Painting

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Painting outside – Calderdale Plein Air

Yesterday, for the second year, the wonderful Craft and Canvas shop in Hebden Bridge have organised their plein air art competition. With over 40 entries and variable weather it would have been impossible to predict what the final artwork would look like. But in a matter of a few hours there was a stunning display of art on show at North Light Studios, all created out and about in Hebden and its surroundings.

Having spent a few hours down beside the river I must say that this was a very friendly event, as well as the supportive organisers and fellow participants, lots of people out in town, some local, some from overseas, some with children, many with dogs (there was a dog show in the park), and many with food for the ducks came to watch for a while and often to chat. Any trepidation about painting in public was soon gone and that is a credit to the place and its people.

Photo of my finished watercolour showing the river and trees in Hebden Bridge

Here are some pictures of where I was working and my finished watercolour painting. I’m also including pictures of some of the other artworks produced.

A preparatory sketch for the general tones before painting
My painting partly completed on my easel
Photo of my easel and stool set up for painting
The winning artwork on show alongside my own painting
More artwork produced on the day
More art produced on the day
The third placed paining showing the hills above Hebden
Some more of the artworks from the day on display at Northlight Studio
A little bit more nature
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A little bit more nature

Sometimes nature can be the inspiration for making new images and sometimes it can inspire new creative writing. Recently I was thinking back to a time about 50 years ago when I was walking the last part of the journey to school and was distracted by a Merlin flying just a few yards away and parallel to the path. I’d never seen one before and it was genuinely stunning. A small bird of prey it was struggling in the face of a very strong wind so I was able to watch it closely for a while. I was a bit late for school but it is a memory I still treasure and I’ve never since seen a Merlin. That inspired the little poem below, and after that I couldn’t resist adding it with drawing into my nature journal.

Nature journal page by Seamus with poem and drawing of a Merlin made with coloured pencils and fountain pen.

Sometimes the idea comes from the image and then the words come along afterwards as was the case with this watercolour sketch and poem about a grey seal.

Nature journal page by Seamus with poem and watercolour of a grey seal

Not everything in the journal includes poetry and the spread below has a few little nuggets of folklore and myth along with 25 additional names for Digitalis, the plant we now call Foxglove. There watercolours were painted from one of the beautiful foxgloves that have been thriving in our garden in the last month.

Photo of a spread from my nature journal with pictures and text about foxgloves.

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Love Nature, Love Words, Love Pictures

If you are a nature lover you probably already know how being outside among plants, trees and all kinds of wildlife, can help lift your mood and make you feel good. But did you know that recording your experiences, observations and thoughts can multiply those benefits?

Photo of the participants and facilitators for the nature journalling session, stood by woodland with a Culture Coop Random Acts of Art poster

Last weekend my wife, Maggie, and I ran nature journaling session at the Hollingworth Lake Country Park. We all had a great time with a nature work, tips for finding subjects to write about and a range of ways to make illustrations. The participants were shown how you can make a journal using various kinds of paper and they also learned some watercolour techniques to create a nice, and quick, illustration of bluebells.

One of our participants even climbed a tree while the other had a sit down in a den made of branches at the bottom of the tree.

Photo from the nature journalling session, showing participants during the activities
Photo from the nature journalling session, showing participants during the activities

We were really impressed by the enthusiasm, skills and knowledge of those people who came along and really happy to send them home with their own jounaling journey underway.

We were also delighted with the feedback, some of which is shown below:

“Want to do more”
“Lovely, awesome”
“Thanks very much for this afternoon. I really enjoyed it, much better than I thought I would. It has certainly inspired me and given me confidence to learn more and develop new skills.”
“Would be great if there was a journalling group”
“Loved seeing lots of different ways of making images”
“It was great to spend time on what’s meaningful”

Photo from the nature journalling session, showing participants during the activities
Photo from the nature journalling session, showing participants during the activities
Photo from the nature journalling session, showing participants during the activities

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Art By The Lake – Art Exhibition

Sunday 13th October, 11am to 4pm at the RSPCA Animal Centre, Hollingworth Lake, Littleborough

Poster with exhibition details

I’m really happy to be part of this event, created by artist and writer Elizabeth White. Several artists will be exhibiting a range of paintings, prints, cards, pet portraits etc.

This is a great chance to come and meet local artists, see demonstrations and buy some lovely art.

Admission is Free and there is an excellent cafe on the premises serving drinks and food.

This is the first of a series of three “Art By The Lake”exhibitions with the following dates being Sun 3rd November and Sun 1st December.

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Fun in the “Plein air”

Last weekend’s painting competition in Hebden Bridge was actually great fun. There were about 40 artist in and around the town all producing pictures in a few hours. We were very lucky to have lovely weather which certainly benefitted all of those taking part. During the day many people stopped to talk about what the artists were doing and a good number of the artists had the chance to meet each other, and look at the work in progress whilst stretching legs and picking up refreshments from some of the excellent local cafés in the town.

At the end of the day there was a brief exhibition, the judging and awards, which all took place at Northlight Studios. The whole thing was organised by Greg from “Craft and Canvas” and were some excellent prizes from the shop and from Wallace Seymour who produce high quality paints for artists.

For my own part the proces of working with oil paint for the first time proved to be enjoyable and a great learning experience. I now have a completed A3 sized oil painting of the old footbridge in the middle of town and I’m pleased with it. A few weeks ago I wouldn’t have expected to try oil paints but now I’m busy deciding what to paint next.

Painting of the footbridge in Hebden Bridge
Here is my paining from the event
Some of the prize winning art from the day
Here are some of the winning pieces of artwork
One of the winning pieces painted on glass
This prize winning piece was painted onto glass letting the light shine through the painting
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Embracing the Challenge: Calderdale Plein Air Competition in Hebden Bridge

I have previously written about the benefits of stepping outside our comfort zones. I might be mad, but next Saturday, 14th September I’ll be in Hebden Bridge stepping outside my normal comfort zones for the day.

Photo of watercolour paint and brush

Recently I saw the adverts for the first ever Calderdale Plein Air competition in Hebden Bridge. I don’t usually paint outside, especially where people might watch, I don’t usually enter competitions and I don’t usually make my art at a predetermined time and place. I also tend to avoid using terms that are exclusive, the sort that people might use to show that they have a bit more knowledge than others. “Plein air” is one such term, it just means “outside”, I prefer to use normal language so that more people understand.

So, of course, I entered the competition. I will be painting outside. I don’t have any expectation for my work to be placed among the prize winners, but I am hoping that this will be an enjoyable and positive challenge.

I don’t know what medium I will use just yet but there will be brushes and pencils and possibly a fountain pen or fineliners – the final choices will depend on the weather. I’ve also not yet decided which bit of Hebden Bridge I will be painting as there are so many attractive places to choose from.