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I'm really excited to have been invited to join Carina Haslam Art, and will be taking part in their quarterly shows. The following two paintings will be shown in their Autumn show which starts with a private view on Thursday 7th November.  Cream Roses in a Blue Jar Oil on panel 7x5"  Cream Roses
Oil on panel 10x8"
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 Sarah Ryan, the founder of New Blood Art gallery, has been recording a series of informal podcasts with some of the artists her gallery represents. The latest epsisode, where she talks to me, can be heard here.
  'Old Harry Rocks' Oil on paper mounted to card Outer dimensions 7x5" Image dimensions 6x4" Available from New Blood Art gallery £175  Here's a little painting I made last year on the beach at Studland Bay, Dorest, looking towards the Old Harry Rocks.
I sat on the beach with my pochade box on my lap, as the late afternoon sun shone on the cliffs. I gave the painting a little glaze after it dried to enhance the feel of the evening glow. It got a little sandy as I was working on it but I like the little bit of texture it adds. I love watching the light change on the chalk cliffs throughout the day - its so beautiful the way they reflect the colours of sea and sky. I had such a lovely time making this painting, Studland Bay is an incredibly beautiful place and the weather was gorgeous, if a bit breezy - the painting got a little sandy as a result!  10x8 " oil on panel  This is a fun thing to do with a plein air landscape painting - try to line it up with the scene after you've finished! It creates an interesting illusion. Here's a tiny snippet of me creating the painting - if you'd like me to make full videos demonstrating my plein air painting approach, let me know in the comments below, I'll see what I can do!
 Oil on panel 4x6" (sold)  I painted this back in June, just as all the flowers were starting to come out on the allotment.
I felt the need to get on and paint them because time is so short and I never get to do all the paintings I'm hoping too in each season. I stayed up late to paint this little study under the studio lights, and I'm glad I did as I still haven't got round to doing a larger painting containing these flowers. The posy contains nasturtiums, roses, sweet peas, cornflowers, calendula and nigella. I'm so excited that two of my paintings have been accepted for this year's Chelsea Art Society open exhibition !! The exhibition opened today and runs until Monday 17th June, at Chelsea Old Town Hall. There are so many great artists taking part, I can't wait to see their work this weekend when I visit.  Twickenham Riverside, Hazy Morning 10x8" oil on panel  Blue Jug with Clementines
5x7" oil on panel Here's a series of plein air landscape paintings I made of the River Thames near Twickenham during May this year.  It was a hazy morning with the sun just breaking through slightly. I hadn't tried painting in this kind of light before but I really enjoyed the tranquil atmosphere. The water at low tide was completely motionless allowing beautiful reflections to form. Twickenham Riverside, Hazy Morning 10x8" Oil on panel Available from Chelsea Art Society open exhibition 2019  This painting was completed soon afterwards, this time I stood on the bank of the Thames near Marble Hill Park and looked towards Richmond Hill. Again the day was slightly overcast, giving a peaceful feel to the river, with just a slight breeze ruffling the surface of the water.  This third plein air landscape was completed at Twickenham Riverside, in very different weather conditions - this time there was a stiff breeze rippling the surface of the water and tiny white clouds moving quickly across the sky.
 Oil on panel 12x9" available from Singulart online gallery I started this painting back in April after the weather had gone cold and grey. I needed a splash of colour and sunshine!
The addition of lemons links this floral composition back to my previous lemon series.  Oil on panel 5x7" (sold) I was pretty excited to be able to paint the first rose from my rose bush which grows on my allotment. Its a lovely old fashioned type but I don't know its name as I inherited it with my plot when I took over a couple of years ago. It does tend to suffer quite badly with black spot so fingers crossed I get a few more before it gets too badly affected.
For a studio painter, the thought of lugging all your gear outside and dealing with rapidly changing light and complex scenery can be a little daunting.
Although I was already reasonably competent at drawing and painting still lifes in the studio, when I first tried to paint outdoors many years ago, I was really unhappy with the results! I realised after those first few frustrating attempts, that I still had an awful lot to learn. So I decided to break this new challenge down into smaller, more achievable steps. 1. I learned what I could from books and other sources about the effect of different light, atmospheric perspective and typical value schemes of outdoor paintings. I studied the composition of landscape painting.
2. I painted what I could see out of my window: rooftops, chimneys, clouds and trees. I kept painting still lifes, and improving my drawing accuracy.
3. I went outdoors with my sketch book and made pencil drawings of trees and other landscape elements. I also made colour sketches on my phone. 
4. I used what I had learned so far from these studies to improve my studio landscapes, although I was still using photographs as my main reference.
5. I built a mental checklist and rough idea of the process which I would use to complete my first plein air oil painting. I did some mental rehearsing. I knew that the big challenge in plein air painting is speed - to catch the light before it changes, so it helped to have a good idea of what order to do things in. 6. I got together a simple outdoor painting kit and practiced setting it up indoors. If you have a garden maybe you could to try it out there. I made a checklist so I wouldn't forget anything important. By this point I felt reasonably prepared, and the next step was to go out and learn on the job. For my first outing I chose a familiar spot that was neither too public nor disconcertingly quiet, and chose a simple subject on a sunny day. 
This is one of the first plein air paintings I made after returning to it once I had worked on the steps above.
I still work on steps 1-5, because I want to keep learning and improving as much as I can. 
I love the exhilarating feeling of creating work outdoors, and I still enjoy the calmer pace of studio work. I'm so happy that I can now do both, and I hope this post can help you if you are planning to get outdoors to paint.
Watch out for future posts where I will break down each step further and give more information on how I went about each stage. You can sign up for updates using the form at the end of this post. I’d love to know if you have any questions or comments - what are your experiences of plein air painting? How did you get started, or are you yet to take the plunge? 
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About meI am a realist painter, working in oils, painting landscape and still life. Archives
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