Northumbrian Panorama

Northumbrian Panorama
This is a small acrylic study which is intended to suggest something of the open scenery of north Northumberland looking inland in the general direction of the Cheviots. I think that it could serve as an idea for a bigger painting.

THREE CADELLS OF VENICE

It was a really pleasant surprise to see the three Cadells which the SNGMA in Edinburgh acquired last year. Not Cadell's greatest things I am sure, but they are very pleasant and full of  light.

These three works were originally in the collection of Sir Patrick Ford and they were presented to the gallery in his honour. He supported Cadell's visit to Venice in 1910 when these paintings were made.

 The dark frames-a complete contrast to the white Iona frames you see so often- seem quite apropriate here.

Santa Maria della Salute

ARTHUR MELVILLE EXHIBITION

This gorgeous exhbitiion is still running at the National Gallery of Scotland-until Jan 17, 2016. I have just visited and one of the things which I particularly noticed was that so many of the paintings are still housed in their original frames, If you are going, make sure to study the frames.The watercolours are exhibited in C19 manner without  any visible mount. Melville's large, broadly painted watercolours (more than three feet along one side in some cases), stand up to this very well. There are roughly speaking two types of frame, a flat gold with many  margins and on rarer occasions  of a coarse unplaned wood which is also gilt. Indeed it is the watercolours without their original frames which stand out here as the unfortunate exceptions. The Bravo Toro from the V&A and the lovely example from the Fleming-Wyfold Collection stand out like sore thumbs in this context.

The sight of so many original frames is a sign that the paintings have been treasured, it probably also means that so mnany of them are still with their original owners.

His oil paintings are a different matter. He uses a lot of oil in his painting medium and his handling can often be rather coarse. The large portrait -The White Piano-from Preston has a background of biomorphic art nouveau  shapes. They are painted very solidly and resemble lacquer. In the lower part of the painting the paint has sunk drastically.

When I get a chance to look at the catalogue I may review it. My post on Melville's highly original watercolour technique can be found here.

PASTE MEDIUM

This is a watercolour study in paste medium. Which means that flour paste rather than water is used as a medium for the watercolour. This results in a slight body and sluggishness in the paint which can be very pleasant to work with.You can also,to a degree, remove watercolour if you wish. The rock like shapes at the lower edge were developed by removing watercolour.

(See my other posts about how to make flour paste which is here and my post about Cotman's use of flour paste in his late works here. This sketch was done with a thin flour paste.

CLOUD PRACTICE

My aim in making this tiny watercolour was to see if I could suggest a large landscape with big clouds-such as you get in Northumberland, and to do it on a small piece of paper. This measures 7.5"X5.5" or approx 19X14cm.