Critic Review of Exhibition, “Shetland Collection & Other Works”

Following on from my solo exhibition at the Gilbert Bain Gallery I would like to pass on the review of my work by critic Stephen Gordon.  In this Exhibition the main feature was to show-case my current series of Shetland Landscapes done in the medium of soft pastel. I also displayed a variety of other works to show a variety of mediums and content, a selection of three wildlife paintings two done in oil pastel and one in watercolour, three landscapes two done in oil and one in acrylic.  I would like to thank the Gilbert Bain Gallery for the Exhibition space and am glad to have been able to have donated money toward Hospital funds.  I would also like to thank Stephen Gordon for his critical review of my work.

STRIKING LANDSCAPES AT HOSPITAL GALLERY – By Stephen Gordon

On show at the Gilbert Bain Hospital Gallery is a series of pictures by locally based artist Donna Marie Woodhouse entitled Shetland Collection & Other Works.

Woodhouse works in soft pastels which come into its own, especially in her striking landscapes and seascapes of Shetland.

Eshaness, Heavenly Skies & History Nesbister Bod and Last Rays Over Hildasay are particularly fine examples of her work.

Pastels are a very good medium for capturing Shetland’s dramatic skies and her technique is faultless.

The Shetland pictures are by far her strongest works, her “other works” not having the power or individual technique of her Shetland work.  This does however show how her style has developed.  The picture of a kestrel has strong resonance although not quite as much as the mountain scenes.

The Shetland pictures are mounted, detailed and the medium of pastel especially the skies, is a breath of fresh air for the hospital gallery.

Woodhouse says it is her intention to “capture these wonderful images and translate them into fine art paintings”.

Exhibition, “Shetland Collection & Other Works” on now.

Hi, I’d like to invite you to my “Shetland Collection and Other Works” Painting Exhibition in the Gilbert Bain Hospital (Lerwick, Shetland).   Please come along to have a look at the Exhibition and see the works first hand.  10 % from Paintings sold during the Exhibition will be donated to the Gilbert Bain Hospital Funds.  I hope you can make it there and enjoy the display.

Thank you, with warm wishes,

Donna Marie.

D M Woodhouse Fine Art

Latest Shetland Landscape Painting

“Sunset from Hjarkland, Yell, Shetland Isles, UK” 

This blog will show you in step by step progress shots the development of my latest Shetland landscape Painting.  I hope you enjoy seeing the Painting develop from initial sketch to finished painting.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.  This Painting, Prints and Cards will be available for purchase soon.

Stage 1, Using a CarbOthello pastel pencil on Fisher 400 pastel paper I lay in the initial outline sketch with the main details.  At this stage I focus on the basic shapes as any finer details are likely to be covered up during the painting process.

Stage 2, I like to work from the sky, then background, middle ground and lastly foreground.  The sky is laid in first using Unison pastels.  Fisher 400 pastel paper has a good deal of ‘tooth’, that is to say, texture, it is a very rough surface that grabs and holds on to the pastel and will allow for a good many layers of pastel to be applied.  When laying in the sky, or any area on this paper, enough pastel is applied to fill the grain and allow for the pastel to be subtly blended with the fingertips.  If too little pastel is applied the rough surface is not forgiving on the fingers.  At this stage I am careful to keep a note of which pastels are used as the same colours will be used again in later stages of the painting.

Stage 3, The background and middle ground are now laid in.  The distant hills are laid in first. To indicate distance and to give a sense of depth to the painting the colours are predominantly cool, however in this instance I have also added some subtle warm colours to give the sense of ‘glow’ and to keep the colour harmony in the Painting.  To further give that sense of distance the outlines of the distant hills are kept soft.  Now stepping up to the middle ground the colours are becoming warmer as they come ‘closer’ to the viewer, more details are suggested, however taking care not to overstate detail as at that distance and with the soft glow of light, details would still be diffused.

Stage 4 and completion.  Now it is time to work on the foreground and bring the Painting together.  Working firstly on the croft house using the pastels to indicate that this is a traditional old stone building, then moving on to the layers of grass and undergrowth in the foreground.  In the reference photo there was the remains of a stone wall in the foreground, however at this stage I felt this didn’t add anything to the painting and would have ‘blocked’ the eye of the viewer from travelling into the Painting, so at this point I decided to omit the wall.  Now that we are at the foreground, the colours warm again in value.  The direction of stroke is important here, the pastel is applied in broad vertical strokes to indicate the growth of grasses.  Darker colours are applied right at the bottom which serves to contrast with the greens, that contrast allowing the greens and golds to really come to life.  Those darks also allow for the addition and suggestion of wild flowers through the grasses.  Some of the same colours that were used in the sky and in the middle ground are also utilised in the foreground to tie the painting together, to give it harmony and to keep that sense of the sunlit glow through the entire Painting.

I hope you like “Sunset from Hjarkland, Yell, Shetland Isles, UK”, For me, it’s a feel good Painting, warm and peaceful, it soothes and stills the soul.  If you have any comments or feelings about the Painting I would be delighted to hear them, please feel free to leave a message or comment.

I’d like to thank Charlie Inkster from Yell, Shetland for his kind permission to use his reference photo of Hjarkland, that allowed me to create this Painting.

“The Fighting Temeraire” by J.M.W Turner

The Fighting Temeraire

I thought I would share with you one of my favourite of Paintings “The Fighting Temeraire” Painted in 1839 by Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 1775 – 19 December 1851).

I find this to be a very emotive and poignant painting. This mighty battleship which played an important role during Nelson’s victory at the battle of Trafalger has fought her last war. The sun is setting in the Painting as history also sets on the warship. Her time has come to a close, no more will she sail into the sunsets, now turned away and being brought in by the tug-boat to be de-commissioned and broken up.  I find the colours chosen to paint the ship accentuate this feeling as here and in other areas of the Painting Turner used artistic licence, for the ship was actually dark yellow and black however here she is painted in creams, ivory and gold, she is pale which lends an almost ethereal and stately quality to her which contrasts starkly to the smoky, dirty tug steadily pulling her (like the advance of industrialisation)to her fate.  The Painting I feel almost like a salute in her honour and that her passing and the decline in the strength of the British navy has not and will not go un-noticed.  I feel there is the sense of the passing of something which once was great, not just the warship but also of an era coming to a close.  We have to remember the context in which the Painting was painted, it was a time of great change, of ‘progress’ of industrialisation, urbanisation, out with the old and in with the new, the rise of machines that reduced the need for manual labour, the camera, the train, electric telegraph line… it was a rapidly changing world.  For me personally I feel the Painting embodies a sense of loss rather than an embracement of the new, however that is not to say that Turner did not embrace or indeed relish the ‘new’, for his painting “Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway” painted 5 years later in 1844 I feel celebrates the power of the steam train and of industrialisation, with a strong composition the train hurtles toward you, in a cloud of mist and steam, she appears, in contrast dark, strong, solid a powerful force, not of nature but of man and the changes he is bringing to the times. 

Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway

There is so much in this and his other Paintings, details, symbolism, emotion… I’d love to hear though, what are your favourite paintings by Turner?

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year