Paint Padiham 2018

My intention today was to make some work of Gawthorpe that would be based around the Garden paintings off the Spanish painter Joaquin Sorolla. The  formal gardens at Gawthorpe with their sculptures and style should I thought give me a style to emulate that would be close. Joaquin  painted bright foregrounds of flowers, red paths and pale stone urns against a shaded backdrop of blue and mauve trees. Gawthorpe Hall on a spring sunshine day is not quite as hot climate wise but is ornamental enough to give me a taste. After the winter we had had the light from a northern sun seemed just as bright.  I like the thought of a European culture were traditions of the north and south are shared and celebrated. But, things didn't go as planned. With the benefit of hindsight  when I started this plain air painting I now recall that the morning light was the amazing. A growing sun sending shards of bright green and yellow glancing past the dark frontage of the Hall before shattering into shards on the yellow private. My first modello or trial shows that I was firmly on the right track but instead of a quick success, I wasted time and effort  following a shifting light throughout the afternoon. Hence the shaded blue and mauve and green background was lost. In my defence I lost track due to all the conversations  with all the nice people who stopped to chat. But despite making the smaller model which largely went ignored. I carried on. Nothings wasted though, people still liked it and importantly I’ve been taught a valuable lesson.

Rob

Rob Miller  Paint Padiham  2018