Plein air painting 77

On the outskirts of Southampton and heading towards Eastleigh is Mansbridge Reservoir, a tucked away location that apparently is neglected by the council. Locals instead spend the time keeping this small lake clear of rubbish and keep the vegetation in order. It appeared to be popular with dog owners as they walked around its circumference. While painting I heard a tremendous crash that sounded like a small bomb going off. Apparently, according to locals passing, a large tree had just collapsed and fell to the ground!

Painted in early October 2022 on primed cardboard cut to 12" x 9.5", using oils.

 Head painting exercise - 'The Vikings' 03

A further selection of portrait paintings featuring various characters from the 'Vikings' TV series. Each on is painted in oils on cardboard, sized at 12" x 9.5". They were done between late 2022 and early 2023. The characters are Queen Kwenthrith, King Ecbert,  Aethelwulf,  Bjorn Lothbrok.

Plein air painting 75

This railway crossing, named as Mount Pleasant crossing, is to be found at Northam, Southampton. It is of brick/ steel construction and dates from 1894. It was built by the LSWR and other local rail structures use the same visual clues, in particular the lattice metal work. Unfortunately the bridge is in quite a poor looking condition with rusting paintwork and plants growing out of the brickwork. This is the UKs busiest level crossing and has four tracks running through it. 
Painted one early Sunday morning in early October 2022 on mounting board sized at 12" x 9.5", and done in oils.

Plein air painting 76

Some vegetation in a shady spot as seen on Southampton Common during a sunny afternoon in early October. Painted in oils on cardboard, sized at 12" x 9.5", 2022.

Plein air painting 74

Pictured is one of the main streets in the city of Southampton, known as Above Bar St, because it is north of the Bargate which was the main route through the high walls in to the main town centuries ago.
On the left can be seen a recent development consisting of bars, a theatre and the John Hansard Gallery. The view is looking down south into the city, while on the right hand side are university buildings. The road going right serves the City art gallery, library and Sea City Museum. The scooters typify modern personal transport.
Painted in late September 2022 on a sunny early morning. Its done in oils on mounting board sized at 12" x 9.5".

 Plein air painting 72

The ornamental lake on Southampton common is shown in this plein air work done in late September 2022. Although the early morning weather was quite bright for the time of year, as time went by it became quite a gloomy day, with rain eventually moving in.
Painted on cardboard sized at 12"x 9.5", and done with oil paint. 

Graham Chapman (Lucie Ash Invisible Portraits exhibition)

During my stay at the Southampton City Art Gallery in spring 2022, I was invited to provide a small painting to be included as part of a larger artwork for the Lucie Ash Invisible Portraits exhibition. 

This larger artwork was to contain a large amount of small portraits done by artists and non arts, as a part of a celebration of the LGBTIQ+ community. The artwork, split over two panels consisted of 646 separate pieces of artwork, done in a variety of styles. My contribution was one that featured Graham Chapman, a member of Monty Python who had died in the early 1980's. 

It is painted in oils on a supplied, cut to size canvas (8.6cm x 7.7cm), which I sanded down and re-primed to make as smooth as possible as the weave was crude at that scale. As reference I used a screen capture showing Chapman in one of his many Monty Python characters, the army general who would typically interrupt a sketch and cancel it for the next one in the programmes running order. 

The exhibition ran from September 2022 through to January 2023.