Friday 14th November
Usually we would go on a Friday and stay 2 nights but due to Natasha’s work commitments we had to leave on Saturday morning. We arrived at Beckstones Gallery at lunchtime, loaded with paintings. Fortunately they loved them and kept the lot which is always a massive relief. They also kept all the ones they already have. I now have more than 25 paintings in the gallery. Hopefully they will continue to sell my work as so far I seem to be doing OK there.
We then headed down to Ambleside to take some more paintings to OCG. It was unusual for us to fail to find a parking spot round the back of the gallery and so improvising, we parked in the small pub car park next door. I sent Natasha into the pub to get drinks whilst I took the paintings into the gallery. They were actually closed for lunch, which is unusual but I discovered that they were a bit short staffed. They did let me in and I delivered 6 paintings of Lakeland mountains and 8 framed mini watercolours and some cards. Paintings all delivered it was time for the pub.
Having had a pint we checked into The Ambleside Inn across the road. Our room was smaller than we expected but we were in a good location, in the Centre of Ambleside. We had to park in the public car park, which anyone who knows Ambleside will be aware that it isn’t easy to find a spot. We were lucky and paid for 12 hours and headed off to find a pub showing the rugby. The Sportsman Bar was showing the Scotland v New Zealand game and other things on about 10 screens. We settled in for a long afternoon with beer and rugby. After meal back in our hotel we retired early.
On Sunday we popped into OCG for a look round and popped in a few shops before heading to Grasmere for our now usual visit and coffee in The Heaton Cooper Studio. It was pouring with rain and the Café was heaving. We decided to get a take out drink and head home. On our way back we called into Rheged to see an exhibition they have running of work by 25 Lakeland artists to celebrate their 25th anniversary. It was a big exhibition with a few names I recognised. Funnily, I didn’t like most of the work but several pieces gave me some motivation to do some experimentation back in the studio.
I have spent the week experimenting with acrylic inks on paper. I haven’t used them for a while but with no pressing commitments, I thought I’d have a play. I initially used 140lb rough paper. I wanted some semi abstract, loosely painted seascapes, inspired by some work I’d seen at Rheged and at OCG. I’ve talked about acrylic inks before. They are very vibrant but I toned them down with black ink and white acrylic paint and plenty of water. I started by wetting the paper so the colours ran and merged. I kept representational detail to a minimum. I wanted a moody feel. The moorland ones were still loosely painted but I kept some of the vibrant colours. I wanted distance to a purpley blue mountain horizon. I was happy with the results in general. On Thursday I did some smaller ones using offcuts of paper. These had additional watercolours which I painted in the house.
I enjoyed my week of experimenting with a medium I’d not used for a while. I will continue and probably get some framed I might take them to Tallantyre Gallery as they are seascapes and Northumberland moorland subjects.