I’ve spent many decades experiencing the highs and lows of trying to express in paint what I see and feel about the world around me but my primary aim is to produce work that captures a sense of time and place, the weather and the season. I’m not concerned with detailed accuracy and I reserve the right to re-organise the elements of the composition to make a better picture and to leave out the parts that don’t contribute anything. Above all, I want to end up with a painting that is good to look at when hung on a wall.
I paint outside as much as possible but the realities of time, tide and weather often mean that working en-plein air isn’t practical and a sketchbook has to provide the necessary information to work on back in the studio. If there’s no real alternative, I’ve mastered the art of just taking the time to stand and stare and try to commit as much as possible to memory and whilst I acknowledge that a camera can come in handy, the secret is to use any subsequent photographs as the basis for a working sketch with all the creative input that would have resulted from working on site.
Storm clouds over Loch Ewe - Oil 10 x 14”
Mostly painted on the spot but the tide came in. Currently on show at Beckstones Art Gallery, Nr. Penrith - www.beckstonesartgallery.co.uk
