Evening Walk Gills Lap, Ashdown Forest

It seemed almost a criminal offence not to take advantage of the stunning late September sun that has been warming most parts of the UK with summer-like temperatures. With most of the heather gone on Ashdown, and the bracken starting to turn into many different hues of sienna and umber, I took a quick walk along Gill's Lap, frequented many years earlier by Winnie the Pooh and his friends. I didn't set out to make any significant photos and only had a small Canon compact to hand, but the warmth of the evening sun and the early autumn colours almost made it impossible to take a poor picture.

An Imaginary Sketch

This quick watercolour was painted from the imagination and is of nowhere in particular. It is an interesting exercise to create a scene in the mind and then try to get it down on paper. It certainly helps you to build a creative mind-set, which you can then use to approach real life subjects and give your paintings a little something extra. Knowing where to stop is important though - this scene for example may have lacked a sense of realism had I decided to include a Boeing 737 parked up in the estuary in place of the two boats! I guess this comment will not impress the surrealists among you.

The Old Water Mill

This delightful old water mill sits in the grounds of my parents-in-law's property in France. Their house is a conversion of three small cottages, once used by the mill's workers, into one. The mill itself sits just below a weir in the river, La Blourde, which runs along the foot of the property. I painted this a couple of years back and was very pleased with the result - the shapes of the winter trees reflecting in the pond make for a strong composition.

Ashdown Forest, Spring 2011

Heading back to the car to take advantage of some tea and cakes at the little cafe in Wych Cross!

Nutley windmill.

Lengthening shadows, taken from inside Camp Hill Clump, looking toward King's Standing.

Winter Trees

These shots were taken on a drive to Tunbridge Wells when I couldn't help noticing that the winter sun seemed to be unusually strong, just 15 minutes before it set. I can't quite make my mind up with the middle picture - I'm not sure the sign post contributes anything to the picture. I think there may be a better composition, but I loved the highlights and shadows on the large oak giving it a wonderful 3D quality.

The third picture shows a curious area of land where there has been extensive clearance of rhododendrons in order to promote a more stable ecosystem. I liked the combination of the straight, white birch trunks and the dark, random shapes of the ash trees.

Olly

Sussex Snow

These shots were taken in the field across the road from us in Wadhurst, Sussex. It was a bitterly cold afternoon, but the large dump of snow and low afternoon sun was an opportunity I didn't want to miss. What was interesting about this particular snowfall was that it was in November (2010) and most of the trees still had a reasonable covering of autumn leaves. I think this had added something to the pictures over and above the usual stark arborial skeletons that we see from December onwards. I like the way that the warm brown foliage contrasts with the cool greys and blues of the landscape.

Metering was tricky - the strong sunlit areas really wanted to give me some under-exposed shots, but with a little exposure compensation I think the balance is about right.

Olly.

My Thoughts on Photography

My first serious foray into the world of photography was with a second-hand Minolta SLR and a couple of lenses. I stuck with 35mm film format for longer than most, eschewing the digital revolution in favour of rolls of Fuji Velvia and my trusty slide projector. What I liked about the pre-digital era was the importance of discipline. Unless you had the budget to waste endless rolls of film (and I certainly didn't) you made sure that you understood exposure, how to focus a lens correctly, and what made a strong composition. In other words, you learnt how to take photographs.

Eventually I succumbed to the inevitable ease that digital offered, particularly given the constraints of time and budget, and without doubt it is revelatory in terms of the ease with which images are readily available, at high quality. I am currently using Nikon's DSLR system which is more than adequate for my requirements. Has digital enabled me to create better photographs? Not at all - but it has made the process a little easier.

A good photograph should capture a moment in time and place, and have something to say over and above what you might normally see. With my paintings it is easy to embellish or create atmosphere - add a tree here, a few more clouds there. You don't have such creative latitude with photography , but that is all part of the challenge in creating compelling pictures. Taking landscape photography as an example (it is the subject of this blog after all) a strong image will convey a moment of dramatic lighting, or a new perspective on a familiar scene. No matter how complex your camera is you will not take good photographs unless you have the ability to 'see' a good picture. That is the photographer's art. Your ability to then translate that image to film or file is down to your mastery of technical considerations, and to a lesser extent the quality of your camera. I do not have the resources to splash £40,000 on a nice Linhof rangefinder and some razor-sharp German glass, but if I did I wouldn't necessarily capture a better photograph, just produce higher quality images.

Digital format does have drawbacks. It is easy to keep peeping at the screen to see if your photo looks any good without having understood the process that is involved in creating it. Then there are a bewildering array of pre-programmed modes that are there to minimise error, but which prevent you from ever understanding the nuances of exposure. And finally there is Photoshop, which has the propensity to create technical laziness. Without doubt it is a very useful tool, and I use it willingly to make minor adjustments to images where necessary, but I do not like to heavily manipulate an image so that I end up with something that I didn't see through the viewfinder. It can be over-used in an attempt to make an ordinary photograph better. Don't bother, just go out and shoot a better one next time. (Disclaimer - this is not a 'pop' at the creative aspects of Photoshop, which are truly remarkable. I just don't create that type of image, but certainly appreciate the work of those that do.)

Landscape photography is a challenge. The reason that professionals' photographs look so good is primarily the quality of directional light falling on the landscape, and the time they devote to getting that elusive shot. The weather in the UK is rapidly changing which makes it a wonderful resource for endless image opportunities. However, it requires discipline - shooting at either dawn or dusk, constant checking of weather forecasts and the fortitude not to kick your tripod down the hill when the sun goes in (it took you an hour to walk to that remote location!)

The appeal of landscape photography is that you get used to seeing pictures around you - and it certainly opens your eyes to detail that you may have missed before. Give some time to find out how to compose a strong photographic image (there are a few basic rules, but ultimately its down to you) and get outside and take some pictures. If you end up with a load of rubbish photos, but fond memories of the places you have been then it will have been worthwhile. The British landscape is truly amazing - go and explore it.

My Thoughts on Painting

'Breezy Day on Ashdown Forest' - 16'"x12", Langton 200lb NOT

My philosophy on painting is very simplistic, which is probably the function of being completely self-taught. I like to think that without the baggage of theoretical axes to grind my painting can develop in whatever way it so desires.

I do not produce work to provoke thought, or solicit a response. I understand that a good painting (in fact any art) should do both and if my work falls into that category......great! However, that is not my motivation. I paint because I enjoy doing it and it gives me a deeper insight into the landscape (my main subject) through concentration than I could achieve simply by taking a look across a valley.

If someone had to label my style they would probably say that it is traditional as opposed to contemporary - by which they usually mean 'abstract.' My style is always evolving, and if you start with the premise that all paintings are ultimately an abstraction, then I would say that it is certainly more abstract than Reubens, but some way short of Rothko. Ultimately, I will leave the taxonomy for art graduates to discuss over a glass of jasmine tea on the King's Road.

My preferred medium, which I use exclusivley at present, is watercolour. I do not recommend this! It is by far the most difficult of all painting media to master. A watercolour painter lives and dies by the 'transparency sword.' The immediacy and freshness that watercolour confers make it a joy to use - sloshing fluid, transparent washes of colour onto paper is a process that I enjoy far more than scrubbing and trowelling thick, plasticky oil paints onto canvas. It is that transparency that can quickly become your enemy - you just cannot paint over your mistakes, or you end up with dull, muddy painitngs. If you get it wrong, you start again! It really is that unforgiving.

Watercolour is the perfect medium for capturing the British landscape. The cool, crisp nothern light that we have been given generally produces scenes that have muted tones from a colour palette largely comprising soft greys and intense browns. "How very dull," I hear you say. Not so. As a painter, working with this range of colours creates pictures that are soft and mellow and watercolour is perfect for conveying this delicate balance of tones and hues.

I do not subscribe to any particular school of watercolour thought, which in my opinion encourages 'art snobbery.' It does not matter if the white in your painting is the unpainted paper or the use of gouache, or other opaque media. What's important is that it looks good, but mostly that the artist enjoyed painting it. If so, then it is an entirely valid method.

My work has largeley been inspired by the likes of Crawshaw, Wesson, Yardley and Seago whose mastery of loose, impressionist technique and understanding of light is my ultimate ambition. There are no immediate plans to sell my work although over the years I have taken a number of commissions. For me it really is painting for pleasure......one day though, you never know!