View from the plane in Aberdeen

When I have a couple of hours to paint but can't go outside (because it's raining, or it's the night for example), I like to paint in the studio, often flowers from life, but otherwise I'll browse my photographs gallery for something that inspires me. When painting from photographs, I always try to have fun, keep it spontaneous, and consider it as an exercise to learn something new or develop certain skills. In this case, I picked a picture I took from the plane when landing in Aberdeen a few months ago, and aimed to practice working with abstract shapes and simplifying complex elements.
Here is the result:

View from the plane - landing soon in Aberdeen    10"x8"  oil on board
Available here

Detail

For those of you who like to see the steps, here they are below. I first applied a warm ground colour to my panel. I find this helps giving warmth and harmony to the whole painting. I then build up the painting with big shapes going from larger/darker to smaller/lighter.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Below: my set up in the studio

Step 5

Step 6 - the finished painting

I'll finish this post with excitIng news for autumn this year. I'm very thrilled to be part of and co-organising the first major group exhibition of Britain's leading contemporary “Plein Air” artists. 

The show will be called "Capturing the moment"

SAVE THE DATE: 16-20 October 2018 // London - Menier Gallery 

Over 200 paintings for sale by 27 artists including:

Ken Howard RA, Fred Cuming RA, Peter Brown NEAC ROI PS, Trevor Chamberlain ROI RSMA WGA, David Curtis ROI RSMA, Richard Pikesley PNEAC RWS & TV’s Adebanji Alade ROI

Get more info on the website here:

http://www.britishpleinairpainters.co.uk/home

I hope you can make it!