Friday 13 February 2009

Too cold to rest

Too cold to rest
Artist quality watercolours on watercolour paper
11.7" x 8.3"

I painted this scene from a photograph I'd taken during a walk after a snowfall near where I live in Nottingham. It is near the top of a steep rise called Corporation Oaks. There are some rather grand Victorian houses along this tree-lined (oaks, of course) path and is actually a conservation area within the city of Nottingham. Near the top is this bench, which I was very tempted to sit on as I'd had a long walk, but it was just too cold!
If you're interested in purchasing this work, please have look in my Etsy shop.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice composition. Love the colors too. I have to ask you, do you live anywhere near Mansfield Woodhouse? I've been researching my ancestry and found a greatx3 grandfather who owned a pub in town.
Jean

Art with Liz said...

Another great watercolour, John. There's a bench just like yours in the back garden here in Sweden, also covered in snow!

On a Whimsey said...

Love this composition!

Mel Avila Alarilla said...

Wow, this is really superb. The colors are marvelous and the ambiance is so cold. You could almost shiver with the cold weather. I like this picture so much. It reminds me of the great impressionist masterpieces of the 19th century masters like Monet, Renoir and Cezanne. I will include this in my file list of great contemporary paintings. Kudos for the great work of art. God bless.

Sharkbytes (TM) said...

Benches covered with snow sure never look very inviting!

storybeader said...

I have a bench in my backyard, exactly like this! So realistic! Hope you had a nice walk... Great title!

Anonymous said...

A beautiful scene. We are heading to Colorado this afternoon - hopefully we can find an equally inviting spot to rest.

Marian Fortunati said...

Lovely... the colors in the snow and the whole scene! Glad you didn't sit down... You might have stuck!

Unknown said...

Hi Jean - Mansfield Woodhouse is about 15 miles north from where I live, though I've never actually been there. However, my mother came from Shirebrook which is just a couple of miles north of Mansfield Woodhouse. Also one of my cousins runs a pub (or used to a few years ago) in that area.

Liz - I must say, a back garden in Sweden sounds much more exotic than Corporation Oaks in Nottingham!

Pat -I messed around with this composition for some time before I was satisfied with it. Actually there was a lamppost next to the bench which I would have loved to put in, but it just divided up the composition in a most unsatisfactory way - so it had to go.

Mel - I love the Impressionists' art. I've always particularly liked Monet's works and remember seeing a large exhibition of his art at the Royal Academy in London several years ago. There I saw his paintings of Ice Flows on the River Thames. Now they could make you feel COLD!!!! Not quite sure my work comes up to that standard but many thanks for the compliment.

Sharkbytes - I agree, but when you've had a long walk and your legs are aching, well.........

storybeader - it was a great, but tiring walk. As it was the first real snowfall of winter, everything looked just magical. I like slightly unusual titles and this just came to me as I was painting it.

dallas - have a great time in Colorado. You'll probably have a bit more snow than we did in Nottingham!

Thanks Marian - snow of course is never actually white, it reflects colours from the sky, buildings, trees etc and it's a challenge to represent this in paint - marvelous when it comes off, but so easy to get it wrong - and yes, I might have frozen to the seat.

Rita T. said...

This is lovely. Do you do a lot of your paintings from photographs?

Unknown said...

Hi Rita. Yes I do my landscape/buildings paintings from photographs, although I also do some small sketches when I'm out to back them up. I find it just more convenient (and warmer!) to work indoors.

Babette said...

I love this snowy landscape. I can imagine cars having a hard time going up that hill. I read in the news that cities in the UK don't have snowplows.

Unknown said...

I love your art.

Unknown said...

I love the colors you used on the snow!

Unknown said...

Thanks for your comments Stormee and Shelly

Every Photo Tells A Story said...

Love the scene and the colors, too, John. I'm especially drawn to the color of the building against the greenery. Only my opinion, but would love to see the photograph as well, next time:)

Unknown said...

Thanks Nancy.
I'll consider the idea of posting the reference photo along with the painting for the piece I'm doing at the moment.

Patrice said...

Sometimes your work is so simple - and yet there is a quality there that draws one in. I love your titles, too. So many artists ignore the impact a good title can add to a painting.

I'd definitely sit there - just for a minute, until my toes got cold!