Waiting for paint to dry

I’m always waiting for paint to dry, that’s a downside to Oil painting, although also a good thing -  It means I can put the painting to one side for a couple of weeks (or more), sort of forgetting about it. When I then retrieve it from the shelf, I see it afresh and can often tell immediately if it is viable for further work.  Usually they are and so it is like starting again, but the basics are down.

I currently have several paintings in the studio at that stage, but this week I took one such part-worked painting with me to the Exmoor National Park Centre in Lynmouth, where I completed it.

 ~ Pleased with the result ~ 

 *note:   I'll admit that my monitor brings this painting up far brighter than it is in person

If you click the image above, hopefully it will take you to a short video clip showing the painting on the easel in Lynmouth when I had decided that the painting was DONE.

Painting in Lynmouth - the video

I got the video editing sorted so here it is.   @Exmoor National Park Centres: Lynmouth, - Part 1, Oil on canvas, still a work in progress - this one will be all about the clouds.

 It was such a nice day at the Centre, meeting lots of visitors and having the chats with them.

So, for those of you who haven’t seen this already, on my Youtube channel - Facebook - Instagram - then click on the image below.  Warning: It is about 11 minutes of paint being added to canvas, hope you enjoy seeing the process.

There will be a Part 2, but obviously this is reliant on the layer here drying.  

Painting in Lynmouth

Busy morning @ Exmoor National Park : Oil painting in the Lynmouth centre.  Still more work to do on this one, but now waiting for the paint to dry before I continue with it.  Meanwhile, busy editing some video of the painting process. 

Incidentally, it was a really good morning over there. Lots of people stopped to chat, which is partly what it is all about.  Visitors to the centre are always keen to chat, whether it be about their painting experiences, or about the area of Exmoor.  And anyone who knows me will be aware I love the chats!

Update and complete

As I said in my previous Post, I would update you with this paintings progress.  Glad to say it has now been completed and I'm pleased with this version (yes, there will be other versions in the future, but the weather will be different).

Hopefully I've conveyed "Distance" and the feel of a day after the rains (the puddles tell the viewer what the weather has been).

and here's a couple of close-ups:

the Texture is the weave of the canvas, but this doesn't actually show up as obviously in real life, it must be how the camera has captured it

 

Now to concentrate on another artwork, I keep busy with paintings-in-progress and lovin' it.

I got a mention

Still busy with my exhibition over at Lynmouth in the Exmoor National Park Centre.   Sales have continued and those paintings replaced with some new ones.  

I'm currently busy preparing some more new works, but they take time as with Oil paintings they need time to dry - plus adding a detail or two, at least this is when the paint is applied thinly.  

For the textured works, where the oil paint is applied thickly (I use a palette knife), these cannot be added to when that first paint is dry - Why?  because ultimately that First layer of paint will still be drying under the newly applied layer, and will cause that top layer to crack.  So planning ahead has to go into the paintings.  

Today, I continued working on this painting...and had my photo taken with it..(click the image below for a closer view)

Update:

I have done some more work on this painting in the home studio and, at the moment, I consider the painting complete, although it will now dry for a week or two.  I'll update with a photo once I know the painting is totally finished.

Exhibition

Exhibiting at the Exmoor National Park Centre in Lynmouth recently. Not only exhibiting but also setting up my easel and painting there. So much interest from visitors and its lovely to meet them and stop and chat.  Sold paintings too, so a win win for the Centre and means I can buy some more paints and canvases.  

https://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/

 

Apologies

 So sorry I didn’t add Comments over the last week. Somehow life got in the way and I was very remiss!

 Thank You to all of you for your comments…..ann x

Captured

We’ve had some cloudy days with lots of rain lately, so it was great to see the sunshine today.  Late in the day as it was, but when I walked back to the car and stopped to look at the view, it was stunning.

Lynmouth cliffs lit up with the sun…so glad I captured these pics of it.

This was at Lynmouth, part of Exmoor National Park.

And in case anyone there wanted to look out to sea,

they have one of these….

Works-in-progress

Yes, I headed this post ‘workS’ in progress.  The thing with Oil painting is starting with thin layers and building them up (hopefully I attempt to do no more than 3 layers in a painting - although this isn’t a hard and fast rule).   So the first layer is down, then I wait for that to dry (this can take anything from a week to 4 … depending on time of year and the atmosphere).  During this waiting time I start another painting, and then often another following that.  Hopefully they are not all at the same stage.  Suffice to say I keep busy!  

Anyway, enough babble from me.  Here are a couple of pieces that are going through the waiting phase.

This first one (sorry about the quality of the photos btw) has dried enough to continue working on - and there’s a lot of work to do.  I will update you on this soon.

and this second painting is still wet - again it will need more work.  With both pieces I’m after Distance and Contrasts.

(Updates soon)

Plein air time

Enjoyed some plein air Oil painting time today at Arlington Court, National Trust  - as you see, my subject was the pathway in the gardens towards the conservatory.  Very warm weather, so I was more than pleased to set up the easel under the wisteria, nature’s shade.   When the canvas was covered with paint, it was time to pack away, til the next time, when I’ll continue working on this painting.

I took a few photos, all the same scene, but it was a bit tricky with the dappled light playing tricks on the camera.

Hopefully the next time I go over there, I’ll be able to complete this painting.  The thing with plein air Oil painting is that either you paint all in one session, or you split the process up a bit and wait for layers to dry in between.

Heavenly Blue

The camera doesn’t capture the BLUE in these flowers but, believe it, they were Vibrant!

These were at Arlington Court National Trust.  I didn’t even attempt to paint them, I couldn’t have done them justice, they were so lovely - Nature does best.  

Those of you who follow on Facebook will have seen I posted the photo there, even though I had no clue what they were called.  Thankfully a friend gave me the name, Heavenly Blue. Wonder what the Latin is? I will look it up in google later, but for now here’s the photo…

Quick sketch

The views around us here in Devon are definitely paintings waiting to be tried.  However, the weather isn't always in our favour for stopping to plein air, so I try to use my 'memory' to recall the view later.  It is good practise as memory recall on views is an important part of painting, imho ;)

And is exactly what I did with this Ink & Watercolour using a postcard pad, which incidentally I've been using for some of the Dottie/Barney sketches recently (see my other blog).

Not an exactness, but pretty near...

Quite pleased with this as there's enough information for me to do an oil painting of it one day.

There you have it….

Call myself an Artist and I went and forgot my sketchbook!  - So when all else fails, find an alternative -  that happened to be a blank page from my diary, luckily I had a pen.

After I berated myself about the sketchbook, I settled down to a very pleasant few minutes sketching fellow patrons of Wetherspoons in Ilfracombe and enjoyed a coffee (with free fill up, whoop whoop). 

By the time I took this image ⤵️ said patrons had up and left, but I’m sure you get the idea.  Obviously like cars in a carpark, patrons in Wetherspoons move before you can blink! 

Quick sketch

With a sketchbook and pen in my bag, I sat and did a quick sketch whilst hubby was shopping.  Sitting in a supermarket car park was an ideal opportunity to sketch quickly.  Cars come and go at the shops, so there is no time for a slow carefully planned out drawing.  You have to get on with it.  

Continual line (also called Continuous line - not sure which is the correct phrase, it’s the same difference in my book….’sketchbook’ haha).

 I love how ‘wobbly’ the cars have come out.

Random sketch

This is very much a Random sketch.  I’ve been watching and catching up on some Youtube channels and this is where I found the image to sketch.

One of the YouTubers lives and works in London, so there are often videos of street scenes.  On this occasion the couple had been to a restaurant and emerged into the street.  And there it was, in a second I knew it was a sketch for me.  I keep a sketchbook and pens near my chair, so I set to.

Here’s the reference…

and here’s my sketch

The Youtube channel is

LUKE CATLEUGH

(Click for link)

Back to Sketching

As much as I love painting, mainly Oils, I do enjoy a relaxing session of sketching.  Simple is best, so I either try and have to hand a pencil with sketchbook, or a pen (be it fountain pen or other).   

Taking these items out and about, I can sketch anywhere, but recently I've found sitting in the evening is a good opportunity to find random photos online (there are websites, Facebook groups and the Sktchy app where you can find copyright free photos to use).

Enough waffle, here are some over the last week...

This next little character you may recognise,

‘Grand-dog’ Dottie

Dottie is always a delight to sketch, but some of her poses are questionable,

especially when her pose is more

Naughty Bottom than sensible pup!

The Thelwell exhibition

On a recent trip down to Hampshire, we were fortunate to have visited again Mottisfont (National Trust) near Romsey.   They happened to have a Norman Thelwell Exhibition on at the time, so you can guess where I headed straight for.

Here's a catch up for those who haven't heard of Norman Thelwell, so you are literally 'in the picture'.

information thanks to Wikipedia (click this link)

caption on this next image reads:   "It's another of those threatening letters"..... brilliant!

As you will have seen from the above pictures, Thelwell wasn't only an illustrator/cartoonist, he was a full blown Artist too.

I took a rather shaky iPhone video at the exhibition, showing snapshots of paintings - so click 

HERE for that.

Painting from a photo

Every so often I see a photograph that I really feel I need to paint.  Sometimes in watercolour, sometimes in Oil.  On this occasion Oil's were the choice and I'm so glad I decided, both to paint it and also use oils.

If I'm painting from a photograph I always ask the photographer's permission, but there are the odd occasions when I go ahead without asking first - why?   Because, even before I start the painting, I know that if it turns out as I hope, then that painting will be 'given' to the person concerned as a surprise.  (It wouldn't be a surprise if they already knew would it).  And a surprise it was, as my local friend very promptly messaged me when I added it as a post to Facebook - this is when I knew I had got the painting right.

I titled this one "A World of his Own" and the canvas measures 9 x 7inch.

and the painting is now in it's new home.

https://youtu.be/PQSnaciBArc

Small oil painting on panel, 4x6 inches. When the paint has dried, I’ll do any adjustments needed. These small artworks prove useful as testers for larger paintings, which this will be one day….>>>

https://youtu.be/oIexvuAeEC0

Update: and after a day or so when this paint had dried, I went back again to work over it and add further details.

* please note that I had closed a blind to stop too much sunlight coming into the room.  Unfortunately, it picked up a yellow hue (which I wasn't aware of when painting), but hopefully you will enjoy seeing the painting anyway, so click the image below ⤵️