Painting the Wye

It's been some time since I last created a blog post - the problem has been that the blogging software appears to have been crapulated by the blogging company without warning or providing any idea of how to fix it. The pictures simply appear as a string of incomprehensible characters, which of course, is not what you would want to see. Additionally I have been away from home a lot this summer, but now we're trying to fix it.

The image I have before me is an 8-line string of characters, but I am hoping that the resulting image on your screens will be a watercolour of the River Wye in Summer. The mountain and water have been kept simple, the more distant water a horizontal sweep of cobalt blue with very little water on the brush, softening down into a light area, with some dark reflections introduced at the sides. The dark tones on the closer trees suggest the impression of distance in the composition. I have over-done the foreground flower collection a bit, but sometimes it is interesting to include strong detail in the foreground when most of the composition is quite simple. The painting will be part of a small exhibition at Erwood Station Gallery & Craft Centre, which lies a few miles south of Builth Wells in Powys. It starts on Saturday 23rd September and runs until 15th October, every day. I shall be giving a demonstration of painting the Wye in watercolour on Monday 25th September at 7pm, admission by ticket only because of limited space. Telephone 01982 560555 for the Centre. More details with the next blog which hopefully will have all the problems resolved, although at the moment I'm more inclined to believe in magic than these software geeks!

Blogging difficulties

It's been rather a long time since I produced a blog post, the reason being that not only have I been away for a considerable amount of time, but there have been problems with getting the blog to work. I simply haven't had the time to try to sort it all out, and in fact with many software problems that seem to imply deliberate degrading, it's becoming something of a menace. My blog provider now doesn't seem to be capable of setting up images, so I'm afraid this post has no image. I shall have to set up on a new blog provider in the next few days. This summer has been a frenetic series of trips around England and Wales, from Dartmoor to the Lake District, and Pembrokeshire to the Patchings Art Fest, all exciting stuff, but I wish it could have been more spread out! I've also been working intermittently on books and articles, so it's been non-stop. My next project is a small exhibition at Erwood Station starting on 23rd September for 3 weeks. The paintings are watercolours of the upper River Wye, one of the most beautiful riverine stretches in the country, and it is also aimed at highlighting the dreadful problems of pollution which those in authority seem to have little concern about. We are supported in this by the Campaign for Protection of Rural Wales. More information in my next blog. I hope to get things back to normal soon.