Early Sunday morning at Ogden

These are just a few of the photographs that I took on this beautiful autumn morning. I will choose the best ones to work up in to original paintings. Can't wait to get started!

Hardcastle Crags, Hebden Bridge

Last week, the weather conditions were just right so I drove over to Hebden Bridge for a spot of painting.

It was that great combination of autumnal colours on the trees and on the ground with bright sunshine - a clear day, doesn't happen very often, but when it does, I like to take advantage of it and get out there.

Took a few nice photographs which I may well work up into full paintings if I get the chance and also managed to knock up this painting in about an hour and a half.

Working outdoors, away from the comfort of the studio presents a number of challenges like dealing with rapidly changing weather conditions. I really like it though because it forces you to be a bit 'looser' with your painting, you can't be over precise, just have to capture the moment and not get bogged down in too many details.

October 16th 2012

Since the start of October, I have spent 4 days promoting my work in the North Yorkshire area - specifically around York and up beyond Castle Howard towards the North York Moors. Some simple observations....getting colder....I think it's quite similar to the Cotswolds in terms of landscape and architecture. It's a stunning part of the country - no doubt about that.

Thinking ahead over the coming winter, I am going to do some painting on-location in various places around Halifax. Hebden Bridge is the first place I intend to visit - just need to wait for the right weather conditions. I'm hoping for a fairly mild autumnal day - there's a spot called Hardcastle Crags which will be perfect for some outdoor painting. The plan will be to produce prints from any paintings that I complete and maybe establish some links with galleries in the area who may be interested in exhibiting my work.

I'm hoping to collect some great winter photographs over the next couple of weeks and choose a selection of them to work up into paintings. This will hopefully be part of an exhibition that I'm putting on at some point in December. It's all a bit sketchy at the moment though as I don't have a venue or anything organised yet!

I met a well established artist in Wixley, North Yorkshire a few weeks ago. Neil Simone. I came across his home/gallery and went and introduced myself. He showed me one of his latest commissions which coincidentally was a house portrait in Malvern, not far from where I'm from. We had an interesting chat and when I got back home, I e mailed him to ask if he had any advice for an artist like myself. He got back to me and said he would be happy to send me a copy of his book 'Memoirs of an Artist' which document his career over the past 30 years or so. Thought that was good of him.

Luddenden House Portrait

Since moving to Halifax just over a year ago, I've worked on a lot of commissions
from the Yorkshire area which I would not have done had I not moved. This is one
such commission. Not far from my studio, this location is Luddenden which is a
particularly picturesque village just outside Halifax. This house is situated on
quite a steep hill with spectacular views - partly visible to the left of the house
in the painting. I worked on this painting in my studio from a photograph which I
took earlier in the year. It took a couple of visits to get the best photo to ensure
that the lighting was just right. The very distinctive stone, has a completely
different appearance with direct sunlight on it and I wanted to make sure I captured
this. Very satisfied with the finished result here.

West Yorkshire Landscape

This painting is a view from a farm in Golcar, near Huddersfield. I was
delighted when it was commissioned as it is a subject matter that I would
naturally choose to paint myself. I particularly like the way that
distance can be portrayed through watercolour. Using a more transparent
wash can give the impression of distance really effectively. I also like
the contrast than can be achieved between parts of buildings which have
direct sunlight compared to those parts in the shade.

As I have traveled throughout West Yorkshire, I have built up a large
collection of great images which I will work up into paintings in the near 

future.

Broadway, Grantchester

This painting was produced from a photograph that I took during a visit to Cambridge. I stood in the middle of Grantchester Meadows where there is a footpath in to Cambridge and took the photo looking back towards Broadway. It was a bright and breezy day in May, one of those days where the cloud formations are really spectacular.

Both the original and full size mounted prints are available to buy.

Prints 47 x 27cm £50.00 including delivery to UK address.

Coincidence in Buckinghamshire

From Tuesday 11th - Thursday 13th September I continued touring the villages of Buckinghamshire. On this visit, the locations included Aldbury, Wiggington, Hastoe, Cholesbury, Buckland End, St Leonards, Stoke Mandeville, Wendover, Puttenham, The Lee, South Heath, Hyde End and Great Missenden.

During my tour of England over the last four years I've always been surprised by the number of unusual coincidences that have occurred. The best instance of this happened on Thursday morning of this particular trip. Breakfast, around the table at The Brownlow B&B near Ivinghoe. Me, an older couple, two women, all tucking into breakfast talking about what we were doing in the area. After a couple of minutes of conversation, it emerged that I had visited the home of the older couple who lived in a small village outside Bristol two years previously. They recalled that we had a brief chat in their garden and that they already had a house portrait having won it in a raffle! Small world.

Buckinghamshire - Brackley

Coming to the end of my promotional tour in 2012.

I am revisiting Buckinghamshire. First arrived on the scene in 2010 but have since realised that there are far more villages that need to see my artwork. I will be focusing my efforts on this county until the clocks go back. What then? I will be hibernating in my studio for the winter only coming out briefly for a spot of sledging with Bobby when the snow comes.

This time I stayed for three days and visited the following places: Waddesdon, Edgcott, Wootton Underwood, where I had an interesting chat with the security chap outside Tony Blair's gaff, Ashendon, Ludgershall, Haddenham, Ickford, Worminghamm and finally, a place that I think deserves a special mention because it has such a fab name - Brill.

Brill is where this photograph was taken...

Sorry, I've tried looking for it, but I can't find it.

This is my second choice best photo. Not taken in Brill. This was taken in Ashendon. I do love a good bit of ecclesiastical architecture, exaggerated by some  direct sunlight...

More travels around Essex

 

My latest tour was around the very north of the county of Essex.

Taking in Felsted, Stebbing, Great Easton, Thaxted, Great Bardfield, Bardfield Saling (pronounced sailing), Shalford and Beazley End.

In Shalford, there is a small village shop which does the best sandwiches I have ever eaten - fact.

The photo above was taken in Great Easton, I think, and it kind of sums up this area quite nicely - very rural, hardly any phone signal etc. Plus it's just a great image and looks even better put through an instagram filter as this has been.

That's me done in Essex for this year....probably be back in spring time next year...

Cambridgeshire

This is a watercolour house portrait of a house in Cambridgeshire. I remember walking up to the house during my visit and thinking that the sun was in the perfect place to cast those shadows from the porch across the front of the house. It was lit up perfectly ... about 10.30 am was the time I took the photo and then worked on the painting from my studio.

This is what the home owner said upon seeing the finished painting:

We met Pete when he rang our doorbell some
time back and asked if we would like a watercolour
of our house. He was so personable that we agreed
and he took some photos. We suggested one or 2
bits of "artistic licence" the most important of which
was to include our recently deceased black cat, Wendy,
in the kitchen window.
He executed the brief perfectly.

Harvesting Photos

These photographs were taken on Saturday 11th August in the afternoon. Stebbing in Essex. It's the time of year when the farmers are working to get the harvest in, which is proving to be very difficult at the moment because it's never dry enough. My visit coincided with a warm spell of weather so the combine harvesters were working around the clock.

The way the machinery throws up all that dust on a backdrop of a wide open landscape with the tracks going through the crops makes for a stunning photo - I'd like to work a couple of these up to a watercolour painting at some point.

Starting out in Essex

Yesterday I gave my talk 'Adventures of the Roving Artist' to the Cambridge Rutherford Rotary Club. They meet on a weekly basis in Queens College - a stunning location. It went down very well with plenty of the gentlemen enquiring about possible commissions.

At the end of the day, I found a B&b on an arable farm in Duddenhoe End. When I came for my breakfast this morning, I asked for a bacon sandwich. The Dutch lady who was serving me looked at me strangely and said 'in 25 years of doing B&b no one has ever asked for such a thing as a bacon sandwich!' I wondered what they had been asking for? The way she said it made me think that I'd asked for a trough of baked beans, garnished with a couple of dead dogs!

Halifax

I took this photo this morning touring around a part of Halifax that I had not visited before. It's just above a pub called the Shibden Mill Inn. Fantastic how the sun catches some of the trees. I'll have to paint this scene one day. In fact, a dozen or so watercolours of landscapes in west Yorkshire would make for a very special exhibition...

From Newark to Emley

Today I set off from Newark in Nottinghamshire, headed for home via a few villages in West Yorkshire including Woolley, Notton, Flockton and Emley. I saw some BIG landscapes and BIG skies....

Buckinghamshire

My Accommodation for one night - Just kicking back in my Mongolian Yurt man

Eddlesborough

Monday 23rd - Wednesday 25th July. Eversholt - Quainton. Bedfordshire/Buckinghamshire border. At last, after what seemed like about 6 weeks of non stop rain, the promotional tour swings back into action. 

These two pictures were taken along the Grand Union Canal outside the B&B I stayed in - 'the Brownlow' near Ivinghoe, which I can highly recommend www.accommodationinleightonbuzzard.co.uk . I love walking along the side of a canal - there's something about them that makes you slow down. The pace of life seems much more un-hurried on a narrow boat and I like that.

This was taken in the village of Quainton, near Aylesbury. Late afternoon/early evening.

The Union Flag

A few weeks ago during the Queens Diamond Jubilee celebrations, I painted a quick union flag on the side of a commission I was working on, posted the result on my fb page and a few people said they wanted a copy. I thought I could do a bit of a better one and this is the result - with a bit of an Olympic twist.

Grandad Chapple

This is a photograph of me with my Grandad, Bill, taken on my wedding day, just over 7 years ago. This week, I traveled to Exeter for his funeral ceremony and a thanksgiving service. It was a few days of mixed emotions - sad that a dear family member had passed away but joyful in gathering with other members of his family and friends to celebrate a life which he lived to the full.

An architect by profession, he was an extremely gifted craftsman and artist. I certainly admired him and was influenced by him in my decision to study architecture at Liverpool. Bill has to take a great deal of credit for my current work as a watercolour artist. Each time I visited his home I would spend a great deal of time taking in his artwork which was displayed on the walls and carefully listen to him as he explained about the latest paintings that he was working on. I would often go into his studio on my own and look at all his artists equipment - paints, brushes, sketchbooks, paper and pencils. I can still remember that distinctive smell of the paints filling the air.

 I will always remember the set of watercolour paints and brushes that he bought me as a gift one birthday - that was the start of my passion for painting. I always wanted to go and paint on-location with Grandad but unfortunately I never got the chance. At the services this week it was clear from the words spoken about him that he was a man who knew where he was going after his passing and I like to think that where he is now, there are some pretty awesome landscapes to paint. Maybe I'll get my chance to paint with him one day after all.

Torquay

An unexpected flying visit to Torquay. The English Riviera. One evening, went for a walk along the harbor. Visibility was down to about 25metres due to the fog, that's right, in the middle of June! What did I see, a group of middle aged folks dressed in all the garb - morris dancing. Classic sight, amongst the bemused on-looking tourists.

Reviewing the last 30 days or so

My travels over the last month have led me to some interesting places including Castle Howard and Malton in North Yorkshire, Saffron Walden and Clavering in Essex and Barwick in Elmet and Bardsey between Leeds and Harrogate. Not to mention a flying family visit down to Exeter and Bristol!

A typical scene from the Yorkshire Dales. Taken from Thornton in Craven, just outside Skipton. As a keen landscape painter,  I could quite happily spend the rest of my life painting scenes like this one from the Yorkshire Dales. Beautiful.

 Taken after a days promotional touring in Bardsey, Leeds.

Another scene from Bardsey - quintessential Englishness!

This was a shop in Bardsey. I thought the text on this sign was fantastic. "Sweets & Tobacco Groceries & Provisions" PROVISIONS! Now that is a word that I would like to see on more signs these days. very under-used!

During a tour of Cambridgeshire, I came across this art gallery. It is a dream of mine to have my own gallery like this one day - I want a sign outside it just like this one.


One more thing. I watched something on Sunday evening which impacted me in a big way. It was the documentary about Gary Barlow putting together the song to celebrate the Queens Diamond Jubilee. One of the performers on the record was this African guy who was part of a band that played percussion out if scraps of rubbish. He was blind but when he played his instrument, that didn't seem to matter - he had such a passion for this music that he got totally lost in it. He said one thing which I will remember, "It doesn't matter what difficulties you face, you have to keep your head up and stay focussed on what you want to do."

The tour continues in Cambridgshire

Friday 11th - Saturday 12th May
Captured some great images during this two day tour.

The first village on my visit was a small village called Hinxton, half way between Cambridge and Saffron Walden. Loved the sign on the village hall.

Ickleton is about 1/2 a mile away from Hinxton. I saw this sign which was crying out to be photographed - it's a classic. simple.

In Balsham, near the Black Bull Pub (highly recommeded) is a little butchers with this sign out side, what's not to like?

Trumpington is a small area just south of Cambridge, I saw the way the afternoon sun struck this church. Magnificent.

About one hour after the previous photo was taken, I saw this view in Grantchester, a mile up the road. It was one of those days where the clouds are perfectly formed in the sky to create that picture perfect look. Look at the way this shot exaggerates the contrast between the highlights and shadows. I expect to work this up into an original watercolour in the near future.

Harrogate

The railway bridge in Knaresborough

This photograph was the instagram version of one that I took in Knaresborough. This waterside spot would be a great place to paint on location.

This image may be used in my 'signs' project

Another contender for the vintage signs project

This was taken near the centre of Harrogate

Not Knaresborough or Harrogate - Bingley in fact.

Piece Hall

Piece Hall, Halifax.

Saturday 21st April 2012. I've been planning a series of paintings of the Piece Hall in Halifax. Today, I was looking after the kids all day while Mrs Chapple went to Sheffield, so I took the opportunity to lead a little field trip down to the Piece Hall to take some photographs.

For Heavens Cake

Some of the units are occupied by various businesses. This one is a Cake Shop which is AMAZING - I know from experience! This is the kind of image that would work well as a watercolour. Everything works so well from the vintage style sign to the street furniture to the architecture of the building. The only way it could be improved, is to take the photograph early in the morning to get the direct sunlight.

 

I love the symmetry of this photo. Capturing the direct sunlight makes this image work so well. The contrast of the light and shade is a great effect that emphasizes the architectural style. 

 

This is another great image which really captures the architectural style. The shadows cast by the sunlight makes this image for me. I would remove the shadows cast by the bunting.

 

I like the way the sun casts a shadow, creating that sharp line that runs diagonally. The lady sitting outside the cake shop adds interest and I would remove the bunting.

 

This is another individual shop that I think would work well as a watercolour. Similar to the cake shop, this frontage just looks so inviting.