Drawings from the life class

A return to the life class in Salisbury   thanks to John Gustard for finding  space for me.

Cornish coast ; oil on canvas

Drawing down by the Nadder after work, a nice tangle of branches and foliage

Grain A Power Station on the North Kent marshes,

I lived in Strood for a few years, trying to escape London ( while still commuting in) , at weekends I explored the Hoo Peninsula. There is one winding road leading over the marshes to the small car park, and the sign which says "To The Beach". It's not everyone's idea of beautiful ; bleak, and industrial are the more generous descriptions. Still, I recall it affectionately, and now the land mark of the power station chimney  has gone. I considered it an industrial spire, and painted this view inspired partially by Van Ruisdael's views of Haarlem Cathedral . By coincidence I agreed to sell this painting this morning.

Slip decorated plate finds a new home

Jason, Louise, and Joe came to visit us , and selected two slip decorated plates from the studio, always good to see work going out into the wider world!

Work is currently showing at Cobbs in Wilton Shopping Village

      I have hung a group of my paintings in Cobbs coffee shop in the shopping village at Wilton. They are all derived or directly observed from local views,

The studio will be open for Saturdays in May

English Rose The Jam

Appearing on All Mod Cons but not on the sleeve notes, despite this having nothing to do with the studio, nor ( directly) painting,  . So here they are , from the exhibition last year, and dedicated by me to my wife Alex

May Open Studios

 I have hung some paintings on the walls with the May Open Studios in mind, I will be opening the studio every Saturday in May, these works are a random selection, covering my time in London, Exmoor,the Isle of Wight and Wiltshire . please contact me for more details regarding purchasing or information regarding the Open Studios

St Ives rocks

 First marks for a new painting, oil on canvas, working from sketches of the rocks around Man's Head in St Ives.

The painting progresses, and disappoints for some reason, trying to get some gutsy painting marks in, while holding the image, I struggle with that tension between the image and the abstract qualities, I keep thinking that the good paintings lie in between the two, but they keep slipping away.

Brave Souls

The painting finished, I see these trees silhouetted against the sky as individuals, hence the title, I feel as if they are struggling; enduring their existence, with a storm behind them, I hurry home to be warm and safe; but they stay out there, and fight on in the dark, animated and rooted; they serve out their time  

Work in the studio

 It was at the end of last summer that I saw these two firs on the horizon as I walked up the valley from Great Wishford, they were a feature in a sketch, the more I looked the more I wanted to paint them, i wanted to cature their character. A friend saw a sketch of this and thought it looked like a Montague Dawson, which I was chuffed at, because I  had seen these like the masts of clipper ships struggling in a heavy sea, I don't know what they communicate, but I think I will be working on this image for a while 

An early watercolour of a piece of flint and another exploring the landscape theme

Flint Study Watercolour on paper framed approx. 30 x 25 cms £150

Flint Landscape Watercolour on paper framed approx 30 x 25 cms £170

 I started looking at flints as the inspiration for landscape images, by seeing landscapes within the facets and planes of the stones, I liked the way that a small part of the geology of the land eventually represented the larger view.

The Origin drawing for the hayrick, and an abstraction

Ink on paper with watercolour approx 42cm x 59cm 

ink on paper approx 20x 20 cms

Part of the horse station that inspired me. I was searching for a new way to work, and i was keen to do something with the muscular directness of a Franz Kline, and knew the story of the chair drawing and the Bell Opticon projector which led to his departure from figurative painting. The hayrick had a resonance for me, and within its handmade structure I found the image I was looking for, I did make one large painting of this subject, and though I love it, and it hangs in my kitchen where I see it every day, I don't feel it fulfilled my ambition for this work. These work are unframed, and may be available in the Open Studios in May, but I may have to keep them in order to make more work from them.     

Oil on Canvas Framed

 

Oil on Canvas "On The Hill" 50 x 40 cms , framed £400
This work dates from the time I lived in Exmoor, and I was interested in the man made structures that dotted the moors, mostly they related to the Exmoor ponies who ran wild for most of the year, but they were annually rounded up. This image represents one of the isolated stations where they were corralled and fed on these occasions.
 To be included in the forthcoming Open Studios in May