Storm over Winter Hill

I got caught in a fantastic storm on a recent walk over the moors. Lashing rain and hail with dramatic clouds trailing over the wet moorland. I’m hoping to produce a few paintings based on photos like this one, above.

Darwen Tower 1, originally uploaded by David Pott.

Here’s one for all the people from Darwen, Lancashire (Darreners I think is the correct term). Its Darwen Tower from the flanks of Higher Hill with Tockholes in between.

Earnsdale Near Tockholes, originally uploaded by David Pott.

A low raking sun provides plenty of wonderfully bright, warm and colourful highlights contrasting with cool, dark areas of shade.

Lever Park Study 1, originally uploaded by David Pott.

Just a quick colour study - perhaps I’ll work it up into a bigger painting.

Earnsdale, near Darwen, originally uploaded by David Pott.

This was a watercolour sketch completed on site last month. Its impossible to get a ‘finished’ painting when outside. Nature just changes so quickly, the clouds are constantly changing and, on this occasion, the sun was setting so quickly that anything more complicated would have needed photographic reference.

Sometimes, finishing a painting is a little bit like pulling teeth - painfully slow to the point of being seemingly endless. That was how this painting developed. Started over a year ago it has been through endless revisions and re-painting. The most difficult part was the sea itself - getting the just the right transparency of colour to make the depth of water look convincing was very difficult.

Now the painting is finished I’m actually quite pleased with it. I’ll never forget how difficult it was but, hopefully, the difficulties I had with it are not apparent to the viewer. I think its important that paintings look spontaneous and un-laboured, even when they are anything but!

Steve (2), originally uploaded by David Pott.

Drawn on cartridge paper with a compressed charcoal pencil. Lots of broad crosshatching helps to keep the shadows luminous and preserve the feeling of reflected light from the background and floor.

I made a conscious effort to use a combination of juicy dark lines (for example, to emphasise the inner fold of the back of the knee and any areas that were moving into shadow). I wanted to contrast these areas with ‘lost’ edges, usually corresponding with highlights, for example on the top edges of his arms.

Steve (1), originally uploaded by David Pott.

Here in Bolton we’re lucky to have access to a free figure drawing class. Here’s the first of two studies of Steve, our model this week.

As an artist I find one of the greatest pleasures is working directly with pigments on the physical medium of the canvas, an option that is denied to the video artist. By extension, one of the things I enjoy most about viewing art is the sight of the physical surface of the canvas - perhaps ridged and pitted with paint, brushstrokes and finger prints. And perhaps that’s why video art doesn’t work for me - it’s too far removed from real life.

"Grasmere" Landscape Painting Commission

I’ve been lucky enought to pick up some commissions for paintings recently. So far they have all been landscape commissions (as opposed to portrait commission which are my other favourites). Some artists are notoriously reluctant to agree to commissions, sometimes for quite snobbish reasons (not wanting to pollute the purity of their art). On the contrary, I find commissions to be a welcome relief from the ‘what shall I do today’ question. A commission gives focus, purpose and usually a time limit to the day - all useful drivers for a wooly headed artist!