February 2021
Seascapes. The ocean has always been a big draw for me, Conveying the sense of movement and power, or the tranquility, of water, has been a quest of mine since I first swam. With the restrictions on travel where I live due to the pandemic, I’ve been cut off from the sea, as such these paintings are from reference material I accessed via Pixabay, an online archive of free-to-use images uploaded by photographers from around the world. While it is difficult to get out and about, image sources like Pixabay are invaluable ways of accessing our world through the eyes of others
The two images below are studies of paintings by the late 19th and early 20th Century American marine artist Frederick Judd Waugh who is a particular favourite of mine. I have a tendency toward persnickety detail, while Waugh is fabulously effective at capturing the heart of the matter with broad strokes. I have a blog post dedicated to Waugh.
December, 2020
These are a few local landscapes, which means the Dulas Valley immediately around my village, and the massif of Cader Idris.
I last went up onto Cader Idris, from the pass, on a cloudless day in August. I don’t generally rate the relentlessly zestful nature of summer light, it’s too bright and far too happy for the sort of landscape painting I like to produce but I must be mellowing or something because I actually began to see opportunities within the light.
Perhaps it was the warmth of the day bringing in a fulsome haze from the sea, but the mountain looked fabulous and full of depth, which compensated handsomely for the absence of those rich equinoctial colours. I really began to appreciate this facet of the mountain for the first time.
This painting of the cliffs above Llyn Cae really captures the hazy nature of the day, and how the moisture in the air softened the light and increased the sense of depth. It was a real pleasure being able to put that onto a canvas.
I had recently taken some palette tips from Andrew Tischler, a talented landscape artist working from the south island of New Zealand, and his advice proved to be very helpful in bringing these paintings to a successful conclusion. Andrew has put a lot of free painting advice up on his youtube channel and you should check out what he has to say, he’s technically very proficient, and his tutorials are well paced, easy to follow, and thorough.
This year’s silver lining has been getting to know my immediate surroundings quite intimately. The most salient feature locally is Taran y Gesail, and the mountain is getting quite a lot of attention. The mountain wears a coat of snow very well.
