Painting Niggle

Trying to think of painting leaves without thinking about Niggle (as in Niggle from Tree & Leaf by J. R. R. Tolkien) and his tree is almost impossible for me, and so when I saw the theme of the month was Into the Green over at John Howe’s website my mind turned to Niggle and what he would paint. For some reason I did not want to paint his tree, or a segment of it, but illustrate him painting part of the tree. I probably spent more time on the…

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Morning Mist, Leaves & General Distractions

This morning I went for a wander with the dog and the camera fully intending to take some reference photographs of horses. As I wandered along the lane I became more and more distracted with the mist and the leaves and the way the moisture clung to everything. I did take a horse photograph but it was in the end a distraction to the magic that mist can create.

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That Niggle Moment

I started a new painting which is not unusual for me; anyway as with Niggle and his Tree this is perhaps a bit too large for me and just a bit beyond my current skill level. Yesterday I mounted the canvases on the easel (using my patented canvas holding easel attachment) and then started on the sky which went fairly fast – which is not normal for me, painting a sky in oils can be a trial which I normally have to build myself up to but this time it…

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