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The Winner is...

The winner of this newsletter's painting prize is...
Kaye Tiller from Auckland, New Zealand! Go NZ!
Congratulations Kaye - your painting will be on it's way to you soon.

Newsletter Prize

'Northland Summer' - 10x8" - Oil on Canvasboard

Hi All, sorry it's been a while. Been busy - you know how that goes. Been painting a lot more little paintings 'en plein air', which is the french term meaning 'in the open air'. It's really tricky compared to studio painting where you can take your time and control the light and the weather, but I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of it - finally.

The hardest parts of plein air painting seem to be firstly understanding thoroughly how light, form and atmosphere interact in nature, but then being able to take the elements of a scene and reorganize them and re-light them to create a better composition. Nature doesn't pose for the artist and despite what you may think she hardly ever composes herself into a wonderful painting - that's where the artist steps in. It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it.

The painting prize this time is one of these plein air paintings, painted in just one hour at Pataua North - you can see the footbridge in the distance that connects North and South. It's a finished painting in its own right, but also a study for a larger studio painting which you can see the progress of here.

There are a few more paintings I've added to the 'Little Gems' collection which I've listed below. You can have a look at those here in a slideshow.

If you have any comments or questions please contact me.

Kind Regards,



Richard