Getting up to date!

29/5/2014

"A windy day on the Dart River bed"

One of the things I dislike when I am out painting is a strong wind – strong enough to buffett the canvas. Even strong enough to start blowing the brushes off the easel and into the long grass.

That happened just recently when my painter friend Richard Robinson and I went painting on what started out as a calm and sunny day, and ended up being a battle with the nor-wester. Having started though, you can't just scuttle off home!

The interesting thing is that having got over the difficulties of the day, I'm now enjoying the painting. I like the very wide landscape format that I decided to use - it's just a little different for me. I also like the loose brushstrokes – the sense of abandon about it. Probably brought about by the rush to get out of the unpleasant conditions!

Perhaps a good lesson to remember and apply to every painting – paint with freedom, abandon. Try to remember that it really doesn't matter. Your future isn't depending on that one painting!

To explain my heading – 'getting up-to-date'. Ive been told that many painters are now selling their teaching DVDs online – ready for instant download. With Richards help, we've now included that choice on my DVD page of this website. There is a brief trailer that you can watch first to see if the particular DVD will suit you, and if you decide that you would like it, it's much cheaper than buying the disc. And of course, you can download it immediately. Hopefully, they will be a great help in your painting.

7 Comments

What People Are Saying

Informative instruction and demonstration from a highly skilled artist. When you see John's paintings you know that he has spent many years honing his art. His mastery of colour, tone, brushwork and composition instills confidence that he knows what he talking about as a teacher. Highly recommended."
Alex Kelly

Rodrigo

30/5/2014 03:00:19 am

Amazing painting John.
The constrast of colours between the foregroung and the background is marvellous. I loved the foreground very warm colours. I should say almost impossible to exist in such a cold day, i suppose. the result is incredible!
It almost takes my breath away....
Regards
Rodrigo

Wendy

1/6/2014 12:04:57 pm

Stunning, you have to actually be there to capture the wind! Thank you for another masterpiece....and yes...I can just imagine the brushes blowing off your box.:)

2/6/2014 03:16:24 am

By the way John. Is that location the Dart Valley or the Rees Valley? I am just trying to figure out from distance (i´m in Portugal...) and from what i saw in your DVDs where you painted it.
I understood from your explanations (i suppose) that light conditions vary a lot from those two places maybe due to the location of the mountains.
Thanks.

Lyn Kosmer

5/6/2014 10:04:18 am

Great to see that you brave unfavourable weather conditions - much too often I chicken out and end up regretting not being able to capture those wild moments, and it's impossible to get the spontaneity from painting a photo of the same scene.

Thanks for the inspiration !

Jonas Clark

6/9/2014 12:19:42 am

Hi John,
Your paintings are amazing and inspiring. You did the hard work (thanks) and we get the blessings. I want to encourage you to continue on with the blog. While you are sleeping the blog is reaching the distant parts of the world to people you would have no other way to reach. Now your life's work can reach, even influence thousands. That's amazing to think about. Writing can be difficult wondering what to say. So just a few paragraphs that's fine with us. In other words, just write out whatever you're thinking at the time. We don't expect a book, just a simple thought from a master painter. We are honored. Thanks much! I'm viewing from Florida, USA.

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