Tuesday 26 January 2016

A little walk in the hills!































A recent break in the weather, a dash of sunlight and a dash to the edge of Saddleworth moor above the village of Diggle provided some fantastic and breath taking scenery to paint recently.

First hand experience painting outside directly in from of the scene for me really creates some, if not all of ‘the’ best work I do. 

Liquitex inks and plenty of mountain stream water - full flow creativity!

Adding more layers of beautiful Liquitex acrylic ink into damp washes - just look at that colour flow!
Building the layers...with everything!


Worth every effort, every step and the time and distance to get to each and every location, especially in the Winter to be in such magical landscape deep within the Pennines! 

Here’s what I got up to painting ‘the’ best tree in the Pennines high above Diggle in iconic Pennine landscape. 

Layering with soft Unison pastels on damp 640gsm Canson Moulin du roy 'Not' - a fantastic and responsive paper for every expressive mark




Using mixed media (to include Unison pastels, Liquitex inks, Derwent graphite sticks and watercolour) on Canson Moulin du Roy Watercolour Paper as a full imperial sheet 56x76cm as you can see, the 640gsm ‘Not’ 100% rag content paper worked wonders for all sorts of exciting expressive techniques to be created, even when the rain began!

A strong yet really responsive paper, as always, just so amazing to work on for the very best creative results!

The best 'lone tree' in the Pennines. I'm looking forward to returning with my charcoal next time - this superb scene is just begging for a black and white mixed media version!
The original finished painting will be heading for Harrison Lord Gallery in Brighouse, near Huddersfield ASAP to join several other colourful and expressive moorland paintings recently delivered!

To find out more about Harrison Lord Gallery visit http://www.harrisonlord.co.uk/exhibition.html


Enjoy the show and the warm reception at the gallery as I bring a little piece of the glorious high Pennines into town for you to enjoy!

Sunday 10 January 2016

Motivating my mojo and not a moment to miss!

A great time of the year this and the perfect opportunity to work your socks off in your studio, get the old paintings finished and reworked and ready for exhibition.

Just like this one in fact. Its been sat in the studio awaiting completion for quite a while now since starting from a sketch completed in the wonderful Majorelle Gardens in Marrakech in Morocco.

The first of many as this is the best time of the year to complete all those unfinished paintings and get back into the swing of things.

Now all the art holidays, art courses and workshops are planned and organised for you for 2016 its head down and crack on and restock for this years planned exhibitions.
http://rdcreative.co.uk/art-holidays

More paintings to come - watch this space!

Featured Painting
Palm reflections - Majorelle gardens, Marrakech.
Unison pastels on 'Sait P500' paper.
18 x 20 inches (46 x 51cm)

For sale.
For price and further details contact me on rdcreative@ntlworld.com 
or call 0113 2252481 (studio).
Can be sold mounted and unframed and shipped direct to your door!

Saturday 9 January 2016

A great creative kick start for 2016 thanks to 'The Artist' magazine!


Great news - my first article in the series all about drawing for you has just been published in this months edition of 'The Artist' magazine. 

A great start to Kick start the creative calendar for 2016!


There are lots of opportunities ahead to boost your creative skills with me throughout the year on several art holidays, art classes and workshops too!



Our first 2016 creative get together starts with an exciting full day mixed media workshop on 5 February in North Leeds in the lovely village of Bardsey (close to junction 46 on the A1).

The theme is colourful reflective and flowing rivers - not the sludgy, fast flowing nasty ones we are seeing on the news these days all too frequently. 

This workshop celebrates the beauty of the tranquil waters we come to love in the Spring and Summer and technique how to interpret these more gentle waters with lots of expressive free flowing drawn and painted marks!

For more details on this one off workshop visit
http://rdcreative.co.uk/art-workshops/Friday-5-February-mixed-media-Flowing-River-workshop-9.30am-to-4.30pm-Bar

Here's a link to all my exciting art holidays for 2016 too!
http://rdcreative.co.uk/art-holidays

If you need any further details on any of the art holidays, classes or workshops, do get in touch. 

Bookings now being taken for all of them so don't delay or you may miss out!

rdcreative@ntlworld.com
0113 2252481