Look forward to seeing you there!

Collette, the gallery owner, has been kind enough to feature my work this month including the Venice paintings I didn’t get around to posting here.

Norton Way Gallery

The Turkish Vase is one of them, now complete, and which I’m entering for the RA Summer Exhibition. Handing in day is Tuesday 29th March. All fingers and toes crossed as this is something I haven’t done before.

The Scottish Castle – Castle Leod – now revealed (see post “More Watercolours at Last” below). It looks good on the packaging of the Dalmore Whiskey. When I went to see the castle I had visions of turrets emerging ghost-like from the Scottish mist – a scene of Gothic drama. The reality was bright sunshine and neatly trimmed lawns; it was August, after all. So in the final painting I had to be quite inventive and worked quite hard to give the painting some impact. The final work was well received, and the painting, I believe, should now be hanging in the visitors centre at The Dalmore distillery.

Castle Leod-watercolour-Keith Hornblower

Ayot St Lawrence - The Palladian Church - Hornblower watercolour

Irmis-roses-watercolour-Keith Hornblower

Turkish Vase - hornblower final watercolour

The Hotel was originally a Wool comber’s House built in the late 18th Century which later became a Quaker school known as the Isaac Brown Academy and many of our eminent 19th century scientists were educated there, the most famous of whom was Joseph Lister who pioneered sterile operations and became known as the ‘father of antiseptics’.

As a subject for a painting, it’s not an easy choice as the façade is a long flat elevation with little of any great interest to break it up. I decided to view it from a fairly acute angle to compress it and to bring in the surrounding buildings to the picture; it’s always good to have some context.

My painting now hangs in the hotel reception area.

Lord Lister Hotel, Hitchin

One commission, however, was rather special. I was asked to paint a Scottish castle, to be used on the packaging for a very special Scotch whiskey. I can say no more until the launch (probably around New Year), but I did have a couple of very productive days in the Inverness area of Scotland. I had forgotten what a beautiful country it is and I spent some time taking reference photos for future paintings when I wasn’t busy at the castle.

The result was the following 3 paintings (so far) which will shortly be on display at the Norton Way Gallery, Letchworth Garden City. I hope you like them. The oil rig was a challenging and currently contentious subject, but I was struck by the power of the scene and just had to paint it. The 2 waterfalls speak for themselves, I hope, and mark a new beginning for my work, returning to the traditions of English watercolour and attempting to convey the sheer drama of our countryside. Drama is not something usually associated with watercolour and I want to help restore it’s reputation as a powerful medium on a par with oil painting.

The “Falls of Rogie” was painted on a full sheet of Two Rivers paper, so it’s quite large! I had to use my studio easel to cope with the size, and because the surface was near vertical, there were lots of paint runs which I tried to exploit, rather than fighting against them.

Please tell me what you think.

A great bloke, but if he thinks I’m now going to spend months and months cutting masks and airbrushing giant canvases a millimetre at a time, he’s very much mistaken. May latest daubs in oil below; 1 Monet, 1 Van Gogh and a Gaugin. This wasn’t deliberate, it’s just the way they turned out, although the “Van Gogh” was painted just after I saw the exhibition at the RA – well worth a visit if you live anywhere near. I have always been easily influenced by artists I admire and I guess I have yet to find my own direction. I think it’s a good idea to have periods when you avoid looking at other people’s work and follow your own path – I think that time has come for me.

As I haven’t painted in watercolour for a while, I thought I should change the name of this blog (it used to be called Hornblower Watercolours..).

With watercolour it all seems so much easier; I just know when it’s done, or alternatively, ruined. There’s just nothing in between. Guess it’s something you get used to!

I did the landscapes because this area is designated for a new school, and the school, if built, will pave the way for many thousands of new houses… We are not amused. The street scene is in my village of Weston – in danger of being swallowed by the urban sprawl of Stevenage. I shall be painting more in the area, before it all disappears under concrete.

View from Tilekiln Wood - a frosty morning

Tilekiln Farm from the wood. A frosty morning

Cottages - Damask Green Road

A good time was had by all, and 2 of my students were kind enough to phone me afterwards to thank me. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and look forward to the next session. Then I’m REALLY going to push them outside their comfort zones…..!