One of the most frequently asked questions is "where do you get your ideas?" The answer is not sure - nowhere in particular but also ... everywhere.
A painting usually starts with a vague idea about colour and then is explored and refined as I go, honing in on the feeling I'm trying to capture and all created within the idea of a landscape.
I don't paint directly from reference photos, they're useful sometimes, but more often than not I'm kind of inventing the land and the sky as I paint. Following light and shadow and colour and feeling.
See this inky, moody sky I photographed the other evening while walking home from the studio? I've wanted to paint a midnight sky for ages but in order to do so, needed to experience exactly what I've been looking for, and this is it. (Plus maybe the addition of stars or the moon if that doesn't ruin the moment 😉)
So off I go, taking these deliciously dark colours with me into the studio today, to see if I can capture the feeling of standing under such a magnificent sky.
You can find more musings on the abstract beauty to be found in clouds in an earlier blog post. And of course, these sky painting ideas and inspiration end up on the canvas and run through my collection of signature sky art prints!