Gateshead and South Shields

Here are four images I created on recent travels in South Shields and Gateshead. In #41 Marsden Rock the layering of the original sky over the painted layer has created a subtle yet dramatic effect. Also here you will see I've brought in some wildlife photographed in the region as a small compositional element.

The Marsden painting shows nature in a picturesque way. In #42 Angel of The North from the A1 I took a different approach - showing the landmark in the not so aesthetic way you would normally view it. Traffic crowds the image and the statue itself only occupies a small part of the frame.

A major focal point in #43 The Lakeshore Railroad, South Shields is the miniature train and driver of the foreground. Station platform, trees and smoke cloud recede into quick flourishes of paint.

Probably the most successful of this set is #44 Portrait of Ruby at Gibside, Gateshead. As the trees loom overhead and the perspective draws the eye inward a small figure runs into the foreground. Despite her size in the image the space around Ruby gives her real presence.

 

# 41 Marsden Grotto, South Shields

#42 Angel of the North from the A1, Gateshead

#43 The Lakeshore Railroad, South Shields

#44 Portrait of Ruby at Gibside, Gateshead

A Portrait Request

I was approached to create a painted portrait by someone who'd been enjoying the landscape work posted on my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/howardleepainting). The challenge of a portrait was different to that posed by the prior work - maintaining a loose feel to the brush work but still retaining facial details was to be tricky. However, having painted the image and scanned it in I was able to use many layers to achieve the desired combination with the original photograph. As usual the image was printed to canavs at 60 x 40 cm and the customer was very happy with it. Particularly pleasing was that friends who also saw this portrait made some requests of their own - I'll be posting these once they've been given as gifts.

#40 Portrait in Durham

 

York

In York the intention was to create views that featured the famous historic architecture as seen from the reality of everyday life. Most successful in this set are probably #36 and #39 - both paintings show you a glimpse of iconic architecture amongst shops, pavement and even a bus stop.

 

#36 York Minster from Low Petergate 

 

#37 York Minster from Duncombe Place 

 

#38 Rowers under Lendal Bridge, York 

 

#39 York Castle from Tower Street Bus Stop