The first plein aire pictures I made were for Walkerloo. They were back drops for my portable paper soldier army on tour.
10 years later I painted views of my garden for my mothers birthday. They all now hang on her wall and she loves them.
Throughout the summer of 2021 making the picture 'Les Trois Ages du Dragon Baligan' I painted daily but when the project finished I missed the brush wiggling activity.
Since leaving University I've made most of my money painting houses. When I moved to France I did a weekly oil (but with acrylics!) painting course at the local art school. My first paper soldiers were coloured using marker pens which was at first straight forward but I found the fixed colour range restrictive and expensive! So I began to paint the soldiers with a set of gouache I'd bought for the painting course. Mixing new colours with paint and developing brush techniques to make convincing pictures feels magical.
Taking my goats onto the hillside one beautifully mild morning in December 2021 I decided to get my paints and join them beneath the bright blue sky. I posted the painting on the Instagram account I'd begun using after a visitor's suggestion during my Dielette studio.
Over the next few months I began making a couple of outdoor paintings a week spending 5 or 6 hours in the lanes and fields around my home in still concentration was wonderful.
In the Spring of 2022 scoping properties for my Isigny mission I decided to paint my chosen location. Over the 5 months of "Au Monstre D'Isigny" as a means of engagement with the town and it's people I made over 50 plein aire paintings.
Returning from Isigny I continued to go out and paint a couple of times a week.
Painting outside is wonderful. You have to be quick if you want to catch a particular scene. Especially if the suns out. I've lived next to the sea for more than 20 years but until then I'd never tried to paint it.
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