David Cowdry ~ Aberglasney Exhibition

The painting above is one from my recent visit to Snowdonia. Today I set about the commission and it is pretty much done. I find the finished work quite agreeable. Well it is of a pleasing disposition. You will note that I have finished, “The Mayor of Casterbridge” today.


This will please Mrs Cox who is getting fed up of conversing in 19th century English.

Today we received an invitation to a private view of David Cowdry’s next exhibition in Aberglasney. An event not to be missed, definitely one of the best artists I have seen.

Although his subjects and style differ from mine he is technically immense. A lovely man and a true genius with a brush. You can tell I am impressed.

Visit  http://www.aberglasney.org/index.php?page=view_event&event_id=176    for details

We had the grandchildren today who were well behaved. One is very content to draw and draws very well.

Alex got a lot of mounts cut so a good day.

Harlech Castle and the Elephant Rally

Here is the other watercolour I did from the sketch of Harlech castle. Today I stretched some watercolour paper and then did preliminary drawings for a commission. This all took a little longer than I expected so I didn’t start painting as the afternoon was progressing and the light was okay but going downhill. I walked the dog then picked up my book for half an hour.


Alex has been getting on with zeal and now the garden is pretty much under control the framed work is flying out.

I did a post a couple of days ago about our first Elephant Rally in Germany. Well here is the summary of the second.

Alex and I went to the Elephant Rally in February 197? on our motorcycle combination taking my brother who shared the driving. I had a very nice Triumph 750 Tiger to which we changed the gearing and attached a sidecar. All was going splendidly until we got to a forest near Eupen.

This at the time (at the height of the Cold War) was in the middle of a military restricted area. Typically the spokes in the rear wheel decided to rip out of the rim. We were stuck in a forest with no rear wheel in an area where we were forbidden to even stop.

We had no mobile phones in those days, no AA, and the nearest Town was many miles away. What was worse we had no food or drink. Being late we set up the tents in the snow and went to bed. We were rudely awoken in the middle of the night by Armed Military Police. I woke to German voices with the tent collapsed around me. I found a tent pole in the dark and promptly stuck one end in Alex’s eye. She appeared and sounded very nonplussed about the incident. I stuck my head out and tried to explain the reason for our predicament to our visitors. My brother crawled out of his tent wrapped in tin foil looking like a Christmas Turkey. This fortunately brought some merriment to the proceedings. I showed the Police our wheel and they left telling us to be gone tomorrow!

The following morning a motorist stopped and took my brother to the nearest town to get the wheel re-spoked. Alex and I waited all day for him to return and ended up drinking rainwater from a ditch. When he did return he admitted he had been in a café drinking most of the day. Although he didn’t bring back any food or drink he had managed to get the wheel re-spoked.

We had now spent the entire weekend of the rally in a forest and headed back to Ostende. Unfortunately the rear wheel had not been done properly and couldn’t carry a lot of weight. This meant we had to hitch lifts while my brother rode the bike.

All in all an interesting weekend. More about the sidecar in another blog.

Harlech

Sometimes I work directly outdoors (en plein aire), sometimes I work from photographs, sometimes from a sketch and sometimes a combination of them. The sketch above is of Harlech castle which I used for a couple of paintings. There are advantages and disadvantages to all the sources used to make a painting.
I like sketches because you have already identified the main features for the composition and also the values.

Today is painting free. I have done a few jobs for my mother and Alex has been busy in the garden.  A quiet afternoon with a book I am currently reading the Mayor of Casterbridge  by Thomas Hardy which is quite good.

Cattle near Brecon

The painting above is of Cattle near Brecon on the canal. This morning I re-worked the foreground of another oil painting. I had been looking at it for a while and finally decided it needed lightening. It is always a risk to re-work a painting but this worked out okay.


As I have previously said we have had many experiences on motorcycles in the past both good and bad.
Many years ago sometime in the 1970’s we went for the first time to the Elephant Rally in Germany. This is a winter motorcycle rally which takes place in February and attracts large crowds of motorcyclists from Hells Angels to Vintage enthusiasts. The main ingredients are motorcycles, alcohol and snow.

We went on a three cylinder Suzuki and got a fair indication of the weekends outcome when we got off the boat in Ostend at three in the morning. A group of motorcyclists set off down the Autoroute in front of us. One after the other they came off their bikes with people,equipment and machines sliding down the road. The authorities hadn’t gritted the roads and it was well below freezing. Alex and I parked under a motorway bridge until morning and then made our way to the Rally. This was a huge event. We had a tent and camped in 6 inches of snow along with everyone else. It was too cold to even take off your coat. We bought a can of emergency spray starter, which I think was mainly ether for spraying into the carborettor intake in very cold weather. We spent most of the time in cafes or beer tents keeping warm.We didn't drink much beer because we couldn't afford it and in any case we would be riding back on the Sunday. But it was an interesting and enjoyable event.

On the Sunday we made our way back to Ostende and then started up the motorway back to Wales. We were travelling in company with my brother and his girlfriend who were on a 750 Suzuki. At some point in the night I noticed they were not behind us. I pulled over and we walked back down the hard shoulder to see he had a flat rear tyre.

The machine was a bit of a beast and he couldn’t put it on its stand without help. We eventually got the wheel off and fixed the puncture. It was dark and freezing, so that was quite an achievement. Alex and I then walked back to out bike. There was a layer of frost over it and it refused to start. I sprayed a good dose of the ether or nitrate down the air intake and tried the starter. It immediately caught fire. Flames were coming out from under the petrol tank and Alex was trying to pull me away. We did fortunately manage to put it out. The bike started and we got as far as Telford following my brother. He came up behind a gritting lorry and overtook it. I like an idiot followed him. We got about half a mile when I noticed Alex sliding past me down the road with the bike leading the way. Apart from gravel burns we were okay but again we sat it out for couple of hours for conditions to improve.

It was an eventful weekend but we survived.

This afternoon we are watching the rugby.

Night Watch ~ with apologies to Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn

I did the painting above today. It is lightly referenced to Rembrandt’s famous painting the Night Watch. There the similarity ends.


Of course Rembrandt had to paint in the actual faces/portraits of all the members in his work. I did not and therefore the painting is a lot looser and was quickly executed.

I was asked yesterday if I would consider doing some teaching in an establishment. I declined, quite abruptly according to Alex. The point is really I enjoy painting I don’t enjoy teaching.

I do currently give personal tuition on a one to one basis but only have one pupil. She is very keen and I am quite happy to give up a couple of hours a week. I would not wish to teach on a more formal basis.

Today we had one of the grandchildren. Why do schools have inset days?

North Wales Cottage

The painting above is of a cottage above Harlech. I like simple watercolours and for me this is about as simple as it gets. To reduce a scene to its bare essentials while keeping its charm and atmosphere is really the key. I think I have achieved that here.


Today I was a bit off colour and took it easy except that Alex encouraged me to go shopping. I think using my discount card for Focus DIY was the main reason. We bought timber to build raised beds for the vegetable garden.

I cut the timber in between taking it easy watching England escape a certain loss in the cricket to the West Indies. Alex spent the day building the beds and digging.

I have two paintings in mind to start at the moment and am not sure which one to do tomorrow. They will both take a little time so I will take the plunge in the morning.

Paxton's Tower

The painting above is one that sold last week of Paxton’s Tower in the Towy Valley. Today I went into the gallery and did an oil painting of Snowdon. As I had been looking at Snowdon from our camper van for quite a few days this last week it came fairly naturally. When I got home I finished off an oil painting of cattle near the canal in Brecon.


For the first time since Christmas Alex has now got a chance to start framing. There is a lot of work to do for the next exhibition and this afternoon she made a start. Unfortunately the mitre cutter began to play up. It is only about four years old and in excellent condition but the blades take quite a hammering bearing in mind they have to cut through solid wood up to 3 inches across and an inch and a half thick. The blades need professionally re-sharpening every 2 months and so we have a spare set. (Spare blades are about £150). Then you have to reset them when they are replaced. With small tolerances this can either go well first time or be irritatingly awkward.

I have spent the last three quarters of an hour on them and have my fingers crossed. Alex is now trying it out. I haven't heard anything being thrown through the workshop window yet so am hopeful.

Framing is not cheap and for good reason. Bespoke frames take time and money and I am glad Alex no longer frames for the public or other artists because frankly the returns didn’t justify it.