Journal

As I was setting up my easel to paint a watercolour of the sunrise on a recent holiday in the South of France, a dutch lady jogged past and we talked briefly. On her return half an hour later she asked if she could buy it when it was finished as a present for her niece's wedding that afternoon; a painting of the sunrise on the day she got married. She took this photo on her way to the wedding a few hours later. Nice when it works!

  "Tall Ship in Harbour". oil on board. painting size 75cm x60cm.

"Moon and Jupiter Rising". oil on board. painting size 45cm x 45cm

The paintings above were painted at North Shields at the mouth of the Tyne. The top one is just after dawn, the tall ship having arrived fortuitously from Holland the evening before I started. The one below is of late afternoon with a nearly full moon and Jupiter rising in the east.

I am very pleased to have recently had my work taken on by Sarah Russell at The Russell Gallery. It is a lovely gallery near Putney Bridge which exhibits excellent figurative oils and acrylics, often by nationally well known artists. 

The exhibition is on until the end of summer and I will have a number of paintings in the winter show also.

Having recently finished a series of paintings for an exhibition on industrial architecture in the landscape of the north east I found myself pulled again to the east coast. The west coast at this latitude of England isn't too interesting, but the east coast has some fantastic stretches. I decided to focus on St Abbs which is in an amazing fifteen mile stretch of coast in south east Scotland, where the Lammemuir Hills meet the sea. I have had a few days there now and have seven paintings on the go which I hope to finish in the studio combined with another visit in a few weeks.

The painting above went through a change of composition and redrawing, and is almost cubist at present. The blue of the sea and sky is a bit disconcerting in the photo, but the camera exaggerates the blue and even Scotland has clear days. There was a sea fret the last time I tried to paint there while the rest of the country basked in sunshine.

The experience of being there is the real attraction and it has a fantastic coastal walk, painting is just one way of exploring and experiencing a place.

"Stublick Chimneys from the East" oil on canvas, 50cm x 40cm. Part of the 19th century coal mining industry near Langley in the Tyne Valley.

"The Power and The Glory" Paintings of our industrial heritage in the north east of England, with nine other artists. I have ten recent paintings in the exhibition and a selection of limited edition screenprints and giclee pints available. The preview is at The Wallington Gallery, within Lawrence Stephenson Antiques (behind the Shell Garage) at 6.30 on Friday 6th May 2016. The exhibition continues until Saturday 21st May.

"The Last Shipyards" oil on canvas, 60cm x 50cm.

This was painted last year at Wallsend, the shipyards on the left are currently being bulldozed.

"A Bend in the River". Oil on Canvas. 50 x 50cm. 2014

"Woodside Avenue", Screenprint. 75 x 60cm. 1987

The top image is a painting I did eighteen months ago of two of the remaining shipyards on the Tyne at Wallsend and Hebburn. In the foreground are the remnants of the tracks for the huge cranes that dominated the skyline at Swan Hunters shipyard at Wallsend at one time.

Below that is a screenprint I did in 1987 of those now demolished cranes when they were still in operation. The title is from the incongruously named terraced houses in the foreground.

I went there again last week to do another painting, but found the ship and cranes on the left bank gone and bulldozers clearing the whole of that riverbank including the terraced houses. The right hand shipyard at Hebburn still remains. I did the top painting just in time. 

This painting and screenprint will be exhibited in an exhibition called "The Power and the Glory" at The Wallington Gallery within Steven Lawrence Antiques in Corbridge from 4th May.