Over the last few weeks, I've continued to paint in oils, working on more paintings that explore the qualities of light and movement inspired by trips to the beach at Lindisfarne on the Northumberland coast.
Painting on aluminium panel in this first painting, I've created Over the shore. It reflects the Spring weather, with clouds moving rapidly over the seashore and sunlight bringing out a magnificent range of warm and cool blues.
I've used Prussian blue for cooler areas of blue, moving towards pure Ultramarine for the saturated blues of the sky. Soft, natural yellows are used (Michael Harding's warm light yellow) to create fresh, warm sense of light when combined with white. Touches of cadmium red push the ultramarine blue into purple greys.
The aluminium panel, which is surprisingly weighty, will require framing in order to hang on your wall, but should be more durable than canvas. It is signed, titled and dated on the reverse.
I've also been at work this last week on a new original oil painting titled Shore, Ross sands. It is also inspired by recent views from the beach in Spring weather. A larger canvas than I normally tackle, it expresses the light and atmosphere of open views over the sea. Where clouds form and rise up over you in the sky and sunlight catches the clouds.
Dynamic and alive, full of energetic brushstrokes, Shore, Ross sands sands aims to communicate the vast movement and energy present in nature and the landscape. You can see some of the energy I've used to create the artwork, with loaded brushstrokes of rich oils left as they are - immediate and lively, bringing the painting to life through texture, light and colour.
The colours, particularly in the sky are varied and expressive. This painting starts off with an orange under layer. I've used a pinky red called Napthol Red, together with cadmium yellow light and warm light yellow in the sky. Three blues, Ultramarine, Prussian and Cerulean are used throughout the picture.
It is signed, titled and dated on the reverse of the canvas and the edges are left unpainted, so they are white and ready to hang straight away.
Published April 2017
