Drawing, after Lucien Freud.

Pencil on paper, about 10"x8"

I did this years ago and its been hanging in a cheap mount in my late father's shed. I was visiting my very elderly mum last week and decided to retrieve it.
Apologies for the photo; I shall redo it when I have time.

 Lune Shore, Glasson beyond.

Oil on board, 10"x8"  

Done on location. It's a pleaseant walk to this location from home along the disused Glasson to Lancaster railway line. In the afternoon and evening you look more or less toward the sun which makes for interesting light effects. 

Thurnham Church

Oil on board, 8"x10"

Done on location yesterday. I tightened up the drawing and some of the value relationships this morning. I was very keen to separate the areas in the light from the areas in shadow. If you can maintain that, everything tends to read correctly.

If you were to stand in front of the large tree in the previous painting with your back to the tree, and look to the left this is what you see. I'm usually there at 9 o'clock every Sunday morning.
I think I may add a glaze to the shadowed areas.

Lane in Thurnham, Spring.

Oil on card,  10"x8"

Done entirely on location last weekend. Looks like we're in for a spell of warm sunny weather. I'm off work for a week as well.
Incidently, the viewpoint here is directly in front of the church depicted in the previous post.

The canal at Thurnham,

Spring.

Oil on card,  10"x8"

Done on location yesterday afternoon. I added the lamb from a photo I took at the time.

I think I may simplify some of the elements, especially in the background. Part way through this I thought it could be an Easter painting but I'm not sure I like the symbolism.

I've had another go at it and painted out the lamb and reduced the contrast of the background woods; too many value changes. I'm going to simplify the foreground hawthorn too. I've reduced the violet in the middle elements.

Oak Tree,

Page from sketchbook, pencil on paper.

A busy day day today and just time for one quick sketch.

Blue Boats, Ebb Tide

Oil on gessoed card,  8'x10"

Done on location this afternoon.

Trees at Abbeystead

Page from Sketchbook, pencil on paper.

Rising Tide, Bazil Point

Oil on Gessoed card.  8"x10"

This is the painting I started when the picture was taken below. I often have to resist the temptation to carry on working on paintings when I get home and to 'improve' things. I could undoubtedly improve the drawing in parts but this inevitably leads to tightening things up and losing some of the spontenaety of the original statement. However the scene did look a lot more interesting with the water covering the area of saltmarsh immediately next to the path. Unfortunately it was like this for only a matter of minutes and I had no time to record the altered position of the boat and reflections. So I took a quick snap of the scene and used that as reference. This may be a source for a larger painting, or I may decide to have another go at it and bring this one to a higher finnish. I'd be very interested in other views on the issue of continuing plein air paintings away from the scene.

It was a ten meter tide today and I was warned off leaving my car at the usual place on Sunderland Point so I decided to try Bazil Point instead. I was unsure how far the water would come and I had to stop when the path was flooded and climb onto the rocks. The path was under about a couple of foot of water and I had to wait for it to drop before I could carry on.

Sunderland Point evening, February.

Oil on Board,  10"x12"

Done mainly on the spot, I continued it later at home.