Diary of an analytical painter

PLEIN AIR PETERSHAM MEADOW

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 19:37:00 +0000

Today I spent a day at Petersham Meadow with some painters from SOFAP (sofap.co.uk). I started the day early with a 24 x 30cm picture of the cottage opposite Petersham Nursery.

Then a general view looking across the meadow and up to Richmond Hill. This was my least successful painting of the day. I've painted this view before in Summer. It works better when the tree is in full leaf.

After lunch... just an apple... I forgot my sandwiches! I painted a delightful tree in blossom. Again, a subject I painted in my first plein air session of 2011.

Then finally, the cow barn. Was feeling quite relaxed and getting into the flow of things by this time. I think this is the best pic of the day. Very satisfied that I managed to capture the feeling of the late afternoon sun.

TECHNIQUE EXPERIMENTS

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 21:05:00 +0000

Just before my last life drawing class at the RA I stopped off in Green Park for a quick plein air. It was early evening so the light was fading quite fast, but I think I just about caught the atmosphere. A photo of the scene is shown below.

And this was the model I painted an hour later.

Earlier this week I went down to Brentford Dock where the Grand Union Canal leaves the River Thames. This is a residential pontoon looking towards the entrance to the canal. Quite tight perspective an oddly cold light, but I think I just about pulled it off.

I've seen this washy background technique used by several artists, originally Richard Schmid, but more recently from James Hart Dyke (jameshartdyke.com) whose work I really like. I've started to experiment with it.

I don't particularly like the picture below, a bit dull!!!, but it is nicely controlled I think, and the knitwear works well. I've used a lot of soft edges and just a few hard ones which seems to balance.

Painting this little oil can using a really strong composition gives it more gravitas than it actually has.

My friend Graham Townsend reminded me of the work of William Wray the contemporary American painter. This prompted me to sharpen my palette knife and get a few pics drafted, firstly of the Putney footbridge and then of the walkway down to the pontoon at Putney Pier.

LUCY'S BOOTS

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 09:36:00 +0000

My daughter, Lucy, asked me to take her very old cowboy boots to the cobbler for repair. I couldn't resist painting them a couple of times before taking them.

I painted some interior views of my studio. In both I wanted to capture the odd mixture of both the warm spotlight and the cold daylight.

Finally, I headed out for a bit of plein air, firstly under the footbridge and then in Bishop's Park in Fulham. I've been trying to develop a method of approach to my plein air painting which I can put into practice most times. It's just beginning to fall into place. In the bridge picture the light was flat and grey, so it took some careful observation to make anything of it (I prefer a bit of sunlight). In the park painting there was some lovely warm light being reflected off the distant grass, captured in the doors and brickwork at the right of the building.

FEBRUARY WRAP-UP

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 21:51:00 +0000

Shown below are a few odd pics completed in February.

I saw this guy fishing off a pier in Chelsea. Great location. I caught him plein air, then worked this pic up in the studio. Don't like it much!

Claire gave me some daffodil bulbs, so I painted them a few times... first in a mirror.

Then without a mirror.

Then a few days later, with good tonal values. I like this one!

An old aluminium jug that hangs around the studio. Don't like.

An old pulley and a glass jug that hang around the studio. Like composition, colours and textures.

Painted from a photo, I've painted an almost identical pic before. Like the subject and tone and colours.

Stepped outdoors from some plein air, firstly on Barnes Green.

Then Wimbledon common

Then Bishops Palace

And finally Teddington lock. I've been thinking a lot about tonal values and colour recently. I took a look at the marvelous Peter Brown show at Messums. Can't recommend it highly enough. I noticed several wonderful things about his paintings, but the most notable to me was how his pics really use the full tonal range, with LOTS of black paint... or damn near to black. When the colour is not black, but the tone is, he manages to retain some colour, which gives a really rich appearance to his pictures. In this really rough sketch I concentrated on emulating this principle. There's something about the pic I like. Not sure what. Maybe I succeeded.

BARNES POND UNDER ICE

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:38:00 +0000

I've painted Barnes Pond several times before. This little picture (24cm x 30) was painted from a photo, over the weekend. I like the composition, in particular the strong shadow to the right of the building which reflects across the ice. It seems to tie the buildings and their reflections together. I regret including the ducks/gulls!!!! I do like the pointillies, or taches (the dotty and dashy strokes). This is the painting style I want to develop further, quite loose, pointilles, taches, some sharp palette knife edges and lines and some nice flat palette knife smudges...

ROUGH WATER

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 21:45:00 +0000

For this commission I threw away my usual painting style and thought of the great American sailing painter Willard Bond. I wanted to portray the dynamism of the sport and the eccentricity of the water (if only I could create waves like Gary Long!). All in all a neat piece which the client was pleased with.

LIFE DRAWING AT THE RA

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:42:00 +0000

From January to March I'm doing a two hour class at the RA, once a week. The photo below shows the beautiful Victorian custom designed life drawing studio in which the class takes place. We do four, ten to fifteen minute poses, then a 45 minute one. The 45 minute sessions from the past four weeks are shown below. Unfortunately in week four, the model didn't turn up, so we all drew (or in my case painted) the horse. Unfortunately I got the least pleasant view! ;-(

STUDIO CORNER

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:23:00 +0000

As it's been so cold over the past couple of days I've been holed out in my studio, the old air-raid shelter. When I renovated it I left one tiny corner, near the door, untouched, so exactly as it was during World War II. Below is a little painting I did of the old corner, together with some of the odds and ends I didn't have the heart to throw away!

SNOW INITIATION

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:24:00 +0000

Snowy barn, Petersham meadow 24cm x 30cm

I know I can never be taken seriously as a plein air painter without a lot of snow painting experience. Today I had a chance to have a go, and it was great fun. It took me a long time to find a spot with any colour. I visited one of my favourite locations, Petersham meadow. At first all I saw was white and grey, but eventually found this little scene, which made a decent composition. Will definitely be out as soon as the next snow arrives.

JANUARY WRAP UP

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Below are the final few pictures I've painted for my Richmond exhibition which opened in The Duke Bistro,Duke Street, Richmond, today.

Richmond Bridge in Blue - Oil on board - 25 x 35cm

Must be the football season - Oil on board - 25 x 25cm

Hotel Splendide - Princes' Islands - Turkey - Oil on canvas - 24 x 30cm

Viewing Teddington Lock - Oil on canvas - 24 x 30cm

VAPOUR TRAILS

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:32:00 +0000

I've painted this scene before, about a year ago. It's the view looking down from Richmond Hill over Petersham Meadow. Again, this is a studio painting, but it captures the snow covered ground and dusk sky quite well. Oil on cavas board 30cm x 40cm

TWO LARGER RIVER VIEWS

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:20:00 +0000

Though I haven't posted for a couple of weeks, I've been busy. I spent a very enjoyable few days in Austria, first skiing, then onto Vienna for some sightseeing. Needless to say, a lot of time looking at Gustav Klint's work... quite incredible, but also discovered Anton Kolig whose paintings I got very excited about.

Below are a couple of river views, each 50cm x 50cm, oil on canvas. Familiar subjects, but painted with a little more confidence!

RICHMOND CONTINUED

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:56:00 +0000

Below are a couple more paintings for my up-coming exhibition in Richmond. The first is from the north side of the river looking south. This is not the most popular view of the bridge, but I rather like it. Oil on canvas 24 x 30 cm. The second picture is the classical water fountain under a London Plane tree, on the corner of Richmond green. Oil on canvas 24 x 30 cm.

EXHIBITION PICTURES

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 20:03:00 +0000

I've spent the past couple of days working up some pictures for exhibitions in Richmond and Putney, coming up in January and February.

Seagulls over Putney bridge - Oil on board 35 x 35cm

Richmond bridge in blue - Oil on canvas 24 x 30cm

Richmond green - White houses - Oil on board 25 x 25cm

EIGHTS TRAILER

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 11:24:00 +0000

I finished the year with a painting that hints at the direction I want to go in the new year. This painting is about atmosphere and the perception of things seen rather than the accurate rendition of them. I listened to David Hockney on Radio 4 a couple of days ago. He said draftsmanship is the skill but painting is the poetry. I'm reasonably confident about my skills regarding the former, but I sure need to work on my poetry! Oil on canvas 24cm x 60cm

SELF PORTRAIT

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:13:00 +0000

There's nothing to get the painter as challenged as a self portrait. I usually tape some thin string to the mirror I'm looking at, to form a cursor. I align one eye with the centre of the cursor and the other along the horizontal axis. This makes it easy to adopt the same posture throughout. It's always worth looking at the portrait in a mirror to see how it looks. That's the simplest way to check how accurate it is. Another method is to take a photo from a similar angle, then superimpose one over the other in Photoshop, using a 50% mask. Obviously this only tells you how accurate the drawing is, not what a brilliant painting you have created! I checked this portrait using this method. The forehead is a touch too high, otherwise it's not far off. Unfortunately, like most self portraits, it has the artists almost insane stare. I do smile, a lot!

A TOUGH ONE RE-VISITED

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 20:39:00 +0000

I've stood under this tree on a couple of occasions during the summer, trying to catch the atmosphere of the place plein air, but without success. The issues making it difficult are: no horizon line, no direct view of the sky, reflections in the pond, the tree trunk being in almost complete shadow so having no tonal relief, the tree being close up so one is forced to paint the foliage in some detail, always a tricky thing to do! Oil in canvas 30cm x 40

Teddington Lock 24cm x 30

Shops near Richmond Green 35cm x 35

NOVEMBER WRAP-UP

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:16:00 +0000

I've spent the past 10 days in the studio working up paintings of local scenes.

Sleeping fan

So called, due to a figure on the right of the cricket screen, laying on the ground, fast asleep. This is Putney Heath in the summer. Oil on canvas 24cm x 60.

Boathouse sunset

Oil on canvas 30cm x 40.

Farm buildings - winter sunset

I got my palette knife sharpened for this one and really had some fun trying to capture the shaft of light. Oil on canvas 24cm x 30.

Hotel Splendide - Lobby

Oil on canvas 24cm x 30.

Shop reflections - Richmond

Oil on canvas 24cm x 30.

Tree on Richmond green

Oil on canvas 30cm x 40.

Waterman's Green slipway

Oil on canvas 24cm x 30.

GAS MASK AND LANDSCAPES

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:08:00 +0000

I've spent a couple of days in the studio. This gas mask has been hanging around in my old air-raid shelter studio for a couple of years, but I haven't painted it for 18 months. I like the study, but think the composition is a bit weak!

Lyme Regis harbour with the tide out. Tried some simple bold strokes.

Holkham Beach in Norfolk

DRAWING OR PAINTING

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 17:44:00 +0000

Today I intended to visit the Degas show at the Royal Academy. I entered, only to discover a very crowded and dark exhibition. OK, I chose the wrong day! Fortunately I'm a member of the RA so can pop back. I took the opportunity to check out the tertiary show, 'Driven to Draw, 20th Century Drawings and Sketchbooks from the Royal Academy's Collection' What a FAB show. Modest but revelatory! I've had two concurrent thoughts for some time, which may be about to flourish. Firstly, where does drawing and painting cross over. I've always believed that painting is 'drawing with colour', so where is the dividing line. Secondly, I think my drawing is much stronger than my painting. My recent life class, in which I just get stuck in with a paintbrush and doodle around until a 'form' evolves, has made me think about how my work could evolve. On Thursday evening I sold 3 paintings at the CHASE Modern Art Exhibition and came across the work of Tom Homewood (www.tomhomewood.com). An exponent of the concept 'painting is drawing' if there ever was one! Today I also took a look at the Discerning Eye exhibition at the Mall Galleries. The work of Bill Dean (www.billdeanroi.com/gallery/gallery.html) caught my eye, in particular his picture 'what's cooking'. Again, so loose, it could be called a drawing. Bumped into and had a chat with David Pilgrim (www.davidpilgrimart.co.uk/blog) and Tim King (www.timkingsart.com) on the way out of the show. Shown below, top picture, one hour pose, with two fifteen minute poses below. Finally the Cauliflower and Broccoli I stuffed into cannelloni and baked with cheese on the top for my family on Wednesday evening!

AFRICAN VIOLETS

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:58:00 +0000

In my last blog I mentioned my frustration at getting bogged down with too much detail when painting plants/leaves. In this picture I limited myself to one hour and tried to paint really instinctively, avoiding any detail. It worked reasonably well. The time limit ensured abstraction. The underside of the leaves, which I've never noticed before are an extraordinary red colour.

In the next picture, I restricted myself to two hours with the caveat that I must represent the flowers convincingly, and not just as colour 'splodges'. Again, I achieved some success. Note the warm patch at the back of the plate, part reflection, part shadow, caused, I think, by the red underside of the leaves reflecting the red backdrop onto the plate's rim!

LEAVES

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:45:00 +0000

There are many slick daily painters (those that paint and market on ebay a picture every day) in the USA, eg qiang-huang.blogspot.com. Many of them paint foliage brilliantly, using three techniques, bravura brushwork, edges (hard or soft) and crafted light/dark contrasts.

I intended to have a go at these techniques, but wavered from my original intention, simplicity. The results were interesting, but not what I intended, it all got a bit fussy. I'll try again!

LIFE MODEL

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:51:00 +0000

I've signed up for a life drawing class, just a few hours each week for the next 6 weeks. These are the results from my first session. The model was excellent, she sat very still. The space wasn't a studio, it had fluorescent lighting which made for a really flat light... never mind. The top pose was for 15 minutes and the lower one for one hour.

WAS COROT CORRECT

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 21:38:00 +0000

Reflections are not my only interest, I'm really beginning to enjoy the subtleties of shadows too. I'm currently reading Carlson's seminal book on landscape painting. I picked it up for less than £10 on amazon. It's a great read, it mentions one of Corot's recommendations, "start painting a landscape from 50 foot away", in other words, don't paint the foreground! I'm not sure I agree with this. He thought too much foreground detail 'draws attention' away from 'the distance', which in a landscape may be the most important bit. However, I think if it's left quite loose, it can work well.

I often bemoan my brushwork. In the picture below I took it slowly, mixing and placing quite deliberately. I've started using synthetic sable style brushes as well as Hog flats which gives a bit more variety.

During a Scottish sailing trip earlier in the year I took quite a few photos with a view to working them up into paintings later in the year. The element of the view below that attracted me was the sunlight catching the tree tops on the loch side. Though it's quite convincing in this photo, it doesn't work so well on the actual painting. I may give this another go, another time.

I was fascinated by the sharp contrast between the red building facade and the wet shadowy foreground. It almost works, but I think I should have tried to keep the foreground looser. Perhaps Corot was right after all!!

ST MARY'S GROVE - BISHOP'S PARK

noreply@blogger.com (Ian Lettice) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:04:00 +0000

This is a 24cm x 60cm painting of a very pretty private road in Barnes called St' Mary's Grove, produced mainly from photographic references.

And a 50cm x 50cm study of the avenue of trees in Bishop's Park Fulham. I've called it 'watching the dog' as there are a couple of tiny figures in the distant sunlight playing with a small dog.

For reference I used a combination of a plein air painting I completed earlier in the year (see picture below) and a photo.