Artist in Residence at the University of Birmingham Winterbourne House and Gardens

I thought I’d just pop in today and update my blog on my first three weeks of residency at the University of Birmingham Winterbourne House and Gardens.

I have been blessed with great weather and tried to make the most of it by painting outside as much as possible.

I have a room on site to call my studio and it leads out onto a flat roof with a magnificent birds-eye view of the walled garden (you can see where in this photo below)

I threw myself in lock, stock and barrel with a huge painting which is taking many hours and many layers to bring to fruition. I find there is a magic to painting outside ‘en plein air’ – the way I perceive colours in the daylight is brighter and more vibrant and I can see other colours in the shadows as the light changes during the day. However good a photograph is it doesn’t beat reading real colours and textures from an actual scene in front of you.

That said I’m not a massive fan of painting at an easel, preferring a desk, and I feel that this piece is about ready for a finial bout of finish which I find easier to achieve at home in the studio on a table.

This was the first piece I finished – the Urban Veg Plot – started above on site and finished from photos. There is so much inspiration around I can barely keep up with all I want to do!