A Day in Edenvale

After some heavy rain earlier in the week, yesterday was a beautiful autumn day. Hoping for some seasonal colour, I headed to Edenvale forest about ten minutes drive from my home. The first scene is one I painted a couple of years ago, but this time the large puddle on the track added something extra. I also did it in landscape format this time instead of portrait as previously.

After the Rain, Edenvale
(11" x 14" Oil on Board)

This was my block-in:-

And here is a photo of the scene, taken before I started:-

I then decided to paint the adjacent stream, with the sunlight in the background.

Into the Light, Edenvale
(11" x 14" Oil on Board)

I forgot to take any intermediate photos of the painting, but here is a photo of the scene:-

Autumn Colour on a Dull Day

My local plein air group took advantage yesterday of the relatively settled autumn we've being getting. It was a mostly overcast but dry day with little or no wind. Our Lady's Island is a religious shrine, but relatively quiet outside of pilgrimage time. It is quite unusual in that it is a saltwater lake, but not tidal. As a result it tends to produce unusual grasses and reeds along its shoreline. During the summer, these are mostly varying shades of green, but have now turned to a stunning array of reds and oranges, once you look beyond the initial bland browns. I started my first painting in cloudy conditions but then the sun came out and looked liked staying out, so I scrubbed what I had done and started again - a mistake because what attracted me to the scene in the frst place was now gone. So that one went in the bin!

I worked a little more on the second one this morning in the studio. Just added a little more contrast to the sky and a bit of edge work here and there. Here is the finished painting:-

Autumn Colour, Our Lady's Island, Wexford
(11" x 14" Oil on Board)

Here is a photo of the scene (a bit under-exposed because of the low sun and water reflections):-

Admiring the View - Finished

I finally got around to finishing this painting yesterday. Just a little more work on the foreground grass and some work on the middleground islands and water, just to push everything back some more.

Admiring the View, Valentia, Co Kerry.
(16" x 20 Oil on Canvas)

Dead Calm

Our local plein air group had a paint-out yesterday at Carne Harbour, in the South-East corner of Co Wexford. We've had some lovely autumnal weather here recently - its been dry, quite mild but mostly overcast. Yesterday was similar but also exceptionally calm, so we were faced with fairly dull light and a virtually glass-like sea. I took my time before deciding on what to paint, and walked South for about ten minutes before I found a scene that interested me - I had to do a little re-arranging of rocks, but not much. The sun made a couple of efforts to shine through and, when it did, gave some beautiful silver reflections on the sea. I did my best to capture that even though the effect only lasted for about five minutes.

Dead Calm, Carne, Co Wexford
(11" x 14" Oil on Board)

Here is a photo of the scene, taken before I started painting:-

Admiring the View - WIP

I've got this to about 90% finished. There are still a few unfinished passages and I may also make a couple of minor changes. One of those paintings that will benefit from being put away for a couple of days. I'll leave it until next week and have a fresh look at it before making any final adjustments.

Back in the Studio

A combination of a flu type virus (hopefully H1N1 - so I won't get it again!), which totally floored me, and less than perfect plein air conditions drove me back into the studio today after a break of almost six months. I took these photographs of sheep grazing on Valentia Island on the same morning that I painted "After the Storm", so I had some good plein air reference material for sky and sea colour. I remember that there was an intense golden light from the early morning sun and that is why I took the photos.

I decided to home in on the big fellow looking out to sea (possible title "Admiring the View"). I also re-arranged things a little, and included the distant Skellig Islands in the painting, which were just out of view to the left.

This was my block-in after about 45 minutes (the canvas is 16" x 20"):-

And here is where I got after about another two hours:-

I hope to finish the painting tomorrow. Feels real strange being back in the studio again. I found myself looking at the ceiling a few times checking for rain!

Two more from Valentia

These are the other two paintings I did while on vacation in Valentia, Co Kerry. Painted on Wednesday and Thursday mornings respectively, the weather had settled to such an extent that there was absolutely no cloud other than early morning fog out at sea.

The first one is of the lighthouse on Valentia Island. I got up early to paint his one because I wanted the sun to be partly behind the lighthouse. I liked how the rockpools left by the receding tide provided a lead-in to the scene.

Valentia Lighthouse
(11" x 14" Oil on Board)

I painted the second one the following morning just beside the road from Portmagee to Ballinaskelligs at a place known as St Finian's Bay. Funny thing was that another artist had set up about twenty yards behind me and I didn't even notice until I was finished. It transpired that we had met previously at a paint-out event in my home town.



Morning Light, St Finian's Bay, Near Ballinaskelligs

Here are photos of the two scenes, taken before I started:-