This trip to New Orleans I had a little longer to paint – nine weeks in total – though as, coincidentally, I was there over Mardi Gras, some of my mornings started a little later than they might have otherwise. Returning to the city I found it every bit as inspiring as I had done the first time, but I also had the pleasure of being there long enough to witness just how a creative place it is and got the chance to join in on several historic traditions, namely, costume crafting for the many and invariably outstanding parades and parties. I’ve been painting in oils for about ten years now, but can barely imagine how I got by before the hot glue gun became a part of my daily life.

North Galvez St 40×50 cm

St Ferdinand St 50×60 cm

Franklin Ave 20×40 cm

I spent quite a bit of time painting in the Marigny and the Bywater, beautiful areas to the east of the Quarter, replete with the attractive typical architecture but freer of tourists.

The Gates to Audubon Park 50×60 cm

North Dorgenois St 25×30 cm

North Galvez and Esplanade 25×30 cm

St Ferdinand Shotgun 25×30 cm

Dauphine Shadows 25×30 cm

Governor Nicholls St 25×30 cm

Path on Esplanade 25×30 cm

I would also head to the park for variety.

Patrick J Butler Memorial 30×40 cm

Sun and Palms 25×30 cm

Shadows in the Park 40×50 cm

Dauphine St In the Quarter 20×40 cm

N Galvez Palms 30×40 cm

Alice and Esme’s 25×30 cm

N Galvez Porch 30×60 cm

Esplanade Shadows 25×30 cm

Bayou Rd 25×30 cm

N Galvez House 40×50 cm

This last one was of a beautiful house in my neighbourhood. Its owners had spotted it first when they were 19 and made a decision that one day they would live there. Twenty five years later they owned it, celebrating their fiftieth birthdays there and whilst I was in town they celebrated their seventy-fifth.

I was recently asked to make three paintings in and around a farm in Perthshire, a fun project for me as it was near where I grew up and the landscape there reminds me of my childhood. Other painters I know have drawn connections between childhoods spent outdoors and the later joy of landscape painting, and I’ve felt something of that rings true for me too.

Drumphin from Ardbennie 50×70 cm

The Muddy Gate 60×80 cm

Drumphin 60×80 cm

As with all projects, I did a good bit of scouting for compositional ideas to explore what worked and what didn’t before committing to the larger canvasses. The second and third paintings were to be hung as a pair so I had to find compositions that would be sympathetic to one another.

Drumphin from Ardbennie sketch 25×30 cm

The Muddy Gate sketch 25×30 cm

Drumphin sketch 25×30 cm

Here are some compositional ideas that didn’t make the cut.

Ardbennie from Drumphin sketch 25×30 cm

View across the farms sketch 30×40 cm

The big difference between the sketches and the larger pictures is that you get so much more time to think about big ones as they take longer to paint and you end up standing in front of the subjects for so much longer. One of the advantages of working from life this way is that you see the subject change over time, and can adjust your picture when something changes in a way you like. In the third painting for instance I liked the longer shadows of the early morning. That something has worked as a sketch however doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll work as a big picture. This last sketch very nearly became one of the final paintings. I tried three different times to do a large version of this and each time it failed. Perhaps the rather slapdash markmaking of a sketch disguises the fact there is just not enough material there to make a really interesting painting. I’m still not entirely sure. There were several other sketches too that I felt failed early on enough to be able to rule out as ideas. On a seperate note, I’m going to start photographing the paintings properly, these iPhone pics just dont cut it.