Abbey steps

I have this in built desire to produce photographic images but tend to like the kind of work that is obviously human. A psychologist would probably see it as a desire to please my mummy and daddy and an envy of people who are free to explore and express themselves. Well here's to you you self-righteous know-it-all head shrinker, oh dear was that a bit of repressed narcissistic rage coming to the surface? As you might have guessed I'm currently reading a book on psychology and am obviously benefiting from it.

I'm not sure this picture is finished yet, I just needed to get a different perspective by seeing it on-line.

Lots of little ones

I've had lots of fun this last week messing about with smaller pictures. Infact I'm going to carry on doing the same this week. I've been having a rising sense of creativity being stifled by the risk of commiting large amounts of time to one single picture.

Fairhead

The palette knife came out yesterday much to the relief of Tess. I haven't delved too deep to find out wether it's her love of my palette knife pictures or the security of their popularity. I've really enjoyed my little dabble and have a very large one of whitby on the go that I'm going to gradually work on over the coming weeks.

Impressions of the Esk

The brush work theme continues with this little one of the Esk river. I think I'm getting hooked

Breaking out the brushes

It's only natural that having decided that I'm going to get into water colours that I go and launch into oil painting with brushes. Having spent years being frustrated by the brush I've just spent a couple of wonderful days playing with the way it can softly blend in colours. I started fairly tightly, slavishly trying to imitate the scene but eventually got seduced by the brush marks themselves. This picture isn't quite finished but I'm very pleased with it so far.

Stormy moors

This weather we're getting is producing some unbelievable skies. This picture is a product of a wet yomp accross the heather above Grosmont on Fairhead moor. Wet because that great big cloud swept over me and dumped its load, but worth it. I always find it wierd to spend an evening in a dramatic setting and then to come home to tranquil normality and the tele churning out its mind numbing drivel.

Water colours or not?

It's hard to move into a differnt medium when you rely on your painting to provide an income, but some times I yearn for the softness water colours can produce. This is Whitby beach again, it has become a regular haunt as I have to take the kids to swimming three evenings a week now.



The other reason is that it is great fun, this is a mad, rapid sketch of some rain clouds.

Back to the grind stone

It will come as no surprise to find out I didn't paint on holiday. It has also taken me a whole week to get my brain into gear and produce my first painting. I'd recommend three weeks though, it always takes me far to long to wind down and actually feel truely human. I took the new Clive James book with me and it became an invaluable tool.

I don't normally review books but this one deserves a special mention. I wanted a book that could take me on a nice high brow ramble through the history and philosophy of the last century. I wanted to be entertained and informed on a subject I know little about. I soon became very angry as I realised that I had wasted £20 quid on an unreadable door stop. I doubt that this book would even be of interest to someone who studied history and philosophy if the 20th century. It failed to even attempt to engage the reader and just preceeded to drone on endlessly cross referencing every minor interlectual of the past hundred years. I could go on and infact I did, I piled all my pent up stress in to this nasty little book. It sat there in our caravan vibrating its malevolence allowing me to get on and have fun with the familly. I think I'm going to find out his address and post it to him so that he can fill his own wheelly bin with it.

There I feel much better for that.