Out of the comfort zone

You get into a set way of painting, generally, and there’s no reason why not.  Artists keep to their own style and don’t deviate.  Their work is recognisable because of that.  But sometimes it is good to do a different style, if only to see if you prefer it, or perhaps to use a snippet of the other style in your own work.

This is where I found myself the other day.  Painting in a very different style, more towards abstract-meets-contemporary (ish).

Heather on the hills of exmoor using mainly a palette knife plus lots of thick textured paint.

Click on the image to see a 6min+ video.

Hope you enjoy.

Textured and drying times

A question I often get asked when I’m plein air painting is….”How long did that take you”?   

I have always tried to answer this accurately, but to be honest it is really difficult to say a time.  For one thing, the painting often has to be set aside to dry.  That can take up to 2 weeks in the Summer.  The atmosphere is dryer and warmer, hence the oil paint dries quickly.  However, the Autumn and Winter are very different.  I could be looking at 6 to 8 weeks for a textured painting to dry.  

When I have a textured piece, it is better to complete it in one session.  That isn’t always possible though. As with this painting.  It ‘might’ be finished as you see it, but until it is dry and I look at it again, I won’t know.

This gets me back to the question…”How long did that take you”?   If I included the drying time, a painting could end up taking 3 to 6 months.  

I used mostly palette knives for this painting and the actual painting time was 2 to 3 hours.  There was a lot of colour mixing involved.

New video

Well, to be honest I have several new videos on Youtube, however, this is currently the very newest one.

Painted at the Exmoor National Park Centre in Lynmouth from photo reference - obviously I couldn’t angle my easel sufficiently to see this particular view, but I don’t think that matters.   In an ideal world, I much prefer to paint plein air but as needs must we get on with it.

So here you have it, just click the image ….

Still adding paint to canvas

Well, I haven’t progressed with the painting from my previous post, I’m waiting for the paint to cure a bit more, no point in rushing it.  So, this means only one thing, and that’s start a new painting.  Some of you will already have seen what that is, via the usual social media culprits, Instagram - Facebook - Tiktok, so lucky I have this blog to add it for those who haven’t already been bombarded with it ;)

Not sure what makes my decision of painting a landscape or seascape, or any other subject for that matter.  This time it was a landscape across Exmoor.  As I’m usually over at Lynmouth painting once a week, the landscapes of Exmoor pull me in and I can’t help myself.

This is still a work-in-progress as this paint has to dry, but mainly I’m there with it.  At this stage I’m thinking that when it is dry, I’ll add a pale blue glaze over the distant hills, that will send them back further into the distance.  

There’s a little story with this one.  I started painting it over at Lynmouth in the Exmoor National Park Centre, where I set up my easel.  I had debated painting this view or Watersmeet (a wooded valley with river), but settled on this one.  A lot of people stop to chat and there was this one couple who said they used to live up on Exmoor, not only that, but they said this was their view every day!  How amazing is it that I am actually painting that particular view.

If you click on the painting it will take you to the video.  I suggest you make a cup of tea or coffee and settle back, it’s a little longer than my usual attempts at filming.