Plein air painting - travelling light

 I do love painting outdoors.  It's an art making experience like no other; a real challenge that's different every time, one I'm finding challenging and exhilarating. 

I got my plein air easel years ago when on my fine art degree course, but I'm still learning the best ways how to get around with it outdoors.  So far this combined backpack and stool, which I found in a charity shop, is the best solution when I want to travel light.

Here's how my plein air kit looks on location, before set up.  You can just see the scene I'd chosen in the background;  a gap in the trees to a little wheat field, just before harvesting started last weekend.

On this occasion the pack was stuffed with brush roll, small box of oil tubes, Daler Rowney air tight turps container, kitchen towel, tear off palette, small boards, easel tray, and viewfinder, with a few personal necessities like a water bottle and hat thrown in.  The collapsible easel was strapped on with bungee. 

Apart from a chat with the farmers wife and daughter, the company of sheep and assorted wild life, including a low-flying heron, I spent a solitary couple of hours concentrating on that gap in the field. 

 You can reach me by email beeskelton@gmail.com or see more work in my Etsy Shop or website www.beeskelton.com

English countryside plein air landscape oil painting

Storm Clouds Over Wheat Field 5x7in plein air oil painting on board, unframed.

One look at those clouds put some urgency into the brushwork on this plein air landscape painting.  With every possibility of a drenching I didn't go far.  Taking only a few tubes of oil paint (ultramarine, burnt sienna, lemon yellow, crimson, phthalo green, and titanium white) with minimum other art gear, I was prepared to pack up quickly if rain arrived.

In every direction I looked; along the lane or across the fields to the woods and hills, there was a scene ready-made for painting.  The English countryside of Warwickshire, really is picture perfect!  I plumped for this view looking across the sheep meadow, because I liked the contrasting bands of green and gold (not clear to see in the photo). Despite the threatening sky, sunshine did strike through occasionally lighting up the wheat field, with the barn roof making a handy focal point.  
 
In the end rain didn't stop play, the sky cleared, the painting was completed and is now available to buy.  Contact me at beeskelton@gmail.com for information and price.  

 You can reach me by email beeskelton@gmail.com or see more work in my Etsy Shop or website www.beeskelton.com

Painting plein air in a sunny garden

Summer Flower Garden - 5x7in plein air painting, acrylic on board.

The weather was very kind to me when I set up my easel to paint this sunny flower border in the garden.  The sunshine was quite powerful, and I was glad to find a little shade for myself. 

Generally I prefer to use oil paint, but on this occasion I set up a strong plastic lidded chocolate box to use as a practical palette, which can be taped closed when on the move.  (Ferrero Rocher boxes make great acrylic paint palettes, with a wad of dampened kitchen towel, and sheet of tracing paper, or baking parchment).

The composition originally included one of our cats curled up in a flower pot.  Inevitably Flossie decided under the pine tree was a far superior spot, so off she trotted.  As it turned out, I think the painting is better with this less complicated view.

The painting is available for sale without a frame, but I thought it would be fun to see how it could look with a frame added.  If you're interested in more information and a price please contact me.

 You can reach me by email beeskelton@gmail.com or see more work in my Etsy Shop or website www.beeskelton.com

Painting inside and out!

I'm sorry I've been missing in action from this blog since almost the beginning of this year.  Truth is commissioned paintings have taken over my studio life, and I've been fighting to keep up.  So much so that I got to the point of feeling some pressure, and now feel the need to do other work for a while, just to re-charge my painterly batteries.  

Please excuse me if you were about to contact me to commission a painting.  I'm not stopping commissions for good .... I just want to explore the possibilities of making other artwork for a while.

 I truly appreciate the clients I've been working with.  Without exception they are wonderful people, who do me a great honour when they choose me to paint their loved ones, pets and favourite places.  



 
Here in rural England we are having what passes for summertime.  And I've been taking my plein air easel outdoors to work from direct observation of the beautiful world I see around me.  It's a completely different process for me compared to working from photos, which is mostly necessary when painting commissions for clients via the internet.  Few clients live in locations where I can easily visit and paint from life.


If you'd like to see my new paintings as they happen I'd love you to come back for a peak.  In the meantime, here are a few of the commissioned paintings I've completed recently.

 You can reach me by email beeskelton@gmail.com or see more work in my Etsy Shop or website www.beeskelton.com

 

Art Swap Collaboration

Last Autumn I was invited to get involved in an art swap with a small group of other artists connected to the OCA (Open College of the Arts)  It felt like a good opportunity to be in touch with old, and new student friends, even though I'm no longer officially a student. It also offered the refreshing opportunity to create small, spontaneous pieces, totally different to the commissioned paintings I mostly make.

Each of us was to put forward a group of 5 random words to inspire a postcard sized piece of artwork.  We were instructed not to look at our given words until ready to do the work, so that inspiration would be immediate, and not over-thought. I might have cheated, if I hadn't been too busy at the time.  So the words were relegated to the 'I'll get around to that later' place on my laptop. Then, when for various reasons the timing for the process was extended to the New Year, it seemed like I had all the time in the world, and promptly forgot all about about it.

 This week, when Ange finally sent the DEADLINE APPROACHING! style email, I was up to my eyes in paid work, finishing a couple of portrait commissions with a queue of others waiting.

After 30 seconds of panic, I realized a little time off for good behavior was just what I needed.  I make three categories of art; paid work, experimental/learning art and just play. 

 Playtime began with a cursory look at each set of words. I deliberately didn't over analyze and merely expressed the first reaction to how the words made me feel. It seemed most of the word-sets had notions in common with each other. I decided to work on 4 of the pieces together, using the same large piece of paper as a support to collage onto.

Media used; torn painted and drawn papers from my stash, drawn/painted into using acrylic paint, inks, graphite, soft pastel and oil pastel. After some interesting things started to happen, I made a postcard sized aperture in a piece of white A4 paper, providing a template to isolate the compositions I wanted to develop. Further mark making followed. After cutting out the small abstract compositions, the remains of the large partly developed support has been added to my stash for the next time I want to play.

One set of words resonated differently to the others; a cry from the heart. And this I worked separately.  I hope the art swap wasn't too stressful for this collaborator and that she has as much fun as I did in the end.

It’s weighing on my mind.

Collaboration: Ingrid & Bee

Fly away on gossamer wings.

Collaboration: Alison & Bee

Iron ore vein Dark Dangerous

Collaboration: Mark & Bee

Whispering halfpenny water

runs aimlessly

  Collaboration: Ange & Bee

 

Summer’s dying lines Autumn’s cloak.

Collaboration: Catherine & Bee

How to commission artwork by Bee Skelton.
Send Bee an email.

 You can reach me by email beeskelton@gmail.com or see more work in my Etsy Shop or website www.beeskelton.com

A Marriage Proposal

Commissioned oil painting on canvas 80x100cm

The brief for this painting came right out of the blue, from the young lady featured, in this most romantic of portraits.  She wanted the painting to present to her fiance on the day of their wedding.  Such a charming idea, which instantly captured my imagination.

But there was a problem;  the only photo of the marriage proposal was a rather poor photo taken at night in very dim artificial lighting, out of focus, of a very low resolution, with the bride-to-be's face almost completely obscured by her beautiful hair.  Enjoying a challenge, as I do, I decided to accept the commission.  What follows, shows the several attempts I made to do justice to this special moment in the lives of this young couple, and in particular the struggle I had to capture that lovely face on canvas.

work in progress 1

I began as usual by drawing the composition onto the canvas.  On this occasion with graphite, as I wanted to be quite precise about the positioning of the hands and the tender way they were clasped.

A likeness to the subjects wasn't my aim at this stage.  It was more important to show the posture of the figures, and how they related to each other.

work in progress 2

Work-in-progress 2 shows how I loosely blocked in the background to reflect the dark randomness of what in the photo appeared to be a rough stone wall.  It was very apparent that this was not going to work well, and would need to be re-thought later.


Leaping onward to work-in-progress 9 by this time I had softened the background, with the beginnings of light glowing centrally.  Almost from the start I had the feeling I wanted to show the young people as if caught in a bubble of emotion, where their connection to each other was almost electric.  Totally separate from all the other people perhaps there at the time, or viewing the painting in the future.




The loving expression on the young man's face clearly showed in the photo, so was able to capture this straight away.  I then began a similar process with the other beautiful face, which was less straight forward.

Having little to go on from the proposal photo, because her face was hidden by hair, the client provided many other photos of herself.  None of them seemed to have the expression I felt she would have worn at that very special moment.  I made many attempts to combine how she appeared in the various photos together with my imagination.  The client collaborated wonderfully, with images and emails flying backwards and forwards, until we eventually saw her perfect expression emerge on the canvas.

Finally she sent images of furniture and decor in the room where the painting would be displayed, so I was able to add soft pastel tints to complement the room.

This project was a great lesson to me.  Emotions and instincts are far more important than any technical issues.  Problems are there to be overcome.  With persistence, plus enthusiasm and feedback from clients, magic things can happen.

Commissioned oil painting on canvas 80x100cm

How to commission a painting.  If you have an idea for a painting you'd like to discuss with me, you're welcome to get in touch.  You can reach me by email beeskelton@gmail.com or see more work in my Etsy Shop or website www.beeskelton.com