This little acrylic was inspired by the autumn morning skies over Penrhos. My partner and I lived with her parents for a time while we renovated our first house. I used to hang out the 3rd floor window in the mornings to take reference shots of the skies.
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.
Looking at Trichrug hill from the top of Pen Arthur Forest. This was my first attempt at pen and wash in 2018. I was pleased with it for an initial effort. I struggle to be loose with my art, so this was a step forward. The only thing that really bugs me was my colour choice for the distant hills - it looks more like the sea.
I got a pack of loose watercolour paper from eBay in 2018. The side this was painted on had a really strange pitted texture on it. I thought it might be interesting but I didn't like the way the paint gathered in the pits. I just use it for sketching and testing colours these days.
Daler Rowney and Winsor Newton do a watercolour called Sepia. I absolutely love the tone of the Rowney one and had a play with it here. I'd really like to do a proper sepia painting some day.
New Quay is a quaint little seaside town on the Ceredigion coast. This was my second attempt at pen and wash in 2018 and it totally bombed. I'm not sure there's anything I like about this - the colours, the linework, the lack of texture. Nah! Definitely worth trying again at some point.
In late 2018, after some time not doing any artwork, I really wanted to get back into it. I fancied doing something different and invested in some soft pastels. This was my first go with them and it was a hell of a learning curve about how they adhere to the paper, and how they blend. I'm not really sure the pastels I was using were soft enough for the look I wanted, but I like how loose this one turned out.