Limited Landscape

Now that we're a little way into this semester I have some sketchbook work to show you! Because England is in lockdown and I can't travel far from my home, my choice of subject matter is a bit limited. To try to make a positive out of this I have decided to focus my work on the local church and its surroundings.

I have done a few studies of the church and I'm planning on basing a finished piece on the latest one. I will be experimenting with dropping my usual stained glass aesthetic in favour of something more authentic, however this doesn't mean I'm giving it up entirely as I will continue to use it in personal work. Currently the eventual aim of this project is to capture the specific essence of my local countryside.

Update 20/1/21

Well with the previous semester's work all handed in I am officially starting my final semester as an undergraduate! Here are some pieces from my previous project as an example of the way I expect my painting will be heading this term.

Because of the current lockdown in England and Wales I will have to work from home instead of my term time accommodation, which means I won't have access to my studio space. I feel pretty lucky to be a miniaturist because it shouldn't be too difficult to find space in my room to work. I think it will help keep me focused if I turn my desk into my designated work space, so I will try to get that done before my first tutorial next week.

I'm excited for this semester, despite the less than perfect circumstances. As the weather warms up the landscapes around me will get greener and greener and I can't help but get inspired by that! It will also give me more opportunities to work outside, which I intend to take advantage of and hope will add a sense of liveliness to my paintings despite their neatness and rigidity.

Stained "Glass" Windows

This week I have done some research into medieval stained glass. I found that the mid 16th century had the greatest concentration of interesting landscape backgrounds so I will do further research into art of that era. I have decided to try a slightly different technique for my painting, loosely based on the methods used to create stained glass. Instead of my previous gradients I will be starting off with one flat base colour per section (sometimes using the same colour for multiple sections) and using thin washes of darker paint (diluted with a mixture of water and acrylic fluid medium) for depth and details. I'm also trying to use colours closer to those I have found in medieval art, which are mostly brighter and warmer than those I had been using previously. For my latest miniature I compressed and simplified a photo of my local area until it fit the window shape I wanted then painted the resulting composition using the above method onto a small piece of mountboard primed with gesso. Below are photos of all the work I have done since my last post. Christmas was between my last post and this one so I was rather busy!