Light in the Woods, palette knife oil painting

Light in the Woods

Palette knife oil painting on MDF canvas panel

18x24cm (approx 7"x10")
Available in my Etsy store

I love painting silver birch trees. This one was painted from a photo taken in Spring as the fresh growth was bursting out, but with the winter brown undergrowth being slow on the uptake! The shaft of sunshine brought the scene to life for me.

Colourful Birches

This painting shows a different treatment of the trees, I have used goauche in a thick loose impressionist way. 

Colourful Birches

Gouache painting on canvas board

17.5x12.5cm (7"x5")

Varnished so can be framed without glass

Available in my Etsy shop

SOLD - Autumn Explosion Silver Birch landscape painting

Autumn Explosion Landscape

Silver birches in autumn

Palette knife painting

18x24cm on canvas panel

In this painting I wanted to give the illusion of the confusion of colours that can occur in a woodland during Autumn. I went a bit wild with the palette knife putting in juicy dabs of colour.

This painting is now SOLD and on its way to the UK.

A companion piece to this painting is  Autumn Silver Birches

Contact me about commissioning a similar painting HERE

Cork sentinels, Day 10, 30 days hath September challenge

Cork Sentinels, Provence treescape landscape painting

18x24cm oil on canvas panel

Palette knife painting

Day 10, 30 days hath September challenge

 Cork Trees,
Painted from a photo I took in the same forest as the chestnut trees painted on day 8 (see post here). The forest is in the Var just to the north of St. Tropez. As you cross from the Alpes Maritime into the var, the flora changes and the oak trees change from the Provence green oaks to these cork oaks. They are very distinctive and have a very dark bark. Where they have been harvested the red wounds really stand out and they eventually achieve a gnarled look where the new bark grows over the wound. I have lots of photos so expect more paintings of the cork trees

Difficult Greens
The greens are difficult because although it is coming into autumn there is a lot of fresh green growth that sprout after the first rain at the end of summer, as well as the older green leaves. I've also used a few blue greens to add to the sense of distance.

Sky colours
Although the sky is not a huge part of the painting I took trouble with this using more colours than I normally do (pinks, blues and greens) trying to represent the transitional feel of the sky which was overcast one minute and sunny the next.

Sweet Chestnut Walk - Day 8, 30 days hath September Challenge

Sweet Chestnut Walk treescape WIP

Day 8, 30 days hath September Challenge

Oil on canvas panel

Palette knife painting
Contact me about this or any other painting HERE

Last Friday we took a drive around the vineyards in the Var region so I could gather some photos of the vineyards before the grapes were harvested. As part of the drive we went through the Les Maures hills national forest. Sweet chestnut trees grow wild amongst the cork oaks. Generally the day was overcast but every now and then the sun shone through and I managed to capture the sunlight in this view. This is not quite finished, I still have to work on the edges of the shadows.

Sherwood Forest Walk - Day 7, 30 days hath September challenge

Sherwood Forest Walk treescape oil painting

Day 7, 30 days hath September challenge

18x24cm (approx 7"x10") oil on canvas panel

Palette knife painting

Sherwood Pines
At the end of May this year, we went to Sherwood Pines park in Nottingham my home town. While my brother and the kids did the bicycle circuit, I went for a walk and took photos.

Sherwood Pines is a managed pine plantation right in the heart of Sherwood Forest (quel domage) where they used to grow the pines for pit props in the coal mines. That industry has now died and they are gradually replacing the trees with native species.
My Walk
Naturally it was the regenerated part of the forest where I went for my walk. The sun was shining through the fresh green growth of trees and all was OK in my world.
Does it need people?
I am uncertain whether or not to put a couple in at the end of the path to:

• add a focal point and scale
• To add a touch of red (a shirt maybe) as a foil for all the green

Please let me know what you think.