by Clare Bowen | Nov 6, 2018 | Autumn, English Landscape, Green, Landscape, Sheep, The South Downs, Trees
Looking out for subjects driving is always a little hazardous!Saw these sheep and a bonus place to pull in and park near by. They were sleepy and laying down until at least an hour into painting them. I worked quietly trying not to scare them. In the end they were...
by Clare Bowen | Oct 30, 2018 | Clouds, Green, Hills, Landscape, Rain, Sky, The South Downs, The Trundle
This is about a 25 minute drive form me and during the whole car journey is rained hard! I thought I’ll have to sit int he car when I get there and wait.But upon arrival this is what I saw! A huge beautiful cloud covering a lot of the view I wanted to paint. The...
by Clare Bowen | Oct 11, 2018 | Green, London, Plein air, Trees
Painted yesterday on a very sunny October day at St James Park with 80 or so other plein air painters! It was fun being part of this gathering and enjoyed chatting with lots of artists, it was hard to focus on the painting! This was not any easy subject with so...
by Clare Bowen | Jun 30, 2018 | England, Garden, Green, Landscape, Oil Painting, Summer, Teaching, Trees
I did a 1 to 1 plein air day with Elizabeth St John this week. She wanted to paint the view from our garden as we focused on mixing greens. Sheltered by a big pine tree we weren’t too hot and managed to get two paintings done. I suggested she mixed her...
by Clare Bowen | Jun 26, 2018 | Green, Landscape, South Downs, Summer, The Trundle, Trees, West Sussex
Late summer evenings are wonderful to paint, I tent not to make them very often because I’m too keen to paint first thing and I’m usually tired by the evening, but I geared myself up for this one and went for it! I loved the shadows on the white chalk...
by Clare Bowen | Jun 24, 2018 | Countryside, England, Green, Landscape, Oil Painting, Summer, Surrey, Surrey Hills
I was feeling confident from my previous large scale peonies painting so decided to go large on this one as well. I wouldn’t usually on a new subject but was egged on by Sarah Manolescue who also went big.We struggled a little with noise pollution – young...
by Clare Bowen | Jun 19, 2018 | Chickens, England, Garden, Green, NEAC, Oil Painting, Summer, The Mall Galleries
Back in our friends garden, I didn’t plan to paint this but thought is had a charm. I made a quick ‘Notan’ sketch before – which is a Japanese name for light and dark design:This allowed me to see that most of the painting was mid and dark...
by Clare Bowen | May 25, 2018 | Green, Landscape, Panoramic, South Downs, The South Downs, The Trundle, Trees, Trundle
I went back to the same area as last weeks painting. I wanted to do it again and really study the tonal values and colours. I am pleased with how it turned out.I will be using this painting for an article I am writing to go into The Artist Magazine. The title of the...
by Clare Bowen | May 21, 2018 | Green, Landscape, Summer, Surrey, Trees
We looked out the window and saw gorgeous morning light so dashed down to the end of the garden. My husband hopped over into the field and being a photographer lapped it up. But the camera wasn’t enough for me so I grabbed my plein air gear out of the studio and...
by Clare Bowen | May 20, 2018 | Green, Hills, South Downs, The South Downs, The Trundle, Trees
Second painting of the day on the 1:1 plein air day last week. As you can see it was overcast but still pleasing to paint – the greens, shapes and path… It was a quick study getting the essence fo the place.I’m using more earth colours –...
by Clare Bowen | May 19, 2018 | Countryside, Green, Hills, The South Downs, The Trundle, Trees, West Sussex
I held a 1:1 plein air painting day with an artist called Rosie Copeland. Typical it was a windy grey day but actually was easier as it was stable light, so we weren’t chasing shadows or squinting into the sun.We covered a lot of ground from boards, gesso,...
by Clare Bowen | Apr 22, 2018 | Green, Landscape, River Thames, Surrey, The Thames, Trees, Twickenham
An early start up to Twickenham on Friday morning. I wanting to make the most of this glorious weather, although standing in full sun was quite hard work! I painted at Twickenham last July with the Wapping Group it was my first time with them as I was...
by Clare Bowen | Jan 21, 2018 | Green, Landscape, South Downs, The Trundle
I painted this scene previously at the beginning of the week. I wanted to go back and try it again, this time smaller and with more care. (The first was a quick sky painting.)I also wanted to use thicker paint. I had this intention before I started plus...
by Clare Bowen | Dec 5, 2017 | 8x10", Devon, England, Green, Landscape, Oils, River Dart
We have just spent a long weekend down in Devon visiting with a friend I did a couple of paintings but it was more of a social visit. Hated the first painting I did! Fussy, overworked, not confident, it was an off painting day and not easy as I was on display in...
by Clare Bowen | Sep 21, 2017 | Cows, Green, Landscape, Sky, Somerset, Trees
Somerset levels are quite flat and low level so the skies are amazing, dramatic and endless. Could paint them all day! A group of us liked this subject because when we arrived the light was behind the trees – contra jour and the cattle were standing with a...
