Painting No 23 - Due West from Bacombe Hill

Oil on board 8" x 10"

This is one of my favourite stiles.  It is on the bike path down from Coombe Hill towards Wendover looking due west down to the houses on Bacombe Lane.  I've often thought that I'd like to do a series of paintings of stiles before they are all replaced by those awful metal kissing gates.  It won't be long before this one goes.

Whilst I quite like the overall result I once again allowed myself to get tied down in the detail so I've not really moved forward with this.

Painting No 20 - Aldbury in the Spotlight

Oil on Canvas Board  18" x 24"

This is based on a photograph (yes, I'm still working from photos, sorry) that I took while out running. I couldn't resist this cloud formation and trying out the hotspot technique by placing Aldbury in the sun. I took a risk with demoting the land in favour of the sky but I think I just about got away with it.

It is amazing how effective the sunlit area is.  I had the painting on the easel for a couple of weeks with just a dull green and blue middle ground and the whole picture looked flat and uninteresting. I particularly the like the natural greens and browns in the sunlit patch.  There is something soothing about them.

Painting No 10 - Autumn Flames on Ivinghoe Beacon

Oil on canvas board, 8" x 10".

This was a quick one (2-3 hours) based on a photograph I took last week while walking the dog. I was struck by the gorgeous yellow trees (a cluster of three small silver birch) in an otherwise drab landscape.

I used a canvas on which I'd attempted a scene of frost and mist last year sometime. I gave that up as a bad job.

I found this one interesting in terms of the composition as the hedge and pathway take the eye across to the left hand side. The trees help balance that and draw the eye back. This is demonstrated by the incomplete painting below without the trees.



Having put the tree in the picture still wasn't properly balanced so I added some figures (my daughter and dog) from another photograph.

I left the forground in a fairly crude state as I didn't want to overcook it. I'm pleased with the result although it may be a little weak at the bottom left.

I think I need to develop a more interesting signature.