In the pink

 …..or rather On the pink.

For no particular reason, more a case of how I felt at the time, I chose to do a magenta ground for this canvas.  The idea is that when the overall painting is completed (eventually) there will be very subtle flecks of pink showing, which in turn give a warmth to the artwork.  This can also be achieved using other colours as a ground.

I thought this row of cottages made a good composition and something relaxing to paint - leave to dry in part - then continue when I feel ready.  It’s the cottages on Turkey Island at Porlock Weir, Exmoor.

If you click on the image above ⤴️  there’s a short clip from my Youtube channel.

Oil painting of Exmoor

Not the usual scene people think of when Exmoor is mentioned.  Usually it’s vast open moorland on the hills, not many trees, but lots of heather (pretty for a short time in season, but a brown carpet for the rest of the year).

The lower ground and villages, of course, are another matter.  This is where the small villages are found plus lots of fields.  We’ve had so much rain this Winter, so the streams and, sad to say, fields are suffering.  I cheered myself up by painting a sunny day with lushes fields, it worked, I feel so much better for it.  If you are wondering where I am set up doing this painting, I’m in the Exmoor National Park Centre at Lynmouth.

Oil on canvas - 8 x 20 inches - Title: EXMOOR FIELDS

I used my iphone to record the painting process (timelapsed it to save people getting bored watching paint dry)!  

It’s recorded in 2 parts.  Part 1 setting out the scene and putting in the initial layer of oil paint.  Then I left that to dry over a few weeks - incidentally it didn’t take that long to dry, I was just slow getting back to it.  Then, this week I tackled the painting again, adding more detail and adjusting the colour tones here and there.

The links are below:

Part 1   https://youtu.be/z9cNMQ9TtgA?si=lFmu8spIWSIDidXv

Part 2   https://youtu.be/QWxvujp_NtE?si=RAlMiugDFxV4jjrb

I hope you will enjoy watching them.

Blossom

Signs of Spring here in Devon

Moving tiles

You know you are old when your kids tell you NOT to do something, as they will step in and sort it! Which is really kind of them, but we were in a hurry to sort it ourselves and as they were busy this day, we got on with it.  (We didn’t tell them first though)!  

We moved a pile of tiles and cement/grouting.

So having completed the task we felt we should message the kids to confess.  Here’s how that went….

{Husband}…

{Son replied}…

{Daughter on the other hand was more vocal}…

THEY SHOULD KNOW BY NOW THAT WE ARE REBELS 🤣🤣🤣

(Love their concerns for us though)