Another new one...

 

Summit

Oil on board

200 x 200mm

New painting...

Just finished this oil painting of one of the footpaths at The Naze nature reserve, Walton, Essex

Oil on board 40x40cm

RSPB Rainham Marshes

I'm lucky to live about 5 minutes from the RSPB reserve at Rainham Marshes, so when I heard they had some nesting kingfishers over there I decided to visit.

I took my camera, partly to try to get a snap of these electric blue and orange birds and partly to take some landscape photographs that I could paint at a later date.

Being so close to home, I've been to the reserve many times but usually during the winter months. Today was a beautiful sunny spring day.

The kingfishers were the highlight of the day and I did indeed get a couple of nice photographs of the male perched on a branch outside the nest. I also took some landscapes which (once at home) I loaded into one of the several photo apps on my phone to play around with filters.

I do this because I'm not that familiar with my new camera and the images looked a bit flat. Also I wanted an idea of how an oil painting might look with brighter, more saturated colours.

First post in a while

The other day I picked up my brushes for the first time this year. I didn't know what to paint so I just made it up as I went along, limiting myself to just 1 hour.

Halfway through, I remembered I had a new tube of magenta acrylic I haven't tried before so the landscape turned into a heather clad moor.

2014

It's New Years Day and as one of my resolutions this year is to try to spend more time drawing and painting I thought I'd spend an hour doing a little drawing.

Striding Edge, Cumbria
Pen on paper 3"x3"