autumn painting

autumn 2014 (oil on wood 32cm x 25cm)

The weather and light has definitely moved into autumn,  with long shadows and warmer colours.  I made this painting just up the road, and then worked some more on it the studio.  At the moment I seem to be loading on more paint, trying to bring some physical presence to small paintings.

Simiane la Rotonde

Simiane la Rotonde (oil on wood 23 x 23)

I have been trying to modify my approach to colour a bit, so at the moment I am not using any earths or mixed greens.  At the same time I am pushing the composition, with a single large shape dominating, and trying to make it work pushing detail out to the periphary.  It was a beautiful day!

Shadows Near Roussillon

Shadows near Roussillon (oil on canvas 100cm x 65cm)

I have been reviewing some paintings that I was working on earlier this year, to see if they can help me with what I am doing now.  At the time I thought that this painting wasn't finished, but now I think it is.  Sometimes it's difficult to see your own work when you are too close it - that's why I have most paintings that I am working on facing the studio wall, in the the hope that when I turn them round I might see something fresh, or at least have an idea of where to go next...

Les Barbiers

Les Barbiers (oil on wood 23cm x 23cm)

This last week I have been out making a lot of quick small paintings - a good way of exploring a range of ideas that might be explored later.  This fork in the road makes an interesting range of large shapes. 

Sault landscape

sault landscape (23cm x 23cm oil on board)  David Atkinson

Not a lot to say about this - I am just trying to be as direct as possible, and get plenty of paint on the surface!

late evening paintings

late evening woods (100cm x 80cm oil on linen) David Atkinson 2014

Heading towards the summer solstice the days are long and the evening light very beautiful.  I have been working on a few larger paintings, just working for the last 45 minutes of daylight each evening.  As the light dies you begin to become aware of different things - some colours start to float and the filigree of lighter branches begin to appear as the interior of the woods darken.  None of them are finished yet, and I will continue going back and layering up the paint until I think they are finished (or I move on to something else).

L'Isle sur la Sorgue

reflections in the sorgues (oil on wood 23cm x 23cm) David Atkinson

Reflections (like shadows) have an elusive and abstracted quality to them that helps me to forget what I am painting...

Rustrel

Rustrel (oil on wood 23cm x 23cm) David Atkinson

Another very quick painting done in situ. In composing this image, I was thinking about grids - the way that the planes interlock, the walls, windows and shutters, are almost all rectangles that can relate to a grid (I hesitate to invoke Mondrian, but I will anyway).  In my mind, abstraction and figuration are never far apart.

Bonnieux

Bonnieux (oil on wood, 23cm x 23cm) David Atkinson

Summer is slowly coming back, so I am out making small paintings on the spot.  This narrow street in Bonnieux felt like a canyon, with deep shadows and bright sunlight catching the edges of buildings.

forest floor

forest floor IV (47cm x 32cm mixed media on paper) David Atkinson

I have been spreading myself a bit thinly of late - I have been making a series linocuts, carrying on with the found objects paintings, and investigating some of the paintings that I have made over the last year of shadows on the forest floor.  I have been recycling the images in other media, with a view to developing them as prints, perhaps combining etching with relief printing.  This particular piece was made layering ink, varnish and poured household paint.

total

total no.1 (oil on wood 30cm x 30cm) David Atkinson

A further painting in the found object series.  I think this dates from the 1970's, again found in a ruin, and I enjoyed finding heroic and beautiful qualities in a piece of moulded plastic.

green plastic jug

found plastic jug (oil on wood 30cm x 30cm)

Another in series of found objects - mostly vessels of some sort.  This one is off center, broken, and turning away slightly.  I think that this makes it feel less static.  I am trying to not get too tied down to topographical truth, but still enjoying looking at what is there.  There is a comfort and a pleasure in just gazing at something.

found blue pot

found blue pot (oil on wood 30cm x 30cm) David Atkinson

Here is another painting of a found object - I found this in the ruins at the bottom of the village of Gordes.  Although I am trying to avoid things that are too pretty, it so happens that this particular pot is finished in beautiful blue enamel!  Still lives offer a good opportunity to explore ideas about composition - you can crop the image (in your mind, or on paper), move things around, make things up.  The setting here, such as it is, is partly made up to suit what I wanted to achieve.  The composition is deliberately central to emphasize the feeling of stillness.