Painting Winter

My art project at Avebury Manor National Trust has given me a new found love of winter. In previous years I've always waited for Spring to get out and paint. This year, not only did I go out but I managed to take my easel with me. I started locally, and more recently at Avebury.

I've learnt to wear layers even if I feel warm at the time... sitting and painting, I don't realise I'm gradually getting chilled to the bone. This one of Avebury was technically in Spring but was definitely cold so I'm counting it as winter!

Also at home, I have been creating work on both canvas and paper.

This image below is a work in progress. It is a return to the big canvases that I started painting on 8 years ago. More recently I've found a smaller size that is easier to store, transport package and post.

I missed working on a big canvas. But it is so much slower - I'd forgotten that. It is near impossible to finish it in one sitting. I don't want to get hung up on detail with this one. I'm hoping to return to this big scale with a wilder, painterly style.

The colour palette of winter is something I am still experimenting with. I'm using cool blues, but also heather like lavender, brown. Mint green, sometimes contrasted against lime green - a colour combination I've not taken much notice of before.

I've continued sketching, and rediscovered black ink pens. I find this a brilliant way to explore the power of imagery. An image has to be strong to work in monotone. Black and white contrast is perfect to capture the starkness of winter.

The diversity of mark making gives so many possibilites to explore. Textures with crosshatching and scribbling; tiny rhythmical marks versus bold blocks and lines. I like to use a playful and scribb ly variety, rather than a sophisticated single technique.

Using paint together with ink, I created this colourful image of a garden entrance. It is a collage - you may be able to spot the torn edges of paper.