Chris Richards' Uploads

Really enjoying experimenting with soft pastels. This piece was the first time I used Pastelmat. It's an amazing surface to use with pastels as it takes loads of pastel, the colour stays vibrant, and there's minimal dust

My last finished painting of 2020. A morning in the woodlands of Ystradfawr Nature Reserve near my home. This is the final result of one of my colour sketches - Spring on the Line. It sold to lady in a care home who's lost her mobility. I hope it gives her a bit of the great outdoors when she's sitting in her room.

I've wandered Brechfa forest in Carmarthenshire on several occasions, but have only seen a very small part of what this huge forest has to offer. I'm hoping that once travel restrictions are lifted, I can get back out there and explore more. Pen on sketchbook paper (6"x8")

Things have been so busy of late and my output has greatly reduced. However, I have returned to oil painting. I revisited this piece I started last year and put in a few more hours to finish it. The scene was from a few summers ago when I visited Pen Arthur forest for the first time. The piece takes me right back to that day when the late summer afternoon sunlight struggled to penetrate the canopy.

A quick watercolour sketch of Cwm Berwyn Forest. Well worth doing as I have a much better idea of what to do and what not to do for the final piece.

A bit of a departure from my usual style. I wanted to try something a bit messy, fast, and loose. The scene is an ancient woodland in Pembrokeshire called Tŷ Canol, an atmospheric place and full of inspiration for artworks. Pen and watercolour in Seawhite sketchbook.

The river up above Sgwd Gwladus waterfall in Neath's Waterfall country.

This stream was in the foothills of Cadair Idris. I took a step away from my precision sketching to do something a bit faster and loose.

A birthday card I drew for my partner not long after we first met. The dog is her Labrador, Jack looking over a slightly artistic licence version of Ystradgynlais.

A 4x6" colour sketch of Sgwyd Gwladys in preparation for a much larger piece. Sgwyd Gwladys is a beautiful waterfall - one of many on the Neath 'Waterfall Country' walking route starting in Pontneddfechan.

A colour sketch in preparation for a larger piece. The scene is from woodland very close to my home on a spring morning during last year's lockdown.

Cefan Sidan is an immense sandy beach in Carmarthenshire. The site of several shipwrecks, with some to still be found in the sands, the beach stretches for miles. This view is in winter looking towards the Gower.

My second oil painting of 2020. Hargate Forest in autumn morning light.

A colour sketch of woodland near my home. I'm still not sure whether to turn this into a larger piece or not - or maybe I could switch medium and try it in watercolour?

Llyn Mymbyr, Snowdonia. This view looking in the opposite direction to Snowdon. First time using a Uniball UB-150, but the paper allowed it to bleed somewhat so the lines were a little heavier than intended. I think it would benefit from better quality paper or a finer pen.

I started sketching a scene and thought "I'm not that good at drawing trees", so rather than do an entire scene, I thought I'd have a go at a single tree as an exercise. In hindsight I used too thick a pen. Time to break out the 0.1 pens for future sketches.

I stumbled across this dilapidated coach house that would have once been part of the Glynhir estate while exploring the public footpaths around Llandybie. I loved the way nature had reclaimed it.

I was going to do a full landscape sketch of the ascent to Cadair Idris, but I kind of chickened out. Still, I quite like the simplicity of this little sketch.

One of my early oils from 2017. I was still getting used to the medium. I liked how the oils worked well for the misty distant hills, and I used glazing for the first time on the clouds.

A colour study for a larger piece. Unfortunately with the larger piece, I screwed up with the thick over thin rule and consequently, the paint cracked after a few months. Frustrated at having to start it again, but lesson learnt.

Looking down on the Afon Mellte from its rocky riverbank in Neath's 'Waterfall Country'. I was a little perturbed by the complexity of this scene at first, but soon got into the flow of it. I love doing these wild nature scenes. Uniball Eye Micro on 6x8" sketchbook.