Monday, November 24, 2014

Back in the UK.

After a quick visit to Los Angeles to help my daughter Rosie settle into her new flat, Barry and I dashed back to New Mexico last Saturday, (it's a long way to drive in one day!!).  I only had one day to finish the big painting before leaving last Tuesday. 

I arrived back in Lincolnshire last Wednesday,  unpacked, packed and paid some bills on my Dad's house, loaded up my little car with my beetle cabinet and beetle boxes and drove up to Scotland on Friday to deliver my work to the Royal Scottish Academy.  Phew!!   My work had been pre-selected for the Scottish Society of Artists exhibition and I am now waiting to see if I have made it through to the final exhibition.  Luckily, I can stay with my friend Jasmin whilst I wait to hear.

As many of you know,  Edinburgh is not flat, so we had to be very careful not to let the sack barrow run away with us!  Here is Jasmin holding onto the cabinet.  She is very strong!!

Last post, I had promised to include the stages of the large painting I was trying to finish before returning to the UK.  I hope you enjoy them.  Please don't hesitate to ask questions.

I used to cover the whole of the canvas and then wipe out, but I work more directly these days.

Building up the image.

Although from my reference material there wasn't a river, I put one in because I thought it needed something for the eye to follow into the landscape.  Plus I wanted to echo a little of the sky colour and not just have a lot of green fields!
At this stage I began to mix Ultramarine blue deep with the Burnt Sienna to create the darks.
Big decisions to be made on the colour of the fields,  to bring some fields forward and push others back. 

I found it difficult to find the appropriate colour for the distant hills, wanting them to be fairly true to the colour which is quite warm,  but needing them to recede.  Forming the structure of the hills.
Adding the sky, hoping to create the atmosphere. 

Rolling Mist - The Lake District 40 x 64 Oil/Linen

When the whole painting was covered and I had worked on all the tree shapes, tweaking the lights and darks and the distant hills, I let the painting dry.  Then I covered the distant hills and the sky in a milk glaze... transparent white, paynes grey and a tiny amount of ultramarine blue.  This pushed the hills back.

Happy Thanksgiving to all those in the US.  My birthday once again falls on Thanksgiving day.  Last time it did that was when I was 50 and Barry and I took off to Oaxaca.  That does sound very appealing, but I will be happy to stay in Scotland.

Bye for now.




5 comments:

Caroline Simmill said...

Thank you for sharing the stages of your bonny painting. That beetle cabinet looks very heavy! good to hear you had a strong helper!

Lynne E. Windsor said...

That's a lovely Scottish compliment! Thanks Caroline. Yes, Jasmin is a tough cookie. Years of designing, building and planting beautiful gardens in Scotland

Rozanne Hubbard said...

I know your wait to find out if you were accepted into the final exhibition is over and I just want to say congratulations again, Lynne. You are so deserving! I wasn't worried one bit that you wouldn't be accepted. Also, thanks so much for posting your step-by-steps...very helpful!! I do have a question...do you feel there is an advantage to working more directly rather than the wipe out method? "Rolling Mist" is absolutely beautiful!

Katherine Kean said...

SUch a beautiful painting Lynne, and such exciting news! Thanks for sharing the pictures of the process - this painting is one of my favorites of yours.

Lynne E. Windsor said...

Yes, Rose, I did get through to the exhibition. Very excited! The Private View is on Thursday. I am honoured to be exhibiting amongst such a lot of wonderful artists.

With regards to working more directly as opposed to wiping out. I have found more recently that I am enjoying a spontaneity and a thicker quality of paint. I haven't managed to get as far as I want to... it's a process of letting go, I think. The work I am attracted to these days is more more playful, colourwise and strokewise. See Joan Eardley's landscapes. I just love her work. She still retains the most gorgeous atmosphere, but her surfaces are so beautiful, rich and interesting. Sadly, she died far too young.

Thank you Katherine. I am glad you like it. Let's hope someone likes it enough to want to take it home!!