#352 'Moored by Richmond Bridge' 11x14"

I started this on a Friends of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI) plein air day. 

Standing under Richmond Bridge - its cool there!

There were over 20 great plein air artists on that day and although it was inspiring and lovely to work next to them I felt a pressure to 'perform' and produce a decent painting. It took me till lunch to settle and during the morning I had started 3 paintings which were all scraped! Then I started this little boat and I was away!

8x10" study completed en plein air

I actually completed this little study on the day and Ioved it so much I wanted to do a bigger version and slightly different angle.... so I started another one :-)

I mapped it in a underpainting of Burnt Sienna on site but then the group went to the pub and so it was abandoned till the studio...

Having just painted it once to do it again helped as I was familiar with the shape and colours. I made the boat large in scale to feature it and give a strong composition.

#329 'May Day, Richmond Bridge' 8x19"

The sun was shining and the masses were out! Absolutely heaving for bodies - I painted the people before it got to busy.
It's a bigger scene than I'd usually tackle so I'm pleased it worked out, 

I was about 15 minutes through when people started gathering near me, I realised they were in a queue for a boat ride, the line snaked right next to me, I couldn't even step back to see my painting! Quite unnerving having people watch the process from so close up! See pic below...

To start I put the bridge in roughly making sure I got the shapes of the arches right and then I put the greens next to it, I used a scrubby hog hair brush which lends itself to foliage. 

Water was bold brush strokes using a filbert hog hair and quite loaded with paint, getting similar blues to the sky but darker tone and dirtier colour.

The people I squinted my eyes and looked at the tonal shapes of them first and then added colour and any light on the top.

This pic shows my palette and how busy it got ...

#324 'Spring at Richmond Bridge' 9x12"

I have been visiting my sister in South Africa a hard decision not to take my paints but lovely to have family time and a break. So I'm fresh and ready to go and what a day to start back...

Painted this yesterday in glorious spring weather.  So warm it felt like summer, I'd forgotten what it's like painting in the heat! Not complaining though.

Quite a complex subject so kept it loose without succumbing to too much detail. Its a great area to paint, so much fodder! 
The bridge was tricky as it was medium light tone but it was contra jour so it was silhouetted and darker than you think. I kept telling myself paint what you see not what you think it looks like!
I was painting with artist buddy Sarah Manolescue she did the same scene but so different, - portrait format ...always fun to see how others interpret the same subject.
It was buzzing around the Thames, with buskers and boaters and people in enjoying the weather, so lovely to have a job outside when it's like this :-)

Spot my easel and Sarah painting near the busker! Plus it felt like we had an audience - so busy!