 Birch Hill from Gorge View Cottage in the daylight. C.Lamb. watercolour.  Preliminary sketch for the oil painting. |  Birch Hill from Gorge View cottage in the dark. Pastel pencil  Cosy log burner inside the cottage. Pastel pencil. |  Interesting ancient yew tree in St Andrew's Churchyard, Cheddar. Done in the drizzle. Pitt pen.  Cedar tree. My very last sketch of the trip done in the car in the pouring rain. Micron pen. |
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 Cheddar from Birch Hill. C.Lamb. March 2023. 16" x 12". Oil. This was the main view I wanted to paint - the view across the village roofs towards the entrance to the Gorge. I worked on it over 5 days.
 Pot and Dried Flower store, Holt Farm. C. Lamb. 2022. watercolour and pencil.  Preparatory sketches to get to know the landscape before starting the oil painting from my bedroom window. This years Fintray Girl's Weekend was at Inverallan House, Grantown-on-Spey, in the Cairngorm National Park, Scotland. I always try to paint a picture during our visit. This was our fabulous view up the River Spey towards Aviemore and the northern part of the Cairngorms. A problem with landscapes and distant hills is that they are often obscured by ever changing clouds, light directions and weather. It can take several hours of unclear shapes before their correct profile can be seen, but is needed before I could start my oil painting. So I started by sketching in Faber-Castell Pitt pen then moved on to oil on canvas board once I was confident in the vista.
 Tree fern, Japanese Anemonies and Silver Birch glade. C. Lamb. Oil . 26th and 29th Oct 2019. 12x12". Yet another two sessions at the Yeo Valley Organic garden, at Blagdon. It closes for the season after today. I have been painting here since 2014 but this is my most prolific year for visits as I have done eleven oils and 2 watercolours since 28th April. And eaten quite a few cream teas in the cafe. There is always something to paint as it changes by the week. Entry is free if you are an R.H.S member, or you can get a season ticket.  No 38A allotment with distant Clifton Suspension bridge. C.Lamb. Oil . Sept 22. Another quirky hut to paint. I did it from the other side last year.  Beehives at Yeo Valley Organic garden hay meadow . C Lamb. 14th Sept 2022. Oil . 8x8".  Beehives and Hay piles. C. Lamb. 21st Sept 22. Oil . 8x10" The following week the hay had been cut and was being collected but kindly they saved the bit I was painting until last.  Midland Hawthorn. May 2022. C Lamb . Watercolour and masking fluid on Arches A3 paper. For all the times I have tried to visit the zoo when this tree was in blossom, I have always been either a bit too early or a bit too late and somehow always away when it is in full bloom. For this one on May 30th the buds were not quite out and by the time I got back from our Corrnish trip it had gone over.  Five more drawings of the Midland Hawthorn. I took all 5 sketches back to the zoo in the final week to make a few adjustments. I started the top two in 2019 and 2017 and the bottom 3 from 2022. I have I tried to capture the essence of this tree since first seeing it in blossom in June 2015. Last chance before the zoo closes as although they will keep the Monkey Temple (dome seen in the background) in the new housing plan this tree will be replaced by a building.  Ink on Moulin de Larroche handmade paper. This is the final sketch I did inside the Clifton Zoological Gardens site before it closed for ever after 186 years . SO sad.  Silver Birch Glade, Holt Farm . 13th and 15th July 2022. C. Lamb. Oil. 8"x8". Painted on white acrylic primed Winsor and Newton canvas board with Titanium white, Lemon Yellow , Naples Yellow, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber, French Ultramarine, and a touch of Cerulean and Cadmium Red.  Silver Birch Glade, Holt Farm . 15th and 27th July 2022. C.Lamb. Oil, 8" x 10" Painted a second version where I blocked in the darker colours first to make it easier to get the contrast of the light stems in the dark shade. this time with Titanium White, Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Permanent Alizarin,Yellow Ochre, Burnt sienna,French Ultramarine, Pthalo Green (Blue Shade). Painted these one after the other at the Yeo Valley Organic Garden at Holt Farm, Blagdon. As it was 25.C in the shade I sat in the birch glade to keep cool. As it was hard to get enough contrast of dark to light on my first version, I started another by blocking in the darker underlayers. then finishing off several days later once the paint had dried. The slightly different colours were just because that was what I had with me on those days.
 These are all the paintings I have done so far in 2022 up to the end of June . I have to wait until the weather gets warm enough to start my oil painting season as all work is done outdoors on the spot, not from photographs. Left to Right: TOP ROW: Pencoed Growers Apricot and willow sticks; Blackthorn Blossom at Cheddar Gorge; Apricot blossom and willow sticks v.II .
Second Row: Misty Avon Gorge; Spanish Chestnut, Stoke Hill; Bluebell path at Priory Woods, Portbury; Spanish Chestnut Stoke Hill (Kewstoke Rd). Third row: Woodpile and Tulips, Holt Farm ; Camassia and crabapple blossom, Holt Farm; East Usk Lighthouse. Fourth Row; Watertrough with cows , Holt Farm; Woodland stream with iris, holt Farm; Severn Bridge from Portskewitt. Fifth Row: Godrevy Lighthouse, Cornwall; St Michaels Mount from Perranuthnoe; Fence Posts at Godrevy Point. Sixth Row: Midland Hawthorn at Bristol Zoo; Little Priory Pond, Abbots Leigh; Trevoole Garden gate. |
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