Trying to find...a way in as Artist in Residence at The Yorkshire Arboretum.

I am starting to find my way around The Yorkshire Arboretum; to find a way in to the residence. How do I describe this special place? I have spent hours walking, looking and sketching. The trees have a powerful presence, awe inspiring and comforting at the same time. I am struck with two types of tree groups. The same type of tree planted numerously and the effect of very different species planted in close groups.

The logistics of transporting heavy large boards, paints, water and brushes around 120 acres of parkland are challenging but I want to paint in situ. To capture the feeling of being there in that space and that moment. I am under pressure to capture this fleeting time in the calendar when there are still leaves on the trees but the structure is beginning to show through and there is glorious colour juxtaposed with intimations of the stark nakedness of winter. Another week and this could all be gone. Procrastination must end and commitment of action begin.

I am delighted to be Artist in Residence at The Yorkshire Arboretum on the Castle Howard Estate for the end of 2018 and throughout 2019 I will be recording the landscape there throughout the seasons.

Award winning Yorkshire photographer Lucy Saggers has already captured me making some preliminary sketches for a series of large paintings to be started in October and Filmmaker Emilie Flower will be filming the work as it progresses.

Two workshops will take place as part of my residence as well as an exhibition at The Arboretum and The Helmsley Arts Centre at the end of 2019. 

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Recently I spent a week in Morocco, painting in Marrakech and at the Kasbah du Toubkal in the High Atlas mountains. We visited and sketched in the Bahia Palace, the Jardin Secret, Musee de la Palmeraore, the Majorelle gardens and the garden of Yves St Laurent. The colours were incredible and I am really looking forward to developing all these ideas into paintings.

This has been a year of travelling. I spent a month in Galicia Northern Spain, recording the landscape and visiting Santiago de Compostella. Santiago is a magical place, full of pilgrims joyous to have completed their journey.

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Spanish Gardens 1, 2 and 3.

Inspired by my travels from my 2018 Spanish Dreams Collection.
Available to buy here.

Sometimes a painting happens very quickly and is very clear and pure. Others take much more work and have longer and more complicated journeys to their completion. Another way of looking at them is that they have many lives, several incarnations. These other lives lie underneath the finished painting, layers sometimes partially visible and integrated into the new work.

Most painters would agree that we often don't know where a painting is going. The process of creation is mysterious with a life and direction of its own. Driven towards perfection, I sometimes work a painting too much and destroy its delicate balance. When this happens I have no other choice but to drive forward into new territory, to take risks, to destroy what was cherished, in the hope that something new might be born from the destruction.

When people look at a finished work they would be surprised to know how many stories lie underneath. These stories are part of the paintings journey. Destruction is a necessary part of creation.

“Creation is not possible without destruction. ”

Early sketch for The Lilac Tree

The Lilac Tree (Original completed painting before tampering)

The Lilac Tree (in process)

Details from The Lilac Tree - a work in progress...

I am always amazed by the talent in the room when I run Painting Courses and this recent Still Life Course was no exception. It is always particularly magical how complete beginners manage to find their creative voices and produce work which surprises in its quality. Also great to see how more experienced artists make their own personal leaps and further develop their style, often becoming more expansive and experimental.

We consider composition, tone, colour and a range of painterly techniques including layering, washes, printing and scratching out. We also look at how different brushes can be used to make different types of mark making. 

See upcoming courses on the Workshops Page.

All images are students work

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I had one of my best Sundays painting with Mixed media artist Shirley Vauvelle. The temperature which soared to a mighty 28 degrees didn't distract us too much from the exquisite blonde curves of the Yorkshire Wolds in July. The haystacks are already made up into tantalising squares and rolls.

I want to describe the heat in the scene even though it is all a white cream apart from the dark green trees and also the sense of dramatic  curvaceous space and white gold beauty, hallmarks of the gentle Yorkshire Wolds. A bit of red in the yellow mixed with white is beginning to get there. Still working on them today. Watch this space…

Antidote to English Winter, a Still Life painting course I ran in February, really was a colourful antidote to the February chill. We explored colour, composition and texture, using arranged still life as a starting point. The resulting work was both exciting and organised. I think it is as useful for students to have a tighter frame within which to work as it is to have complete free reign. This workshop managed to combine both.

To find out more about my upcoming courses, click here.