!

Cat Amongst The Pigeons Exhibition

'Beaters' - Acrylic on canvas 6"x16" each

This is the pair I whipped up for the exhibition at Haddenham gallery, based on beaters at a pheasant shoot. The exhibition will include works with either cats or birds as a subject from various artists and I felt that depicting them in a sporting scene would bring something different to the mix.

Norfolk Lavender

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Here is 'Norfolk Lavender', in full and finished.

This turned into quite a personal piece for me; Norfolk lavender was a huge part of my Mums final year, she used it daily to soothe her aching body and smelled just wonderful. All of the aspects of the painting are at the location, I just composed them differently and changed the colours. You cannot see Heacham beach from the location but it is nearby and the last place I took a holiday with my Mum, infact the beach was the very last place we visited together while at Heacham, so I just had to pop it into the background. The palette choice was easy and mostly spoke for itself but blue was also my Mums favourite colour, the addition of red helped to reflect the warmth and love she generated. The fence seemed like the perfect way to express the divide, keeping the lavender just out of reach but still firmly in sight, allowing the viewer to admire it's beauty - unable to hold it, echoing my own feelings and frustrations during this difficult time.
My Mum always complimented my work, a big fan, and I always answered the same way 'I wish my work showed more expression though, said something about me, a story, an atmosphere...' I am pleased to say that I feel this piece does exactly that.

There was no planning involved here, I simply painted!
It now hangs on my bathroom wall.

Art has a magical way of wrenching out of us that which we need to release, oblivious, we watch it unfold and stare back...a mirror of our very soul.

Norfolk Lavender - Snippet

This is just a small section of my latest acrylic painting entitled 'Norfolk Lavender'.
In real life this beautiful building is actually red brick but I have been rather creative in this piece, using a harmonious palette of just blue and red and moving land, buildings and water into a composition all of my own.
It was created using this sketch I made on a trip to Heacham with my good friend Joannie back in October last year.
I'll post the finished piece just as soon as I upload the photo.

Montmartre Finished

Montmartre by Anita Davies
Acrylic on canvas

I'm done!
It's been emotional. LOL!

Ups, downs, good, bad, easy or hard...I enjoy every moment that I paint equally.
Unconditionally...I love art.

Hope you enjoyed the process on this one...I'm heading out of Paris and focusing more locally on the next piece...Norfolk Lavender, almost finished and ready to photograph.

Montmartre Painting -Step 5

Taken the red from the guy in the front's jacket as it was catching my attention a little more than I'd like.
Nearly over...

Montmartre Painting -Step 4

I decided the girl in the front left was too warm, even though she's in the foreground the people are not my main attraction here, so I cooled her down.

I also made the foremost female echo the colours in the sky for some much needed unity.

I added some warm tones to the two males hair.

I started to work detail into the Sacre Coeur.

...paintbrush in the right hand, darts still in the left on standby.

Montmartre Painting -Step 3

Montmartre - Work in progress

What you see here is a conflict of styles.

For some reason I started working a session from the photograph I had rather than my sketch and as a result I have two styles, the loose, dreamy top half and the tight, somewhat static bottom half.
My next session was spent trying to gain some unity within the piece and ignoring the urge to throw darts at this canvas and start the whole thing over again.

Montmartre Painting -Step 2

...A little sky colour...

Montmartre Painting -Step 1

...and so we begin...

The Quay, Wells-Next-The-Sea

The Quay, Wells-Next-The-Sea - Anita Davies

This was painted using my sketchbooks as a reference, from one of my many trips to Maryland Cottage in Wells last year.
The great thing about going straight in with paint is that you are free to change things without becoming a slave to your drawing. Below you can see the three stages my sand banks went through before I was finally happy with their placement.

I tried something of a vingette on this piece, an idea that has been knocking around my head for a while, and didn't fill the canvas so the primer showed...I quite like the effect but then I have always has a passion for artworks that appear unfinished or incomplete...What do you think?



I worked fast and loose with a big flat brush and Atelier interactive paints, the entire painting took around an hour and a half and was great fun.

Room for improvement - Notes*
I am considering lenghtening the mast so it breaks through to the sky slightly to improve composition and, who knows, maybe I'll add a couple of birds to that sky on the right to keep the viewers eye rolling around the canvas and complete a nice triangle between my mast, the birds and the buoy.

Fast and Furious

A quickie, using Artelier interactive paints, a knife and a 1" brush...from imagination/memory.

Whittlesey - In Progress - Almost There

Here is where I am at with this piece now.
All that I intend adding to this are the 'arms' of the turbines and I'm calling it finished....I cleaned my palette before noticing they were incomplete.
I feel I gained the 'stillness' and calm I was after with this piece.

Whittlesey - In Progress Continued

The second stage of the painting started with the land, trying to keep a sunny feel and plenty of contrast. I decided to leave it here and let it dry, planning to go in with a couple of glazes later to really make those greens zing with sunshine.

The notes in my sketchbook reminded me how lucky I felt to have found such a spot on the way home, how it gave me a few moments of peace in a busy day and how re-charged I felt when I left. I wanted the painting to reflect that.

The sky was then worked, allowing those warm hues to show through here and there.



More soon...

Whittlesey - In Progress

Above is a painting I worked on over a couple of days. This was day one, mostly waiting for things to dry; primer coat and thick gesso layer, into which I carved my composition with a knife. The primer layer was a mixture of gesso, red, orange and blue paint I had left over from a demo, perfect for creating a little heat, which is what I hoped to capture in this piece .

The image below is the sketch I worked from, created 'en plein air' July last year during a pit stop on the way back from Peterborough. The area is near the railway station, at the back of some industrial buildings.

I liked the lone tree on the bank, I have recently realised my paintings tend to have a lonely air about them, not unhappy but lonely, even those created in warmer hues seem to be quite solitaire...Hmmmm!...Strange then that art has always represented an escape for me, somewhere to be alone...escape...Perhaps my subconscience is reflecting this?...Art can be so revealing, can't it?
Anyway...I had every intention of emphasising my lonely tree in the painting and lowering it from the horizon so it appeared more submissive against the turbines.

I'll upload the rest of the progress shots shortly.

Home Straight

' Home Straight' - Acrylic interactives on canvas

This is the painting I created from the sketches in the previous post, relying on memory for the colours and atmosphere.
This is the drove I live in; a mile long, dead end with just seven homes in total and clear views across the Fen in every direction make it a wonderful place to call home.

Plein Air ...of sorts

'Rain approaching Doddington' - Atelier interactive acrylic on canvas

'Of sorts' because I painted it from my studio window in real time. The only thing that could argue the 'plein air' aspect is the pane of glass dividing me from the scene.
Painting an approaching rainstorm is HARD. The sky changed every second and in turn so did the light, one has to work FAST! It was fun, though challenging, and when the rain did hit I was relieved to be in the shelter of my cosy studio.

Number Five

Atelier interactive on canvas

This is my 5th and final painting created during Joannies stay with me.

The canvas was first primed with a mix of purple diox and white gesso. The small wall up to the house, where the child is walking, is not as prominent in the actual painting...my camera seems to like it though because this is the best shot I could get!

I've since been working many thumbnails for my next paintings, using Copic Ciao markers, which I have had for ages and never used....I love them! I managed to take some photos this morning and will attempt to upload later. Oh and I think I've worked out my Sons editing programme, which means I can resize them a bit, my apologies for the monstrous sizes of late.

Number Four

The 4th painting I created during Joannies stay, using Atelier acrylic interactives. I've photographed it best I can but am not used my Sons' editing programme on his laptop...It's close enough though! I primed the canvas with a mid pink tone and worked the painting with a large flat brush.

My spa break was wonderful and I am back feeling relaxed and looking very brown from my spray tan.

I have decided to call my Iris painting 'April Showers', Thanks for all your suggestions and compliments.

Papoose

'Papoose' - Atelier Acrylic Interactives

This is the third painting I made during Joannies stay. After playing with the new paints I was dying to try them on a portrait and had this reference printed out from years ago.
I spent and 1 and 30 minutes pushing the paints around freely on the surface with a 1" flat brush and enjoyed every second.
My aims were to use the reference rather than copy it, work with form and tone and keep things loose and painterly.
I am pleased with the result.

I am off to a residential spa for the weekend. I have prepared a new Derwent pink floral sketchbook with decorative papers to take with me. Sadly my pc is still sick and I'm using my Son's laptop, so scanning sketchbook pages is difficult at the moment but I am still sketching and I will update you all just as soon as my pc has been fixed.

Have a good weekend!