'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.

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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!

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
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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.

The Thames towards Richmond Hill, May Morning
10x8" Oil on panel
Available from Singulart

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. 

Twickenham Riverside, Bright Morning
10x8" Oil on panel
Available from Singulart

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.
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​ 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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Marble Hill House
​Oil on panel 5x7"
(sold)

I've always loved paintings of buildings, and I especially love painting rooftops and chimneys - I really enjoy the way they catch the light.
I'm lucky enough to live just down the road from this beautiful English Heritage site. The house was built in the 18th Century for Henrietta Howard, who was the mistress of King George II.  Its set in a beautiful park and is definitely worth a visit if you're ever in Twickenham. 

Three Poplars
​Oil on panel 10x8"
Available from Newbloodart online gallery

I painted this in Marble Hill Park on a beautiful April evening.  The golden light was shining right through the newly opening leaves of the Poplar trees and casting long shadows on the grass. I might make a larger studio painting based on this someday.

Oil painting on panel 5x7"

Oil painting on panel 5x7"

Another bright frosty morning had me setting up my easel by the banks of the river Thames again.  This group of trees is becoming a recurring motif in my paintings. You can find it in Orleans Gardens, looking over towards the Ham side of the river.
There was a lot of haze in the air which really increased the atmospheric perspective.  Its only a couple of weeks since the last frosty painting  but the light seems very different already as the sun is now higher and the light  stronger.
Maybe because of the smaller panel size, I didn't feel in such a rush this morning.  I remembered to step back and consider the overall effect a lot more.  I've been thinking about how to create colour harmony and researching this in Edgar Payne's book, Composition of Outdoor painting. I used a lot of blue and yellow today, it seems to tie the piece together quite well.

Original oil painting on mdf panel 8x8"

 I was torn this morning between painting the daffodils again as they had opened, or heading outside to paint the heavy frost, but it was such a beautiful morning it seemed a waste to spend it painting indoors  so I quickly packed up and walked down to Orleans Gardens.
Painting the frost was the hardest thing yet - squinting into that bright sunlight as it bounced of the ground was almost impossible. I found it difficult to judge the relationships between the values. Also I didn't reserve enough space for the white on my palette and it became hard to find any clean white to add the highlights.  This meant I had to finish the painting off at home, but at least I remembered to put in the tree shadows at the start this time, so I've made some progress!
I feel like the value relationships could do with a bit of adjustment, perhaps the greens in the foreground could be darker? Maybe Ill experiment with some glazes once its dry. I hope for some more frosty days to come so I can do some more studies outside.
And I'm keeping my fingers crossed for snow tomorrow : )

Original oil painting on mdf panel 8x8"

This is the first day I haven't quite managed to finish my painting. Its the largest panel I've attempted yet and it seems those extra few square inches were too much to cover in the hour long session I had this morning. Or maybe I was painting a little more slowly and carefully today as I tried to get the subtle changes in tone in the distant bank and trees.  Either way I'll have to decide whether to take the painting out again and try to finish it on location - which would be a new experience for me- or to make up the foreground from memory and photo reference. 

Original oil painting on mdf panel 9x6"

There was still a slight frost on the grass when I got down the river this morning, the air was very cold and the river still enough to allow some beautiful reflections to form.  I was absolutely frozen by the time I had finished. In spite of this I'm really hoping it snows soon - I will be ridiculously excited - I love snowy paintings and would love to have a go.    Getting out to paint is making me really enjoy January - it has always seemed like such a dreary month but the subtle colours and light are great for painting.

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