Birds of Britain at West Boldon Lodge

A few years ago I did some workshops at an environmental education centre in West Boldon. There were some paintings I did that must still be on display as I'd heard people were asking about them. As my work has changed a lot over the years - especially with the new combination and mixed media techniques - I decided to do them a new set.

Birds of Britain comprises eight canvases depicting various species. All photographic studies were captured in the North East from Washington Wetlands up to The Farne Islands. The birds were painted and scanned, combined with original imagery and printed to canvas.

Currently on display at West Boldon the work will be travelling to other venues so watch this space!

Puffins on the Rocks, Farne Islands

Mute Swan on Lake Windermere

Robin in the Garden

Grey Heron Goes Fishing, Washington

Redshank in Shallow Water, Washington

Puffin in Blue Sky, Farne Islands

Eider Ducks Dance, Washington

Mallard on a Pond, Washington

Northern Landscapes at The Beacon, Newcastle

I've been exhibiting a number of my 2014 artworks in an exhibition called Northern Landscapes. The show opened in November and is still on for part of January. Much of the work has now sold but there's still time to purchase something if you've got any money left after the festive season!

Commissions in 2014

Throughout 2014 I was asked to do a few different commissions. These pieces were painted from images supplied by the clients. As with most of my work I combined the painting with aspects of the original image and printed the work to canvas. Finishing touches involved a final layer of acrylic paint resulting in a set of unique mixed media artwork.

Commission #2 Honda Rider

Commission #3 Cricket at Cullercoats

Commission #4 Queenborough Harbour

Commission #6 Portrait of Sasha

London in the Rain!

It's probably about time I posted some pictures of the London paintings I created after a visit in May...

The weather was not on the side of someone taking photographs but I bought an umbrella and explored some favourite sights: Tower of London, Big Ben, The Gherkin, Westminster Bridge. 

With the streets covered in rain I played around with composing reflections. One good thing about wet weather is that you are never short of light. 

Once I'd painted the images and had them at the editing/combining stage I experimented heavily with skies. The effect of combining photograph with paint has in these pieces had some energetic results. 

Also, just for fun, there's an animal hiding in every picture. Enjoy! 

#45 View of Tower Bridge, London

#46 On Tower Bridge, London

#47 Big Ben in the Rain, London

#48 30 St Mary Axe, London

#49 View from Westminster Bridge, London

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