Fingers crossed for the lad

 

Hockney’s Sycamores

Was passing this spot and paused. I knew from a local resident that I was at the exact place where David Hockney had painted these sycamores. I was told that he came a lot at various times to paint them. I have mentioned before that the man I talked with was annoyed that they were called Thixendale sycamores. “Why, these are the BURDALE sycamores”. After checking I found a boundary between Burdale and Thixendadale just beyond the trees. As I settled a horn sounded, a signal to commence shooting at the Raisthorpe ground hidden by the trees and shrub to the right hand side. Several loud shots made a ‘rat-a-tat-tat’ sound, causing a group of large deer to ascend the hill near the shrub line. Their white rumps seemingly floating away. 

Four page wide concertina sketch 840x 210 mm.

See my book here which is a collection of concertina sketches, including method and notes about how we see.

Exquisite art book, a world first?

This FIRST EDITION book details both how to sketch and add a watercolour wash using a concertina sketchbook. It is comprehensively illustrated throughout.

After much researching this may well be the world’s first instruction book which explains how to sketch with a concertina sketchbook. That aside, it shows, in detail, how to create wide, panoramic sketches. It guides the reader through the practical issues, going on to explore and develop ‘how we see’. This SUMPTUOUS book contains over a hundred illustrations in full colour. It will appeal to anyone who loves the countryside. The book has over 400 pages, it is A5 landscape layout with a limited print run. Each painting is accompanied by a detailed description including location and relevant notes. 

As the author and publisher of this book it will be available directly from me from April 6th.

Please  EMAIL if you would like a copy, each book will be signed and include any dedications, if indeed required. 

As my online shop is not open at the moment, payment can be made directly to me or by bank transfer, details will be sent via email. £35 incl UK p+p

This is a unique, supremely desirable publication.

Comprehensive introduction

Burdale

Lane south of South Dalton

 

Detailed methodology

Southburn

The Pipe and Glass Inn from Dalton Park

Beverley Minster - important development

 

Artists impression

Minster plans

Beverley Minster is in the vanguard for reducing its running costs. The Diocesan Church Authority has approved plans for fitting 2,000 solar panels as well as reducing night-time lighting expenses, a spokesperson adding that, where the Minster leads others follow. Plans for the application of transparent ‘glow-in-the-dark’ paint  also have the support of the local council. The paint has been supplied by someone not seeking publicity. A spokesperson pointed out that the environmental benefits and cost savings are very welcome. Ecclesiastical sources are keenly following the development. For safety reasons, an adjacent perimeter footpath facing Hall Garth is to be closed with alternative provision provided nearby. A local councillor has spoken to residents living close to the Minster. The councillor pointed out that one of the many benefits of the Minster glow is to facilitate the removal of nearby street lamps. He went on to say there would be no reduction in their Council Tax as the cost of providing Geiger Counters and Black-out Curtains would be significant. 

Ryedale memory.

A remembered view. Couple of years ago I spent some time in Ryedale, near Malton. This is a view loosely based on a memory of that time. The area is quiet farming land with interesting villages. The  hydro electricity generating Archimedean Screw near south of Westow at Howsham is well worth a visit.

 

Westwood evening with Beverley Minster, watercolour.

The wonderful BEVERLEY Minster is inspiring. I am often walking my dog, George on the Westwood and recently saw this striated sky extending across the view. It’s caused me to think how unusual. So I thought I’d try to re-create it and here it is. Someone is walking a dog. Probably on the way home after a walking over the Westwood. The Minster is beginning to darken as the evening light fades away. Soon it will be completely dark. This painting is unusual for me as it is done from memory as opposed to in-situ, plein air. Here I have placed a mount over the painting which I find a useful thing to do as it gives an idea of how it will look in a frame. The painting is approx. A4 size on watercolour paper. I am offering this to everyone and will leave the price open, but to say all money raised will be donated to Beverley Minster. I guess best offer by noon this Sunday will secure it. Please email me if interested.

 

Mountains and lake watercolour

Every now and then I like to play around with tonal values. Here is a sketch, distant mountains and lake with church. On the jutting spit a man and his dog stand below a huge sky.

Lockington Virtual Exhibition.

Click image to see the free exhibition

Watercolour presentation and ghosting

Here is the finished watercolour sketch of a bluebell wood. It is something of an experiment, playing around with ‘ghost shadows’ and light.

I often think about how to present a painting in a frame. Usually, we frame the work so all of it can be seen. Of course we have considered this when creating a painting. Some artists use viewing rectangles, something I do not. Perhaps the paper is taped to the board in order to create a clean edge. We seek balance, to create ’a feeling of a pleasing picture’. Here I have produced a simple watercolour of a bluebell woodland with a couple of local residents foraging. The painting is on 200 lb NOT. It is just slightly over half imperial ( 11x22 inch ). Using a mount for a smaller painting I have played around with presentation. In all of these a lot of the painting is hidden under the mount board. I like this. To look at a painting knowing that it hides part of the story. It will be discovered in time to come and perhaps warrant remounting. It is a secret. What lies beyond?  I have also experimented with trying to create a sense of the sun breaking through. These are the accompanying pictures. To achieve this I used masking tape to protect areas, clean water, a large brush and some kitchen tissue.

How to produce plein air landscapes, my latest book, available soon, email me for details.

Here, I have moved the mount board to just about include the pheasants, with a lot of upper tree detail and side detail hidden. Yet, I think it looks complete.

Here, the pheasants can still be seen though a lot of the left and top of the painting is hidden.

This arrangement looks balanced. But I guess it is a matter of taste.

Sunbeams added.

What do you think?

 

ART BOOK ARRIVED from my printer!!

 Ecstatic and super excited to get delivery of my latest book. Will post a fuller description with illustrations soon. It is 400 pages long full of illustrations also including a comprehensive guide to help others achieve similar results. The book poses many questions. It is also likely to be a world’s first book looking specifically at this way of working. Further processing means the actual publication date will be Monday 6th April. Watch this place.

Lund Moor woodland in December, iPad animation.

 Thought this would be interesting to see being created on an iPad.

St. Mary’s Churchyard, Beverley.

 Pen and ink sketch of St. Mary’s churchyard looking back towards the Gatehouse. Bleach Yard road hidden behind wall on the left. Occasionally horse riders appeared as if floating.

NEW book - details soon.

 Ultra special, genuinely a unique book. It contains well over 100 illustrations and looks deeper into aspects of how artists see. Poses questions. However, essentially it is a book featuring East Yorkshire and the Northern Wolds including copious descriptions for each painting. It will be a limited edition, collectors art book. More details soon.

It will only be available from JOHN GEEKIE ART. 

If interested in a copy for yourself or as a gift the cost is estimated to be £35 incl UK p+p.

Approx 400 pages, A5 landscape hard back, full colour.

Snowdrops at edge of cleared wood

 Spotted this cleared woodland noticing the snowdrops. I was amazed and pleased to see that they had survived. This is a four page concertina sketch showing the southern edge of  Lockington Wood.

Enlarge to full screen height then using one eye pan from left to right. This may help introduce a 3D element. Let me know it it works for you.

Hutton Cranswick, St.Peter’s Church original painting.

Just dropped off this original painting of St.Peter’s church at Hutton Cranswick 

It is to support the art exhibition which runs  Friday, Saturday and Sunday ( see leaflet below) I have also taken some copies of my ART books and some greetings cards. It would be lovely if you could visit the Methodist Church Hall at Hutton Cranswick, where tea and cakes will be on sale.  I painted this standing underneath a beech tree, its embryonic buds forming. What was really lovely to see were the arrival of three men, who planted a tree behind the totem stump of the old Sycamore near the entrance you may just be able to make them out.

Thixendale from Huggate Hill road.

 This was a large demonstration piece showing how to create a painting using only three colours red, yellow and green…plus white, so four colours. It is HUGE at 40 x 32 inches. It would need a large space to hang it. It is acrylic on canvas available at the special price of just £50. All proceeds will go to the Hutton Cranswick Methodist Hall maintenance fund.

The small cluster of buildings to the left are Robert Fuller’s Gallery. I can deliver subject to location.

PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION

Black Mill at sunset..

I did this small, 8x8 inch approx., oil on canvas as a little exercise. It is available from me, for a suggested £15 only. This will be passed on to Jacob’s Well charity. Email me direct if interested first come first served basis. 
 

A little sound experiment

 

Free entry ART exhibition in aid of charity.Tea, cofffee and cakes available.

 

Snowdrops for YOU

 

East end of Mere Lane, South Dalton.

 Well it was very misty in Beverley first thing but it cleared a little making me think of a late sketch. I set off with a concertina sketchbook soon realising it would be impossible to sketch where I was heading, up at Fridaythorpe. So I turned off to return home. After walking George in this quiet lane I thought it had possibilities. I rather liked the weakening misty feel. Could I catch it? For this I used my recently acquired Koh-I-Noor Gioconda propelling pencil. It uses chunky leads 5.6mm which allows me to work quickly. I added a watercolour wash whilst there as one or two cars passed me. Huge tractors towing massive laden trailers slowed down and waved. It was very cold and the mist clinging. I decided to head back home where I added minor details.

Fridaythorpe - the ancient St.Mary’s Church on a grey, dull day

Detail

Four page wide sketch

Late yesterday the sun shone in Beverley. As it had been wet, windy and grey for a long time I thought it was about time to go out, enjoy the weather and do a sketch. I ended up in Fridaythorpe where I topped up my petrol before ambling round to the church. Often this is well hidden by vegetation. Also the most suitable point from which to work is usually covered in a matting of high, dense brambles. Today the vegetation was bare and the brambles cleared. So I set up the concertina sketchbook. I wanted to try a new propelling pencil. It is a special pencil that uses 5.6mm lead. ( I have some lead which was used by Owen Bowen, one of the Staithes Group of artists). The pencil is chunky and reassuring to hold. I worked quickly. The unusual clock face is an amazing thing to see. It is dated 1903 and rather ornately decorated though on close inspection I could see some deterioration at on side, plus, when I arrived, the time was about a hour and a half in front. Actually it was probably stopped but I did not check when I left.The temperature up here was much lower than in balmy Beverley. It was about 4°C and dull with a suggestion of fine rain. As I worked a young woman passed heading left passing the church. She had a black Labrador and another smaller dog, a terrier. A short while later they returned, the Labrador holding a small tree!. Another woman passed and repeated the walk with her two dogs. Two more women, deep in conversation, appeared from the left, walking back towards the village centre. With the details all added the inclement weather forced an early finish. I headed home via a rendezvous at the Pipe and Glass where I was treated to a warm soup. At home I tried a different approach to adding colour. I added dark shades with diluted black Indian ink, let it dry then added colour. This may feature in my latest book about using a concertina sketchbook.

2026 John Geekie Art calendar - Last chance to get one..

 

Thixendale, looking along the Thixendale footpath.

The winter equinox was yesterday.

I visited the Robert Fuller Gallery where I indulged in a mince pie and a cup of coffee. Staff were  busy sorting orders to get into the post. I had been exploring in the car without any intention to sketch anything but found myself near the Thixendale footpath. I quickly got out my iPad and decided to capture this view. It was sticky and wet underfoot but it was not raining and there was no wind. I thought this view had potential as an evolving painting. That is I can revisit to record changes as the seasons progress. I have set up an HD ratio of 1920:1080 which will enable full screen playback on an HD monitor. As I sketched near to a field fence I was nudged in the back. I turned to see two horses had silently approached and were standing in the field reaching over the fence. I bent down to get a handful of grass which I gave to one of the horses. A farmer pulled up with a stock trailer. I moved my car to enable him access to an adjacent field. I recognised him from previous painting trips and we chatted happily. I mentioned in passing how I met a sheep farmer from the Isle of Man who was horrified when I told her of a plant I had seen on the high fells near Seatoller. Her concern was that the plant could kill sheep. When I enquired she explained that it caused necrotic reaction to sunshine and that exposed areas on sheep, their ears and face were affected. The farmer was very interested and did not know the plant, I told him it was bog asphodel and he made a note of it. He said I should have been here the previous week as he pointed to the steep hillside. I could see feint track marks in the scrubby hillside grass. He told me of a van courier who had misjudged the sharp bend at the top of the hill. He had gone through a fence onto the hillside. It was quite a job to resolve the situation. The farmer made me aware of a lower Iron Age earthworks on the flank of the hill. The van made use of this almost hidden feature which guided him to a less steep area where he managed to get off the hillside grass. Who could imagine that there could be a link from Iron Age earthworks and a modern day van. The farmer unloaded his sheep, 17 from the low deck, 16 from the upper deck. He then set his young dog to round them up from a slightly shrubby hillside. The dog brought them down and we guided them into the field ( Long Dale) where the horses stood. The farmer turned the head of one of the horses. I was shocked to see it had lost an eye. he explained what had happened and that the horse was happily resolved to his situation. As he was setting off, we glanced up the hillside where we saw three or four sheep which the dog had missed. So he got the dog out and quickly remedied his mistake. I helpfully remarked, that though we counted them out, we did not count them in, to the field as they passed. He looked at me, considered, then blamed the young dog.

Picture expanded too include people repairing a fence which had been broken when a van left the road Click the image to see it enlarged..

This is from the 16th of January. Driving over the Wolds, I thought it was perhaps going to be too misty but in fact it was okay. Passing Gill‘s farm on the top road, I came to the sharp bend where the road drops down to Thixendale. I had to stop abruptly as I turned the corner, farm vehicles were  blocking the road. A tractor with a trailer was parked off the road at the top edge of the field another 4x4 yellow JCB vehicle, interestingly with four wheel steering, was parked across the road with a chain extending fixed to the front appearing to hold a post. The driver remained in the vehicle as  the other driver, of the tractor, was busy installing fencing to new posts by using a hammer to hit staples into the post. He reached into his overall pocket to grab a staple several times. I cringed a little as he hit them into the post, but he never hit his fingers.   I asked, as I passed, if it was all because of the delivery van, that they were replacing the fence. He smiled and said yes and hope it doesn’t happen again. They can just be seen on the top extreme left with the track marks of the runway truck just visible. To be continued.

Tree frog needs a new home

Acrylic on deep edge canvas approx 25cm square.

 This painting always makes me smile.It shows a tree frog with enormous eyes peering at something.

Available to a good home email (see above) for details Now re-homed to collector.

The Matterhorn, a tribute to Mary Dawson Elwell

My reproduction (acrylic) of Mary’s painting with more sky above the mountains
( see planning views below which indicate more sky)

Walking George I sometimes visit the cemetery of St. Mary’s opposite Gallows Lane, Beverley. Here, near the entrance is a gravestone to Fred Elwell and his wife Mary. I often visit the Elwell gallery located in Beverley Art Gallery, in the Treasure House. I have admired Fred Elwell’s work, especially since a dear friend told me that he had communicated with him regularly. However, over time I began to realise I admire Mary’s (1874-1952) work. In 1932 she painted this view which includes the Matterhorn. The painting location at Chandolin is a long way north ( compared with another painting from Zermatt, below).

                               

For the 1932 en plein air painting Mary a prepared board was used, it had a bevelled rear edge facilitating the practical benefits of sliding the painting into a storage box as well as aiding it to be pinned to the picture frame. I like the size of these paintings. They are small enough to be carried to the painting location. These en plein air works are so important, they contain ‘time’ and ‘place’, we are there standing with the artist, the air is fresh, we can almost hear sounds. One can imagine their value as an object is perhaps different than that of a studio painting.

Like most of us who paint plein air we sometimes struggle with  planning of the painting, we can run out of space. Mary’s painting of this scene from Chandolin, in Switzerland was, I think an example. Studying her painting one at first assumes the skyline has been cut off. It is so close to the edge of the board that the frame moulding hides it. I thought I would try reproducing a version with space above the skyline. 

Mary’s painting is called  'The *** from Chandolin Val d'anniviers Valais'. I wondered what the missing word could be. I think it may have been ‘Matterhorn’. I am reminded also, of many years climbing mountains in Cumbria. The elevation is not as high but the effect, looking down at distant valleys is the same. Snow covered mountain tops suggest spring time. I also think it is early morning and we know we are looking south. I hope to do some research into the trip, no doubt with Fred, her husband. In the picture Mary has included an arrangement of conifers on the left hand side, these are wonderfully painted in their own right. The colours are beautifully varied and I think there is a suggestion of high pasture between these trees. As a plein air artist I would love to visit the same spot and paint myself, who knows one day maybe.

Mary’s original 1932 painting 26x35cm.
Probably original frame showing the problem of it hiding the skyline detail

I have also seen another painting which Mary did of the Matterhorn from Zermatt in 1939. 

View from Zermatt, 1939, 32x35cm.
Much closer and more to the west the dark hillside shadow suggests it is early morning. Here again the peak of the Matterhorn almost touches the edge of the painting.

————————————————————————————————————

Matterhorn?  detail

Developing

My early underpainting

A collectors art book. Plein air painter.

 Final Thoughts: A Testament to Print Excellence

This project exemplifies the importance of expert print guidance, from material selection to artwork refinement and troubleshooting delivery challenges. Plein Air Painting stands as a masterclass in premium art book production, blending John Geekie’s artistic storytelling with Ex Why Zed’s commitment to print perfection.

As John’s future volumes come to life, we are proud to have played a role in turning his plein air journey into a beautifully printed reality. Complete review here

I have enjoyed writing this book, now considered to be a collectible and essential art book. As I am now in the process of revision, I am now revising this book as a proof copy. Due to the limited print run it will become more desirable to own. It is available from my online store HERE 

Givendale - amazing animation

 

Givendale is a magical area. The perfectly situated church of St Ethelburga’s sits happily in the landscape ( hidden to the left of this view). A  public footpath runs behind the pond and into an open area, where a building surprises the walker. This area is wonderfully accessible yet at the same time remote. It is a lovely place to explore. This has been produced on an iPad and can be seen from start to finish. I have added music and the animation lasts approximately 10 minutes. It is available via a link sent to you. Details below

Animation here ( using YouTube )

Lake District - Langdales from Elterwater

The Langdales, magical, dominant, challenging. Climbed many times but here is a pen and ink sketch from 1992. Probably staying in Grasmere at the time. This view on the road from Skelwith, at a crest before dropping down to Elterwater village. Hope you like.

Wetwang Road, Sledmere.

.