Daily Musings

January 31st.

Last day of the month and batting 100 so far.  I took the bike and trailer a couple of km around Mangrove Bay to the spot I had abandoned due to a thunderstorm a couple of days earlier. It was late afternoon and the sun was low, saturating the waves with dancing gold. A front offshore crept in and stalled above me with a harsh, almost surgical, line of clouds that threatened rain, but intensified the light show. I worked on a motif of the distant shore, working as quickly as possible in case the front blocked out the light. I noted the tonal change of the water surface under the gold highlights, changing from a cool blue grey at right, becoming ever lighter as the eye went left. The sky glowed warm yet was grey with the front moving in. The far away boats were mere blue notes with a cursory top light flick of a rush. It’s always a bit of a lucky dip painting into the sun. Your eyes get a little dazzled and a degree of instinct has to take over.  When I had finished and was able to look at the piece away from the brightness, I was pleased to see that it retained energy and captured a feeling of the scene.

January 30th.

The sun came out! I cycled down to the old Daniel’s Head resort and set up on an outcrop of rock, surrounded by turtles. The old resort buildings on stilts make for a complex subject with all the goings on underneath them as well as the moving shallows at their feet. I got a bit lost there for a while with all the angles and overlapping trees, but soldiered on in a beautiful spot.

January 29th.

We have had some unusual weather in Bermuda lately; today we had half inch hailstones. Snow in Bermuda! Who would have thought?  My first attempt was set up a little further along the shore of Mangrove Bay than yesterday and I began to tackle a dramatic looming front.  The sky was dark and brooding but pulsating and kind of lit from within. I had made the mistake of parking downwind, so 10 minutes into the painting I had to abandon as the rain and wind charged across the water and hit me. I drove another couple of km towards Dockyard, turned the van around, crouched in the back, and painted through the windscreen with the wipers going. It was a cozy set up.

January 28th.

Ominous weather meant I left the bicycle at home and nipped out in the van. Parked with the nose into the wind and the tailgate up as a makeshift umbrella I had the perfect outdoor studio looking over the wall at the shoreline along Mangrove Bay Road. Light was muted, and heres the good thing about this Daily process, I would normally have stayed home and painted in the studio, but it forces me to tackle new scenes and conditions. My subject was some distance away and had a fair amount of interlocking elements, but with a little stage management and searching for variety in the foliage and shoreline it was a rewarding session.

January 27th.

Back under my “tent” at Breezes in a fine soaking mist of rain.  How do you paint nothing? Or are you painting everything? With no reference point, a surreal experience for the mind. No horizon, you look for something to focus on to anchor your reality.  Trusting what you see and not what you know, paint what’s before you even if it appears at first glance to be nothing and trust the process. The slightest of value shifts, the faintest of mark-making can scream out in a sea of grey. Tread softly.

January 26th.

Hunkered down under the roof of Breezes the outdoor restaurant next door. I set up in a fine mist of rain, but it was soon followed by a lashing front. Breezes indeed! My gear was all blown over and I resorted to crouching down and using my small cigar box type easel that can be held in the hand. I was painting somewhat blind in the murk, and with a limited palette, just one brush.I didn’t really know what I had until I got back home again. The first piece towards Daniels head has the feel of the front still passing through, but light in the sky is just starting to filter through the rain.

The second piece captured the clouds breaking up after the front and the brighter sky coming through in ernest, though the whole tone is still subdued and the values still remain close. It was good practice for my eye and brain to paint in a limited palette as I do tend towards big contrast and bold colour.

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January 25th.

A close look at one of the coconut palms in the garden. There is nothing like spending an hour or so chasing the lines and shapes of a tree to get to know its particular structure; how its put together. Its a labyrinth i the core of a coconut palm. I had the forethought to edit out the background ; there was quite enough going on already!

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January 24th.

My muse, Daniel’s Head.  A muted morning.  I packed up in a fine mist of rain, so I was surprised to see the end result reads as pretty bright. I guess it was that soft filtered light that still warms up the ocean colours and the sand and it was windless so the flat water allowed a lot of bounced light too.  The transition zones between the edge of the beach and the bands of water as they march off into the distances is a conundrum of soft edges and colour shifts.

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January 23rd.

Gloomy morning, Northern European Winter gloomy. But down at the beach, light filtering in on the horizon. Clouds breaking up and patches of blues and yellows infiltrating the greys. I chased them around the sky. I softened some edges with my fingers and hung up my brush as the scene changed from what I had tried to capture and before I overworked it.  I can’t tell you hard it was to stop myself putting a channel marker somewhere in there.

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January 22nd.

Gale warnings today. I wanted to be outside and didn’t have an anchor so I set up in the courtyard peering into the bike shed. A daunting tangle of angles and perspective that had me bogged down and scratching my head. I feel mentally stretched!

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January 21st.

Painting a painting. It’s biblical outside so I set up in my makeshift studio to paint my world. Subject matter is a rich tapestry of paint, rags, wood, angles, perspective and to cap it all a bright white canvas under harsh studio lights. Yikes!  I edited out the bookshelf behind to avoid mass confusion and tried to push the lush vibrancy of it all.

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January 20th.

The porch at Sea View. I laid down the shapes in a frenzy of abstract blocked in rectangles as the light slid down with the rising sun.  I left the balustrade until last, actually moving it from the original plan so as not to cover some nice juicy elements underneath. I scraped back as much paint as I could and tried to be deft with the brush when I added it towards the end so as not to smurge all the paints together.  It was a tough subject with a lot of elements and rapidly changing light. It was imperative to work fast, stick to the plan and edit out much of the detail, but not so much that the interesting view is lost. If it makes you want to go and sit under there then it’s a success.

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January 19th.

I went round the houses with this one. Dialled in a nice composition from the get go. It’s the same spot, different focus, as the piece painted on January 3rd. In order to stay loose and suggestive, I set myself the goal of painting the whole piece with a single large flat head brush, which I pretty well stuck to. I had the makings of a sweet little painting within 15 minutes, but then proceeded to get bogged down in detail, overworking parts, losing some edges and few nice passages. Realising this, I “unpainted” where I had lost my way and brought harmony back to the work.I think I ended up with a pretty good sense of place. I’m happy that the water still pops even though it’s relatively subdued. The surrounding colours are dialled down to allow the water to still sing.

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January 18th.

I met up with my painting mate Chris Marson at Cavello Bay ferry stop. I painted straight into the sun (with sunglasses on!) where contrast is at its greatest. Design wise, I moved the channel marker in towards the rocks a bit and broke the horizon with it too. In reality it sits further back. I ignored the background detail of houses etc. that were barely visible anyway on the distant shore, but suggested a sailboat that was crossing the Sound at the time. I “almost” went back into the post to sharpen the edges, but on reflection I’m glad I didn’t as those broken edges and contaminated colours are what helps give the piece movement and shimmer.

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I continued painting the second piece of the dory tied to the floating dock. I like some areas of it but it has got a bit muddied so it’s not currently up for sale. I will probably go back in and see if I can bring it to life though. I like some of the shapes that are happening in there.

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January 17th.

I rose early before first light and got my gear set up to start at daybreak. Things happen fast at dawn. The sky was so bright lower down, but I had to save the lightest lights for the sun dancing off the leaves on the leading edge of the palm and the left-hand side of the trunk. While working and looking into the foreground bushes I picked up lots of detail as my eyes adjusted to the low light, but I kept it all on the down low to send the focus upwards.

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January 16th.

An afternoon chasing clouds. The water was millstone calm and popping with colour when I began. Reflections of clouds woven in a tapestry over the turquoise bands.  Things dulled as I painted and the wind ruffled the water. I ended up with that transition period before the wind picked up, expelled by a rainband doing its thing a couple of miles away.  I show the second piece towards Daniel’s Head that I worked on after the situation changed. (Its not complete or for sale) but for interest’s sake. I lost direction trying to get everything down. Changing water colour, breeze, moving clouds, a boat racing back to shore. I scraped much of it down before packing up and underneath its got something worth going back to.

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January 15th.

I took Daisy up the hill to paint the water from an elevated position. I set up on the beautiful grounds of Cambridge Beaches next door to us, looking over Mangrove Bay.  My recent palm tree practice came in useful and I opted for a portrait canvas with the water running right down to the bottom.  The pink buildings, one a buttery, act as a lead in. I painted the water a more intense hue of turquoise than it looked as it was still early, but local knowledge allowed me liberties.

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January 14^th. 

Home alone! Jo is in London for a couple of weeks. I hit the back gate as I wanted to stay close to home. The weather is brooding and I didn’t fancy another rainfest by bicycle.  I got lucky with drama offshore, but tucked out of the wind. I was determined to work efficiently after getting bogged down a few times recently and was very happy with the morning’s work.  On another day I would have been side tracked putting detail into the pink cottage on the head land or distracted by individual waves. I think I caught the feel of the morning and the design elements sit well for me.

January 13th.

Sea View, our home, from across the lawn.  A difficult house to encapsulate – it is long and rambling, but the palms and the hedge framed an area of the porch pretty nicely so I went to work from there. Looking for warms under the porch roof and keeping mass in the palms, noting the different characters; the huge Canary Island palms compared to the pair of palmettos. Cooling roof shadows below the temperature of the blue sky. 

January 12^th. 

On the beach again, focused on the abstract shadows cast by the palms on the sand and Sargasso seaweed.  As I painted, the shadows shortened, darkened, moved and the tide receded.  I spent too long chasing it all.  

The second piece I painted in a ten-minute frenzy from the same spot.  As the squall got closer to shore, the wind picked up, I lost my hat and had to hold down the easel.  I got more information down in those ten minutes that in the previous two hours.  I tidied up the second painting in the studio, careful not to lose what I had.

January 11th.

Today started well.  I set up on the east side of Mangrove Bay and set to work composing a scene of King’s Point with the boats bobbing off the point.  As I modelled the various clouds that were drifting by, one stalled overhead and the rain came down.  I had to stop work as I had no shelter, remount the bike and ride it out.  I stopped a few kilometers up the road and had a crack at the orange house which was glowing in the flat light.  The view is a tangle of angles, poles and undergrowth.  I struggled and resorted to a palette knife for a while.  It didn’t come easy, but I think I finally captured something.  I will return to the original site soon.

January 10th.

I painted “Eric” the spindle palm who towers over Sea View’s roof line. He stands tall and pretty close to the water. He is a useful flag/windsock.  Conditions were gusty and rapidly changeable; I snatched a cloud here and some sky there. I also included the top section of the porch to help plant the house into the foreground.  Eric is taller than shown from where I was set up, but if I had walked backwards he would ultimately disappear behind the house so that’s ok. The sun was behind me, and as you can see, the wind was from the left.

January 9th.

I nipped out the back gate and set up in “Breezes”, the outdoor restaurant on the beach at Cambridge Beaches.  It’s closed in January so I had it to myself.  I had a crack at one of the coconut palms on the water’s edge that was framed against a changeable sky.  Breezes it was!  At one point, I used one hand to stop the easel taking off.  It’s a head and shoulders portrait, but I included the distant shore and a strip of the turquoise waters of the bay.

January 8th.

Mangrove Bay Road. It was a struggle today. I was at this piece for a couple of hours, which is probably too long for a location work. I chose a composition with a lot of elements and things got muddied for a while. The second hour was spent simplifying things to bring the piece back to life. I went out again in the afternoon and set up on “Tween Walls” which is the left-hand turn in the painting shown. I struggled again and ultimately scraped down the canvas. Lessons were learned in the process and I include it to show that not every one’s a winner.

January 7th.

I took “Daisy” the bike and trailer for a nose around the back lanes of West Side, a great little tucked away part of the Island reminiscent of another era. It was incredibly windy, but you wouldn’t know it hunkered down behind the hedgerows of Nursery Lane, close to “Aberfeldy”, my friends the Astwoods’ beautiful home. The narrow lane drops away into the picture and the bright yellow light in the distance is actually a school field. I usually use a square or landscape canvas to paint country lane scenes, but the narrow composition lent itself to a portrait orientation. There was tall foliage on the left-hand side, but for variety and to help read perspective, I replaced it with a slightly leaning telegraph pole.

January 6th.

Twelfth Night. The Christmas tree comes down today, so I thought I’d have a stab at painting it.How to paint tons of bright lights and leave enough reserve left for the light coming in through the window. Hmmmmm, what a conundrum. 

January 5th.  

An afternoon session, playing with the geometric shapes of the eccentric roof features here at Sea View. I painted the square piece first while the sky was still blue. The shadows on the roof and chimney read as very warm. Red tones rather than blue cools.  Bounced light I guess with all that lime wash reflecting the daylight into the shady corners.

Some weather came in as I painted the second piece. There was still enough light to cast shadows, but the sky went that muggy yellow/grey as it filled with clouds. I tried to capture that atmospheric sensation.

January 4th.

I’ve always loved palms. We have over 200 of them here on the property and I intend to get to know their various characters more intimately over the coming year.  Squinting at them for an hour or so while following their individual lines and shapes should do the trick. I chose to ignore the ground and looked for an interesting design in the sky as a backdrop.I was painting into the sun, so the trees were silhouetted, with just one or two highlights catching the horizontal fronds. I worked backwards and forwards with their abstract shapes, adding and subtracting, refining their character. I looked at the negative spaces between the leaves as much as the leaves themselves. It’s easy to keep adding leaves as they move about and before you know it you end up with a big round blob. I dialled back the darks towards the end. My eyes were reading them as super dark against the bright sky but in order to stop them looking like a 2D paper cut out, some lighter tones within the mass of the tree gives modelling.

January 3rd.

We were promised rain this morning, but I was delighted to be gifted an hour of sun in between the showers. I dashed down to the beach and set up in the sand amongst the morning shadows and winter weed. An inauspicious start with a little too much dashing on my part saw the wind blow over my easel and yesterday’s saved paint get a coating of sand. Textural possibilities aside, I scrubbed down the palette, squeezed out new paint and cracked on in a less frenetic manor. The sun left me half way through the session, but I had enough information down to work with the drama of the shadows cast across the beach. I simplified the background, leaving out the cottage, and just before I finished I altered the angle of the distant shoreline to a flatter degree (it actually slopes downwards). I felt that with the foreground already sloping down it was like everything was sliding off the painting and needed more horizontal brush work up top to help with the structure and dynamics of the painting.

January 2nd.

AM: I started painting mid-morning in flat light on Cambridge Road, a short walk away outside the front gates of home, looking West towards the public dock at Mangrove Bay. In reality, the rise in the road here and distant undergrowth obscure the waters of the Bay, but I chose to add a suggestion of turquoise ocean in the distance as a reward for the viewer’s eye travelling down the country lane. As I painted, the sun popped out, the colourful bushes lit up and shadows were thrown across the road. However, I stuck with my original block-in to retain continuity, although I did bring the road surface up a value or two.  At one point, I started adding too many details; even a figure walking down the lane, but edited it all out as the piece began to look too fragmented and busy.I’m pretty happy that I was able to stick with the mid tone, more subdued feel of the piece. I have a tendency to throw the colour and highlights around which is all well and good, but to create various moods and to grow as an artist, I need to not fall back on my comfort zone.

PM: Charged with a fit of New Year’s enthusiasm, I had another session this afternoon. Behind the house this time, on the beach looking towards Daniel’s Head. It was the sky that caught my attention as the clouds filled in but still allowed the wintery light to filter through. I put Daniel’s Head low down on the horizon to make the sky the feature and emphasise its grandeur. To break up the edges of the clouds, I dragged a piece of kitchen towel through my brush work in a vertical movement. I left the water until last, keeping it pretty neutral in the subdued light. I added red tints in areas where there are reefs and scraped back the shallower water in the foreground and lightened it where the sand is able to bounce back light.

January 1st.

A window into a New Year.  The first daily painting of the 2019 painting-a-day project.  The view through to the walled garden here at home.  I painted a larger piece of the same view last year before we had bricked in the sunken garden.  I struggled to differentiate the planes of the bricks and the walls of the house in the background, they are all a variety of terracotta, so similar in hue.  I had lots going on in the foreground initially, getting distracted with the patina of the wall and painting in the palm tree.  I scrubbed it all back and simplified to push the viewer through the door and into the sunken garden.