Look Sharpie, in Beverley Minster

 

Click the image above to be taken into a virtual gallery, where you will see a collection of quickly sketched paintings,. Sketched with a Sharpie pen, thus they are quite crudely drawn. Acrylic is then added to give some depth to the paintings. It’s an alternative way of working. Using a Sharpie directly makes one concentrate. Mistakes might well be made but hey-ho that’s how it goes. Adding acrylic paint afterwards brings the pictures alive. Anyway, here are a few I have done click the image above and you will enter an exhibition which you can move around using the various arrows hope you like it I particularly I’m pleased with the secret garden sketch.

Dancing in the wood

14x10 oil on canvas - slightly reworked version posted early July

Two large whites dance in dappled light watching the guardian disappear. It is a place of ancient memories where a spring feeds a chalk stream. 

Below books for countryside lovers, artists, poets and those aspiring to painting outdoors. Written, edited, and published by John Geekie. All are first editions, highly collectible and available from me. Email for details.

Super special first edition

Beverley Minster Secret Garden first of August 26

 

Popped down to the secret garden at the Minster this morning to paint a picture, providing the garden was open. It was open. I went in and quickly set up and had a go at this painting looking across to a small umbrella. The volunteers were in tidying up the garden and keeping it spruce. This is a view of the cutting garden used to provide flowers for inside the Minster.

On another note, my latest book about the High Wolds of Yorkshire is being reviewed very well. It augments my book on the LOW WOLDS, and rather fittingly has many mentions of my friend David Hockney, to whom I would have sent a copy. All my books are both published and only available from me.  Just drop me an email if interested in buying one and I will post one or more to you. Payment by bank transfer.

Super special first edition

More books by John Geekie

Fairy Dale where a curlew calls

One of over 20 poems written to accompany prose and artwork in my High Wolds book. Art, as a medium is all encompassing. For me as an artist, I am also an observer of the moment, appreciating rhythm and poetry of the countryside. My High Wolds book, though essentially an art book containing a record of the area in paintings, it also reflects how I work including my thoughts, my feelings at the time, my memories and imaginings, particularly poetry. This poem, it augments prose speaking to one painting.

Available only from me. An email will secure your copy which will be posted to you - cost £35, payable by bank transfer.
 

Free Virtual exhibitions..…plus superb new book.

 VIRTUAL EXHIBITIONS FREE TO ENTER.

• VIRTUAL GALLERY - Prints
• VIRTUAL GALLERY - INSIDE BEVERLEY MINSTER 
• VIRTUAL GALLERY - PAINTINGS OF HOWARDIAN HILLS
• VIRTUAL GALLERY - KIPLING COTES DERBY

My latest book, available now, email me for your copy (£35 incl p+p)

Beverley Minster Secret Garden.

Popped down to the secret Garden this afternoon, saw this view of pots with various flowers behind and thought it would make a good sketch. Oil on Canvas board 14 x 10”. The secret garden is a delight to visit though opening hours need to be checked before going. 

If interested, it will be available it will be available soon. Email for details

Opus complete

My latest book of how to paint planner featuring the Yorkshire High Wolds. It completes my opus of three books. It is a superbly designed and produced volume which will be very collectible, appealing to artists and country lovers. It details aspects such as materials to use, demonstrations step by step and issues encountered. It augments and carries on the story from my Low Wolds book. All paintings were produced using a home made pochade box ( painting box which contains canvas board, paints, brushes etc), details of how to make your own are provided in book one, Plein Air Painter.. I am also pleased to have included several poems inspired by being out in the countryside. 

Email me for your own copy £35 incl p+p.

Paints used

Example painting

Sycamores made famous by David Hockney ( so sad he is not still with us)

Sycamores in summer

 

Magic at Thixendale.

July 27th 2026.
I am keeping to my schedule and popping up to Thixendale where I am recording a year in the valley. Here is the latest iPad sketch, the wheat is almost there, ready for combining. I am hoping to be there when it is being carried out but that is a hope rather than an expectation as the timing will be down to the weather conditions. The valley escapes the early morning sun thus retarding stages of growth when compared to nearby areas. For example, the hawthorn blossom was about 4 weeks later than in Beverley.

Below are a couple of paintings from earlier.

Here is a view from early June showing the Hawthorn. Click image to enlarge to see it better. It is a transient moment, easily missed. I imagine the trees looking like Christmas puddings with icing applied and running down the sides.

A morning in February with a group of deer in the field.

It’s all bananas!

Here is a drawing with a heavy hand. No subtle pressure or correction. 

I want you to do a quick sketch of a banana, which became two bananas. My idea was to show how simple they are to draw and add paint to. I set up the video camera to record, but something went wrong so here are two still images. The top one was done very quickly pressing down very hard using a pencil no correction and maybe one or two mistakes. Then I had a colour I looked at shadows. There is the obvious shadow on the surface from the two bananas but there are also subtle shadows on the bananas themselves. It is a good exercise to do, and you can eat them when you finish. 

A little more care.here with a little wet on wet. This was a little bit more for thoughtful, and I tried using wet on wet. The marks in the banana skin were too diluted so runny, so I let the skin I let the painting dry before adding the marks.

Have a go at painting a banana or two and remember to look hard at the shadows and the marks on the bananas they make a good exercise to develop our sense of looking. Of course other fruit could be used. I have used apples in the past, but here are a couple of bananas as requested by a friend. 

iPad sketch of Thixendale on a hot day in July

 

Popped over to Thixendale to see if the wheat had been harvested. Crops here are usually a little later than the surrounding flat lands. The valley remains cooler meaning the crops take more time to mature. However, today the change from a week ago can be seen. The wheat is a darker shade, the hillsides slightly more bleached. Sheep transferred from behind me to the far hillside can now be seen, some sitting in the shade of hawthorn trees. Tall grasses have changed from dark seed heads to the colour of pale straw. This morning was quiet. The distant sheep keeping their own counsel. As my visit a week ago the dew pond is parched dry. On my way here I noticed the pond at Fridaythorpe is almost completely dry. Wildlife is struggling. At home I place several shallow dishes on the ground filled with water. It is a joy to see birds drinking, maybe hedgehogs will find the water at night. I would urge all of us to put water out, it could make all  be difference for wildlife to survive, even bees, hover-flies and more insects take advantage, quietly sipping.

20th July 2026.

Sun flower arrangement - painting demonstration.

Spent an enjoyable time at Hutton Cranswick this afternoon giving an acrylic demonstration painting flowers, using only the three primary colours plus white. The Hutton Cranswick Art Group are a friendly, supportive group of people who are all generously supportive of each other. The painting featured some sunflowers, gypsophila and fennel ( from my allotment). I also added some dock gone to seed, though on the painting I had to use a little license as the background was a similar colour. This painting has been produced using the primary colours, blue, yellow and red with white also. The flowers sit in a Kilner type jar which is also a feature of the painting which reminds us to look at the colours. The exercise took 2 hours, including a break for tea, so I used large brushes facilitating quick results.

  Was delighted with the groups work presented as watercolours and acrylic. Well done everyone.

Beverley Minster grounds - quick sketch.

 Quick sketch of a corner at Beverley Minster. A5 sketchbook, double page spread. St.John street on the right hand side, distant Minster Avenue houses just visible across Hall Garth field, where cattle grave. Nearby, people were watching the peregrines. 

Thixendale, where corralling sheep causes problems.

Click image and zoom in for detail

 Here is an update on my Thixendale iPad painting. Today, 14th July, I went over to Thixendale to continue my painting which I hope to make into an animation later. It will feature the changing face of the landscape from January to December. Here we can see the wheat which is not ready yet, for combining. Elsewhere not far away the difference in climate has seen crops harvested already and many fields can be seen with baled straw. As I arrived I found the road blocked with sheep. They were being moved from one side of Fotherdale to the other, which leads into Thixendale Dale. It was a scene of chaos, two men and three dogs tried in vain to ‘corral’ the spirited sheep who found themselves in the wheat, almost hidden. One of the dogs is still young and learning. Before long they were shepherded along the lane and secured behind the gate.

Art BOOKS, all first editions
 

All available from me direct, signed if desired.

Email me your address and I will post a copy of any of the above, payment by by BACS..

Briefly prices from top to bottom, including postage and packaging are

£25 Artists Sketchbook

£35 Plein Air Painting, Beverley and the LOW WOLDS

£35 CONCERTINA sketchbook, how to guide with over 100 double page spreads.

£27 Plein Air Painter, how to make a well proven pochade painting box, plus examples of work

Keldmarsh Nature Reserve where wood sprites play.

Can you see the guardian?

Two white butterflies dance in the dappled light, wary of cruising dragon flies. Woodland sprites play as the guardian passes, grateful for his care. He walks quietly with his dog, seeking to preserve this special place where a chalk stream begins its urban voyage. Once, long ago it would have been in a very rural place. Here is an impression of a small woodland. It serves as a buffer for the Keldmarsh Nature reserve. Today is very hot again, shortly Arthur Fery will play his semi final at Wimbledon. From this reserve a spring produces crystal clear water which feeds Beverley’s only CHALK STREAM. Developments nearby threaten the stream where, until recently, water voles could be regularly seen. About five years ago I recorded a simply tribute which can be heard here.  It is approx 8 minutes long so make a drink and listen for the sounds of birds, cattle, the Minster bells and George barking. 

Original painting for sale £175, email me if interested. Email.

Art BOOKS, all first editions
 

All available from me direct, signed if desired.

Email me your address and I will post a copy of any of the above, payment by by BACS..

Briefly prices from top to bottom, including postage and packaging are

£25 Artists Sketchbook

£35 Plein Air Painting, Beverley and the LOW WOLDS

£35 CONCERTINA sketchbook, how to guide with over 100 double page spreads.

£27 Plein Air Painter, how to make a well proven pochade painting box, plus examples of work

Beverley Minster from outside the secret garden

 

Beverley Minster

 Quick watercolour sketch made on a hot day, I was passing on my bicycle on my way home and saw this corner view with Highgate in the background. Earlier, I had popped over to the ….shhh….secret garden to find it locked. 

Yorkshire Wolds - View from Huggate looking east.

Originally posted in 2020

The finished picture.

approx outline, subject to refinement.

Blocking in the values.

25th June 2020.

Above Huggate looking East, Yorkshire Wolds.

I decided to go straight back to the field where I saw the plant with the tiny red flowers a couple of days previously, with the intention of photographing them to make identification easier. I did not believe what I saw. The flowers had all gone and had turned to  reddish seedheads on the bare stems. Looking down the stem, near the ground, longish canoe shaped leaves were evident, though not many. Here are a couple of photos.

Beginning to wonder if I saw any flowers at all now.

The plant is Sheeps Sorrel, here is a good link....showing the flowers.

I took George for a walk along the Millington Road, thankfully it had many shaded spots to rest a hot dog, the plant life was awesome. Colonies of bright pink cranesbills, exuberantly covered the hillsides, and even pyramidal orchids could be seen. I was pleased to see two marbled whites feeding on the orhids, they took off as I approached and suddenly the air was filled with more of them.

Enough of this, getting back to the painting.

I set up by parking on a freshly cut grass verge in the shade of a large tree, and thankfully for George, a strong refreshing breeze. Here, I was over 200 metres above sea level and the air was wonderfully clear, the sky, as a couple of days ago was cloudless, As I started to study the scene and begin to outline the painting a farmer from Church Farm began to collect the cut verge grasses, which I had noticed were still greenish and would make good winter feed. Unfortunately he had to stop baling to inspect the baling machine. I went across to have a chat and before long we were both under the baling net trying to de-tangle twine caught up in the rollers. It was important to get the baling done as a storm was forecast which would stop any chance of getting it collected. A call to a service department proved unsuccessful and we continued removing small amounts of twine before I suggested he should return to his farm where he had more tools to strip it down. So off he went, hopefully to get it fixed. The wrapping conveyor belt may have been part of the problem, but as he said, that would have cost £1800, so he was hoping it could cope.

I outlined the painting,

Then blocked it in

Before finessing it,

Finally,

Adding

The touch of my

Dream,

White,

Loudly trumpeting,

Entwining,

Convolvulus.

A Wolds summer

search light.

I had been listening to Max Richter being interviewed and remembered being disappointed to miss the all night radio 3 version of Sleep. So I purchased it, and listened as I painted. It was so compelling the painting took longer to complete than I expected. Passing through Huggate I saw a roadside table, outside Belinda Hazlerigg's studio, I stopped and bought two of her beautiful cards.

Hope you like it.

Oil on canvas.

£175.

Art BOOKS, all first editions
 

All available from me direct, signed if desired.

Email me your address and I will post a copy of any of the above, payment by by BACS..

Briefly prices from top to bottom, including postage and packaging are

£25 Artists Sketchbook

£35 Plein Air Painting, Beverley and the LOW WOLDS

£35 CONCERTINA sketchbook, how to guide with over 100 double page spreads.

£27 Plein Air Painter, how to make a well proven pochade painting box, plus examples of work

Westwood grasses with Black Mill and St. Mary’s

Black Mill with St. Mary’s

 Another original half imperial watercolour from my series in 2002. At the time both poplars could be seen. Sadly only one remains though another tree has been planted nearby. As the summer goes forward grasses become very colourful. Grasshoppers appear  making the Westwood seem a living clock. Walking through the long grasses disturbs the grasshoppers and day flying moths. Golfers can be seen with colourful outfits, often searching for lost balls in the tussocks grass. This original painting is available at £150, email me for details.

Art BOOKS, all first editions
 

All available from me direct, signed if desired.

Email me your address and I will post a copy of any of the above, payment by by BACS..

Briefly prices from top to bottom, including postage and packaging are

£25 Artists Sketchbook

£35 Plein Air Painting, Beverley and the LOW WOLDS

£35 CONCERTINA sketchbook, how to guide with over 100 double page spreads.

£27 Plein Air Painter, how to make a well proven pochade painting box, plus examples of work

Heavenly cottages in the Lake District.

 

Stonethwaite.

I was still, at this time, producing half imperial watercolour paintings. I always worked en plein air  to try  to capture the colours and atmosphere of a place. I recall sitting in a neglected grassy area facing these buildings. The grass was glistening with morning dew. The cottage on the left was undergoing roof repairs involving two tonnes of lead. Close inspection reveals two men working on the ridge. The steep fellside behind the buildings created a kaleidoscope of greens, obliterating the sky. This particular painting, from the late 80s, holds a special place in my heart. Stonethwaite is a charming hamlet nestled off the busy Borrowdale valley road. 

Available £150 incl p+p.

Art BOOKS, all first editions
 

All available from me direct, signed if desired.

Email me your address and I will post a copy of any of the above, payment by by BACS..

Briefly prices from top to bottom, including postage and packaging are

£25 Artists Sketchbook

£35 Plein Air Painting, Beverley and the LOW WOLDS

£35 CONCERTINA sketchbook, how to guide with over 100 double page spreads.

£27 Plein Air Painter, how to make a well proven pochade painting box, plus examples of work.

Kexby House, previously Kexby Farm

 

Click image to see it larger

Many years ago, at a time when David Hockney and I met we talked of plein air watercolours. I, like David, was using half imperial watercolour sheets to paint countryside views. Here is a view of Kexby Farm, from Long Lane, which was converted to Kexby House  from the late 1980s? So this view must predate that time. Bales of silage in black plastic wrapping line up from the farmhouse towards an open sided barn containing bales of straw. I was impressed at the time by the neatness of a typical East Yorkshire farm. The original farmhouse dates back to the 1750s. This painting is therefore a record of how it looked when used as a farm.

Original watercolour now available £120, unframed, email me if interested.

Art BOOKS, all first editions
 

All available from me direct, signed if desired.

Email me your address and I will post a copy of any of the above, payment by by BACS..

Briefly prices from top to bottom, including postage and packaging are

£25 Artists Sketchbook

£35 Plein Air Painting, Beverley and the LOW WOLDS

£35 CONCERTINA sketchbook, how to guide with over 100 double page spreads.

£27 Plein Air Painter, how to make a well proven pochade painting box, plus examples of work.

RSPB Bempton, Puffin spotted.

20 minute very loose watercolour sketch of part of the coastal path at Bempton. Below another view from near the small pond on the path to the overflow car park. I have never seen so many people at the reserve. Had to park in the reserve overflow field. Saw the usual birds but main task was to look for puffins. Though not overflowing with them they are about and can be seen at present.

Just above the razorbill, I saw a pair of puffins. They were too far away to photograph as my zoom lens is limited. Close up below.

Foxgloves in my white border..update

 

EARLY STAGE - IT IS FAR FROM FINISHED

I love gardening. In my modest garden I have what I grandly call my ‘white border’. It has many white flowers. I have let it go a little wild this year allowing ‘nipplewort’ (lapsana communis), which the bees love, to take off. Feverfew is encouraged as are white roses. The effect is calming. This year I noticed a foxglove growing and decided to see how it would grow. On the garden, after putting mealworms down, I looked at the foxglove thinking that a painting ‘impression only’ would both be a memory and also a help with a demonstration I will be giving soon. IT IS FAR FROM FINISHED but I am liking the way it is working. I need to now add some detail. Especially to the foxgloves, in particular to the mottled patterns inside the flowers. On the garden, with the easel set up, sketching out the basic composition, it has been a delight to see bees visiting one flower head after another. I have some white campanula which are just going over and may try and include a suggestion of their sound…(;o).

Below, added more detail and will leave it as it is. Will varnish it to finish.

Click image to and it LARGER 100cm x 80cm acrylic on canvas, available.

All available from me direct, signed if desired.

Email me your address and I will post a copy of any of the above, payment by by BACS..

Briefly prices from top to bottom, including postage and packaging are

£25 Artists Sketchbook

£35 Plein Air Painting, Beverley and the LOW WOLDS

£35 CONCERTINA sketchbook, how to guide with over 100 double page spreads.

£27 Plein Air Painter, how to make a well proven pochade painting box, plus examples of work.