Almost there

Almost there

Almost there

 In my sketch pad there is a scribbled title “Thalassa, Thalassa” – not that I had been reading Xenophon but remembering the response of his 10,000, when having struggled up the last ridge they caught a glimpse of the sea. After looking at what I produced I think “Almost there” a better title, so that is what I will write on the back of the canvas. All the colours have been keyed up so the sea is a brighter blue than the Channel probably is, but in early Spring that is probably how one would feel it ought to look.

There was no particular event that prompted the train of thought behind it. I wanted to show space as well as figures, my take on Andrew Wyeth’s “Cristina’s World” because that is how the Downs feel. So the figures could not dominate as usual in my paintings. We have often walked on both the North and South Downs where there are blackthorn hedges and sometimes a way through a gap. In our garden we have a hedge which forms and arch over a way through and I conflated the two. The sea would make this the South Downs, so that is where you can imagine these two have thrown themselves down after climbing up towards the crest.

I was determined to simplify the image so I rearranged the two figures, moving the woman to the right-hand side of the chalk path and freeing up more space for the reclining man. There were four areas of surfaces to render: the sea, the trees behind the hedge, the hedge covered in blossom and the grass. I knew how I was going to treat the first two but I wanted to break into something new with the other two.

I started by paining in the blackthorn hedges as dark green shapes with varying shades of green and clear white lines separating the individual bushes. I then put in some tree shaped above them. Looking at the right-hand side hedge, I felt it was too domestic in scale so I increased its height so that the patch of grass that lay between it and the trees disappeared. I then added in the blossom, one cluster at a time, imagining how they would respond to the light falling on them. I added in yellowish white patches of blossom on the shadier parts of the bushes.

While that was setting, I moved on to the grass, paining it as a pattern of squarish shapes of alternating large horizontal and vertical brush strokes and breaking the whole area into two zones roughly aligned with the two bodies, so there is a darker area bordering the hedges. The blues and greens now prompted me to paint the figures with orange skin tones which in turn led to the colour of the tee shirt, his shorts and her swim suit. The colour of the rucksacks was arbitrary, suggested by the wine in the bottle he is drinking from.

The hardest part was painting the worn chalk ruts in the path. The blossom was built up by broken brush strokes but these ruts would need long runs of nearly white paint. One of my friends saw that as I approaching the finish and remarked how much he liked the stream of water!

In my sketch pad there is a scribbled title “Thalassa, Thalassa” – not that I had been rea

ding Xenophon but remembering the response of his 10,000, when having struggled up the last ridge they caught a glimpse of the sea. After looking at what I produced I think “Almost there” a better title, so that is what I will write on the back of the canvas. All the colours have been keyed up so the sea is a brighter blue than the Channel probably is, but in early Spring that is probably how one would feel it ought to look.

Almost there

In my sketch pad there is a scribbled title “Thalassa, Thalassa” – not that I had been reading Xenophon but remembering the response of his 10,000, when having struggled up the last ridge they caught a glimpse of the sea. After looking at what I produced I think “Almost there” a better title, so that is what I will write on the back of the canvas. All the colours have been keyed up so the sea is a brighter blue than the Channel probably is, but in early Spring that is probably how one would feel it ought to look.

There was no particular event that prompted the train of thought behind it. I wanted to show space as well as figures, my take on Andrew Wyeth’s “Cristina’s World” because that is how the Downs feel. So the figures could not dominate as usual in my paintings. We have often walked on both the North and South Downs where there are blackthorn hedges asometimes a way through a gap. In our garden we have a hedge which forms and arch over a way through and I conflated the two. The sea would make this the South Downs, so that is where you can imagine these two have thrown themselves down after climbing up towards the cres

I was determined to simplify the image so I rearranged the two figures, moving the woman to the right-hand side of the chalk path and freeing up more space for the reclining man. There were four areas of surfaces to render: the sea, the trees behind the hedge, the hedge covered in blossom and the grass. I knew how I was going to treat the first two but I wanted to break into something new with the other two.

I started by paining in the blackthorn hedges as dark green shapes with varying shades of green and clear white lines separating the individual bushes. I then put in some tree shaped above them. Looking at the right-hand side hedge, I felt it was too domestic in scale so I increased its height so that the patch of grass that lay between it and the trees disappeared. I then added in the blossom, one cluster at a time, imagining how they would respond to the light falling on them. I added in yellowish white patches of blossom on the shadier parts of the bushes.

While that was setting, I moved on to the grass, paining it as a pattern of squarish shapes of alternating large horizontal and vertical brush strokes and breaking the whole area into two zones roughly aligned with the two bodies, so there is a darker area bordering the hedges. The blues and greens now prompted me to paint the figures with orange skin tones which in turn led to the colour of the tee shirt, his shorts and her swim suit. The colour of the rucksacks was arbitrary, suggested by the wine in the bottle he is drinking from.

The hardest part was painting the worn chalk ruts in the path.  The blossom was built up by broken brush strokes but these ruts would need long runs of nearly white paint. One of my friends saw that as I approaching the finish and remarked how much he liked the stream of water!

I was determined to simplify the image so I rearranged the two figures, moving the woman to the right-hand side of the chalk path and freeing up more space for the reclining man. There were four areas of surfaces to render: the sea, the trees behind the hedge, the hedge covered in blossom and the grass. I knew how I was going to treat the first two but I wanted to break into something new with the other two.

I started by paining in the blackthorn hedges as dark green shapes with varying shades of green and clear white lines separating the individual bushes. I then put in some tree shaped above them. Looking at the right-hand side hedge, I felt it was too domestic in scale so I increased its height so that the patch of grass that lay between it and the trees disappeared. I then added in the blossom, one cluster at a time, imagining how they would respond to the light falling on them. I added in yellowish white patches of blossom on the shadier parts of the bushes.

While that was setting, I moved on to the grass, paining it as a pattern of squarish shapes of alternating large horizontal and vertical brush strokes and breaking the whole area into two zones roughly aligned with the two bodies, so there is a darker area bordering the hedges. The blues and greens now prompted me to paint the figures with orange skin tones which in turn led to the colour of the tee shirt, his shorts and her swim suit. The colour of the rucksacks was arbitrary, suggested by the wine in the bottle he is drinking from.

The hardest part was painting the worn chalk ruts in the path.  The blossom was built up by broken brush strokes but these ruts would need long runs of nearly white paint. One of my friends saw that as I approaching the finish and remarked how much he liked the stream of water! 

In my sketch pad there is a scribbled title “Thalassa, Thalassa” – not that I had been reading Xenophon but remembering the response of his 10,000, when having struggled up the last ridge they caught a glimpse of the sea. After looking at what I produced I think “Almost there” a better title, so that is what I will write on the back of the canvas. All the colours have been keyed up so the sea is a brighter blue than the Channel probably is, but in early Spring that is probably how one would feel it ought to look.

There was no particular event that prompted the train of thought behind it. I wanted to show space as well as figures, my take on Andrew Wyeth’s “Cristina’s World” because that is how the Downs feel. So the figures could not dominate as usual in my paintings. We have often walked on both the North and South Downs where there are blackthorn hedges and sometimes a way through a gap. In our garden we have a hedge which forms and arch over a way through and I conflated the two. The sea would make this the South Downs, so that is where you can imagine thesAlmost there

In my sketch pad there is a scribbled title “Thalassa, Thalassa” – not that I had been reading Xenophon but remembering the response of his 10,000, when having struggled up the last ridge they caught a glimpse of the sea. After looking at what I produced I think “Almost there” a better title, so that is what I will write on the back of the canvas. All the colours have been keyed up so the sea is a brighter blue than the Channel probably is, but in early Spring that is probably how one would feel it ought to look.

There was no particular event that prompted the train of thought behind it. I wanted to show space as well as figures, my take on Andrew Wyeth’s “Cristina’s World” because that is how the Downs feel. So the figures could not dominate as usual in my paintings. We have often walked on both the North and South Downs where there are blackthorn hedges and sometimes a way through a gap. In our garden we have a hedge which forms and arch over a way through and I conflated the two. The sea would make this the South Downs, so that is where you can imagine these two have thrown themselves down after climbing up towards the crest.

I was determined to simplify the image so I rearranged the two figures, moving the woman Almost there

In my sketch pad there is a scribbled title “Thalassa, Thalassa” – not that I had been reading Xenophon but remembering the response of his 10,000, when having struggled up the last ridge they caught a glimpse of the sea. After looking at what I produced I think “Almost there” a better title, so that is what I will write on the back of the canvas. All the colours have been keyed up so the sea is a brighter blue than the Channel probably is, but in early Spring that is probably how one would feel it ought to look.

There was no particular event that prompted the train of thought behind it. I wanted to show space as well as figures, my take on Andrew Wyeth’s “Cristina’s World” because that is how the Downs feel. So the figures could not dominate as usual in my paintings. We have often walked on both the North and South Downs where there are blackthorn hedges and sometimes a way through a gap. In our garden we have a hedge which forms and arch over a way through and I conflated the two. The sea would make this the South Downs, so that is where you can imagine these two have thrown themselves down after climbing up towards the crest.

I was determined to simplify the image so I rearranged the two figures, moving the woman to the right-hand side of the chalk path and freeing up more space for the reclining man. There were four areas of surfaces to render: the sea, the trees behind the hedge, the hedge covered in blossom and the grass. I knew how I was going to treat the first two but I wanted to break into something new with the other two.

I started by paining in the blackthorn hedges as dark green shapes with varying shades of green and clear white lines separating the individual bushes. I then put in some tree shaped above them. Looking at the right-hand side hedge, I felt it was too domestic in scale so I increased its height so that the patch of grass that lay between it and the trees disappeared. I then added in the blossom, one cluster at a time, imagining how they would respond to the light falling on them. I added in yellowish white patches of blossom on the shadier parts of the bushes.

While that was setting, I moved on to the grass, paining it as a pattern of squarish shapes of alternating large horizontal and vertical brush strokes and breaking the whole area into two zones roughly aligned with the two bodies, so there is a darker area bordering the hedges. The blues and greens now prompted me to paint the figures with orange skin tones which in turn led to the colour of the tee shirt, his shorts and her swim suit. The colour of the rucksacks was arbitrary, suggested by the wine in the bottle he is drinking from.

The hardest part was painting the worn chalk ruts in the path.  The blossom was built up by broken brush strokes but these ruts would need long runs of nearly white paint. One of my friends saw that as I approaching the finish and remarked how much he liked the stream of waterto the right-hand side of the chalk path and freeing up more space for the reclining man. There were four areas of surfaces to render: the sea, the trees behind the hedge, the hedge covered in blossom and the grass. I knew how I was going to treat the first two but I wanted to break into something new with the other two

I started by paining in the blackthorn hedges as dark green shapes with varying shades of green and clear white lines separating the individual bushes. I then put in some tree shaped above them. Looking at the right-hand side hedge, I felt it was too domestic in scale so I increased its height so that the patch of grass that lay between it and the trees disappeared. I then added in the blossom, one cluster at a time, imagining how they would respond to the light falling on them. I added in yellowish white patches of blossom on the shadier parts of the bushes.

While that was setting, I moved on to the grass, paining it as a pattern of squarish shapeAlmost there

In my sketch pad there is a scribbled title “Thalassa, Thalassa” – not that I had been reading Xenophon but remembering the response of his 10,000, when having struggled up the last ridge they caught a glimpse of the sea. After looking at what I produced I think “Almost there” a better title, so that is what I will write on the back of the canvas. All the colours have been keyed up so the sea is a brighter blue than the Channel probably is, but in early Spring that is probably how one would feel it ought to look.

There was no particular event that prompted the train of thought behind it. I wanted to show space as well as figures, my take on Andrew Wyeth’s “Cristina’s World” because that is how the Downs feel. So the figures could not dominate as usual in my paintings. We have often walked on both the North and South Downs where there are blackthorn hedges and sometimes a way through a gap. In our garden we have a hedge which forms and arch over a way through and I conflated the two. The sea would make this the South Downs, so that is where you can imagine these two have thrown themselves down after climbing up towards the crest.

I was determined to simplify the image so I rearranged the two figures, moving the woman to the right-hand side of the chalk path and freeing up more space for the reclining man. There were four areas of surfaces to render: the sea, the trees behind the hedge, the hedge covered in blossom and the grass. I knew how I was going to treat the first two but I wanted to break into something new with the other two.

I started by paining in the blackthorn hedges as dark green shapes with varying shades of green and clear white lines separating the individual bushes. I then put in some tree shaped above them. Looking at the right-hand side hedge, I felt it was too domestic in scale so I increased its height so that the patch of grass that lay between it and the trees disappeared. I then added in the blossom, one cluster at a time, imagining how they would respond to the light falling on them. I added in yellowish white patches of blossom on the shadier parts of the bushes.

While that was setting, I moved on to the grass, paining it as a pattern of squarish shapes of alternating large horizontal and vertical brush strokes and breaking the whole area into two zones roughly aligned with the two bodies, so there is a darker area bordering the hedges. The blues and greens now prompted me to paint the figures with orange skin tones which in turn led to the colour of the tee shirt, his shorts and her swim suit. The colour of the rucksacks was arbitrary, suggested by the wine in the bottle he is drinking from.

The hardest part was painting the worn chalk ruts in the path.  The blossom was built up by broken brush strokes but these ruts would need long runs of nearly white paint. One of my friends saw that as I approaching the finish and remarked how much he liked the stream of water!kand breaking the whole area into two zones roughly aligned with the two bodies, so there is a darker area bordering the hedges. The blues and greens now prompted me to paint the figures with orange skin tones which in turn led to the colour of the tee shirt, his shorts and her swim suit. The colour of the rucksacks was arbitrary, suggested by the wine in the bottle he is drinking from.

The hardest part was painting the worn chalk ruts in the path.  The blossom was built up by broken brush strokes but these ruts would need long runs of nearly white paint. One of my friends saw that as I approaching the finish and remarked how much he liked the stream of water!wards the crest.

I was determined to simplify the image so I rearranged the two figures, moving the woman to the right-hand side of the chalk path and freeing up more space for the reclining man. There were four areas of surfaces to render: the sea, the trees behind the hedge, the hedge covered in blossom and the grass. I knew how I was going to treat the first two but I wanted to break into something new with the other two.

I started by paining in the blackthorn hedges as dark green shapes with varying shades of green and clear white lines separating the individual bushes. I then put in some tree shaped above them. Looking at the right-hand side hedge, I felt it was too domestic in scale so I increased its height so that the patch of grass that lay between it and the trees disappeared. I then added in the blossom, one cluster at a time, imagining how they would respond to the light falling on them. I added in yellowish white patches of blossom on the shadier parts of the bushes.

While that was setting, I moved on to the grass, paining it as a pattern of squarish shapes of alternating large horizontal and vertical brush strokes and breaking the whole area into two zones roughly aligned with the two bodies, so there is a darker area bordering the hedges. The blues and greens now prompted me to paint the figures with orange skin tones which in turn led to the colour of the tee shirt, his shorts and her swim suit. The colour of the rucksacks was arbitrary, suggested by the wine in the bottle he is drinking from.

The hardest part was painting the worn chalk ruts in the path.  The blossom was built up by broken brush strokes but these ruts would need long runs of nearly white paint. One of my friends saw that as I approaching the finish and remarked how much he liked the stream of water!