Wild Tromso days

One of the best holidays we have had was in Tromso in the Arctic Circle with our friends.

The town was small, the sea was navy blue and the snow was pristine white all the time - no slush, no sludgy puddles just snow you want to crunch underfoot.

Around the port the former warehouses are crimson and raw sienna and we walked a bit further and this was the view - so clean and bright and vivid.

This is the challenge: to paint the crispness of the day.

The  grisaille: to find the tones.

The first colours and already the sludge has appeared.

The grey/green building is not attractive but the composition is quite good, I think.

I have my next lesson in 50 minutes so let's see what it looks like after that.

Arbutus unedo

This is a Strawberry tree, a native to the Mediterranean and to some areas of Southern Ireland. In England they occur as deliberately planted specimens and are quite rare. The fruit is similar in appearance to that of a strawberry but is unpalatable.

The bark is spectacular - red, maroon, purple with a bluey sheen - just ripe for painting.

This particular example is at Grey's Court, near Henley.

Work is still to be done.

A bull defined

This is pretty much the finished piece.

The trouble with oils is that I don't keep at it every day or even every week so the paints on my palette dry out and it's quite difficult to match the exact mix next time. 

The very dark curving streak of shade on the upper fore leg is too strong and I may not be able to match the creamy pinky surrounding coat around it so I leave it ......

I always wondered why artist's studios portrayed on tv always showed loads of unfinished paintings leaning against the walls - now I know.

Nearly there at Barkham Fields

More foreground flowers defined and added. White foxglove at top right emphasised.

Highlights added on flower heads. White lychnis at front brightened up. I don't know how to make a highlight on a red flower....  adding white makes pink; perhaps yellow? 

I think I may have to add some bright greeny yellow among †he dark foliage front right.

Are the poppy stems too feeble?

I like the wild poppy , bottom right: the form and highlight appeared like magic and it looks convincing as a fragile bloom.

Exhibition

I sold a painting.

This little acrylic, Roadside verge , north of Vinci, Tuscany, or some such snappy title was bought for the knockdown price of £35. 

Yayy!

Sales at the exhibition were heavily down on previous years due to prevailing economic woes so I think little cheap paintings were more attractive to purchasers.

It was the first time I have exhibited and to sell even one was very exciting.

A load of bull

Fiddle and fiddle some more and you lose the vitality of a painting.

The background is an improvement on the dingy, muddy green I previously had.

What to do next apart from define the features. 

I want to put a bright red tag on the bulls ear.

Life Class at reading Museum

It was a lovely day in an air-conditioned gallery full of fine sculptures and a great model, who was cajoled into interesting poses alongside similarly posed sculptured models.

I didn't get on with charcoal as usual, tried some conte but it wouldn't blend so I finally had a go with watercolour to achieve some form  in my sketches.

This was a late pose when we had loosened up.

the model is leaning on a poster of a sculpture, whose pose she had held for 20 minutes or so early on in the class - very hard work.

Hands are still too small.

I missed out all the works round about.

Hopeless.