From Dawn To Dusk - Well Nearly

Last night I went out just as it was getting dark to photograph the Cathedral. However, even though it had been a sunny day, it was too cloudy to try and photograph the sun setting over this beautiful building. I had already done some painted sketches at dusk for my next painting, Another Year, but felt I needed to get more images from different angles. This morning I got up at 5am and was luckey to get some dawn pictures, with the Cathedral rising out of the mists. It's cloudy again tonight though, so I shall have to wait for those elusive dusk images. I want to symbolise birth with the dawn pictures, while death is shown with the light fading.

Walking With Angels

As part of the research for my next painting, I went on a tour of the Lantern in Ely Cathedral, today. I took Hazel's new camera, so I could photograph the light falling on the brickwork, as luckily it was a sunny day. I was on the same level as all those painted angels which I have looked at many times, but always from a great distance. We had to climb over a 150 steps to get to the top, where we had amazing views across the fens and beyond.
Once the photos are printed, I hope to start putting them together to build a composition which I can start working from, for the painting 'Another Year' (once I have my wretched model of the Cathedral finished as well)

A New Start

At the suggestion of Daniel, who is in charge of the website, we have changed the photo on the Home page of my website for Ted Coney's Family Portraits. Instead of the front of the house with a closed door, he has persuaded me to have my picture taken infront of it. Is this an improvement I wonder, or will my smiling face put visitors off even more?! Only time will tell, but it has made me think that we need to update some of the other photographs, as well. The view through the back door into the hall has changed, as we now have many more photos of the family on the walls and my studio looks alot more 'lived in' (i.e. messy) since the last photo was taken. Time to experiment with Hazel's camera.

Painting Through The Layers

I've just finished painting the final (of three) layers of my painting 'Dear Reginald Owen' which depicts my Morris Minor as a time machine between 1930s and the present day. Although I say 'finished' it is'nt really. It seems a bit flat and boring and rather predictable. So when it's dry, I plan to start painting bits of it again to muddle up the layers (and time zones) a bit. I will know when it is finished, but I need to keep looking at it and maybe leaving alone for a while. Meantime, I am still building Ely Cathedral in preparation for my next painting.