Artists Blog of David Wood, a UK based painter.

Thursday, 18 November 2021

Outdoor Artist - Autumn Fields

Sunday, 9 May 2021

Sometimes I like to create small paintings which I can then use as greetings cards for nearest and dearest. I did this one for a family member.

Painted En Plein Air at Milton Country Park. To see more paintings like this, visit my website www.davidwoodfineart.com

Wednesday, 10 February 2021

Does anyone check these things out?

Well, if you do... this is for you.

Finally we had some amount of SNOW in Cambridgeshire! I've been waiting sooooo long and you know me I was out first thing and walked to find a decent scene to paint... far from the maddening crowd. I did two paintings in all and was out for arounf seven hours... I felt a bit worse for that, but ok now.

Do you like to know the history of the places where you live

I love finding these things out about the places I paint... and Cambridge, UK is full of history!

Biggin Abbey, the summer residence of the Bishops of Ely, was never occupied by monks, it stood on a formerly moated site in the north-west extension of the parish, opposite Bait's lock on the river Cam. It still has a Chapel in the attic known as "Monks Prison". This would of been a great place to have a Summer residence, as it is not far down the River Cam, where the biggest medieval fair in Europe was held... the Bishops could then purchase their Oysters, Wine and other things

I loved painting in the snow and trying to capture some of the atmosphere and history of this place.

Sunday, 22 December 2019

Winter is a really interesting time to paint the landscape, it can often lead you to getting all thoughtful and deep. 😉

Tuesday, 10 December 2019

Painting sunrises in Oil Paint

It’s impossible to predict how the landscape will look and what you will encounter, when you go out plein air painting, you have to be prepared for anything. Especially the case with sunrises; will there be too much cloud cover, that you don’t see anything at all?

All you can do is just turn up prepared, that’s a good attitude to have for lots of things. I was fortunate in this case that there was some cloud cover to provide some beautiful some interesting shapes in the sky. I even had two friendly horses come over to see what I was doing, sadly I had no carrots or apples, I offered to paint them a carrot, but they weren’t impressed by that.

The sun kept me warm, while it was rising, although it was difficult to paint contre-jour.

Clouds did eventually cover the sky and what was a beautiful sunrise, illuminating the land before it, soon was covered in grey clouds and fog; which has its own appeal.

Sunday, 1 December 2019

Winter Plein Air in Cambridge.

What excites you about painting?
One thing I discovered, this year, that excites me about painting, is that I love subtle colours and winter is a good time to see them. All those subtle violet greys, green greys, and neutrals.

Finished Painting

It's easy to get caught up in them and to not see the larger tones and colours that make up the bigger masses.

On this cold winters day, last weekend, virtually no one was about, except the occasional dog walker, it was so peaceful. I was drawn to this scene by the subtle violets of the tree trunk and the earthy, yellow ochres of dried rushes.

The days are shorter now and so the clock is ticking when it comes to painting outdoors, but I'm pleased with the outcome and hope I have captured something of the colours and peacefulness.

Thursday, 5 September 2019

Painting in an around Cambridge, with my Plein Air kit, I often come across beautiful areas of natural beauty, ideal for creating works of art. Here in my recent video, I visit a nearby nature reserve, far away from the hubbub of the city.