the colours of May
most of the wild flowers in May are creamy white – cow parsley, guelder rose, bird cherry – with blues – the bluebells and the forget-me-nots – and red campion, although there are still plenty of yellow dandelions of course. but the fields are dominated by the strident yellow of canola, or rape-seed, through April and May.
accompanied by the sickly sweet smell, and much spraying of chemicals
however, I decided to make the most of it and managed a couple of paintings that are almost pure colour.
the first a small board, an old early painting gessoed over – lots of nice texture. starting with the horizon and my new regime of runny paint ..
I arrived at this, fairly free with marks and spots of balancing reds and blues
and scrapes and scratches
the brightest colours more or less hidden – cerulean just peeping through the yellow in a close-up.
meanwhile Cakes lane has been a froth of green and white
here is the bird cherry, almost like a wild lilac, with its own scent
although last year I was reluctant to engage with all that green in paint, I thought I’d give it a go this time.
starting with some drawing
all those wiggly branches and the blue sky …
hard to know where to start on the greens ..
but I used a lot of other colours and contrasts and textures .. quite happy with this. it’s a canvas 50 x 50 cm.
as for the bluebells – isn’t it frustrating trying to photograph them! the blue always looks so faded.
what I love is the wood with the pale green light between the tree trunks and the soft new beech leaves
I tried to paint them last year, and got an interesting abstract design but too dark and formal, not enough happening with the paint, so I got it out, threw various things at it and worked back in
I have so many more tools on my belt now.
all that blue called me back to the yellow, and a bigger version of the canola/rape field. more colour under it, bolder!
I really had fun with mark-making and with the colours I put back in over the yellow at the end
close-ups show you better
it would be an abstract if it wasn’t for the horizon strip
I saw this a week or so later when the yellow had abated
might be the next painting. meanwhile however I am trying to finish a load of pots I made last summer – have managed the bisque firing, and am glazing for a firing this week. then there will have to be another later, there are plenty of bisque pots up there.