Landscape Painting Collections
I currently have three collections of original paintings. The more recent in each collection are shown below…
Collection one (of 3)
Landscape oil paintings
These paintings have been painted while in my studio, from sketches and paintings made outside on location.
They tend to be larger than my other works and more 'finished' (that is: less brushmarks visible)
Original oils
This is the collection I'm spending most of my time developing right now. I am the archetypal artist – locked away painting, in my garret.
These oil paintings on canvas and canvas board have all been painted in my studio in Yorkshire, UK. I've currently paintings of Devon, Pembrokeshire and Northumberland in my list 'to-do'. Of course, many of these paintings are inspired by my home county, which includes wonderful places such as: Whitby, Bridlington and Flamborough Head.
All of these landscape oil paintings are the result of an intense process involving several phases and many steps in each phase.
Phase one is about exploring and getting to know a location. It's when I study the scenery intently, trying to absorb its character, identify key features and understood what makes being there feel the way it does. I may only be able to visit the place once, or if closer to home I can visit several times. I study the area by sketching, photographing and painting it ‘en plein air’. Sometimes all three, at other times only a quick sketch is possible.
Phase two happens back in my studio. This phase is all about figuring out if a painting could be painted that works and if it could, planning how to do it. Lots of scribbling and painting using acrylics or oils.
Phase three is when the painting gets painted. Everything I do now ends up on the canvases you see above. All the work I've done to get to this point is hidden, unless I make my sketches and plein air paintings available to buy.
Once the landscape oil is finished, the last phase takes place. The paint ‘rests’ which means it is allowed to cure. Oils go through a number of changes while they dry. Once dry, the art is photographed and scanned for giclées, before being varnished and finally, framed.
Updated: 1 Sep 2018
Collection two (of 3)
Outdoor paintings
Called Plein-air paintings, they have been painted while outside in front of the scene they show.
These tend to be smaller paintings than the ones above and because they're painted outside, they're painted in what's called an 'alla prima' style.
I also make linocut original prints. You can buy them from my galleries in Yorkshire, UK. I am planning to add the ability to buy from this site using PayPal. If you would like to know when this is achieved, subscribe to my newsletter.
Collection three (of 3)
Other mediums
Bit of a mixed bag this one. Mostly acrylic paintings.
These are mostly now painted outside, though I've made some of the older ones in my studio, trying out ideas. They betray what paintings I'm thinking about painting. Painting ideas I'm exploring.
Painting paintings
I spent the early part of my career as a fulltime employed illustrator producing paintings every day.
My paintings were in a technical realist style. I decided this was not suitable for fine art landscape oils, but struggled to change my approach after years working in that way. So I decided to take a break from making paintings and concentrate on my linocuts. As is the way, the break ended up being far longer than I'd ever envisaged. However, I've developed a sense of purpose now that I've not had before and can't make paintings fast enough. I feel I have a lot to catch up on.