Morning Woodland Painting

A reminiscence; a perception of place; a remembrance of senses. A connection. Every painting has its own narrative but it does not aim to tell you a specific story. Instead I relish the idea and the reality that you will find your own. The creation of studies and paintings en plein air offers opportunities for looser explorations of colour and mark making. Smaller paintings are created on location, often requiring only a few additional marks and a lick of varnish once back in the studio. Larger paintings rely on a variety of studies to inform a whole piece. Writing on sketches allows me to have conversations with myself about how I feel and what else I can see; smells, sights and sounds that cannot be recorded using visual language alone. My landscapes reflect the variety in my local area in the Cotswolds which affords me close proximity to: open fields, wooded areas and the River Severn. I am attracted to the energy and drama of the coast and have a base by the sea from which to paint.For me, the greatest challenge is not what to paint, but what to paint first.