I really like the allotments at Wing. It's one of the few plots that has public access running through it and there are some nice distant views of the Aylesbury Vale. I could think of worse places to grow your onions. This painting focused on a single plot on a cloudy day so the light was cool and steady.

This spot caught my eye and the sunset was quite hazy. This meant I could look at it without being blinded by the sun too much! I painted the ground first and waited until the sky became a bit more interesting.

Too good to eat...

I was keen to do a small, wide format of the view from Whaddon at twilight, whilst the fields were nice and ripe. It was quite a challenge to get the balance of colours and values. As ever, the light seemed to change almost every time I looked up but the hardest part was getting the sky colours to read sensibly as paint. I found I didn't need to actually paint the sun as bright as it is (which would be impossible anyway!) by controlling the colours around it.

I've spent a couple of days in Oxford recently and wanted to try a different format using the French easel. Oxford's really cool for painting although there's swarms of people but I don't mind too much. A good test for concentration. I really like it around the Radcliffe camera and the day after painting down there I saw the exact spot on the final scene of 'Lewis' (I don't normally watch it..honest).

I love the colour of the stonework and it's good to paint when it's cloudy or sunny (though not both at the same time...that's a nightmare to deal with!). I like the long format for architectural subjects as it presents more interesting design opportunities.





The two above are of the Radcliffe camera (the first has the church behind). I tried to use more subtle temperature/colour shifts as opposed to heavy value shifts to keep things in harmony.



This one is Hertford college. Just to the left out of the picture is the 'Bridge of sighs' and in the distance you can see the same church as the one in the Radcliffe painting. Towards the end the sun started shining on the canvas so I had to be mindful not to overdo the darks.

End of the day, warm sunlight, itching to get out and paint, thought it would be a nice challenge to paint the moving cows and fading light! Actually, it was fun, high energy stuff. Rough round the edges, perhaps a little crude but who cares! Soaking up the moment, that's what it's all about. Check out the strokes in the grass.



...and as this pair of curious moos came towards me I couldn't resist....

After the hustle and bustle of London it's nice to get out amongst the fields and enjoy the fresh air. This was a quick one as the light kept changing evey few minutes. It was looking west from Whaddon in Bucks and I stumbled across it after heading out in the car from Stony Stratford. I tried to keep in mind a particular cloud structure otherwise I'd have ended up repainting it several times. I liked the heavy clouds contrasting against the warm light and the yellow flowers offered some nice interest in the foreground. I tried my best to keep the colours clean/fresh whilst working fast. The yellow flowers were mainly painted before the grass so they retained their colour strength and didn't get 'infected' by the surrounding green.

I used a small 6x8 textured linen panel, kindly given to me by my artist friend Karl Terry. Nice surface to work on and not too absorbent (unlike a other kinds of textured panels). I thought it would be peaceful but it was right next to a sheep station and they made a heck of a din. Still, at least there weren't any cockerels!!