NORTH DOWNS & BEYOND

Sometimes it is good to just let things go with the flow, whether that be birding, painting or life in general. I started out to paint a background for a Hawfinch-themed composition, but became lost in the swirls and patterns that just unfolded, almost on an automatic-pilot of brush strokes and dabs. The colour palette was open to abuse, so it got abused. Mindfulness in gouache. Those Hawfinches will just have to wait.

The latest daubing is of an English river bed, complete with Pike, Roach, Minnows and stylised scribbles. Destined for a family member who likes to sit on a river bank in the company of a rod and line.

The paint brushes have been busy here at ND&B as Mieko's birthday painting had a short deadline to meet! Japanese Cherry Blossom in honour of her homeland.

  I took a number of photos as the latest painting was worked on. It doesn’t really convey the random nature of the composition, with colours and patterns either coming by chance, or being used to mask an error. Free-flow paint daubing is the best way to describe it. Hugely relaxing in the execution. An antidote to any troubling times or mind. Go on, give it a go.

I'm obviously speeding up as this is the second painting to be completed this year! I started with the idea for a 'Tree of Life' composition, and then changed it to a 'Tree of Klimt' after being heavily influenced by the great man. As I'm sure you can make out for yourselves, one half is winter, the other summer. If you don't already dabble, go on and pick up a brush then paint away - let it all out! We can all do it, there's no right or wrong and it is so relaxing.

This is the last post about the latest painting, honestly! This morning I added the final daub of paint and decided that that was enough - I could have carried on adding a bit here, over-painting there, but would most probably have added too much noise to what was already a busy painting. Pretension dictates that I give it a title, so rather than 'Reed Bunting' I give you 'The Sentinel'. This was based on a picture I took at Dungeness two years ago (almost to the day) of a most confiding, singing Reed Bunting that was using the top of a low bush as a song post. That image is below. Now I need to get back out into the field and fill this blog with observation derived posts. It's become an arts and crafts themed blog in recent weeks!

I've not posted for a week, which is a long time for me to go without boring you with a load of overspill from my increasingly befuddled mind. Admittedly, what with the birding being so mediocre lately, the moth-trapping non-existent together with the fact that I'm only just starting to put my botanical hat on, there has been little source for extracting any posts. Back in March I started a painting and posted snapshots of its progress. And then I stopped working on it. This morning I started up again, so here is the latest instalment. Hopefully you can see that the focal point is a male Reed Bunting. I've decided upon a stained-glass window design, with a bit of art-deco nonsense going on in the background - a recipe for a dog's dinner if ever there was one - but hey-ho, painting is a great relaxant. The bird and vegetation needs more detail and the sky is pretty empty at the moment, so there is plenty to do before it's finished. Makes up for the lack of birds...

Last status check, I promise. This morning I decided to go with a 'stained-glass window' theme to the painting, building up the composition out of cells of colour. This treatment will extend to the Reed Bunting as well. As with all my work, how it ends up is not so much pre-planned, more a case of it being haphazard, but that is where the fun lies. I might not get a chance to work on it again for a few days, but when complete I'll be sure to post it. If it turns out alright that is...

A little more headway has been made on the painting (detail above.) I'm at the stage where the subject matter takes a back seat and the colour and pattern take over. Whatever little realism existed will now be pulverised under layers of paint - if a colour combination doesn't work it will be painted over - if a pattern jars then it will be replaced. Gouache is a forgiving medium. Ultimately it is all about the detail and not necessarily about the bird or the leaves, which is just as well as realism is not my strong point!

Another spurt of work on the painting has seen the central subject - a male Reed Bunting - added to the composition. As is the way with my artwork, it will be dominated by shape and colour rather than realism. This is down to two things: firstly, I cannot produce work that the likes of Rose, Lewington and Jonsson can: and secondly, my interest lies in creating images through a layered build up of abstraction. I can spend hours just nudging away with the paint and brushes this way which is good for the mind. Om mani padme hum...

With heavy rain, strong winds and a disinclination to venture outside, there was only one thing for it this morning - start on a painting! Out came the brushes and gouache and a start was made on the latest composition. I have an idea in mind, which is bird-themed, but as with any of my paintings an image of the finished product has not yet materialised in my brain. I start with a vague idea and then let fly with the brushes, building up layer upon layer of colour and pattern. I thought it might be fun to post the work as it progresses  - the photo above was taken after about an hour's work. Much will change, of that I'm sure.

"Savage nations, uneducated people and children have a great predilection for vivid colours" Johann Wolfgang van Goethe, 1810 That quote appears in Kassia St.Clair's wonderful book 'The Secret of Colour'. What does that therefore say about me and my artwork?...

Part of the reason that I have taken up painting again is for the 'mindfulness' that comes from spending time applying gouache to cartridge paper. It is relaxing, you lose yourself in the process and, at the end of it, you have a piece of original artwork - it really doesn't matter if it is any good or not. Above is my latest effort. Having used trees as the subject matter for most of my previous paintings I decided to adopt the sea for this one. Colour and pattern took over, and the final result is a bit of a dog's dinner, but that's what happens when you allow your mind to wander off. I don't know if this is actually finished yet. I may well return to it at a later date and tweak...

My painting of the winter beech woodland is complete. It is getting on for A3 in size, so is quite large, and it needs a close viewing to capture the detail, which is partially lost in the image above. I'm now averaging about one painting a year - maybe I ought to try and up that output in 2018. Not only does creating artwork keep me usefully busy, it is also wonderfully restful. Go on, pick up a paintbrush and have a go!

My latest painting is well underway, a graphic interpretation of a beech woodland floor in the depths of winter. I've yet to tackle the trees and sky with any real conviction, but the floor is coming along nicely. I'll post an image of the finished article on completion.

The latest in the slow line of paintings reached completion this week, a Mediterranean-themed piece for my sister-in-law Fiona, as a thank you for all the hard work that she put in on behalf of the family recently. Next up, an African flavoured item for eldest daughter Rebecca.

A few posts ago there was a sneak preview of my latest daubing, and today it was completed. I could have carried on adding layers, tweaking leaves and embellishing the owl, but there came a point where enough was enough. My next piece is a long-promised picture for my sister-in-law. She might just get it by 2017... Meanwhile, down at Dungeness, the dust has settled. The Acadian (for that is almost certainly what it was) Flycatcher remained until dusk on its day of discovery, but decided to move on (or succumb to the efforts of its journey) and has not been seen since. BBC film crews have been down to obtain footage for the regional news, newspapers have run sidebar stories about the 'first for Britain' and Martin Casemore has no doubt been bemused by his current celebrity status. It couldn't have happened to a more dedicated and unassuming bloke - I just hope that some of his magic dust comes my way when I'm down there later in the autumn. Part of the romantic in...

The rain and miserable weather have kept me indoors (so no soaking wet search for a Wryneck for me!) This is good reason to get on with another painting. I started this particular work months ago and it lay abandoned in a portfolio until just the other day. I have posted previous efforts here and here . My approach to all of this is very loose. Take a few pictures, use them as reference, embrace a lurid palette of colour and use graphic shapes to build up the composition. I paint over a lot of what I have done, so at times the finished article may have half a dozen layers of gouache in any given area. My source image for this painting was taken in Banstead Woods one late autumn afternoon (below). True representation, scale and perspective is largely ignored to accommodate for a free-flowing style (Psued's Corner this way, please). The owl is going to end up as an ornate, graphic take on a Tawny... at the moment. Progress is slow, so the finished article might still ...

Last April, after producing my first painting since 1980 (which you can see here if you so desire) , I thought that I would be bashing them out throughout the year at a prolific rate. I was wrong... it's taken me almost a further year to create the second. My inspiration is once more a mixture of Hockney/Klimt (God, that sounds pretentious) and is based on the shingle beach at Dungeness and the abundant vegetation present (in the painting represented by Wood Sage). The posts in the background mark the line of the old railway track, long-gone but whose ghost still haunts that magical part of Kent. I admire fine artists who deal in realism, not just because of their immaculate skills but because I just cannot paint like that. My efforts have always been based on graphic shapes and patterns, but it wasn't until I visited the Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy last spring that I had the confidence to use bold colours (and lots of them). For the first time in my life I can...

I left art college in 1980 having studied Graphic Design. I also stopped painting at the same time- that is until last weekend when, through encouragement from my family, in particular my youngest daughter Jessica, I picked up the paintbrushes once more. I have always admired artists who use graphic images and shapes within their work. Gustav Klimt is my main inspiration along with the all-round design skills of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. As for natural history illustration, give me Michael Warren anyday over many others. The painting above took me half a day and is based on Silver Birches and Bracken. I had no idea how a style would evolve and basically just painted away, adding layers until something took shape. As a first effort in 32 years I'm pleased enough to feel that it's worth my while to do some further work. I enjoyed doing it, which was another plus as I had been secretly dreading trying my luck after so long away from the easel. The medium i...