Plein Air Painter, tips and advice.

I have recently had two international students visit me whom I took out for one to one painting supervision. Their aim being to produce a painting of a landscape. They both succeeded and when they left I gave them each a copy of my book, PLEIN AIR PAINTER. This was written with the prime intention of giving instructions about making your own paint box easel known as a pochade box. I have devised a fail proof, tested method of construction and detailed assembly note in the book. However, I have had feedback about how helpful the tips and advice are as well. So, if you have your own pochade box and need to know about canvas preparation, mixing paint, checking layout etc you will find this book helpful.

Available from my online store.

 

Country walk sketches near Warter.

Here are four quick sketches from a short walk near Warter. They are all 12x 10 inch, acrylic on canvas board. My process was simply to do short, ten minute maximum sketch’s using an indelible alcohol based marker directly on to the canvases. Then, while still fresh in my mind I coated them with a transparent Michael Harding ground working them up using acrylic paint.

These are really studies regarding using a marker pen and working very quickly.

I may refer to them when making larger work at some time.

I was with FSD and George, the weather amazingly too warm for this mid-September day.  We walked along the path above Deep Dale setting off from COBDALE Cottage. On our return we saw that Deep Dale was now occupied by a shoot. In the nearby hillsides and on the tops, red flags were being waved in order to move birds, to facilitate the shoot. When I sketched out the cottage I noticed three large ex-forces, people carrying wagons had parked on the grass verge. They were to ferry the beaters back to Warter, or perhaps another shoot location.

But I digress the intention for me was to develop this method of working, to reacquaint myself with acrylics and to capture the moment with more than one canvas….which sorta worked.

Looking north from COBDALE Cottage towards High Barn and Huggate.

COBDALE Cottage with people carriers beyond.

A break in the sweetcorn crop, just off the path.

Looking down into Well Dale, with the shoot out of sight.

 

Shadow lines at Thixen Dale.

Acrylic on deep edge canvas 12x16 inch

Available from my online store

Detail

Detail

It was arranged to take FSD and an art student (from Tokyo) to the site of the gigantic haystack at Minningdale. The intention was to facilitate a plein air painting by the student ( L), it would be her first plein air painting. She also had never used water based oils or a pochade box. All these materials were provided and we anticipated setting up at the site. Approaching the venue I began to wonder if the haystack would still be there as I could not see it from the dip in the road. I pulled up and sure enough there was no sign of the gigantic stack. Disappointed I turned round and drove back towards Huggate at which point I saw a yellow tractor emerging onto the road from a field on my right. I recognised it, and the driver and we both stopped. He climbed down from his cab and we greeted each other with a handshake, then he told me that he had shifted the stack about a week previously in order to beat the forecast rain. A walk on the COBDALE path a short time later found us looking up to see him, in another field, driving a bale chaser. It was fascinating to see how the bales were picked up, rotated, turned and stacked on the trailer. I made a mental note to revisit soon and hopefully find another haystack. After a short walk I drove to Thixendale and found a sheltered spot at the dew pond near the Robert Fuller Gallery. The field on our left was full of topped potatoes ridges which created ribbons of shadows in the bright sun. This was a good alternative subject. The linearity of the shadows created foreground interest, they indicated both the type of crop and the late season. We decided to have a drink and sandwiches then I set up the pochade box for my student going through some initial issues. This was a steep learning curve as it involved how to plan the painting, mix the paints and consider the effects of a moving sun. I left the student to develop her painting and started my own a few feet away using a French easel. I kept checking her progress and would  suggest ideas regarding different aspects and avenues to go down. FSD worked on a watercolour and also supervised George as we all worked. A hunter, fine boned and alert came over causing us to stop and feed it some fresh grass. Walkers constantly emerged from the THIXEN Dale valley and as they passed we happily chatted. A man in a new, orange Morgan three wheeled sports car stopped and we had a very interesting conversation about the car. I mentioned my own open top car discovering we had a lot in common.

My student was almost finished, her painting was an excellent effort. I packed up and we all set off for home having had a wonderful afternoon.

L working up her painting

Her finished work, excellent effort.

Beverley Minster secret garden.

 September 12th 2024.

A view of an old pear tree.

This less obvious view shows a pear tree near a store for chairs. I have added a young visitor who was exploring the garden with his mum, who in turn, was with her mum. So we had a dynasty here enjoying the peace and serenity of a September garden. The pear tree was full of old pears, some very ripe proving attractive to two red admirals. I think they will be getting ready to hibernate over winter and perhaps use the delightful brick potting shed.

To be part of a series of paintings featuring the garden.

14x10 inch, oil on canvas board.

Available from my online store.

2025 Calendar, JOHN GEEKIE ART.

 

Typical layout

Hi everyone, 

Here is a glimpse of my 2025 calendar which has just arrived. It features some of my paintings from 2024 and is A3 sized. It is designed to hang from a hook with the calendar area being a useful size to add notes, birthdays and much more. I am glad to say that there has been NO increase in cost

AVAILABLE FROM MY ONLINE STORE.

SHORT VIDEO HERE

Heritage Day at a Kitchen Lane allotment, Beverley.

Today, the 8th September 2024 was Heritage Open day at the allotment. 

It rained in the morning and after taking George for his walk, and after FSD had bid adieu to an honoured visitor, we both walked down to the allotment, F with L, her canine guest. The weather had improved in the meantime meaning I could hang washing before setting off.  I carried my pochard box in a rucksack but after a busy morning I was not sur if I wanted to paint anything. However, at the allotment,  I visited my plot and decided on this view. My energy levels improved as I painted as it always does, so I carried on until this stage was reached. I stopped painting for a short break and visited F with L (dog). I was given a very welcome mug of coffee and a biscuit and we chatted about her visitor, who was now en-route for London. One of the jobs at my allotment was to recently tidy it up which resulted in the creation of a grass pile which also comprised old bits of wood, branches of raspberry canes and old bamboo. We can have fires again at the end of September so the pile will hopefully dry enough by then. Spoke to a couple who moved to Beverley from Cambridge, hope to meet again sometime.

Hollyhocks continue to flower standing tall and proud. The magnificent mallow have long passed and at the moment borage is still providing drifts of pale blue. In the vegetable main section I have sweetcorn, Turks turban squash, butternut squash, runner beans and lots of horse-radish, as well as some leeks.

The shed will survive another winter hopefully though my mind is turning towards a replacement.

Available HERE

The painting inside the pochade box.

 

Delightful dog Automata for you to make at home.

 Available here 

All three Beverley Churches, print.

Print available here
 

St. Mary’s Church print.

 Available here

Beverley Minster print

 Available here

South Dalton print

 Available from my online store HERE.

Print of Beverley Minster

 Available HERE

The Giant stack of bales at Minningdale.

 Available from my online store

Minningdale tunnel.

 

Minningdale Tunnel, oil on canvas board, 14x10 inch

Minningdale Tunnel

I was here with a Canadian visitor recently and am here again with F and L.

The enormous stack of bales fifty metres long and 10 metres tall is still standing, a seasonal monument reflecting both farming industry and expertise. Indeed it has been referred to as ‘industrial’ in scale. 

Here is a view looking back from the stack, along the road which leads to Warter, passing Minningdale Farm. The belt of trees on the right envelopes the farm complex with a protective shield. Soon it will change as autumn gives way to winter. The leaves will turn gold and rust changing the scene completely, reminding me to visit again to paint again. As I painted this view, George at my feet, I was standing on a roadside verge. Indeed my fellow artist and her dog were doing the same at the other side of the road, their subject being umbels and the huge stack. I concentrated on the painting, the road disappearing into a small bright light as it emerged from the tree tunnel. Passing close to me, at regular intervals were huge Stewart trailers ferrying harvested grain back and forth. Their tyres were enormous and I noted they had three axles which automatically made me think twenty one tons. As well as these, which were racing to take advantage of the good weather, I saw a familiar sight. Another skeletal trailer designed as a bale chaser zoomed by and I waved to the driver. We had chatted recently when I had painted the ‘stack’. Indeed he had built it and confirmed it was the longest in the area, and that the height was the maximum that could be built with the trailer.

I enjoy the brief interactions with the farmers, a nod, a smile which says so much about mutual respect. I certainly appreciate the hard job they all have at this time of harvest. We all decide to stop painting and head off home where we both work late into the failing light, on an allotment, our version of seasonal endeavour though on a somewhat smaller scale.

Available from my online store.

Video here showing two bale chasers building a stack 6 bales high by approx. 56 bales long

https://youtu.be/dMWJvxgHtmw?si=pPSlhlnqyZwwlwNM

The huge stack detail from larger painting

Bauhaus in the Yorkshire Wolds, a gigantic stack of bales.

 The Bale stack

A young student from Canada whom I had known as a child, was visiting and I remember, some time ago, we had talked about having a day out painting when he next visited. So today was a long overdue meeting. I took him for a drive into the secret Yorkshire Wolds exploring the dry valleys, looking at land art, visiting the famous Robert Fuller gallery as I explained aspects of the area such as the dew ponds project. We explored a field containing long wavy lines made from small ridges, emphasised by shadows. Top growth (haulms) had been removed leaving pallid stalks emerging from the tops of mini-ridges, these were potatoes waiting to be lifted. 

When asked what he wanted to paint he liked the notion of tall stacks of bales. This was a good choice, we could see as we drove, pale handkerchief fields confettied with bales, some round, others cuboid. We drove looking for stacks. Here and there we saw farmers hurriedly loading bales onto wagons, to be taken to yards nearby. We stopped at a field with small stacks and decided they were not quite tall enough at just 4 bales high, though as they clung to the rolling hillside they emphasised perspective and linearity. Driving towards home I knew of a stack that I had painted recently, which may still be there when suddenly we saw, in the distance, approaching Warter at Minningdale, a colossal stack. I had never seen anything like it. It was huge. It comprised large cuboid ( Heston ?) bales, each one being approximately 2.5m long and 1.2m square in section. The stack was eight bales high by at least 30 bales long, a bale wide. We quickly stopped and I set up an easel for him. He set about painting. I loved the way he mixed the paint. He was really observing. Here is his finished 14x10 inch canvas board painting. An amazingly refined work. I am impressed the range of subtle colours, the almost abstract impression. It is a lovely reminder of a day out painting, feeling the wind and hearing the sounds of nature, the smell of straw bales. This was produced using one of my portable pochade painting boxes. I have produced a book for artists which shows in detail, with paintings and prose, how to make your own. These are available from my online store.

Here is his finished 14x10 inch oil on canvas board painting. Please click image to see his wonderful use of colour

I decided to revisit and paint a larger canvas. However the wind was too strong to set up the French easel, so I worked by laying the canvas flat. People drove past behind me, on the busy road linking Warter and Huggate. The day was brighter than before which helped with defining shadows. I decided on a slightly different angle to include some dead umbels and nettles, as well as a nearby tree line. 

This painting was produced en plein air at the site. I limited my use of colour to the three primaries, specifically French Ultramarine, Lemon Yellow and Cadmium Red medium. I also used Titanium white. 

80x60cm oil on deep edge canvas stretched canvas

Available from my online store 

August harvest and fields of bales.

 Having been out recently I am always pleased to see bales sitting in fields. I can imagine two bales in conversation as the spiked tractors hunt them down. Here is a little cartoon.

August bales await a Colley near South Dalton.

 I love this typical August scene. The harvest has been collected in many areas as farmers rush to beat the weather. I saw this as I passed and decided to walk George in the field. This view with the spire of St. Mary’s at South Dalton looked interesting in a quiet way. I find that recording the farming year seems to anchor me to the seasons. I am much more aware of the challenges  farmers face with the variable weather, how it can effect sowing and germination, indeed the application of fertiliser, pesticides etcetera. In this field stubble still stands stiffly, about 20cm tall, cropped by a combine. It is brittle and George does not like to walk through it. In the foreground, pale green areas with white flower heads is camomile, stunted a little I think, probably by the application of some pesticide to the main crop. In an adjoining field I was pleased to see a handful of lapwing, a reminder of seeing flocks of hundreds when I was a child. Overhead, a pair of buzzards flew over a nearby wood. In the road behind me a huge Colley wagon passes with an empty flatbed, later returning loaded with bales from another field.

14x10 inch oil on canvas,

Available from my online store.

Bempton gannets, a large original oil painting.

Went to Bempton Cliffs recently to see the gannets.We were hoping to see a dolphin or seal but perhaps another time. I did this large canvas last September but it seamed appropriate to post it again. It is a 1.5m x 1m canvas ( approx 5’x3’).

Available here

 

Ragwort below harvested fields

 

14 x10 inch oil on canvas

14th August 2024.

An afternoon perambulating along a Wolds footpath near Huggate allowed George and L space to run, exercise and get some fresh air. We had taken sketching materials, I, my pochade box, FD her sketchbook. We soon spotted this rather unlikely view, harvested fields looked clean ans smooth, a beautiful parchment, varying slightly in colour. The foreground comprised a wide border which contained many tall, whispering grasses, creeping bindweed, knapweed both in flower and with dark seedheads, dark plantain heads waved as luminous ragwort added seasonal sun. The path sat below the fields giving me the opportunity to make the horizon higher, showing only a  little sky but allowing me to concentrate on the essence of the verge border. This was done quickly as I wanted to get ann impression of the time of year, the  seasonal wild flowers and, at the same time keeping the painting fresh. As we all stood there, people would pass, a group of four who were in a hurry, could’nt stop as they were looking forward to tea and cake at nearby Huggate. A teacher with her dog was relishing her summer freedom before returning to work in September. We finished early and headed back, stopping at the Wolds Inn at Huggate. We thought about having some food but it was too early. The day had been overcast at first which suited the dogs, but the sun had come out and it was too warm for them so we decided to stay in the cool of a large tent and enjoy a couple of drinks, the dogs lying at our feet.. Later we ate, then set off in the car parking at Riggs Farm. From here a short walk found us at the bench above Thixendale looking down at lollipop shadows and at distant deer which turned out to be bushes. Sitting on the bench the low sun shaded the hillsides. A few feet in front of us the edge of a steep drop to the valley bottom was fringed with white, tall grasses nodding in the breeze. The grasses were highlighted in the setting sun against the distant dark hillsides. A kestrel glided past disappearing beyond the ridge as it stooped down. We all sat in the setting sun, silently thankful, all peaceful. Here, at the right time marbled whites dance over the slopes but today apart from swifts and house martins the empty massiveness was undisturbed. Back in Beverley evidence of Ladies Day could be seen, elegant fascinators and waistcoats worn by happy race goers.

Available from my online store 

Pen and ink sketch inside Beverley Minster.

 Very strong winds and passing showers limited any plein air painting so I popped into the Minster and did this sketch. 

John Geekie Art publications.

 Sketchbook reproduction of pen and ink watercolour washes of the Yorkshire Wolds.

Available from my online store

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Plein Air Painter

Available from my ONLINE STORE.

Also published ‘Sketchbook featuring the Yorkshire Wolds’

Set aside at Etton West Wood, a pochade box painting.

 Near Etton West Wood

It was mid afternoon on a hot day when I set off to paint this picture. I walked George alongside the Wood to the top of the slight hill where I could look down on Low Gardham surrounded by mature fields of pale ripe wheat, patches of woodland could be seen here and there with hedges delineated the gentle hillsides.

I am standing in a portion of set-aside by a wheat field. The set-aside contains many plants especially Dorcas Carota, some sort of white geranium plant, in the middle foreground yellow Ragwort provided a bright patch of colour, elsewhere rusting dock spires mingled with straw coloured grasses and lady’s bedstraw. Nearby a multi-headed tall thistle added flashes of pale mauve. The set-aside patch of land provided an interesting foreground to paint,  the scene includes the spire of Saint Mary’s church, over in nearby South Dalton. As I painted I could hear the distant drone of farm machinery working the land. Looking across fields I could see two combine harvesters working up and down a green field. They were been approached by tractors pulling high sided trailers which were being fed by the combines. I was a little confused at first, as obviously it wasn’t wheat that was been combined. I will have to do some research. It may be beans. I don’t think it was peas as I didn’t see any wagons however of course it might just be that The combines were tidying up, any pea plants left after harvesting.

14x10 inch, oil on canvas board.

Available from my online store

Though it was a very hot day we were sheltered from both the sun and the strong wind by the nearby woodland. Here, George is resting on a deep bed of dry grass, surrounded by tall rusting columns of dock plants. The pochade box and tripod arrangement can be clearly seen.

The painting in the pochade box nearing completion.

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For fellow artists who want to make their own POCHADE box I have written a complete, comprehensive guide which includes examples of finished paintings, available from my online store - see below

A video can be seen HERE

Dancing butterflies pirouette in a shadow world.

It was too hot for our usual walk so we took refuge in the ancient woodland known as Burton Bushes. Walking along old pathways, memories of previous excursions came back to me. In a previous time I had come here regularly, a few times every month to paint the changing appearance of the wood. I recorded the woodland over a year, the seasons illustrated by the changing fauna, Today I decided to paint a very quick and loose view showing the light through the trees. It was thankfully, much cooler here below the leaf canopy. I noticed lots of thin stems rising above a dense carpet of foliage. The stems held small white flowers which were just going over. The was enchanters nightshade (Circaea lutetiana). This place proved the right choice for a dog walk. I quickly set up my pochade box and began to paint the scene. I paused to watch two brownish butterflies circling each other, at the same time climbing high in the sky. I imagine these scenes may be territorial disputes and remember watching hoverflies chasing each other before one would return to the same spot it occupied before being distracted. The painting has been produced quickly and loosely with brush marks clearly visible. The result is to capture a moment in time reflecting the hot day and the summer optimism. All had been quiet but now I heard the distant bark of another dog. George heard it too and sat up. I decided to pack up and return to the car where I gave George a long drink of water in the shade of a sycamore. Since arriving, over towards the racecourse I noticed that many cars were now parked on the Westwood. Outside broadcast vans were parked inside the racecourse car parks. I quickly drove back home passing enthusiastic race goers walking up to the racecourse. The heat being intense caused me to consider their safety and also, the horses running would also  be stressed. However, measures to alleviate any problems are well developed. 14x10 inch oil on canvas board.

Available from my online store

 

Fairy Dale where a ghost hunts, Yorkshire Wolds.

 

Fairy Dale is near Burdale in the Yorkshire Wolds. It is a beautiful valley to explore on foot where a pond can be found as well as evidence of a rail tunnel, now shuttered off can still be made out. If visiting Robert  Fuller’s excellent gallery at Thixendale it is only a five minute drive. I have A5 cards and a large A2 print available from my online store.

Online Store

Card

Print

Beverley Minster, Greetings / message card, Beverley Minster.

This is a large ( A5 portrait) greetings card taken from a watercolour which I produced when sitting inside the nave. It took several visits to finish the initial sketch before I added watercolour. This card shows the main organ assembly, there is more which is hidden on the right hand side, glowing above an ornately carved cross-screen. Beyond the screen, through the archway is the choir with a suggestion of the alter below the east window. Both this card and an A3 sized print are available from my online store below.

Online store

Cards

Print