Plein Air Painting

An area of work I have neglected over many years is painting from life outdoors. It poses its own set of challenges over and above the relatively straightforward task of capturing a likeness of an object or scene. Have you brought the right kit for the job, if not can you improvise? Is that weather front coming our way and have you settled down on an ants nest without realising it?

To get the best out of the exercise I also set myself a time limit in order to focus on the important elements only and avoid delving into too much detail.

I intend to try and make this a regular exercise in order to speed up and sharpen my technique.

Below are the most recent sketches.

The Royal Observatory Greenwich

St Jacu de la Mer, Brittany

St Malo beach, Brittany

Intramuros and fort St Malo

Fort at St Malo

A mile from Glory

The latest work is a study centred on the race to be the first to fly the English Channel in a heavier the air flying machine.

The history books will tell you that Louis Bleriot was the first pilot to cross the channel in July 1909. He was not the only one to try, another Frenchman Hubert Latham made two attempts and ditched in the Channel on both occasions, the second only a mile from the English coast.

Hubert Latham ditches a mile from the English coast.

Corvette commission

I have just delivered my latest maritime commission, an enjoyable and interesting journey it turned out to be. The  painting was a 90th birthday present for a former member of the ships crew.

HMS Rhododendron (A Flower Class Corvette) has family associations for me also. Coincidentally during research for the painting I was contacted by relatives of one of her former Captains.

The "Flowers" were the largest class of warship ever built for the Royal Navy (270 built). Very small for an ocean going warship, they rolled and pitched violently, making even veteran sailors violently seasick! They made a major contribution to winning the Battle of the Atlantic.

Below are a few selected stages of the development and then the final painting.

Initial composition,
the corvette in her natural environment.

Sketch for client approval

Main elements blocked in with underpainting

Completed work, HMS Rhododendron 1944-45

Frieze Artwork

Working with the Made in Greenwich Gallery, I have developed a number of ideas for interior design projects. Largely exploring the idea of bespoke frieze deigns for application to walls in either a paper or canvas material.

The first results are shown here:

Wild sea

Antigua

Breakers

Dunes

National Maritime Museum Art Club Annual Exhibition 2013

The National Maritime Museum Art Club Annual Exhibition is currently on show at the Paul McPherson Gallery 77 Lassell Street, Greenwich, London, SE10 9PJ.

The show lasts until Saturday 22 June and comprises marine themed paintings, drawings and prints from members of the Art Club.

I am fortunate to have three paintings on show this year. All work in the exhibition is for sale.

Canadian Corvettes in acrylics with a second corvette
 painting in the background

Officer of the Watch acrylic

Castle in the Air, also in acrylic

Aviation work

I have an exhibition later in the year which will be a combination of marine and aviation work. So at the moment I am looking at themes related to both subjects. I am particularly drawn to the early days of aviation and a number of works from that period will feature in the show, but the first subject will probably be a daring Mosquito raid on a French Chateau during World War II.

Footage exists on YouTube of the raid I wish to portray, well worth viewing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKt_SQuqQug

I have begun the preliminary work on the composition but there is much to do before embarking on the final painting.

The pose selected is from behind and slightly above.

My intention is  to capture the drama of a very low level raid.

The first attempt to capture the colour values

Port Solidor

I have begun to explore a softer slightly less finished style of landscape over a slightly textured and coloured underpainting. After a few experiments this is the first finished piece. I think the technique needs more experimentation, but on the whole I am quite pleased with the result of this one.

The location is the estuary of the river Rance in Brittany, to the left of the river mouth is the French resort of Dinard. To the right is Port Solidor and beyond the headland is the port and resort of St Malo.

Evening at Port Solidor, Brittany