Finally… it is Spring in Leeds.
Spring!
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Category Archives: watercolour
Pet Redbeard
A local Viking who kindly agreed to sit. Pet has striking features which I am drawn to draw.
Galloway, part 2
The Rhins of Galloway, trying to think about nothing.
Galloway, part 1
The Rhins of Galloway, a good place to get away when the world’s gone mad. It’s very green and peaceful, and the sheep don’t bother you.
Horse Chestnut Tree, Potternewton Park
This tree in my local park is wider than it’s tall. Two weeks ago, the candles were at their best. I’ve painted horse chestnuts in blossom for a few years – it’s not easy and this is my favourite attempt so far. I’ll have another go next year…
And Did Those Feet
This is the View From Birkrigg Common. It’s hanging in a group show in Leeds called And Did Those Feet, an exhibition exploring William Blake’s poem, Jerusalem.
The inspiration for the picture came in March this year when I visited Birkrigg Common, Ulverston, Cumbria, and was struck by the panorama visible from the triangulation point.
Since then I have painted it several times, usually as a series of 4 interlocking images, that to me represent many of the elements of Blake’s Jerusalem:
1. England’s mountains green are there – the fells of the Lake District.
2. Ancient times have left traces such as the Bronze Age stone circle.
3. The pleasant pastures of Bardsea, with their sheep and lambs, look down on the purple sands of Morecambe Bay at low tide, and the island where monks built a holy chapel in the 14th Century.
4. Here can be seen more clouded hills, and at the far right of the painting, Heysham nuclear power station – our latest version of a satanic mill.
The exhibition runs until 24th May 2016 at St Edmund’s Church, Lidgett Park Road, Leeds LS8 1JN. I’ll be there on Sunday 22nd May, 11:30am – 1pm, if you’d like to say hello and see my longest painting yet – it’s 10 feet wide.
Mad March Sky
Sunset on Monday night – the sky and the trees go crazy – in a good way.
Raging River Wharfe
The River Wharfe at Harewood Bridge a week or two ago, still roaring from all the rain it drank at Christmas.
No!
No sun – no moon!
No morn – no noon!
No dawn – no dusk – no proper time of day –
No sky – no earthly view –
No distance looking blue –
No road – no street – no “t’other side this way” –
No end to any Row –
No indications where the Crescents go –
No top to any steeple –
No recognitions of familiar people –
No courtesies for showing ’em –
No knowing ’em!
No traveling at all – no locomotion –
No inkling of the way – no notion –
“No go” by land or ocean –
No mail – no post –
No news from any foreign coast –
No Park, no Ring, no afternoon gentility –
No company – no nobility –
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member –
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds –
November!
Thomas Hood
(1799-1840)
Deconstructing Autumn I-III
England Women
England women’s football team in the World Cup semi-final tonight…
Sandy Beaches at Spurn
Escape to the North Sea! This is the edge of the land at Sandy Beaches Holiday Village, Kilnsea, East Riding of Yorkshire.
Static caravans at Sandy Beaches
Looking south to Spurn Point
The last big storm surge washed away the road and access to the Point is now by foot or truck only.
Cars go by
Cars go by.
They cannot see
the yellow spots.
Only the walkers –
the dog walkers,
the lonely walkers,
the walkers in love –
Only the nature lovers,
the poets,
the artists looking for inspiration –
Only the commuters taking short cuts and
the school children
on their way home
can see
the yellow spots.
~
Felling of the beech wood Save Gledhow Valley Woods
FGVW minutes January 2015 (see Selective Tree Felling section)
Rosie’s garden, 1991
Rosie’s garden, Bankside Street, Leeds 1991
A hot and sunny day last century, in a friend and neighbour’s garden.
I’m lucky – quite a few people over the years have said to me, “Come and paint in my garden!”. For a long time I lived in places where there were no gardens, only yards – some parts of Leeds 8 are just bricks, cracked concrete and tarmac.
And so it was a kind offer when Rosie said I could paint in her garden and I took it up. She also lent me her car about 500 times before I could afford my own.
This painting is from the summer of 1991 – I remember the oriental poppies that Sumi had planted a few years before, they kept re-seeding themselves. And it looks like broad beans in front of the trellis.
Thanks for the encouragement and all your generosity, Rosie Foster (1953-2015).
Niagara!
View from the helicopter. My friend’s daughter got married in mid-air. She likes adventure… Congratulations, Alice and Shane!
The Lodge House
I was commissioned to make a portrait of this former lodge house, built in 1888 by Sir Charles Ryder, one of the original partners of Tetley’s Brewery. I drew the house a few times before I painted it. In the middle of one drawing about 300 or 400 geese flew overhead, very high up. They flew and honked their way west in a giant V-formation that changed shape as they went – but they didn’t make it into the painting.
Thorn Lodge, Roundhay
Yellow spots on trees
Gledhow Valley Woods, horse chestnut trees marked for the axe
More trees spray-painted with fluorescent yellow dots in Gledhow Valley Woods. These three horse chestnuts are included in the proposed felling plan.
Links:
Site analysis – Friends of Gledhow Valley Woods
Save Gledhow Valley Woods
Out, damned spot!
Gledhow Valley Woods, beech trees marked for the axe
Recently someone has been out spray-painting in the woods. The graffiti takes the form of yellow dots on about 100 trees. It is possible that these trees will be felled this year in a Leeds city council private finance initiative. Allegedly, the council will not benefit from the sale of the timber. The reasons for the axing seem unclear and there is some strong local debate.
This painting is of three beeches on the slope overlooking the lake.
Links:
Save Gledhow Valley Woods
Friends of Gledhow Valley Woods
Leeds Council reveals plans for 66,000 new homes
Plans for homes in Leeds woodland rejected
Star Cells – animation
Animation for Winter Solstice
It has just gone dark – the longest night
But even in the dark – there is some light!
Happy Solstice to all ye pagans!
End of summer
View from Barnhills window
Swallows in Dumfries and Galloway – last seen heading south at the end of September.
Arthington Viaduct
Arthington Viaduct by the River Wharfe, West Yorkshire
The viaduct was engineered by James Bray for the Leeds and Thirsk Railway, c.1850.
Chapel Allerton Art Trail 2014
The Three Hulats, Harrogate Road, LS7
Being local, I am honoured to have my paintings on show at The Three Hulats for the next two weeks as part of the Chapel Allerton Art Trail 2014, organised by Inkwell and Chapel Allerton Arts Festival. My pictures are in the darts room, so be careful. Lots of local artists are getting exposure during festival week. Download a map here.
The Official Opening of the event happens on Tuesday 26th August, 6-9pm. Follow the art trail along the 18 locations on Harrogate Road from Inkwell to Further North Bar (about half a mile). Everyone is welcome!
There’s an Art Trail Artists’ Talk on Thursday 28th August, 6-8pm at Inkwell. I’ll be taking part, along with fellow artists Nick Claiden, Helen Dryden and Fred Pepper.
Into Swaledale
Yorkshire Dales, coming down from Buttertubs Pass – headed towards the T-junction by Thwaite in Upper Swaledale. Tour de France 2014 Stage 1, Leeds to Harrogate.
Buttertubs Pass
Yorkshire Dales between Hawes and Muker – the bicycles will be coming this way soon. Buttertubs is the highest elevation in the Tour de France Stage 1 2014, Leeds to Harrogate.
View from the Chevin
View from the Chevin IV
View from the Chevin III
I painted the view a few times.
View from the Chevin, eyes shut
View from the Chevin I
Back o’ the houses
Trees and houses face each other. The leaves are out, the trees will win – if left to their own devices.
Summerhouse in Roundhay
Another commission – and I was keen to do it. I exhibited here recently in the Roundhay Arts Trail. One of my more formal paintings, not an easy subject and difficult to execute.
Seasnake
I’ve never met a sea snake but the urge to draw this shape makes me think my ancestors did. Either way, it’s about a life-force. The paintings were a commission I’m happy to say, and finished this week.
British Summer Time
Buds and shoots and green sun
British Summer Time has begun
Clock changing woods
I’m losing sleep tonight. The clocks go forward and in the lost hour it feels like time to stop painting the trees and look for a different horizon.
Here’s a drawing with my eyes shut. It still looks like trees:
Spring sun
Saturday late afternoon
Thursday afternoon
A watercolour and an oil painting. The sun is warming up the woods. In the daytime the sun looks green, like spring.
Wharfedale – Tour de France Stage 1
A Yorkshire day – view from the Chevin. A new painting commissioned and sold this week by Bono Art Gallery in Otley. On Saturday 5th July 2014 the first stage of Le Tour de France will pass through Otley and the Wharfe valley (scene of this painting) en route from Leeds to Harrogate via the Yorkshire Dales.
Paintings at Bono Art Gallery
This is Bono Art Gallery, a contemporary fine art gallery in Otley and a new venue for my work. I’m happy to say that since the start of this year, Bono is selling my paintings. Other artists’ work you can browse and buy here include David Veron, German Diez, Michael John Griffiths, Moff Skellington, Roberto Bono and Shane Green.
Bono Art Gallery opened in February 2013. It’s a friendly place which has developed into a hub of creative activity on several levels. Artists have set up their easels and paint in the gallery space. Life drawing, art tuition, portraits and commissions are available. Children and adults meet on winter afternoons to play chess. Live art events and talks by international artists also take place – the next one is on Saturday 1st March 2014. I get the feeling Bono’s aim is to bring art to the people – and it’s working… a visit to Bono’s is a life-enhancing experience.
Pictures at an exhibition
To coincide with the current exhibition of my new paintings at Otley Courthouse, here’s a look at where and how some of it happened.
The exhibition has been extended from 6th – 11th January 2014, open Mon-Sat, 10am-4pm. (N.B. closed for the holidays between 21st Dec and 5th Jan). The preview event is Sunday 8th December, 6-8pm, and everybody is welcome. Click here for more information.
The end of October
A pigeon flies past and leaves blow off the trees.
British suburban houses
This watercolour of houses across the street came about from wanting to paint something that was uninspiring – because painting is painting, whatever the subject – and painting can transform your view of things. It was supposed to be an exercise in letting my hand do the thinking.
But the picture fits within the British landscape tradition – and might even fall into the category of suburban art. These houses were built in 1937. Painting them led me to read Stevie Smith’s poems about the suburbs – and about the place and contribution of the suburbs to twentieth-century British culture. “Round about the streets I slink / Suburbs are not so bad I think…”
Links:
Showing paintings of British suburban houses to Saudis – BBC News Magazine, 2012 “The Suburban Classes” by Stevie Smith
“Suburbs are not so bad I think”: Stevie Smith’s Problem of Place in 1930s and ‘40s London by Kristin Bluemel, 2003
Gledhow Wood Road
Sunlight through the trees. This is the top end of the road, painted at the end of August. It’s also a homage to John Atkinson Grimshaw (1836–1893) who painted similar scenes of Leeds in the moonlight.
Route home
On my local journey home, this is the last street before mine. The Scotland trip has worn off so I’m painting what’s around me here. This picture makes me feel happy – I lived in that house for a short while.
Gledhow Wood Road
New paintings
Some new paintings, some old themes. I’ve been in the North-West Highlands…
You can see some sketches here.
Spurn Point, Holderness
Spurn Point on the longest day – sunset and moonrise, 180 degrees apart. We went for an evening picnic. These paintings are from the landward-side near the Spurn Bird Observatory. Whenever I go to Spurn I wonder why I stayed away so long and I never want to leave.
Spurn Point sunset, looking towards Hull
Spurn Point with moon, looking south
Living by the woods
The back of my house faces the woods – it’s like a green wall in summer. I’ve been separating out the trees to give myself a subject. Somehow doing this also makes me feel less oppressed by the wall – a gathering of 10,000 trees that are twice as old as me and twice as high as my house.
Exhibition at Horticap, April 2013
A taste of what’s on show at the exhibition of my paintings at Horticap this month. There’s a rolling program of artists exhibiting at this venue.
Hanging it
Conkers
Diatoms
Crow
October Woods
Gledhow Valley Woods
I’ve been reviewing my work for the next exhibition. These are the woods in autumn, winter and early spring.
October
October
February
March
Spring equinox
Started painting again. This was on Sunday, the last thing I saw before the sun went down. It’s cold and the trees still have no leaves, but they will soon.
Longships Lighthouse, Land’s End
I painted this lighthouse a few times in October 2012 after I heard about missing yachtswoman, Mary Unwin. I was also inspired by J.M.W.Turner’s watercolours of the same rocks.
Longships Lighthouse, Land’s End
Recent painting…
A recent watercolour sketch. This is a fragment of a much larger piece of work. Incidentally, the paper it’s painted on is about 50 years old.
Humpback Whale
Jo Dunn 