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Here's the under-painting of a painting that led to a series of views from Allington Hill looking across the Marshwood Vale, plus the final version. "Dorset clouds above the Marshwood Vale" oil on canvas, 120x55cm, 2009
I'm returning to this painting after letting it incubate for a little while. I find it so exciting to work on these pieces for several months, gradually building up glazes. I know that I have to give my paintings the time they need. I think of it as if I'm the Director of a film.
I've been working on the blue-white gradient of the sky on this 6 foot Eggardon painting. The approximate shapes of the clouds are still visible, so I'll start to build them up when this layer is dry. As the foundation of the painting is done, I'll start adding greater subtlety.
"Bent arm tree on Lewesdon Hill" oil on canvas, 12"x18". There is a tangible magic to the West Dorset landscape. It entrances me & keeps pulling me in. I have to capture these places, to celebrate them in paint. This land is most alive as we experience the theatre it presents us.
"Dorset Clouds above the Marshwood Vale" oil on canvas 120x55cm was the first in my series of paintings looking west from the top of Allington Hill across the Marshwood Vale towards Lewesdon Hill. The painting is like a manifesto of my intentions for the next few years.
This is how I work: building layer upon layer upon layer with glazes of oil paint, finding the areas in the painting where I need to shift the chroma, tone or saturation, varying the paint thickness between thin & impasto, each time the surface pigments become deeper & richer...
"Full moon over Litton Chaney" oil on canvas 72"x84" + 2 details. I did research for this large painting by driving out to a hill looking over the sea and try to remember the colours & tones illuminated by the moon light. I made up the wet cobbled lane - far better than tarmac!
"A path up Lewesdon Hill" oil on canvas 84x123cm, plus 2 details. Sometimes a painting comes together sooner than expected. I was going to add more details, but once I painted the trees receding into the darkness, it just felt finished, like looking into the belly of a whale.
"A View into low clouds from Eggardon Hill" oil on flax 100x40cm plus 3 close ups. My 2nd painting from this vantage point looking towards West Bay & the sea - which is obscured by mists - with light streaming through the low hanging clouds on the right.
"A dramatic view from Allington Hill across the Marshwood Vale" oil on canvas, 120x55cm plus 3 detail images. My first panoramic landscape of this series of Cinematic Landscapes shows the magnificent vista looking west towards Lamberts Castle, Pilsdon Pen & Lewesdon Hill.