A Change in the weather: new originals
"Final Colours" original monotype image size 74 x 51 cm NOW SOLD
I'm delighted to be able to share with you five new original monotype paintings that I've been working on during the lockdown. If you've been following my blog, you will have seen these pieces in progress last month.
From warm summer sunsets to stormy windswept landscapes, these original artworks traverse a range of weather but follow a simple compositional idea of trees along the horizon, one of my favourite themes.
I feel that my progress has been very slow and that I should have achieved more in the time. It's an artist's dilemma: to produce a lot of quick and easy works or to take your time and really consider where you want to go with each piece. As you can imagine, I've opted for the latter. It's not the design that takes time but the layers of colour. Each day, before I continue with a monotype, I gaze at it intently, trying to foresee the best combination of colours to print over what's already there then start mixing and testing colours. As I'm working in reverse, in translucent layers, it requires deep thought even after years of working with the medium. I want to stretch myself to do the best I'm capable of.
The video below gives a speedy overview of printing "Final Colours" above. It starts the same as last month's video but completes the process, showing the final stages.
"Sycamore Gap" original monotype image size 51 x 51 cm NOW SOLD prints available
The ever-popular Sycamore Gap in Northumberland National Park makes a return with this sunset sky (above). I've never seen it at sunset so I just used my imagination! I was particularly pleased to find the stone-wall texture for the fragments of Hadrian's Wall. I made the square larger than my usual so that the scale of the "bricks" wouldn't look too large. This one sold to my first studio visitors since the easing of lock-down. But don't despair, I'm working on another rectangular one !
"Summer landscape" original monotype image size 38 x 58 cm £695 framed in oak with art glass, £595 mounted
This smaller summer sunset was a practice run for the larger one at the top. The sky turned out well with lovely soft pink and blue contrasts and a real sense of light. I agonised over whether to do my printed patterns and textures in the foreground but opted for some relaxed mark-making that indicates a more distant view
"Limestone Pavement" original monotype image size 38 x 58 cm £695 framed in oak with art glass, £595 mounted
Above: a second attempt for a limestone pavement with a lonely tree (see first attempt). You can see views like this in the Yorkshire Dales near Malham. It's not far from where I was born in East Lancashire and I enjoyed family walks there as a child, marveling at the patterns. I've simplified the rocks into diminishing parallel lines this time but I'll keep looking at different ways to represent these amazing structures.
"At the Window" original monotype image size 38 x 58 cm £695 framed in oak with art glass, £595 mounted
Finally, my "Wuthering Heights" style house on a rocky landscape with brooding sky. I considered doing a grander house but opted for something simple and more do-able with one lit window to suggest that someone's home and balance with the golds on the lower left.
These original artworks are now available for sale. Just get in touch if you wish to purchase one or discuss framing options. You can also shop for more originals. My originals are shown initially to my email subscribers so please join my list to be among the first to see new work.