British Landscape Paintings & Prints

An update on all the things I'm working on at the moment. It's the reason why I'm quiet on social media. Not that I'm ever especially noisy there.

A mix of boring and exciting stuff. The boring stuff makes us appreciate the exciting stuff, of course.

An artist's business

Sadly, being a painter and printmaker is not all brushes and ink rollers. There are the numbers.

Saying "I do drawing, I don't do numbers" doesn't wash with the HMRC – if only.

Every year I struggle with my tax return – my own fault, so no sympathy's necessary. Every year I promise myself I'll be orderly next time, and not ignore it until it's all to do at once.

This year, I'm changing my 'system' so I breeze it next year. Who am I kidding – I don't have a system! Creating a system has meant I've had to spend even more time on it. As I write, there's still a way to go (sigh).

Though this all means there's hardly any time for making art, it'll be worth it in the end. I keep telling myself that anyway.

My art for sale online

Another business aspect of this artist's life is developing this website. I intend to add the ability to buy my landscape art without having to email me first.

It's been an ambition for a long while. I started, then stopped, and rethought it all some time ago.

It's very complicated, and taken me some time to get going again. Partly because I was concentrating on exhibitions last year.

Before stopping to do my accounts, I'd made good progress on this during my second wind. I'll be back on it once my numbers are in.

Digital Landscape Prints

I launched a new collection not long ago, called Modern prints. It's digital art in the style of my linocuts.

A new way of making art, it's been a trial and error caper – as all art is. False starts are often the case with creative projects.

Not getting frustrated with this happening is the main thing. I never seem to have the issue though. Even when I was younger, I'd happily start over.

Making good art is hard, but it's precisely why it floats my boat, whatever the medium. I've always loved the problem solving involved.

I know many-many artists make their artworks because they want to do something 'relaxing' and 'easy'. That's never been my motivation – if it was easy, I'd lose interest.

Learning to create digital landscape prints is exciting. Like any other new medium, it's an adventure that tests my creativity, and I can't get enough of it. Having had to stop, to do things like accounts instead is making me poor company.

Painting and traditional printmaking will continue to be part of my art practice, in case you were wondering.

Landscape paintings

Since deciding on a project during the Autumn of 2019, it's been all back and forth about progressing it since.

We had no idea 2020 was going to be so freaky, did we?

A collection of Yorkshire Wolds landscape paintings (and possibly prints) was my aim. It still is, it's just a question of how I take it forward after all the weirdness this year.

I'm determined to get out sketching before Winter, and whatever comes with it. Amassing reference material is my mission for the rest of September and October.

The goal is to collect enough studies for some serious studio work once the early evenings draw in. Like a cat on a hot tin roof, I can't settle whenever the sun is out, and the colours are golden.

Finishing the unfinished

If you were to pop into my studio, you'd see umpteen landscape canvases in various degrees of completion.

These will rise back up in priority soon, and I'll be able to publish them here. Ah, that'll be grand, and I'll feel so much better.

Hope you're hanging in there, and that you and yours are all well.

From the single blade of grass and the magical, mysterious thing we call a cloud, to the epic and breathtaking vista, it all still fascinates this kid.

It's why I make British landscape paintings and art prints now.

Naturally, Yorkshire subjects dominate my collection at this time. I'm ever hopeful of being able to paint further afield, though. I've already got many sketches of 'foreign' parts elsewhere in the UK waiting for paint or lino.