If the weather is good I go into the nearby wood - there I am painting a small beech forest (in the sun) with a few conifers mixed in. This takes until 8 'o clock.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I have to paint at least two times a week, and there's not enough time in the day to do everything.
What I wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house.
I paint from the top down. From the sky, then the mountains, then the hills, then the houses, then the cattle, and then the people.
I'd come to the country to do my Thoreau bit, so I needed an office that looked out onto the woods for inspiration. I converted one of the bedrooms into my workspace and through its windows watched the wildlife appear each morning with the sunrise. Many were the days I would sit in wonder, coffee in hand, for hours.
I always start a painting with the sky.
I put quite a few trees in last autumn. A lot of silver birch and a couple of native trees - just generally doing gardening, putting plants in and hedges in. It takes quite a lot of time and I love it.
Work at the same time on sky, water, branches, ground, keeping everything going on an equal basis... Don't be afraid of putting on colour... Paint generously and unhesitatingly, for it is best not to lose the first impression.
I look out the window sometimes to seek the color of the shadows and the different greens in the trees, but when I get ready to paint I just close my eyes and imagine a scene.
I want to paint big, bright, optimistic pictures of the place I love.
If I'm painting, I paint every day. I'll be up in the studio from 8:00 in the morning to 8:00 at night.