Still on my Railway trip... today's painting..

Trying to develop the composition from a more abstract approach..

I often complete a painting in an hour, although, usually I can only seem to manage one a day (especially if it involves travelling to a location). This one's taken a couple of days.

Brighton Station Entrance:

Quite like some of the paintings by a lady called Roos Schuring (from Holland I think). Led me to try some slightly higher build Landscapes on the Beach.

I was watching a TV programme the other day in which Czar Nicholas II was mentioned.

Apparently he was nicknamed 'The Cushion' because he took on the characteristic impression of whosoever influenced him. In the same way that a cushion takes on the impression of the sitter.

I feel a little like this with my painting style. I've only got to see the works by some painter that impresses me and I'm off trying to emulate their style and technique.

Not entirely sure that this is a bad thing as one of the main reasons for doing good work is so that others might also be impressed to follow such an example. When you look at Vincent's works when Gauguin stayed with him in Arles, you can clearly see Gauguin's influence in the paintings of Van Gogh at that time.

I was recently extremely impressed by the Townscapes and Figurative work of Simon Pasini (check out his exquisite paintings)... and I've started painting townscapes with a more 'figurative' influence...

Check out:

A painting from one of the shots taken at Brighton this week..

One of the problems with Plein Air Townscapes in a busy area, apart from trying to paint amongst crowds of people, is things like parking etc.

I spent a day in Brighton, East Sussex this week with an idea to have a go at the 'Clock Tower'.. I, luckily, found a parking meter within about a quarter of a mile of the spot however, found myself with insufficient change to purchase a ticket.. luckily the payment machine allowed payment by card and payment by phone. The price for two hours was pretty much what you could pay for a pretty good sirloin steak dinner however, despite my best efforts, and no matter how many times I tried, I couldn't get the machine to accept the card. After some twenty minutes on the phone I managed to set up an account and pay through my phone and headed to Brighton Station to, briefly, use the facilities.

Nice and clean looking, I thought as I approached the building. The reason became clear as there was yet another turnstile to be activated by twenty pence to allow access to the building's interior.
Did I have twenty pence in the correct change? Naturally no... Luckily there was a machine adhered to the wall offering change however, a piece of A4 paper affixed to the front told me it was out of order... luckily, an oriental looking female attendant with a charitable attitude rifled through my change and activated the barrier for fifteen pence... goodness.

There ...rant over..

Here's the painting of the Clock Tower.. finished off a bit at home..

and another one from a photograph taken out of the van window whilst waiting at the lights..

A slightly different subject:

i've been trying some portraits and building up the paint more than usual...

A five min. sketch yesterday on a mini iPad and the painting from the sketch carried out this morning....

A local photographer took a shot while I was painting in Chichester the other day...

A couple of Still Lifes (had a bit of a break from Plein Air) plus I had a frame that fit this size of panel..

Out at Highdown (near Worthing, W Sussex) yesterday and managed two small Landscapes. One of the view towards Findon Valley and one of some dog walkers on the fields.. very windy..

and today in Chichester...I only had an hour (as I didn't really put enough time on the parking ticket)...