Sycamore Painting

This painting gazes out across a water-meadow on National Trust land at Ankerwycke near Staines upon Thames. It places the viewer under the shelter of a canopy of sycamore leaves in the middle of a field on a brutally hot day, the sort of day when the sun makes grass so bright it dazzles. This was one of a batch of paintings which I made with a couple of goals in mind. The first was simply to make summer pictures showing Southern England in all its vibrant green-ness, so it was important to ground it in a specific location and to communicate a sense of that place. The other closely related plan was look at a couple of aspects of colour. I wanted to address my biggest weakness with colour handling - dazzling but natural bright green. This is a phenomenally difficult palette to work with as it is easy to tip into artificialness or muddiness and I'm really pleased with the results. Additionally, I had been having an ongoing argument with a couple of other painters who were terrified of using black paint as they were convinced it just makes things dull; I wanted to prove that used with care it can make everything more vibrant and I think I succeeded here too. As with all my paintings, this is made with top quality materials. In this case, Michael Harding, Pip Seymour, Winsor & Newton and home made paints are on top of a board primed with Robersons Oil Primer which has been applied with heavy marks. It is in a basic wooden black frame of similar proportions to a modern TV. The frame does brighten the colours but it is largely there to protect the work and could be removed and replaced easily. It is strung with picture cord from D rings.

Painting:Oil on Wood

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:43.3 W x 25 H x 1 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.