. For the sake of geography, I live in the county of Shropshire, West Midlands, England. There are many places close to home that I think would be enjoyable to paint, and there is even a World Heritage site less than 5 miles from my doorstep; so I should have no problem finding interesting things to sketch. I tend to enjoy exploring the more rural areas, but will certainly make an effort to paint urban scenes as well (provided my embarrassment doesn't get the better of me). As with my Conwy session last year, I'll be posting a few notes and general tid-bits for each painting in an attempt to make this a little more interesting to read.Comments, critiques and insults must welcome.
A Note on Playback: The following first batch of paintings are what sparked the idea for this thread, so there is no marked point within the playback to show the transition from plein air to later rendering. In future paintings I will make a dab of bright pink in the upper right hand corner (before any flipping) to indicate the point where I stopped painting on location. I think it is important, or at least interesting to the viewer, to distinguish between plein air and later refinement, if any.
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Friday 12/02/10
I thought it rather humorous to spend an afternoon on Friday the 13th painting in a secluded graveyard (I'm not supersitious). It was only until after I had returned home that I realised it wasn't the 13th afterall, so now I'm thinking my brain tricked me and, as usual, my subconscious knows what's best: It was for my benefit that I went churchyard painting on this day, and it only took a little faux amusing thought to get me there!
http://colors.collectingsmiles.com/details/34706-Gravestones%2C_St_Bartholomews_by_Munin.php
Gravestones, St Bartholomews
This first painting was nothing but a joy to knock out. I recently bought a cute little backpack with a frame that folds out into a simple X-shape stool to sit on, and this was an excuse to test it out. I feel a lot less self-conscious now than I did last year while sitting on a fold out chair with a hidious 70's floral pattern!
Painting Notes: Completed on location, this ended up being nothing but pure indulgence. I could have stayed for longer and rendered it up even more, but decided to leave it as is before I ruined what I had by overworking. The gap in the hedge was actually more centered so I moved that to the right and forced the angle of the right gravestone to make the composition a little more interesting. My 183rd DS paint ended up being one of my most enjoyable. The slight muteness only seemed to add to my enjoyment.
http://colors.collectingsmiles.com/details/34837-St_Bartholomews%2C_Benthall_by_Munin.php
St Bartholomews Parish Church, Benthall
The church itself is rather understated, but seems to fit the location perfectly. I spent close to three hours here painting, poking my nose over hedgerows into farmers fields, and generally exploring; and in that time I saw not a soul. There's a beautiful house behind the church that belongs to the National Trust called Benthall Hall, but it doesn't open to the public for a few months so only dog walkers come this way at this time of year.
Painting Notes: The second painting completed on location. I removed two small tombs that sit off to the right infront of the little extention with the exposed brickwork. It was enjoyable to paint but didn't really amount to much personally, and I think it shows. I tried to make the white face of the front a focal point by extending the the skeletal shrubbery to draw the eye, but it didn't work out and the aqua shadow off to the right remains the most interesting to me. A bit of a fail then, but good fun all the same.
http://colors.collectingsmiles.com/details/34843-St_Bartholomews_Entrance%2C_Benthall_by_Munin.php
St Bartholomews Entrance
The setup for this paint was particularly awesome: Nothing but quaintness mixed with that glorious slow decay that adds so much character. The lane that I sat in is so narrow that a small car would probably find it's paintwork scratched by the close hedgerow and overhanging branches. I had to press up against the undergrowth on the opposite side of the lane just to get a good view.
Painting Notes: This should have been a very playful and flowing paint but for some reason I just couldn't hit a sweet spot. I struggled a bit with my initial choices as there wasn't much in the background beyond the gravestones to add depth. I decided to throw in some filled out trees, then changed my mind, and ended up just taking a reference photo with the hope of working things out later. Looking at it in retrospect, I think I halfway got there, but fumbled with the balance and in the end just resigned myself to the fact that it works better as an autumn scene. That darn gateway roof illuded me to the end.
http://colors.collectingsmiles.com/details/34839-Benthall%2C_Looking_Towards_Much_Wenlock_by_Munin.php
Benthall, Towards Much Wenlock
The last paint of the afternoon was done on the other side of the lane that St Bartholomews stands. I hopped over a small gate and settled myself in the Northern corner of a ploughed field. Looking towards Much Wenlock, a small rural village a few miles to the South West with a huge amount of interesting features, I guess I painted this with my mind certainly fixed on what lies beyond the small hillock.
Painting Notes: The two things that attracted me to the view were the ploughed ruts in the foreground that caught the light, and the slash of green that cuts across the vista. Most of this paint was done on location, but if you watch the playback you will notice I later did away with the large tree on the left. It wasn't needed and was badly placed (sorry, mother nature). I don't think this painting would have worked if it wasn't for the addition of the darker furrow that cuts across the foreground.
Saturday 13/02/10
http://colors.collectingsmiles.com/details/34708-River_Severn%2C_Ironbridge_by_Munin.php
River Severn, Ironbridge
This was painted in the valley below the first three paints. The River Severn is the longest river in England, and this part runs through a famous area known as Ironbridge which, considering it's named after the worlds first iron bridge located a few miles up river, seems a bit of an unoriginal place name. Still, I will certainly be painting along this stretch of river in the future, and will make the effort to actually paint the famous bridge itself before all the tourists come during the warmer weather.
Painting Notes: This was finished on location and turned out looking a lot more gloomy than it actually was. The dark masses are what first attracted me so I guess I might have pushed them further. I'm not exactly pleased with this but I guess it does work.
http://colors.collectingsmiles.com/deta ... _Munin.php
The Bird in Hand, Ironbridge
This is one of a few fine pubs along my local stretch of the River Severn: Good food, good beer, and a nice place to chill after a half-arsed attempt at painting it.
Painting Notes: Another paint I struggled with after the initial joy of painting the roof. To be honest, my heart wasn't in it (probably because I was more intent on getting inside and hitting the bar) and I ended up changing what was presented numerous times (see playback). I've been reading up on the use of "quiet spots" within a painting, so as to give the eye restfull areas, and I think this was playing on my mind during this paint; so in the end it was a good learning tool. I need to ask myself more questions while painting.
Sunday 14/02/10
http://colors.collectingsmiles.com/details/34939-Old_Growth%2C_Town_Park_by_Munin.php
Old Growth, Town Park
Sometimes it takes the bleakness of winter to realise how much ivy, or other creeping vines, dominate the undergrowth in these parts. With the lack of summer growth and bloom, the eye tends to fixate on these often invasive climbers when they are exposed in their true glory; indifferently smothering wall and tree at a remarkable pace, and always when your back is turned.
Painting Notes: This was another excuse to just scribble like mad (my favourite artistic gesture) and I went so far as to not consider the subject or composition. In truth, the radiant moss was what first caught my eye. It stood out so vibrantly against the cool dark ivy and had the further appeal of reminding me of my own little mossy growth in my back garden that I am trying to encourage to devour the base of my bird table. I ended up returning to this once back at home and tried to remove the unnecessary elements and draw out a focal point. I'm still in two minds, but who cares when the act of scribbling was so enjoyable.
http://colors.collectingsmiles.com/details/34941-Silken_Way_Wheel_by_Munin.php
Silkin Way Wheel (yeah, I misspelled the title when I uploaded)
There are at least 4 seperate trails that dot the county of Shropshire and enable residents to do a spot of dog walking, biking, sight seeing, or just regular commuting while having little contact with main roads. To be honest I've taken these for granted and not really explored them, until now. I did a little local "googling" and was actually taken aback at how ignorant I had been regarding these unobtrusive byways: they are like substitute arteries that connect almost the whole of the county in a most glorious way that takes in one little historial feature after another.
This old train wheel is one of many (although I've only traveled past four myself) wayside points along a trail called the Silkin Way. The start of the trail, which is a circuit that can be covered on foot in less than 6 hours, is just beyond the view of the previous painting, and this one is almost literally behind my house.
Painting Notes: It would be nice to think that I could possibly do a speedpaint of every wheel along the trail, but there's too many other more notable cast iron "points" to consider painting in this kneck of the woods. At some point I will have to expand on this notion and drop some historical notes, but I'll leave it for now. The paint itself was completed on location and despite the rather dubious attempt at fairly precise circular shapes, or maybe because of said deformities, I damn well enjoyed this one... for a number of reasons.
For once I managed to break free of that hateful need to over render, and came away with a decent paint that retained a sense of the initial energy and spontaneity. This was so enjoyable to paint and is one of the very few DS paints I've done that I make me feel I did something right with this one.
http://colors.collectingsmiles.com/details/34942-Viewpoint%2C_Sneds_Hill_by_Munin.php
Viewpoint, Sneds Hill
My last paint of the weekend was done on top of a very familiar local hill. One of my first DS paints (now deleted) was done just below this, but more importantly, I have happy memories of sliding down the hill (out of frame) on various dodgy contraptions as a kid. The hill itself overlooks the village of Oakengates, where I currently live, and forms a kind of geographical footnote in my mind as the cutting off point of my childhood: The village where I grew up in (St Georges) basically ends at this point as the hill decends into Oakengates, which is the place I was often found at a very early age and chastised for being there...
"You are not old enough to go galavanting down into Oakengates. If I catch you there again, you will be grounded!"
Now there's a word that sums up my childhood... "Galavanting", or to galavant. I wonder if it is used outside the UK? It would be a great blight on America if you guys didn't use the word... frequently, I might add! It should be a national recognised passtime here in England! But my apologies, I digress...
Painting Notes: I thoroughly enjoyed painting this. Mostly because of the above memories. I was pleased with how the composition took shape early on and because of this I attacked it with a bit more confidence than usual. However, this same confidence lead to me pushing for localised detail too early on (see playback of backgound trees) and the whole thing lost all the initial spark it could have so easily maintained. It's an old hurdle I recognise every time I try to paint something from life that has some kind of architectual structure in in. Yet, when I paint architecture from imagination, it always seems to come together so much more fluidly. Why is that?!
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So the above is my first weekend of local paints. I actually did more than uploaded, but realised I was drowning the gallery so decided I will post batches of lesser stuff and remote link them once I have about 10 paints. Oh, and if you read all of the above, then someone should tip their hat to you, and I guess it should be me!
Less to follow...
The hardy purple heather and tufted, sheep-nibbled grass look wonderful against the dull grey slate.
